The Student Room Group

GCSE Mocks Advice

Hey everyone! I'm a Y11 student set to do Mocks in January but have a really hard time studying and learning content. In reality i know that i won't study over Christmas which will mean bad results. They gave us some predicted grades last year (Y10) which was mainly C's and D's (4-3) but will give us some new ones AFTER we've done the mock. Please help.

Reply 1

Different revision types work for different people, but if you're not sure what works for you, I would recommend trying seneca. You pick a topic, read the info, then do the questions on it. Start with the areas that you know you struggle with the most and slowly work your way through. Just small amounts are better than nothing, and hopefully, once you get going, it will be easier.

If starting is your issue, I have 2 suggestions for you: the 10 minute rule and a pomodoro timer. The 10 minute rule is as simple as it sounds: tell yourself you will do 10 minutes of a task you don't want to do, and you can move on to a different task after 10 minutes if you hate it. Most of the time, you will be fine to keep going once you get that first bit done. A pomodoro timer is a study timer in little steps, for example 25 minute study then 5 minutes to get up and move around, then 25 minutes study etc. After 4 study sessions, have a 10-15 minute break and then continue. I find this really helps me get going.

Hope this helps!

Reply 2

Original post
by Thunderstruck08
Different revision types work for different people, but if you're not sure what works for you, I would recommend trying seneca. You pick a topic, read the info, then do the questions on it. Start with the areas that you know you struggle with the most and slowly work your way through. Just small amounts are better than nothing, and hopefully, once you get going, it will be easier.
If starting is your issue, I have 2 suggestions for you: the 10 minute rule and a pomodoro timer. The 10 minute rule is as simple as it sounds: tell yourself you will do 10 minutes of a task you don't want to do, and you can move on to a different task after 10 minutes if you hate it. Most of the time, you will be fine to keep going once you get that first bit done. A pomodoro timer is a study timer in little steps, for example 25 minute study then 5 minutes to get up and move around, then 25 minutes study etc. After 4 study sessions, have a 10-15 minute break and then continue. I find this really helps me get going.
Hope this helps!

I already use Seneca (i love it so much. legit my only form of reviosn ngl) but will 100% try the 10min rule!
I tried to use the Pomodoro last year and wored like 75% of the time

😅

Reply 3

Original post
by Lolathecat
I already use Seneca (i love it so much. legit my only form of reviosn ngl) but will 100% try the 10min rule!
I tried to use the Pomodoro last year and wored like 75% of the time
😅


It's good you've got something that you know you like to revise with. Good luck!

Reply 4

This is a method I used specifically for science subjects during GCSE which helped me a lot. First I would pick an area of content to revise and read the CGP Revision guide book or watch free science lessons video whilst taking notes. Once I felt confident I understood my notes, then I would blurt everything I remembered onto a whiteboard helping me identify the gaps I needed more work on. Then ,this is the most important part which I would spend 70% of my time doing, I would practice exam questions on that topic from Physicsandmathstutor.com. For reference, I went from 4,5,5 in triple science to 8,7,7.

For maths, I loved watching the gcse maths tutor on youtube as he would explain concepts and do exam questions walkthroughs on that topic after. I practiced a lot of exam questions off physicsandmathstutor.com. This helped me secure a 7 in maths.

For humanities subjects, I don't remember exactly how I revised, I was quite good at it naturally so I just found it easier, but I did quite a bit of blurting on a whiteboard for memorising content and I had set solid structures for answering questions which I would always follow. I got all 9s in my humanities subjects.

Reply 5

Original post
by hmn123
This is a method I used specifically for science subjects during GCSE which helped me a lot. First I would pick an area of content to revise and read the CGP Revision guide book or watch free science lessons video whilst taking notes. Once I felt confident I understood my notes, then I would blurt everything I remembered onto a whiteboard helping me identify the gaps I needed more work on. Then ,this is the most important part which I would spend 70% of my time doing, I would practice exam questions on that topic from Physicsandmathstutor.com. For reference, I went from 4,5,5 in triple science to 8,7,7.
For maths, I loved watching the gcse maths tutor on youtube as he would explain concepts and do exam questions walkthroughs on that topic after. I practiced a lot of exam questions off physicsandmathstutor.com. This helped me secure a 7 in maths.
For humanities subjects, I don't remember exactly how I revised, I was quite good at it naturally so I just found it easier, but I did quite a bit of blurting on a whiteboard for memorising content and I had set solid structures for answering questions which I would always follow. I got all 9s in my humanities subjects.

Thanks for the advice! Did you do the CPG topics in order or just ones that you struggled at? With Freescience lessons (love shaun) helps alot but i feel like i'm not retaining the info from him. Do you makes notes from them while watching or wait unitil he's finished?
Haven't heard of gcse maths tutor but will check him out.

If you did RS, what structure did you use? If you didn't, would you say that it's a similar structure to History or Geography

Reply 6

I did them in order. But if it was near to mocks time and there was a certain area I knew I had to revise then I would prioritise them first. And yes, I took notes whilst watching.

I did do R.S and to be fair I can't really remember what structure I used. I just used the one my high school teacher gave me so I would recommend you follow your teacher's advice on structures. I think for the longer questions I would do something along the lines of point, quote, interpretation, analysis then a mini conclusion and repeat it 2-3 times. I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten the style of questions so I am sorry if it isn't correct but I vaguely remember doing something like that. Also, from what I remember it was nothing like History.

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