The Student Room Group

What should I be doing to learn content?

So I have no tutor and am going to self teach GCSEs next year, I'm currently in the midst of forming a plan to do so and I was wondering, as most of the information online is revolved around revising what people have already learnt and not a lot of it is centred around actually learning the content.

To actually learn the content, should I be reading a chapter of my textbook and then do practice questions? Or just continue reading and do practice questions and stuff once I've completed reading textbook. Maybe I take notes whilst reading? - I have difficulties with recognizing what is and isn't worth noting. Maybe there isn't a set way and everyone learns differently. This is what I would like to know.

If anyone would could place their input I'd be very grateful.

Reply 1

Original post
by coherent-denial
So I have no tutor and am going to self teach GCSEs next year, I'm currently in the midst of forming a plan to do so and I was wondering, as most of the information online is revolved around revising what people have already learnt and not a lot of it is centred around actually learning the content.
To actually learn the content, should I be reading a chapter of my textbook and then do practice questions? Or just continue reading and do practice questions and stuff once I've completed reading textbook. Maybe I take notes whilst reading? - I have difficulties with recognizing what is and isn't worth noting. Maybe there isn't a set way and everyone learns differently. This is what I would like to know.
If anyone would could place their input I'd be very grateful.

Hey
I'd recommend if your learning from a textbook then you should use Ai like chat gpt and deepseek by taking a pic of the textbook and putting it in the Ai and then asking it to summarise the information for you, trust me I did this and it helped me a lot, I'd then revise content, do blurting, making sure I know my stuff, then I'd do past papers and then check the answer and mark scheme, to see what's missing, this could definitely help boost your grades!!
Good luck, you'll smash them!!!

Reply 2

Original post
by coherent-denial
So I have no tutor and am going to self teach GCSEs next year, I'm currently in the midst of forming a plan to do so and I was wondering, as most of the information online is revolved around revising what people have already learnt and not a lot of it is centred around actually learning the content.
To actually learn the content, should I be reading a chapter of my textbook and then do practice questions? Or just continue reading and do practice questions and stuff once I've completed reading textbook. Maybe I take notes whilst reading? - I have difficulties with recognizing what is and isn't worth noting. Maybe there isn't a set way and everyone learns differently. This is what I would like to know.
If anyone would could place their input I'd be very grateful.

Hi there!

I would say the best method of revision is application - through past papers or questions on the topic you would like to revise. This allows you to identify areas of weakness and iron them out way before your exams. As you have a year to go, you have plenty of time to test yourself! Once you learn content, assess your knowledge through quizzes/practice questions/ past papers.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards, Jenifer (Kingston rep)

Reply 3

Original post
by Raja2005
Hey
I'd recommend if your learning from a textbook then you should use Ai like chat gpt and deepseek by taking a pic of the textbook and putting it in the Ai and then asking it to summarise the information for you, trust me I did this and it helped me a lot, I'd then revise content, do blurting, making sure I know my stuff, then I'd do past papers and then check the answer and mark scheme, to see what's missing, this could definitely help boost your grades!!
Good luck, you'll smash them!!!

Thanks. Would you consider self marking to be difficult?

Reply 4

Original post
by Kingston Jenifer
Hi there!
I would say the best method of revision is application - through past papers or questions on the topic you would like to revise. This allows you to identify areas of weakness and iron them out way before your exams. As you have a year to go, you have plenty of time to test yourself! Once you learn content, assess your knowledge through quizzes/practice questions/ past papers.
Hope this helps!
Kind regards, Jenifer (Kingston rep)

Thank you 😀

Reply 5

Original post
by coherent-denial
So I have no tutor and am going to self teach GCSEs next year, I'm currently in the midst of forming a plan to do so and I was wondering, as most of the information online is revolved around revising what people have already learnt and not a lot of it is centred around actually learning the content.
To actually learn the content, should I be reading a chapter of my textbook and then do practice questions? Or just continue reading and do practice questions and stuff once I've completed reading textbook. Maybe I take notes whilst reading? - I have difficulties with recognizing what is and isn't worth noting. Maybe there isn't a set way and everyone learns differently. This is what I would like to know.
If anyone would could place their input I'd be very grateful.

Hi @coherent-denial

You could try using a website like Seneca for learning content as this gives you an overview of the content, videos to watch and practise questions to check what you have learnt. I found this was a useful method for learning and revising science, however it is important that you also use other methods to ensure that you learn everything you need to. Another thing that might be useful is watching revision videos as these often include clear explanations of concepts. This might be especially helpful for anything that you do not understand from reading the textbook.

Hope that helps!

Sophie.
BCU Student Rep.

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