How can I get A*s for GCSE? ?

Question

One of my friends got 11 A*s, and I'd like to get similar results. I'm obviously going to work hard, but is there anything else I should be doing? Any tips?

Answer 1

you've also got to take in account how you've achieved high grades before.

but this is what works for me and is very very effective and the best bet for lazy revisers like myself. please read it all. as i actually bothered to write it for you :)

what you need is revision technique/tricks. however i'll warn you my revision habit is not really the ideal learning attitude. it's really just for grade digging. which works great with subjects that you dont' actually enjoy.

all you need are pastpapers(with full answers), exam syllabus, school textbook and a willingness to be memorize (not really to learn=sweet)

1. to make sure the time you use when revising will contribute is by going down the exact gcse syllabus. this way you will miss absolutely nothing and will not waste time learning extra stuff you wont' even be tested on. Your aim to learn enough but nothing more = saves times. extension work is pointless and a waste of brain space.

2. even when you know the syllabus and facts d**n well doesn't mean you will be able to transfer that knowledge onto the paper during the paper. Shaping your response in the exam gives you no time for emergency questions and not effective in terms of point scoring.

Your answer will probably not be good-technical wording or not way the examiners like it.

You need to believe that you're doing your answers not necessarily correct but to imitate the examiner's model answers.

therefore the only way and really alot easier cheat method= learn or memorize the past paper model answers. Get, slave, steal the past papers at least for past 5 years. Dont worry you don't acutally need to do them all. But study the trends. it's usually the same few question styles. (Eg for Edexel History Vietnam unit, their question ds are always whether how US got involved or how they lost. It just worded differently each year but very sneaky).

For science, past paper with answers are completely vital. For the complete Radioactivity unit i learnt from studying pastpaper answers. I didn't even need to open my books. That's how effective those papers and answers are. by learning from scratch their wording and definite mark-scoring answers, all you need to is learn them and paste them in your exam. you're guarranteed the examiner will love your answer.

best thing is you don't even need to understand them really. unlike if you studied from textbooks alone.

3. Unfortunately for maths, you acutally have to do the work. This is the only subject that my memorization cheating technique does not work. Just practise 20+past papers through out the year and you'll be fine.

4. get 90-100% on all your coursework. (trust me it's not that hard, considering it's not timed and you have so many resources) you need these babies to make space for your fall-back in your real exam.

5. Eng lit exam. look at all past papers and categorize annotations to their themes or character analysis. next write 2-3 essays that would work for a few exam questions. MEMORIZE THESE ESSAYS. in the exam just cut out the snippets of these essays to mold into your exam question. just learning quotes and annotations is not good enough if you want ot get A*. you're essay flow has to be good and word choice, structure. and by writing the essay before hand, your answer will be like cwk(top) quality.

if you suck at eng lit really, dont' worry.

just buy and somehow obtain model exam essays and memorize those. model as if would get (100%). this is coz, since these essays are acutally for another exam question and your exam will be slightly different, you will still be able to afford to lose a few marks.

You hate memorization or forced cramp? too bad. the hard-work revision normal way will take you at least 2 months prior to exams, plus you dont' even know what you're even revising is point-scoring or not.

Mine. i just started revising 2-3 DAYS to the exam. start later and suck it hard on those memorized answers :)

Things you need to keep in mind:

1. these are just gcses, an exam that tests you how well you can communicate the syllabus. not really if you understand them.

2. a high A* and a low A* is still an A*. so just to the TOUCH GRADE.

just work just hard enough to just fulfil low  A*. waste no extra energy to do extended. you won't even be credited for it.

3. listen so badly in class. your teachers will def slip out A* details or exam question trends.

4. This memorization past paper cheat method although very relaxing and does not require months/weeks of tedious revision does not encourage a positive learning attitude. it's really just for people who dont' want to work but want the grades. not if you can already passionately want to learn

5. keep an eye on your mock grades. use this method to trial for your mocks to see if it works for you. For my mocks i only studied on the week of the exams and only got 2 short of my final actual gcse result.

thanks for reading. and tell me your opinions on

PS. you don't need revision guides at all. School textbook and pastpapers answers are very adequate. I bought mine but i didn't even open them.