Ask your teachers or find out on the website of each of your GCSEs Exam boards. Common ones are: AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC. The facts you need to know are often dependent on which exam board you do, so it’s important to know your board so that you know what to revise.
Before you spend about £50 on revision books, ask your teachers whether the school is going to provide you with any revision books. Ask your teacher if the revision books are available in the school library. Also buy revision books that are specific to your exam board, not the general books with vague information. CGP revision guides are particularly concise and useful.
Write down your goal grades for each subject and always aim for the top mark range, where possible. It’s always better to aim high! Be positive, calm and confident about your exams. If you put in the work, there’s no need to panic about doing badly. Preparation is the key to success.
Write out notes from your revision book rather than just reading it, or else the information won’t stay in your brain. Try to write neatly so it’s easy to review later on. Prioritize your subjects and their various topics to know which ones need the most work. Try making index cards with questions on one side and answers on the other to help you learn the facts. Online flashcards that you can study on a mobile app are especially good for consistent revision.
Write out notes from your revision book rather than just reading it, or else the information won’t stay in your brain. Try to write neatly so it’s easy to review later on. Prioritize your subjects and their various topics to know which ones need the most work. Try making index cards with questions on one side and answers on the other to help you learn the facts. Online flashcards that you can study on a mobile app are especially good for consistent revision.
Offer to do the same for them – then the arrangement will be useful for both of you. Having a study buddy can make studying fun and effective – provided you stay focused on the material. You can also get help from people who have already passed their GCSEs – like parents or older siblings and friends.
Five minutes with flashcards every day over a long period of time will be better than six hours cramming of science without breaks or rewards. This is something you can easily do on the bus or while waiting for your friends at the coffee shop.
If you’re younger and using this guide for other exams you’ll probably want shorter breaks more often - ten minute breaks for every half hour. Try not to get distracted by others or the internet during your study breaks – go for a walk outside instead, the fresh air will be way more beneficial than browsing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or any other social media.
Without enough sleep, your mind becomes foggy and you’ll find it difficult to remember information. Set yourself a strict bedtime and make sure you get at least eight hours sleep a night.
An example routine could be: get up at 7:30, breakfast 7:45, lunch at 1:00, dinner at 6:00, bed at 9:00. This is easier if you have school, but some schools choose to give you study leave instead. If this is the case, you’ll just have to be more disciplined! If you do have school, you should think about going to lunchtime revision classes.
For the reading papers there is a simple way to revise - read. Not just the TV guide but everything. Read newspapers often; broadsheets, not tabloids like the Sun or The Mail. Read with an active, analytical mind, considering the intended audience and purpose, separating opinion from fact, and any techniques the author uses to persuade/inform/explain. This does not, however, benefit everyone so as an alternative try reading good quality literature on any topic that interests you. Make lists of the types of questions you might be asked (e. g. writing to persuade) and practice. Get past papers and questions from your teachers, then have them marked by your teachers who should enjoy the extra workload and the sudden interest in learning. Homework is not revision - it’s just homework.
It is important to get the revision books to find out all the necessary information and memorize them. To help with this, it’s a good idea to make thorough notes on all of the required notes early in the year and revise these notes continually – it’s easier to remember something when you have known it for a long time. Flashcards and mnemonics are also helpful for remembering large quantities of information. .
Listening papers require a lot of pre-knowledge of your Areas of Study, so learn all the facts in a way that suits you. Also make sure to listen to lots of different kinds of music with an active mind.
