Discussing how to get a 9 for a GCSE exam you’re not going to be taking for at least another six months may seem premature; however, the reality is, if you’re in Year 11, your GCSE revision should already be underway. Especially if you want to secure higher marks. Even if you’re still in Year 10 or Year 9, going over your existing notes and ensuring you have a strong handle on the foundation aspects of your subjects will set you up for greater scores when the time comes to sit the exams.
There is a huge difference between simply taking notes during a class or revision session and making notes that are good quality and covering everything that you need to learn and remember. The whole point of recording information on a piece of paper is to be able to refer to it, to help either increase your understanding or give you a refresher when the time comes to revise.
This means that the information you write down needs to be succinct, because you need to able to quickly highlight the information you require to be able to proceed. Choosing to work with tutors is a great idea. Online maths and science tuition could be really helpful. An online science tutor can help you prepare for your GCSE Combined Science exams, whilst an online chemistry tutor, online biology tutor and online physics tutor will be invaluable for those students taking GCSE Triple Science, and an online maths tutor can help you to maximise your potential with GCSE Maths. Take the time to speak to your tutors to ask them what books they may recommend when it comes to revising. They will certainly point you in the right direction and help ensure you have the right books for the exam board you’ll be sitting with.
Once you have a revision study guide, you can use this to make condensed notes on the topics you need further help with. Only making notes on areas you need to pay more attention to will help you feel less daunted – two pages of important information in a book can be boiled down to a few short lines of text, depending on your current knowledge. This is far easier to digest and can be colour coded to help you navigate it even better.
Cue cards can be a great way to revise – though it’s important to remember that they don’t necessarily work for everyone. If you find that you’re not getting on with them as a study aide it might be worth seeking advice and support from your online tutors or teachers as to alternative methods that might work better.
As well as having flashcards for general information, you will also likely want to have cards that specifically focus on equations. It may be worth having the equation components on one side, for example Current, Potential Difference and Power. On the other side, you would write out the equation triangle to help you remember how to use it and under what circumstances. Top Tip: If you write the equation out in alphabetical order, you’re less likely to be swayed by positioning when it comes to writing the equation properly.
Unlike many other subjects where all your knowledge will need to be displayed theoretically, with science GCSEs you will be required to demonstrate some practical knowledge too. It’s worth taking the time to write down the methods associated with relevant practicals, as well as ensuring you practice any associated diagrams too.
It’s impossible to know what questions are going to come up in your exams, so if you want to secure a top grade, you’re going to have to take the time to ensure there are no gaps in your knowledge. You simply cannot afford to be faced with a question you have no idea how to answer.
Revision and study guides will allow you to have a clear idea of what topics will be covered, and what information you need to know. However, working with someone like a personal GCSE Science tutor for GCSE Combined Science, or a biology tutor, a chemistry tutor and a physics tutor for GCSE Triple Science, will help you dig deeper into that knowledge and find out more about each topic and subtopics.
A GCSE Biology tutor, for example, will be able to help you identify any weaknesses in your knowledge when it comes to a subject such as ecology. There may be some aspects you’re already very familiar with and therefore confident in, such as animal adaptations, but perhaps you need more help with plant populations.
Working with a dedicated tutor will give you the support you need to highlight these relevant areas, as well as the time to cover those areas in more depth. A tutor can not only provide information, but clarify anything that remains confusing, give you help with structuring answers as we as running through past papers and exam questions with you.
If you are working with a GCSE Chemistry tutor, or a physics and maths tutor, then they’re likely to have lots of practice papers to go through with you. These are great for several reasons.
Firstly, they can be used as part of your revision. Once you have learnt a subject, or have gone back and revised it, you can take a test paper and use your marks to determine what gaps you have in knowledge, or which areas may need a little further work. This can help you tweak your revision notes or change where your focus will lie for the remainder of your revision timetable.
Sitting a practice exam paper before taking your mocks, or the final exams is a great way to get used to the idea of being timed. Have a set amount of time to answer a specific selection of questions can be quite a foreign concept, so understanding how much time to dedicate to questions, based on how much they’re worth, is a skill you should hone.
Practice papers are also a great way to try your hand at answering a wide variety of types of questions. Some questions will be multiple choice, some may require a brief explanation, whilst yet others will need a deeper level of explanation to show understanding. Doing these papers will help your online science tutor and maths tutor determine which areas may require more attention and will allow you to work together to improve your knowledge and confidence in preparation for the real thing.
One of the best things you can do to help ensure success in your science and maths GCSE exams is work with a private online tutor. You can start searching for the right tutor for you today by emailing us at info@tutorspot.co.uk or giving us a call or text on 07480637128.
