Going into year ten, how do I catch up?
Alright so quick backstory, in year seven I was severely bullied and it was delt with terribly and I was the one put into isolation, towards the end of year seven I moved schools, I was there for a couple months until I moved again, this next school was right next to the one where my bully went so I never settled there and I was in and out of school faking to be ill. After that I was put onto home schooling for nine months where I did little to no work. I've now been put into a small private school with 19 in my class and for the most part I've settled in and been diagnosed with anxiety.
Now all I need is tips to catch up as I am well behind all my other peers, a past GCSE paper in maths where I got 24/85? Other students got 40-50+.
I am determined to catch up however I don't have the best self-motivation and still don't have the best mental health and so I find it extremely difficult to focus on studying and revision and I just hate it in general so does anyone have any ideas whatsoever as I maybe going into year 10 but for maths I would say I'm working on late year 8 along with science and English I'm working at middle of year 9.
Reply 1
Choose a subject you struggle in, randomly - Do 10 minutes. Repeat every day.
Ten minutes does NOT seem like a lot - It isn't! That's why it works so well, because you can absolutely do 10 minutes each day. Once you're in the swing of things though, keep going until you don't want to! This technique generally gets me to revise for an hour or so every day. Once you hit the 10m mark, keep going and see what happens, and don't feel like you have to stop there. You'll generally revise so much more doing this method, and even if you revise only 10m - That's okay! That's why you do this method.
I just want to emphasize with this method - 10m is not the limit, it is the minimum. You should continue revising for as long as you can stomach it afterwards. Also, if you catch yourself scrolling pointlessly on social media, try revising instead! Don't doomscroll or anything, it's a waste of time, and you'll be much happier if you engage in hobbies or revise instead.
Maths
•
CorbettMaths 5-a-day is a maths worksheet for every day of the year. Do this, every day of the year. This could constitute your 10m! And if you find any questions you struggled on, you can continue your revision focusing on them!
•
MathsGenie was the website I frequented constantly in my GCSE's - I've linked you to the page where he lists every maths topic with videos to help and question booklets to learn the topic in depth, but if you hover over "GCSE" and click "Maths Exam Papers", you can get all previous maths exam papers. This is a very valuable resource.
•
1st Class Maths is another, extremely useful website, and I mainly used it for Frequency Analysis and Predicted Papers. The predicted papers they have tend to be quite accurate to the real exam, and are very useful for extra practice once you're actually nearing GCSE, and Frequency Analysis tells you what's most likely to come up for your exam board, so you know what you should prioritise.
•
Freesciencelessons gives you just that - Free science lessons. Though my classmates said they were quite dry (And he is to be fair!), his lessons are extremely short, concise, and useful. I found him to be an invaluable resource. He also has question booklets on his website!
•
The Amoeba Sisters are a less-talked about channel, but I found them extremely useful - They focus specifically on Biology, and many of their videos were played in class when discussing specific topics. A very cool channel generally
•
Cognito is a website similar to Seneca if you've used that - I haven't used it personally, but I do hear good things about it. It's certainly worth checking out.
•
Primrose Kitten is also a very cool channel, and goes in-depth on many different subjects. It's a very nice channel to supplement your learning
English
•
Glow Up Your Grades was seen as the gold standard in my school - She's stopped uploading sadly, but her videos are amazing, and give you a very interesting and unique analysis into many of the assigned texts. I found her videos very useful, and sometimes I directly ripped her analysis because of how good it was.
•
myShakespeare isn't talked about heavily, but it's one of my favourite websites for anything covering Shakespeare - It has all his plays, some with Modern-english translations, and generally helps to learn about Shakespeare's work more in depth. I found it very useful for finding my own personal quotes, and making my own unique analysis.
I haven't listed resources here which cover many different subjects - I presume you already know about BBC Bitesize and Seneca, but if you don't, you should definitely start using them. I'd also highly recommend you talk to your teachers about the situation you've been in, and ask to be given extra homework specifically to catch up with your peers; Teachers love to hear about students who actually want to do the work, let alone extra, and they would be more than willing to help you catch up.
Good luck - You can do this!!!
Reply 2
The better news is that you’re strong and you’ve proven that. Getting through situations like this is an absolute test of character and resilience, that you have already aced by moving schools, getting your diagnosis and looking towards and caring about your future.
These next two years are going to be tricky, but you have a long time to grasp whatever it is that you want and hope for. It may feel like you are behind right now, but I absolutely promise you that you can set your mind and your heart onto anything and achieve it with enough dedication!
Now, the academic advice! I started year 10 as an absolutely avid maths hater. I thought I would never pass and was working at a grade 3 most days or a grade 4 on a very good day. One day, after a pretty bad test, I decided that this was not what I wanted at all. So, I opened Maths Genie (absolutely brilliant website, please check it out!) and spent a few hours a week working from the grade 1 content all the way to the grade 8/9 after a lot of effort. It was by no means easy, but in the end I managed to get a grade 8 in my real exams, much to the surprise of my teacher! There are videos for every single section of the course, then gradual exam practice increasing in difficulty with videos explaining each question. Considering I started this process in year 11, you have genuinely so much time to grab this. It seems impossible but I promise you, this massive unmovable boulder will begin to chip away for every single minute you spend.
