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. :)

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.

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!

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.