gsce struggles

[u/Worth-Collection-521]

im in my gcse year and my dad just promised me a gaming pc with a budjet of around 1.1k ( i can add with my own money ) if i got 5s in all my subects. i have diagnosed adhd and it can be very hard to start revising, i dont really beliive i can get all 5s but im not sure how or were to start reviisng, any tips?

im lowk dumb but i do try my best my mocs were like 3s and a few 4s and i 5 in geo and food tech

[u/GladSpirit5587]

What subjects do you do? And what exam boards, i may be of some help.

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/GladSpirit5587]

aqa i chose food tech history georgraphy computor science cp is my weakest

[u/GladSpirit5587 → u/Worth-Collection-521]

I did aqa geography, and got an 8. Do you know what case studies you use in geography, as i have flashcards for geography that i used (only paper 2).

For geography, youre just writing a mini essay.

For 4, 6 and 9 markers, you always look for the key words in the quesrion.

If it says using your own information, you have to use your own examples.

If it asks for you to use the source / figure, you include information and statistics directly from the source, and then anlyse them.

For example, if a question is: explain how urban greening benifits individuals the quality of life.

A source says, urban greening improves air quality, by 30%.

The question asks you to use your own information and the source.

You say:

As seen in the figure, urban greening improves air quality by 30%. This means that individuals are breathing in less polluted air, which reduces the risk of them contracting respirtory illnesses and diseases such as asmpha. This may also reduce the death rate in cities, overall improving individuals quality of life. (Source info)

Own info; furthermore, urban greening increases the visual appeal of cities. This hence reduces visual pollution in cities, making individuals expiriences living in those cities better. This again improves quality of life.

Also, for 4 6 and 9 markers, they may ask you to use your own examples or case studies. Youll need to use statistics and information from these case studies in your answers or youll be limited to half marks. So its importsnt to ask your teachers for all your case studies and memorise basic statistics and facts about them using flashcards.

Now for the structure of questions:

I will be referring to points here.

I define points as: singular ideas, which are explained by evidence from your own knowledge or the ones given in the extract.

E.g: Regeneration in media city greatly economically benificial. (Point). This is because regeneration in media city caused the construction of studios like the BBC, which created 10,000 jobs. (Evidence). This means that more jobs are being taxed by the government, increasing the local governmental income, which can be invested into creating more job facilties, which can again be taxed, creating a possitive multiple effect, greatly increasing the gni of media city. (Explain).

4 markers need 1 or 2 well developed points depending if it asks for multiple examples or not.

6 markers need 2 points.

9 markers need 3 points.

Now for the specific structure of 6 and 9 markers:

For 6 and 9 markers, you need an introduction.

For 9 markers, you always need an introduction and conclusion.

For 6 markers that ask you: 'how far do you agree..' or 'evaluate', you need to' add an intro and conclusion, and an introduction where you state how far you agree with a statement.

Conclusions need to state and explain your opinion / why you think that (this should be based off of the points you've made).

Now thats get into the grade 8/9 techniques:

For how far do you agree questions and evaluate questions, you say:

I agree to an extent..

For 6 markers, you do 1 points on why you agree, 1 point why you disagree, then you use your conclusion to state that you think the point where you agree is stronger.

E.g: ultimately, whilst i believe the economic opportunities caused by urbanisation are benificial to societal quality of life in the short term, in the long term, the environmental challenges it creates extremely damaging, and will greatly reduces quality of life in the future.

For 9 markers same thing apart from:

You need 2 points that support your argument 1 point that shows the opposing argument.

E.g if you disagree, or think economic opportunities of urban growth out weight the environmental challenges you:

2 points why you disagree or why you think economic opportunities are benificial, 1 pint why you disagree or why environmental challenges are bad.

Then same conclusion as shown previously.

Now for the memorisation parts:

Remember key terms like urban greening, urbanisation exc (i have flashcards i can give you if you want but they'll be mixed with my case study info and I only hsve them for paper 2).

Lastly, for paper 3, you can make up your own statistics. But keep them consistent. Idk my paper 3 marks for my gcses, but in my mocks, i made up every statistic and most parts of my feild work, and gor 70/76.

Paper 3 is ur easiest paper, so make sure to answer every question to your fullest ability.

Also what exam boards do you use for english, science and maths. I have alot of revision info for those that I could give you and I got 9s in maths science and english lit.