Self motivation is always a struggle for pretty much everyone. You will have good days, you will have bad days. You can have a whole week or more where the idea of picking up a textbook feels like the most impossible thing in the world, you just need to be tuned in to what your body wants and needs, give yourself a break and let it pass! It can always help to make a list and add a small reward for yourself next to each task that you tick off (i.e. if you finish a topic in maths, you can watch an extra episode of a show you like, do some doodling or anything you can think of that would help keep you going!!)
For English language, Mr Everything English on YouTube is fabulous for helping you target specific questions on papers.
The key to GCSE’s is just practice, practice, practice. Do not worry about where you are starting compared to others in your class. The only person who matters in this process right now is you, and you have two whole years to learn content, practice, get it wrong, learn and then get it right! There will be so many exciting opportunities and successes for you coming up, just try your best in the moment and you can’t go wrong.
I have full faith in you, and truly if you need any help or advice please feel free to reach out. I would be more than happy to help. Good luck, and you should genuinely be so proud of yourself for getting through everything you have until this point!!
Reply 3
Choose a subject you struggle in, randomly - Do 10 minutes. Repeat every day.
Ten minutes does NOT seem like a lot - It isn't! That's why it works so well, because you can absolutely do 10 minutes each day. Once you're in the swing of things though, keep going until you don't want to! This technique generally gets me to revise for an hour or so every day. Once you hit the 10m mark, keep going and see what happens, and don't feel like you have to stop there. You'll generally revise so much more doing this method, and even if you revise only 10m - That's okay! That's why you do this method.
I just want to emphasize with this method - 10m is not the limit, it is the minimum. You should continue revising for as long as you can stomach it afterwards. Also, if you catch yourself scrolling pointlessly on social media, try revising instead! Don't doomscroll or anything, it's a waste of time, and you'll be much happier if you engage in hobbies or revise instead.
Maths
•
CorbettMaths 5-a-day is a maths worksheet for every day of the year. Do this, every day of the year. This could constitute your 10m! And if you find any questions you struggled on, you can continue your revision focusing on them!
•
MathsGenie was the website I frequented constantly in my GCSE's - I've linked you to the page where he lists every maths topic with videos to help and question booklets to learn the topic in depth, but if you hover over "GCSE" and click "Maths Exam Papers", you can get all previous maths exam papers. This is a very valuable resource.
•
1st Class Maths is another, extremely useful website, and I mainly used it for Frequency Analysis and Predicted Papers. The predicted papers they have tend to be quite accurate to the real exam, and are very useful for extra practice once you're actually nearing GCSE, and Frequency Analysis tells you what's most likely to come up for your exam board, so you know what you should prioritise.
•
Freesciencelessons gives you just that - Free science lessons. Though my classmates said they were quite dry (And he is to be fair!), his lessons are extremely short, concise, and useful. I found him to be an invaluable resource. He also has question booklets on his website!
•
The Amoeba Sisters are a less-talked about channel, but I found them extremely useful - They focus specifically on Biology, and many of their videos were played in class when discussing specific topics. A very cool channel generally
•
Cognito is a website similar to Seneca if you've used that - I haven't used it personally, but I do hear good things about it. It's certainly worth checking out.
•
Primrose Kitten is also a very cool channel, and goes in-depth on many different subjects. It's a very nice channel to supplement your learning
English
•
Glow Up Your Grades was seen as the gold standard in my school - She's stopped uploading sadly, but her videos are amazing, and give you a very interesting and unique analysis into many of the assigned texts. I found her videos very useful, and sometimes I directly ripped her analysis because of how good it was.
•
myShakespeare isn't talked about heavily, but it's one of my favourite websites for anything covering Shakespeare - It has all his plays, some with Modern-english translations, and generally helps to learn about Shakespeare's work more in depth. I found it very useful for finding my own personal quotes, and making my own unique analysis.
I haven't listed resources here which cover many different subjects - I presume you already know about BBC Bitesize and Seneca, but if you don't, you should definitely start using them. I'd also highly recommend you talk to your teachers about the situation you've been in, and ask to be given extra homework specifically to catch up with your peers; Teachers love to hear about students who actually want to do the work, let alone extra, and they would be more than willing to help you catch up.
Good luck - You can do this!!!
Thank you so much, what would you recommend us better, question and answer on paper or computer and what's better, reading or watching videos
Reply 4
I think you should always write out your answers wherever possible - For Maths, I have a drawing tablet, and so I'm able to write out my working like I'm using a pen, except I can erase it all so I don't waste paper. For stuff like English, I'd highly recommend handwritten too, as that's what you'll actually be using in the exam. Generally, just do what you'll use in the exam; If that's a computer, use a computer, but if it's a pen, use a pen. I also believe handwritten notes are better for your memory? Though I'm not sure.
Reading and Videos is more of a personal preference, but I will say that videos tend to "leave out" many specific details in hopes you get the bigger picture, while textbooks bombard you with information with the understanding that you'll reread and practice it again in the future - I personally sit through reading better, as I love to go into rabbit holes and learn all the niche details of the content I'm learning, but again this is just a preference thing.
I will say, if you're looking for good revision techniques, you might be interested in this PDF - What works, what doesn't. It evaluates a bunch of different revision techniques, and tells you what's good and what's bad. All of these ratings were backed by real studies performed on university-level students, and there's Further Reading at the end if you want to look into it more
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