GCSE

Sorry for the odd formatting and stuff, this is a copy and paste of some other posts I’ve written on the topic!
Maths:
Do as much practice as you can. There are 3 reasons for this which i focus on. Firstly, doing practice questions means thatyoure continually exercising the parts of your brain which are needed to do maths so the more you practice the more naturally itwill come to you. Doing exam style questions also means that you’ll get used to the types of questions that you’ll be asked- tobe honest they dont tend to vary too much year on year so practicing old questions really helps. Thirdly, doing practicequestions means you’ll identify what you’re struggling with.
There’s loads of sites you can use to get questions on specific topics or find practice papers. If you have access to sites likeMathswatch or DrFrost those are helpful. Cognito has questions and videos which i would recommend. Corbett maths 5-a-dayis exceptionally useful.
Once you’ve done practice questions, you can then find what you’re struggling with struggled on and recap it. Watching a videois the way i find the best to do this- videos are especially helpful if they have example questions which you can work throughand then see how the teacher would do them. CorbettMaths, Cognito and GCSEMathsTutor are the channels id suggest youtake a look at.
Once youre confident on understanding a topic then you’ll need to do lots more practice questions to get used to what you’ll beasked in exams. CorbettMaths has loads of banks of practice questions on particular topics which are very helpful.
Science:
With science, a lot of the content is quite memory based so make sure you’re continually reviewing topics. One way of doingthis is sites like Tassomai and StudySmarter which use spaced repetition questioning. Or you could blurt on a few topics eachweek and see what youre forgetting. Like with maths, doing practice questions often will mean you know what you need tofocus on.
Once youre aware of a weaker area, watch a video and try your recall task again. I found for science that anything visual reallyengaged me- use some coloured pens, modelling clay, a whiteboard… anything that will make you think about what you’relearning a bit more.
The question types are really important so doing exam style questions is a must. Application of knowledge isvery important so practicing applying your knowledge is really useful- often it could be applying your knowledge to practicalskills so make sure you have a generally good knowledge of practicals too. 15% of your exams will be on working scientificallyso revising this is essential. FreeScienceLessons have a good playlist on that content and then you’ll need to review requiredpractical methods (check out the videos by Malmesbury science and ScienceShorts for this).
There’s also going to be plenty of calculation questions in science, in some parts of chem and across physics especially. This isagain practice, IsaacPhysics is a fantastic resource for this.
English language:
Having a clear paragraph structure for each question is super important. I used PEAR paragraphs pretty consistently acrossmost questions because they allowed me to get lots of marks pretty consistently. PEAR stands for Point (literally answering thequestion, a topic sentence) Evidence (pick a quote) Analysis (any language and/or structural techniques, depending on whatthe question asks you to comment on) Reader (link your quote to how the reader will likely feel- its doesn’t have to be deep butusing fancyish words like anticipation can make your writing sound less surface level).
Across both English subjects, doing questions and getting feedback from a teacher is the most helpful thing to know how toimprove. If your teacher wont mark your work for whatever reason then you could post in on TSR and ask for someone to markit. I marked lots of answers during year 11 as i found it helpful revision- you could mark other peoples answers to help yourunderstanding of what examiners are looking for. Or if you have a friend in your class who would be willing to swap answersand mark each others that’s also a strong option.
Learning how to annotate texts is extremely important. BBC Bitesize was how i learned how to do this i think but im sure theresloads of videos and articles on how to do this. You need to find a way which works well for you!
For the writing sections, quality over quantity is the key thing you need to focus on. One thing which can help is writing novafiction- stories with only 9 sentences. This forces you to condense your narrative or description. Obviously, in an exam you’llneed to write more than 9 sentences but it’s good practice. Before you start writing, come up with a list of language andstructural features you want to include in your writing and tick them off as you go so you remember to include them throughout.
