GCSE's coming up, any tips??

D D Danneh said:
To be honest, I've not revised a single thing so far and, apart from french, I'm breezing through the papers with A*'s. Don't follow my example though, I'm an exception to the rule, and I really need to revise for the coming exams.

Just to toot my own horn, I'm currently at an A* in english, all three sciences, maths, RE and IT. My statistics module is finished, that's an extra A* GCSE, I've just sent in my engineering coursework which should be a double award (A/A*), the French coursework was A*, and I've just finished my speaking exam with an A (it's the french exams I suck at most, and am not looking forward to).
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Sounds familiar: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=16495433&postcount=1?:p

Past papers are all good and well, but they shouldn't be used as the main resource for revision. If an exam has been written properly it should be testing your understanding in a subject and not your ability to rote learn. You sometimes get those belters that no one has ever seen before.

I remember once a proof for something came up and it was worth 14% of the paper, heard some very creative cusses from people after the exam ;)

Anyways best of luck with your GCSE's, it gets much harder from there.
 
oli356 said:
haha, i dont know ;)

IT exams are annoying
Luckely for me i have done my business exam (end of year 10) and my other subject is called COPE. 2 B grades and ALL coursework
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cool, yeh don't do business wish i did though :(, and heard of COPE, but not doing it.
killari said:
Past papers are all good and well, but they shouldn't be used as the main resource for revision. If an exam has been written properly it should be testing your understanding in a subject and not your ability to rote learn. You sometimes get those belters that no one has ever seen before.

I remember once a proof for something came up and it was worth 14% of the paper, heard some very creative cusses from people after the exam ;)

Anyways best of luck with your GCSE's, it gets much harder from there.
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yeh, past papers are helpful, and are a good indication to topics you cannot do :)
 
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The way i have always revised is by memorizing past paper answers word for word. It's definately the most efficient way to revise because a lot of the marks are got by using the exact wording and phrases that the examiners are looking for. Learn a couple of past papers by heart and you'll make upwards of a B easily. Examiners always have favorite questions that crop up year after year so you're just wasting your time if you try learning the whole syllabus.
 
killari said:
Past papers are all good and well, but they shouldn't be used as the main resource for revision. If an exam has been written properly it should be testing your understanding in a subject and not your ability to rote learn. You sometimes get those belters that no one has ever seen before.
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I think it depends on the subject. For example in my A2 revision period, in Economics and History I learnt the course, and barely did any past papers, just a few to get used to timing/format of the exam. As much of the exams were short-essay based, it was all about knowing the course, analysing it, and forming your own opinions and answers.

However I found physics past papers very useful for revising for those exams, both for practise of the formulas/methods of answering, and also as those papers made you jump through hoops to get marks.
 
icysniper said:
cool, yeh don't do business wish i did though :(, and heard of COPE, but not doing it.


yeh, past papers are helpful, and are a good indication to topics you cannot do :)
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Got forced into doing it :D glad i did though really.

Past papers help a load
especially as i swear in class they teach you stuff which is so much harder than you need to need
 
Past papers:

It depends on how much you use them, but when you do, try to mark it yourself. Using the official mark scheme, it's REALLY useful for sciences and maths in particular, and stuff like geography and history. For something like english, do a question, get your teacher to mark it, learn from your mistakes, improve your essay technique and do another to make sure you've got it improved :)
 
Did mine last year.

Main thing is to revise, everyone does things differently. I found reading through my revision notes before I went to sleep was good, as I remembered them the following morning exactly. And didn't need to go over them again.

I'd go through every past paper that you've got availlable, then any questions you get wrong go over multiple examples of them.

During an exam, what I tend to do is plan my answer before I answer any questions, just jotting down how to answer the question before I attempt anything, that way even if I do panic, I know how to answer the next question.

For english, planning both peices is crutial before, practice writing up plans for questions, should be aiming to spend 15 mins on writing plans for both. That way, you can write up your plan when your concentrations gone.

If you can find mark schemes for past questions they tend to be useful to see what the examiners are looking for.
 
Here's what I'll tell you.

