GCSE tips

Hey guys, I've just started Yr 12 and I thought i could be of a little help to year 11s (idk bout English tho) seeing as november mocks are coming up
My grades, subjects and exam boards were
Maths (Edexcel Igcse) - 9
Physics (OCR gateway/A triple) - 9
Biology (OCR gateway/A triple) - 9
Chemistry (OCR gateway/A triple) - 8
History (Edexcel) (superpower relations, Henry viii, crime punishment and law enforcement, (W&N Germany) - 9
Geography (Edexcel A) - 8
PE (OCR) - 8
English language (AQA) - 7
English Literature (AQA) - 7
Feel free to ask me anything especially if you're doing OCR for anything because barely anyone does it. Also just incase you wanted to know, I'm doing Bio, chem, maths and psychology for A-levels.

Hi, your grades are amazing congrats!
I do the same board as you for geography and english lang/lit, do you have any advice on how to revise for geography and writing tips for english language?
For english literature, I did: Pride and prejudice, Macbeth and an inspector calls, if you did any of these too I would really appreaciate some help. Thanks!

Hey guys, I've just started Yr 12 and I thought i could be of a little help to year 11s (idk bout English tho) seeing as november mocks are coming up
My grades, subjects and exam boards were
Maths (Edexcel Igcse) - 9
Physics (OCR gateway/A triple) - 9
Biology (OCR gateway/A triple) - 9
Chemistry (OCR gateway/A triple) - 8
History (Edexcel) (superpower relations, Henry viii, crime punishment and law enforcement, (W&N Germany) - 9
Geography (Edexcel A) - 8
PE (OCR) - 8
English language (AQA) - 7
English Literature (AQA) - 7
Feel free to ask me anything especially if you're doing OCR for anything because barely anyone does it. Also just incase you wanted to know, I'm doing Bio, chem, maths and psychology for A-levels.

Hey your grades are amazing.Although i’m doing a different exam board I think I need any advice J can get.I have to resit maths and i’ve got my exam in about 15 days.J know there’s barely any time but I had coursework to focus on and assignments to do.Please help with any tips how to revise for maths and cram it all in or maybe just what you did to pass maths.

Do you have any advice for Triple Science? How can you stay motivated too - I tried to be disciplined when it comes to revision but tbh I feel like it's pointless to try any more so any advice on that would be helpful

Hey, amazing grades, just out of curiosity, when did you start revising for your gcses and mocks

Icl I was so bad with this. For mocks it was so bad. I was making my history Flashcards the day of my mock so that was terrible🫩. Don't be like me in thats sense because I was so tired and stressed out. I then promised myself that I would start revising for my gcses in January but I lowk knew that I was capping and I didn't start until Easter. It was so bad because so much was happening in my life during that period and the stress of it all made me have a mental breakdown. There was one day on the day of my chemistry AND PE paper 1 exams when I only got 4 hours of sleep and I had like 2 breakdowns that day.💔
If you don't want this to be you, I suggest that you make those resources ASAP and that you start proper revision in January or February so you can get through it bit by bit rather than having to do a chunk of revision for multiple essay and science subject with loads of content in 3 weeks.
Bottom line is start early (but not too early to avoid a burnout), make a timetable and stick to it and do not procastinate.

Hey thanks for the reply, when do you think I should start revising for my mocks if they are in beginning of January