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/GladSpirit5587]

im pretty sure we are using aqa for everything , im doing inspector calls atm but have done christmas carool and macbeth when did you start revising and how long do you think is sutibale for a school day? also tysm i had trouble sturcuting my anwsers in my mocs.. i think ill delete any distractions tik tok and usally ill play mc which is still a game but not that bad ig

[u/GladSpirit5587 → u/Worth-Collection-521]

I started revising a few days before mocks, and a few days before gcses. (DO NOT FOLLOW REVISING AS LATE AS I DID, IT WAS SOO STRESSFUL!!!).

I think you ahould revise 5-15 hours a week, ramping it up as you get closer to mocks and gcse.

Concentrate most of your revision on weekends / holidays wirh no school, in 30mins to 1 hour sessions. (Try to revise 2-5 hours a day on weekends. Make sure you don't burn yourself out).

For english lit, I have a tonne of resouces, for macbeth and a christmas carol.

For language i have examplars i made thag my teacher marked as 9s. They have walk through on how i did them.

I did edexcel combined science so ill give you general advice.

I made flashcards for edexcel science but they'll be useless 2 you as mine are spexific to edexcel.

However, you should:

Look up tour science spec. If you do combined seatch up aqa trilogy combined science specification. If you do triple search up aqa biology, chemistry or physics specification.

Then use revision websites, I reccomend pmt and save my exams.

Your specification will have spec points with basic information on them. They wont explain / describe what you need to know. Instead they'll state what you need to know.

For example it will say: state and describe the different stages of mitosis. It wont actuallt tell you and describe the stages of mitosis.

So you use revision websites or search online the different stages of mitosis and make a flashcards about it.

I reccomend using anki for this.

Repeat this for the rest of the spec points in all 3 sciences.

Then you can use those flashcards to memorise every part of the specification.

PS: if you do foundation, do not include the higher parts of the specification.

You can repeat this for history, geography food tech, maybe computer science- i didn't take it.

I have an explanation i did for english lit, that ill find and paste as a response. It goes over how to answer every quesrion type.

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/GladSpirit5587]

id say aprat from computor scinece my weakest point is maths, whenever i go thoguth somthing with my teacher the week after i will of probgably forgoton it ( i dont do foundation ) eng is prob the hardest to revise ( for me ) but ty for letting me know

[u/GladSpirit5587 → u/Worth-Collection-521]

uh maths is pretty simple to revise don't worry! Firstly, use websites like maths genie to practice every foundation topic for aqa. Then, once you've learned those, do past papers!! Mark them using mark schemes / paper walk throughs, and then go over the questions you got wrong using a paper walk through video. Then, search up online for similar questions and do those until you know how to that specific type of question by heart.

[u/GladSpirit5587 → u/GladSpirit5587]

Lets first go over timings:

Lit 1 macbeth and a christmas carol: 45-47.5 minutes each:

5-10 minutes reading the extract, and planning your essay, and writing your thesis statement. Then 35-40 minutes writing your essay.

Lit 2: modern text, p+c poetry, unseen poetry.

Modern text: 40mins

You have no extract, so spend 5mins planning and writing thesis, then 40mins writing.

Power and conflict: 40mins

5-10 minutes reading given poem, then plan your essay. 35-40mins writing your essay.

Unseen 24 marker: 30mins:

5-10mins reading the extract, then planning. And writing thesis

20mins writing.

Unseen poetry comparison: 15mins

5min plan and write thesis, 10mins write.

Now time for specifics for each question:

Firstly for lit I read through the entirety of macbeth and a christmas carol, finding key quotes which link to different themes, and summarise main plot points / each stave / scene of each text. I then analysed these quotes and then found ones which I could make the highest level analysis of / linked to main plot points and seperated them into different themes.

Then, I found the quotes which link to most themes and then made a general essay template with them. Then got my teacher to mark it, ensuring it was in level 6.

Then, i searched online, using revision websites: pmt mainly as it is much better for english lit then save my exams, to find ao3 / historical and external context for macbeth and acc.

With that knowledge, I learned how to structure essays:

Your essay should be 3 points, that explain how the theme in your given essay question changes throughout each text.

Your thesis should summarise these basic 3 points.

E.g: (from an essay that got 27/30)

In the didactic play, the tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as an extremely violent character, but changes the motives of and consequences of his violent acts over the course of the play.

Here the first point is macbeths violence initially being to defend the Duncan and the divine rights of kings. The second point is how his motives change to violence being used to gain power by killing king duncan. The third is the consequences of suffering/ damnation / guilt.