Come up with a basic story that you can use most of the time and practice applying it to different questions. Quality over quantity is key for creative writing and structure is really important- having a distinct beginning, middle and end of your narrative. Before you start writing note down a list of structural features, language techniques and other stuff you want to include and as you go add stuff in. I found writing nova fiction helpful for revision (stories with only 9 sentences) because you do 3 sentences on the beginning, 3 on the middle and 3 on the end. That way you dont run out of time to do a complete narrative. Writing nova fiction also forces you to use a range of punctuation like semi colons or you simply wouldn’t be able to get everything down into 9 sentences.
English lit:
Using a clear paragraph structure is super important. I used PEAR paragraphs pretty consistently acrossmost questions because they allowed me to get lots of marks pretty consistently. PEAR stands for Point (literally answering thequestion, a topic sentence) Evidence (pick a quote) Analysis (any language structural and/or form features you can comment on) Reader (link your quote to how the reader will likely feel- its doesn’t have to be deep but using fancyish words like anticipation can make your writing sound less surface level).
Doing questions and getting feedback from a teacher is the most helpful thing to know how to improve. If your teacher wont mark your work for whatever reason then you could post in on TSR and ask for someone to mark it. You could also mark other peoples answers to help your understanding of what examiners are looking for. Or if you have a friend in your class who would be willing to swap answersand mark each others that’s also a strong option.
Learning how to annotate texts is extremely important. BBC Bitesize was how i learned how to do this i think but im sure there’s loads of videos and articles on how to do this. You need to find a way which works well for you!
Learning good quotations is immensely helpful. There’s loads of good study sets you can use which people have made or you can make your own. Either way, dont just memorise the quotations by themselves- learn the language analysis, how it links to key themes, context and characters and when it is said (this heavily influences how the reader will feel depending on if tension is rising or its a period of calm etc).
Doing lots of essays and having them marked will help you find whereyoure losing marks and then you can work on those key areas. Also reading through model essays and seeing what makes them get the highest marks is a great idea- you could use examiner reports to find common areas where people lose marks.
I used mind mapping a lot for literature so try that if you want to work on your marks. You could mindmap a quotation, a chapter,character, theme, piece of context, poem etc. Make sure that whenever you make a mindmap you include quotations which linkin and lots of details.
For physics I recommend using Cognito and CGP books because those are very visual whichi always found helped me. 40% of your marks come from calculations so make sure youregood with those (Isaac physics is great for practicing them) and you understand convertingbetween units and stuff. 15% of the content is on working scientifically- use theFreeScienceLessons playlist and the compilation video of gcse physics practicals onScienceShorts (both YouTube). Doing past paper or exam style questions will help you applyyour knowledge The rest of the marks (45%) come from content so make sure you knowwhat needs to be covered and you understand all the key concepts and definitions. Likes likeCognito and Seneca are good for quickly checking what you know and filling gaps in memoryand then CGP books and Bitesize are the best for teaching yourself stuff you forgot. Hopethat helps!
Here are some of my favourite ways to revise and what subjects theyre best for!
Blurting: this is where you test yourself on a topic by writing everything that you can remember and then adding what you missed from a textbook or your own notes. You can do this entirely from memory or you can review the material first (eg by watching a video or reviewing notes). You can time yourself if you want (so you know you can recall information fast for exams) or you can add structure to the blurt by making a table (this can help you organise your thoughts). Adding drawings can be great and this method is definitely my favourite for learning labelled diagrams! Add your corrections in a different colour to make them easier to remember. I used this for pretty much all my subjects but especially English, humanities and science!
Running recall: this one sounds a bit odd but it’s extremely effective if you want to memorise something and aren’t keen on monotony or sitting at a desk. Basically you put a textbook at the end of a room/your garden and then you put your paper and pen in a different room or at the other end of the space or whatever. You then give yourself 3 minutes to read the notes and then 3 minutes to run back and write as much as you can on the paper. You do this until you can write it accurately from memory within a sensible time limit (not 3 minutes usually, that’s for when you’re still memorising chunks). I found this the most helpful for memorising poems, quotations for English, paragraph plans for humanities and languages and complicated processes/diagrams for science.
Blookets: youve probably come across blooket in class or as a revision tool but i think it’s underrated to be honest for exam revision. I use this so much even for my a levels because it’s like high-stakes flashcards, especially if you play against friends or siblings. I used this a lot for science, English, maths, languages, humanities, pretty much everything but its best used in any subject as a way to learn vocab or key info like dates. If youre not a blooket fan then kahoot or quizizz are good alternatives.