Tysm 😊
For geography
- I made physical Flashcards cards but they were tailored to the specification and the textbook that was released by the exam board. This was good for last minute revision especially if you wanted to quickly find out info or if your school was a phone free one.
- I also made online (with apps like gizmo, quizlet and studysmart). This was quite good for active recall
- I asked chatgpt to make revision resources tailored to the specification and I also gave it revision resources that I found online using stuff like PMT.
- Then I did all the past papers I could find to help practice exam technique and timing especially for 8 markers which i marked with the mark scheme (except 8-markers, you should probably ask your teacher to mark those)
-Then I memorised the case studies.
-The best piece of advice I can give you is to make those Flashcards and revision resources now because I started late (in easter) and I was so stressed. I had mental breakdowns because of the stress of exams and just life in general so do yourself a favour and start early I beg.
For English Language
- I learned the structure of how to answer questions with YouTube videos from Mr Everything English, and Mr bruff.
- For section B, what I would say is to max out your SPaG marks because they're worth 16 marks and they're pretty easy to get. Just use ambitious vocabulary (i.e big words) and you can do that by memorising them. You can make a mini thesaurus for yourself and memorise that. I would say that you shoild avoid using the ones that they say on the Internet because my teacher (who is a marker) said that loads of people end up using it so it isn't credited as ambitious vocabulary which is so stupid icl but it is what it is. You also need to have good punctuation and vary them, so use semi-colons, brackets, dashes, etc. Then you need to vary sentence lengths so include single word sentences, simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compund- complex sentences and multiple clause sentences with like 3 or more clauses but make sure they make sense. And obviously have good spelling.
- Then do past paper questions in Timed conditions and ask your teachers to mark them and give you feedback and then implement it.
-Its harder for english because there's only so much you can do so you have to pray for a good text, this year's one imo was so ****.
For English lit
I did Inspector calls
- I made Flashcards with quotes and analysis for characters and themes and memorised them
-I also used online resources for analysis
- Then I did past papers in Timed conditions (this is so important because if you spend too much time on one question you'll be cooked, that happened to me for paper 2 and i performed way worse(56/96) than I did on paper 1 (59/54))and asked my teachers to mark them and give feedback or if my teacher was busy, I used AI to mark it (i think it was markmeai)
- For structure I used PECTEACWL
Point
Evidence
Context in the novel (i.e who said it and to whom it was said and when it was said) Techniques (Language or literary)
Explain (the meaning of the phrases or words)
Analysis (the different connotations of the words and phrases and the underlying meanings and maybe subtle foreshadowing)
Context (linking back to the time In which the text was set so for Inspector calls it would be Edwardian England)
Writer's intentions (for Inspector calls we know Priestley was a socialist so his intentions might be been to expose the evil and corrupt people pf the upper class or something like that)
Link (link your answer back to the question)
However this is quite much so you can create your own structure. This was just so that I was sure that I included everything I needed.
Good luck with your exams and make sure to make your resources early but you don't have to start serious revision until like january so you don't wear yourself out. Ensure to take care of yourself physically and mentally otherwise you just won't be able to handle it.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the tips for each subject. 💕
One more question, (a bit of a dumb question) but when you mean start proper revision around January, what should I really do. Like genuinely everyone says start 'revision', but what should I really start with/do when revising for subjects(if that makes sense). Like content from y10 or y11? flashcards or straight into practise tests? Please let me know.

Uwc💝😝
You should start by ensuring that your year 10 knowledge is SECUREEEE. You can do this by doing loads of active recall, etc. Idk if you started doing gcsesin year 9 or year 10 but if you started in year 10 towards gcse time you'll probably be rushing through content so if your year 10 knowledge is secure you would have much less to worry about.
You should do this bit by bit (maybe like 2-3 hours a day).
Then once you've don't that you can do practice questions on that topic. That depends though because if you've finished all the topic for paper 1 then consolidate your knowledge and then start doing ppl. If you finish all the past paper questions, do them again or find some questions online (depending on the subjects because for some subjects it's easier to find questions that for others)
Once you've consolidated all your year 10 knowledge then you can start to consolidate all your year 11 knowledge as its still quite fresh so it shouldn't be too hard. Then do the same thing and just keep doing it until gcses. But always do it a bit at a time. That's why its better to start a bit earlier, so your revision is more spread out.
Make sure that before you start doing any past papers, your knowledge is secure otherwise it'll just be a waste.

Genuinely, thank you so much for your advice, I really appreciate it!!
Hope your A-levels go well, thanks so much again 😁💕

Hello!! massive congrats about your grades, I hope to achieve similar. Nobody does OCR PE and it is literally the one subject that is bringing me down. I chose it as I love sport and have been doing it for ages but it's so hard to get a decent mark in your physical assessment. I wondered if you had any tips for getting a somewhat decent mark on the physical as that's the thing stopping me from entering 8s and 9s in the subject. I really appreciate any feedback!!

Thank youuu💗
Idk if I'm the one to ask for this since I didn't do amazing on them but all I did was practice them. Tennis was one of my sports so I started doing tennis lessons at the start of year 11. For netball, that was one of the sports in my school so I got my practice in school. For the last one I didn't do anything at all (thankfully that wasn't the one they assessed). But all I can say is that you should practice and make sure that you do the sports that you're more familiar with. And you have to maximise your theory grades and your coursework (If you want I can post it here. I ended up with a 19 on it). But yeah Idk if I'm the one to ask. Also be nice to your teachers so that the grades they predict you are nice and then pray you don't get chosen for the moderation.

thank you so much I'll try to max out my marks on theory and try out the tips you mentioned. I'm almost finished with my coursework and I am so happy; those 14 hours were intense 😓. Have you got any tips on English revision and staying motivated? I used to love English but it's become more gruelling as I go on and I just can't start revising

Uwc 😝
Icl English was the bane of my existence. All I could think of was myself opening my results and smiling and knowing it wasnt in vain. Also I didn't really like my first English teacher so I just thought "I'll show that evil woman that I can do well in Enlgish". But might want to take a little break from English and then revisit it. Maybe that'll help. Or maybe you're struggling and thats why you're dreading it? If thats the case don't be shy and ask your teachers (and even your friends or older siblings if you have any) for help.
Good luck with English!