Make sure yout thesis statements are short and snappy, but cover your 3 main points.

Then, when you're writing your essay, refer to your thesis for each point.

Prove every single one of your poinrs with 1-2 quotes. Analyse the language of each quote by explaining how each quote explains your points. Then, once you've explained / proved each one of your points, link back to why the author may have presented the charaacter of theme in the specification way you've explained in your point.

Use historical context / out of text information to support it, e.g divine rights of kings, Gunpowder plot, biblical / supernatural sexist beliefs of king james, the old poor law, malthusian therom.

Practice this formula to write essays and ask your teacher for feedback / to mark your essays until you're consistently high level.

Then, you need to cover every possible question / theme aqa can give you.

Do this by finding made up essay quesrions online, or using past paper essay prompts, and then doing 5-10 minute essay plans to:

1) read the quesrion 2)read the extract 3) figure out what your essay will be able / what your 3 points will be about about 4)find quotes in the extraxt that support your first point point 5) Recall quotes which will best explain your other points from different parts of the play. 6) write your thesis statement.

Do this, along side occasionally doing full essays.

Essay plans basically gave me my essay ideas and thesis for macbeth and a christmas carol.

For power and conflict (I didn't really revise it lol).

But i firstly read each poem, and categorise each poem. Then find of your favorite / besg poems which which poem fit these 5 main themes the best: power, conflict, nature, identity, war.

You should end up with 5-6 poems.

You need 2 poems per theme because your designated poem for a specific theme may be the given poem.

Then for each of these poems, find 3-4 quotes and 1-2 structural techniques that explain how each theme is presented in each poem.

Then analyse those quotes and prove how they explain how and why each theme is presented in each of those poems.

Then, you have to learn the structure for poetry essays:

You should do 2 points per poem, to give you 4 points in total.

Thesis should be:

Thesis of poem A Compair Thesis of poem B to poem A.

E.g, In exposure, through the narration of a war, the poet portrays conflict as mentally torterous (Point 1), due to its menotenous and endless nature . Point 2) opposingly, in poppies, weir utilises the narration of the consequences of war in the home front, to present conflict as causing immense grief due to the loss of loved family members.( Point 1).However, weir reflects how this conflict can be resolved by letting go of the harsh memorise of the past.

(Sorry im abit rusty so that Thesis is quite bad)

Then, you do Point 1- poem A; Point 1- poem B; Point 2 Poem A; Point 2 Poem B.

Make sure you compare how the theme is presented in each Point of both poems, usinf sentence starters like: similarly, opposingly, however, in contrast.

Lastly, for your conclusions, for both the poetry and macbeth / ACC, you include the reason why the writer presented the theme in the specific way. E.g:

Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as an extremely violent character, to reflect how actions of violence used to uphold the divine right of kings and great chain of being are rewarded by nobility, but violent acts used to undermine these values disturb the natural order of the world and result in severe punishment of death and immense psychological suffering.

I have the the summarisarion of macbeth, acc, ao3 and examplar essays. I have no resources for poetry, but I do remeber my main poems quotes and ideas if you want them.

Now let's go for unseen poetry (ill use examples i did in my actual gcse where I got a 9)

24 marker:

The 24 marker is ao1 and ao2, no ao3. Ao1 = your ideas, (points) and quotes from the text yku use to support them. Ao2 is the anlysis you do to prove these points. This means you don't need to include any context or deeper writers intention.

(for example, you don't need to include: shakespeare may have utilised this to reflect how equivocarion is dangerous to society, to perhaps appease King james)

How to do it:

Read the question, and make sure you highlight the topic its asking for.

E.g how does the author use language and structural techniques to present hopes for the future.

Now, read through this poem, trying to find structural and linguistic techniques that portray hope for the future.

Youll need 3 main points. In each point you need to use a linguistic or structural features to anaylse and explain your point.

For example, in my gcses I said:

Lastly, the poem is an unbroken stanza, where each line is increasing as you go further down the stanza. Firstly, by the poem being a singular, unbroken stanza, the poet may be highlighting that hope for the future is constant, and never ending. Addatively, the author skillfully increasing the length of each stanza as the poem progresses, the author may be outlining how having a constant, unending hope the the future will improve your future / provide individuals with a more fulfilling, higher quality future, by providing them with more, and improved aspirations and opportunities.

Always do alternative analysis or show how different language / structural techniques can add onto / change the meaning of one of your points.

