GCSE Music Study Group | 2025-26

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Welcome to the GCSE Music Study Group!

This is where you can chat with other students studying the same subjects as you and support each other as you head towards your exams

You can post any useful tips and resources that you come across, offer support to others, share your successes, or just have moan when it gets tough!

Just remember, it’s against the site rules to ask for or offer any copyrighted papers and to request offsite chat. Posts that break these rules will be removed.

Listening files are not available on exam board websites for copyright reasons, requesting this will also result in your post being removed. You may be able to access them for revision if you speak to your teacher.

Here are a few icebreaker questions🎷🎺🎸🎹🎵:
What exam board are you with?
What do you enjoy most about music?
What area do you struggle with most?
What is your favourite genre of music to listen to or play?
Do you play an instrument and if so what do you play?

Exam Board Specifications

Reply 1

pupilssily9411

helloo - i'll start us off with the icebreaker questions!

1. edexcel!
2. idk I just like the vibe of music!
3. pretty much everything ngl (that's why I'm here). mainly music theory tho because I've never done it in my life 😭
4. I love r&b with my entire LIFE. fav r&b songs: in my bag, lips hips kiss, love me not etc.
5. i play the violin and I did my grade three abrsm exam in march of this year (three points off a merit)!!

Reply 2

doryy1356789

hey!! i just thought id come here and share my experiences having done music gcse in 2025. i got a 9 with full marks on NEA (coursework -120/120) and the highest mark on the appraisal paper in my teachers 20 years of teaching
1. i did edexcel
2. i love listening to and playing music and how it makes me feel calm.
3. i feel like i didn’t struggle with much in music BUT composition definitely took SO long do please don’t sleep on it. i was the first in my class to finish but only because i was locked in. people were staying in school until 7pm just to work on comp so beware.
4. my fav genre is rock and classical (coz I’m a pianist)
5. i play the piano - finished grade 8 with distinction.

Reply 3

_moondahlia_

yo! i'm in year 11, currently doing music (summer '26) and predicted between a 7-9!

i do edexcel

everything about music - to analyse it, to just listen to it, to make it, name it i love it

COMP. it's not the ideas that are hard - it's literally just inputting them into garageband and tweaking for hours on end that's the bane of my existence!!

musical theatre, rock, pop, indie music, basically anything

my main instrument is vocals (grade 7 trinity) but i can play piano guitar and ukulele not very well

Reply 4

skintyfia

im year 10 doing my exam in 2027 but i still wanted to join
1. eduqas
2. i love how many different types of music there are and how it bonds people
3. theory
4. i like most genres but my favourite is metal
5. i play guitar and i also play bass sometimes

Reply 5

flowersinmyhair

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by skintyfia

I did Eduqas, I enjoyed it a lot (I sat it in 2022 though, which was a bit of a different time...)

Reply 6

skintyfia

Original post

by flowersinmyhair

I did Eduqas, I enjoyed it a lot (I sat it in 2022 though, which was a bit of a different time...)

Im also really enjoying it too ! I got told the other day i was predicted an 8 or a 9 which im really shocked about because the theory is all completely new to me haha

Reply 7

flowersinmyhair

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by skintyfia

Im also really enjoying it too ! I got told the other day i was predicted an 8 or a 9 which im really shocked about because the theory is all completely new to me haha