GCSEs were urinatingly easy. It's nothing to stress over if you just learn what you need to know for the exam. The questions will be straight forward. Just read the question and answer appropriately. Some past paper practise will help you with that a treat.
 
sjcf1 said:
Did mine last year.

Main thing is to revise, everyone does things differently. I found reading through my revision notes before I went to sleep was good, as I remembered them the following morning exactly. And didn't need to go over them again.

I'd go through every past paper that you've got availlable, then any questions you get wrong go over multiple examples of them.

During an exam, what I tend to do is plan my answer before I answer any questions, just jotting down how to answer the question before I attempt anything, that way even if I do panic, I know how to answer the next question.

For english, planning both peices is crutial before, practice writing up plans for questions, should be aiming to spend 15 mins on writing plans for both. That way, you can write up your plan when your concentrations gone.

If you can find mark schemes for past questions they tend to be useful to see what the examiners are looking for.
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will try out, espically planning out each answer for each question :)
 
icysniper said:
what did grades did everyone get for their GCSE's, and which are the most important to revise??
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I didn't do any extra revision at all for my GCSEs, only the stuff we done in class. I managed to get away with 7 Bs and 1 C.

For maths, revise using past papers. The exam I done had pretty much exactly the same questions as past papers.
 
oli356 said:
sounds like a good idea especially for Eng Lit
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yeh thats wat i was thinking :), may plan out a series of stories and answers before handed and just edit them slightly to the question. I think this would become very useful when describing something etc :)
 
What stories you even got to do anyway?

Mice and Men and Inspector Calls -- is what i got to. Think I'm all set on them really. Read 3 times each. Watched the film and tv film so should be set
 
oli356 said:
What stories you even got to do anyway?

Mice and Men and Inspector Calls -- is what i got to. Think I'm all set on them really. Read 3 times each. Watched the film and tv film so should be set
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I'm only doing Of Mice and Men :confused: lol why you doing two?? :) and yeh seen the Of Mice and Men film, though there are some differences between it and the book :)
 
=S, we got to do 2 for Eng lit.
Different exam board maybe? I think ours is like WJEC

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Answer three questions: one from Section A (Questions 1 - 8); one from Section B (Questions
9 - 16); and Question 17 (Section C).
All questions in Sections A and B consist of two parts. Part (a) is based on an extract from the set text.
You are then asked to answer either (b) or (c), which requires some longer writing on the text.
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Eng lit + poetry:http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/papers/s09-0153-01.pdf
Eng Lang: http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/papers/s09-0150-01.pdf Ahh god lol. In the mock on Section B B2E
Write a story which ends with the following:
I hadn’t wanted to go but this had made it all worthwhile
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I wrote one rather wacky story! Maybe i shouldn't make it like rated 16+ next time hehe
 
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icysniper said:
what did grades did everyone get for their GCSE's, and which are the most important to revise??
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GCSE
A* - Maths, English Language., Science, Additional Science, ICT (taken in Year 9), Geography, Citizenship (short course)
A - English Literature, French (taken in Year 9), Religious Studies (short course)
B - Spanish

AS (taken during GSCE years 10+11)
A - Computing

Freaking SPANISH. Grr
 
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Limit yourself to an hour revision a day.
On the day of any exams do not do any revision in the morning, keep your routine as normal as possible. Don't stress your brain, it is like a muscle, it will get tired. Eat breakfast, stay hydrated.

Just keep your life as stress free as possible, stay in normal routine as you would going to school and relax.

I didn't revise at all for GCSE's, went in relaxed, chilled out, brain firing on all cylinders. I was in top sets for everything and doing advanced science. I got straight A's apart from resistant materials where I got a B.
Didn't even start with light revision til second year of college. Cramming is just going to stress your brain and tire you out, this is bad.
 
Well ive just finished all my mocks for the moment...got RE,Geog and two math ones coming up soon......I didnt do to badly one part 1 of english test 1 got 9/24 :/ and yet to get results of the next one.......I did shocking in the maths but ever since primary school ive struggled and just cant grasp a lot of the maths formulas etc.......Luckily i dont do triple science etc like a few do on here i think so no tests to worry about there :)
 
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