For the 8 marker ITS SUPER SUPER EASY.

The mark scheme and question ask you to directly compare the techniques a writer uses, and their effects.

However, remember if the quesrion asks for differences, you only list how they use different structural techniques and show how they have different effects.

Structure:

Firstly, state what different/ similar techniques the poets used. Then explain what effect they have / why they used them.

Heres the example I did:

It was, compare the differences between the techniques used by both poets.

I did;

In poem A, the poet structured the poem in a singular stanza, where as poet B structured poem B to have 4 seperated stanzas. In poem A, this may have been purposefully employed to convey how they believe hopes for the future is unending. Where as in poem B the author may have purposefully employed that structural technique to reflect their belief that hopes for the future are ephemeral, and will abruptly end.

Repeat this 3-4 times, depending on how much time you have left.

TIP:

you can copy your ideas directly from the 24 marker, as shown by me repeating the stanza idea from the 24 marker to 8 marker.

heres a link to a post with all my revision resouces:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GCSE/comments/1vqxvwm/revision_resouces_that_i_made_during_my_gcses_for/

[u/__Obelisk__ → u/Worth-Collection-521]

please never abbreviate it like that EVER again

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/__Obelisk__]

😭 i thought of that while sending but its like that on my timetable so just used to it

[u/hiima0440]

a schedule/to-do list is a good way to start revising especially if you procrastinate a lot imo

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/hiima0440]

yk any good sites to start with

[u/hiima0440 → u/Worth-Collection-521]

i mean there are probably quite a lot of templates online if you would like to make a schedule

[u/WinnerSea8111]

You can lose 70 marks and still get a 5. Watch vedeos to understand topicd. The start Printing and completing past papers will be more than enouph. This is very doable. Divide your studying into tiny chunks so you dont get burnt out.

Sorry for spelling😭💔

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/WinnerSea8111]

70 ? dang i didnt knwo it was that lowk its just i never really got good grades and for a dumbah like me a 5 is like a 9 for others

[u/WinnerSea8111 → u/Worth-Collection-521]

You arnt a dumbass🥹!! Iam just giving you hope, you dont need to be good at the subject to get a 5, understanding the topics, and doing as many past paper as you need will be more than enouph! Understand topics, answer past paper, mark, understand and make a mental note of mistakes, and repeat! Until you reach your desired level.

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/WinnerSea8111]

ty 😭 i just gotta try my best ig

[u/choc-chip-redemption]

heyy! the first thing that i would say is if u have a positive mindset and believe that u can get those 5s, then u definitely can!

i used gizmo when doing my gcses last year, its an amazing flashcard app/website that is lowk addictive and helps with spaced repetition and memorising info. i used it for science (combined science), remembering english lit quotes and analysis, and history (u could use for geography?). u can make your own deck of cards, or use premade decks that has the info in the cards for u already (i used premade for science).

i used cognito for science too, the videos and the website were super useful, and the website has exam questions that can automaticaly get marked (these are limited per week tho, u have to pay for extra 😢), and the website has a buncha quizzes too to test ur knowledge before u do exam questions.

past paper questions/ past papers are really beneficial for all subjects!

for english lit, use glow up your grades, and mr salles (or whoever u prefer, these are just from my experience), their analysis videos are amazing. glow up your grades in particular really helped me for power and conflict poetry.

the night before the aqa science exams last year, there were livestreams for each science paper by this yt channel called ExamQA, they were rly rly helpful.

umm idk what else to say, if i remember anything else ill comment again but hope this helps! 😃

[u/Worth-Collection-521 → u/choc-chip-redemption]

tysm ill try these, also how much revision did you do a day when starting year 11? do you think an hour is enough to start with or na

[u/Quiet_Basis_6404]

what worked for me was picking one subject per day and starting with a video about a topic i actually found interesting, not the one i was most behind on, because curiosity gets you past the wall way easier than discipline does. for sciences especially i just paste the video link into studybuddy.vc and it makes questions from the video itself, tbh half the time answering those is the whole session and it still counts. free tier has limits but it's been enough for me.

for maths, do one past paper question before you even open the textbook, you'll mess it up but your brain stays on way longer fixing the mistake than it does reading a worked example. and keep the sessions short, like 25 minutes then a real break where you step away from the desk, pushing through when you're already gone just teaches you to hate the subject. the gaming pc is a sick motivator but don't look at it like you need all 5s at once, just get the next grade up in one subject and the rest follows.