il va de soi

Yes, I know the theory on how to get motivated, it’s just that unfortunately I can’t seem to implement it into my life…ah well, here you go:

1) Make a timetable and stick to it
2) Be realistic, give yourself proper and regular breaks, don’t expect yourself to study for 5 hours straight.
3) Think about how important these exams are - I’ve just applied to university, and trust me, GCSEs are important. Don’t make yourself regret it later!
4) Be positive.

So, yeah. Just make notes from your text book and practice past papers, then mark them properly with a mark scheme, and learn the mark scheme answers off by heart. You can’t go wrong. :)

I’m curious as to why you think I do ‘so much’ studying - at the moment I actually just get the bare minimum done (basically, my homework) and that’s pretty much it. I don’t really have time to do anything else… I only really revise and study when it comes to exam time and I’m preparing for an exam. But anyway, how I get all my homework done is, I try to do as much as possible in my free time at school instead of waiting until I get home. A lot of people waste their free time at school but I think it’s important to utilise it correctly - you end up with a lot more free time at home (so you can waste it on Tumblr). Oh also, it’s important to spend only the required time on a set piece of work. Previously when I used to struggle with work load it was because I was spending too long on stuff that didn’t need it. Identify what you need to do to get whatever grade you need, and just do that. And when you do something, put your laptop/phone away and just GET ON WITH IT. It’ll be done so much quicker.

It’s right in the beginning of the year! Don’t start revising for exams now, you’ve barely covered any of the syllabus. Do make sure you’ve understood things as you go along, read over things in your text book as that’ll mean you’re not starting from square one when you do start revision closer to the time. You’ll have some modules in January presumably - spending the Christmas holidays revising for them should be enough. And then spending Easter holidays onwards revising for summer exams should be enough. Don’t be scared, just work hard and don’t stress and you’ll be fine. Feel free to ask me any specific questions if you need help though.

I find French really easy but only because I practised a lot. If you like it but don’t do well in exams maybe you just need to practice more exam style questions?

Hi, thank you so much! Hmm it was a year and a bit ago now so hard to remember precisely but… GCSE exams start in May right? So it was probably the Easter holidays in April? The problem with GCSEs is not that they’re really very difficult but rather that the sheer amount of stuff you have to learn is really quite overwhelming. Because of that, I recommend starting fairly early and not leaving everything til the last few days. But not so early that you get really fed up with it and start not following your revision timetable - make it realistic.

To be honest, I have always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was a little kid and dressed up in a little doctor outfit and went around ‘making people better’ :P but obviously I had to make sure that it was the right thing for me and that’s where work experience comes in. When I did it I enjoyed it so so much. I really felt right in the medical environment and I could see myself doing working there.   And that’s what really confirmed it in my mind, that and visits to various medical schools and finding out what the course is like (because there are people who like the idea of being a doctor but the medicine course doesn’t actually suit them - you gotta be careful)

Hope this helps in any way!

• Put work in all year round, not just at the end
• Learn key vocab
• Do past papers and look at mark schemes when you’re done
• You do controlled assessments - for God’s sake, you get to learn the writing and speaking exams OFF BY HEART. So do it! You have no idea how many people I know who didn’t just because they couldn’t be bothered. And remember that the bulk of marks come from content, not grammar/accent/spelling (although they are quite important too)
• Don’t stress out about it, it’s much simpler than you think
• Outline what your weaknesses are and target them specifically and determinedly. I, for example, always found Listening the hardest, so I practised once a week outside of lessons for the whole of Year 10 and 11. Now I find it an absolute doddle. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s really important to take have time off, enjoy yourself and relax, otherwise when you do study you won’t be working to your full potential and it’s a waste of time. So that’s what I did. However it’s equally important to know yourself and how you learn, and do the amount that you need to do to succeed. Yes, I worked hard for my GCSEs; in the couple of weeks leading up to them especially it’s VERY important to focus. But I made sure to do other things too.

Lots of tips! Here goes:

• Make a thorough timetable and stick to it
• Don’t leave things too last-minute
• Make sure you consider which subjects need more time than others. Although you might really enjoy something, if you’re also really good at it you should consider spending less time on it and more on something harder. It’s easy to spend more time on the easier subjects because you enjoy them! As an example I loved French but I didn’t need to do any work for it - so I didn’t waste any time.
• Find a method that works for you and stick with it. MAKE USE OF MOCK EXAMS/PAST PAPERS to find out what your ideal methods are! I used read the text book, make notes from it and then do past papers. Some people like getting other people to test them. Do what works for you.
• Past papers past papers past papers! I can’t stress enough how important this is, they REUSE the same questions over and over again! Memorise the mark schemes!
• Don’t overwork yourself - do leave time for breaks in your revision time table. If you do too much it’ll be less productive as you’ll be too tired and you’ll get fed up of working. Trust me, cramming all day will do nothing for you. But spending an hour or two working, then taking a 15 minute break, then another hour working, worked very well for me.
• If you don’t understand something, ASK. Don’t assume it won’t come up. Ask a teacher, a friend, a sibling, someone you think knows the answer.
• Practice timing on past papers

That’s all I can think of for now, do you have any questions about particular subjects? And I got all A*s so do feel free to ask, I’m happy to help.