Honestly, this was (and still is) the bulk of the revision I do for class tests and exams. A few days before a test/exam I also try to do some past paper or exam style questions to get familiar with the markschemes too 🙂
My advice would be to make a revision timetable and do your best to stick with it. what worked best for me was tohave a printed calendar so i could have it with me at all times when needed and so i didnthave to go onto an app to check it and risk getting distracted by anything. Using a monthcalendar helped me (id previously used a week planner) because it meant that i couldbetter visualise the length of time until an exam. Ifound it best to do several subjects per day but doing one is can also be good if you canfocus on one subject for longer better than splitting it up. Doing a few subjects per dayhelped me because it meant that if I wasn’t really in the mood for some English forexample i could do the minimum on that and focus more on physics which was alsotimetabled so id still be sticking to the schedule but not trying to focus on something thatwould take me longer to learn in that frame of mind. I recommend having 2-3 subjects perday if youre going to do multiple, maybe 4 on a weekend if you want. Set a minimum timeframe (mine was 30 minutes) that you have to study for and a maximum so you dont onlyfocus on one subject or lose focus and start reading stuff wrong or messing up notes oranything because that actually becomes counterproductive (75 minutes was my maximumbut usually didnt go over an hour). I recommend making a revision area if possible withonly the stuff you need for revision (for me this was a water bottle, one pen, whateverbook/paper i needed, one fidget toy and my iPad with the resource i needed loaded beforei started revision). Try moving your phone and stuff physically out of the way so you cantsee them, it makes you think more about whether you need it! Take breaks every 30minutes (for 5 mins) or 45 minutes (for 10 mins) so you can move about for a bit. I listenedto music during breaks or went for a wander around my house. Hope this helps, happy tochat about revision and stuff if you want 🙂 Hope you have an amazing day!

Please could anyone place any resources or videos and revision techniques or timetables to help with gcse revision.Thank you🙂

Hey there,
You've already got some really comprehensive and amazing tips and tricks already, and I'm hoping I can help with my own tips and tricks too. I call it studying smart, not hard! (Although it is really all about studying smart AND hard)
So... Study Smart, Not Hard - again, not to say studying hard isn't important! More emphasising that it's important not to burn yourself out, through stress, lack of sleep and taking good care of yourself.
So how do you study smart?
Study - First of all, it is important to know what to study - identify areas of your course that the exams will cover, whether it be from teacher recommendations, previous mock exams and also, if you get to choose what essay-style question in your exam, what you prefer and where you're interested and knowledgeable about. Attendance to all lessons in the weeks before exams, optional or otherwise, are crucial in helping being informed and receiving the best outcomes from your exams.
Master - Secondly, targeted revision both to master the areas you're particularly strong in, if it's an essay-style exam, or strengthen and galvanise the areas you feel you're weaker in, especially if it's a questions-style exam! Try using to-do lists and make targets rather than constraining yourself too much to time, you need to revise what you need to revise - prioritisation is key!!
Apply - Now it's time to put this revision to the test! You may have heard it time and time again, but mock exams in your own timed mock exam conditions can really help you practice for the real thing in the days before the exam. Especially if essay writing is involved! Once I applied myself in doing mock exams in the days before the exam, the results really did start to show.
Review - Ok, now you've got to get a feel for what the exam will be like, hopefully this will make the real thing that bit less stressful, as you're prepared for the timed conditions and now have a wealth of information on where you may need to improve. Make sure to review the mock exam you just did, whether it be through reading over the essay-style questions or marking the other right-or-wrong questions! Realise where you need to go over a bit more, and...
Try again! - If you have time, try it all again, what you've already done is great, and has really set you up well for the coming exam, but if you feel you can or need to, study smart some more!
I hope this helps, you'll smash it! If you have any questions, let me know.
All the best wishes for the future,
Harry
Liverpool Hope University Senior Student Ambassador
MA Politics and International Relations

Thank you so much!