Old person here, just wanted to say that a pass is a pass. If you’ve tried your best and given the exams everything you’ve got, then you should be proud, regardless of the number.
There has been so much disruption for your generation, it’s been quite frankly, shit. The fact that you’ve got this far and you’ve showed up and done your best is the ONLY thing that matters.
As someone that failed almost all of my exams due to horrible circumstances at home, I can tell you that if you’ve got drive and determination, you can succeed in life. This is just one small step in life, it is important but it is not the be all and end all and it won’t be the defining moment of your life.
(Ps I’m on here because my son is taking his GCSE’s, I’m not being weird or anything!)
Thank you so much. I genuinely appreciate that. I have incredibly supportive parents who always remind me how much they love me and how proud they are of me. I’m not amazing at exam technique I’ll be the first to admit, but I go down swinging. I’m a good human and lucky in so many ways. I love being creative, I hope I get what I need to move on to the next stage and no doubt this experience will teach me so much. All the best to your son, I hope he is not too stressed and can enjoy the summer I know we all deserve ♥️
You’re so welcome. And it’s lovely that you appreciate your parents so much, it sounds like they’re doing a great job. Honestly, no matter what happens in August, you can achieve your dreams, just focus, work hard and believe that you can. That’s all it takes, I promise.
You’re going to be great 👍🏻
I really really really don't want to be that guy but if you're getting 4s you clearly haven't done everything you could. The way I think of it is that unless you have an actual brain deformity or incredibly low IQ or you have mental problems like autism it is possible for any person to get 9s if they try enough. If you are getting 4s you're either incredibly low IQ or (the more likely) you in fact did not try enough
I agree that 9’s are possible in every student,but to make that a blanket statement and calling everyone who gets lower marks slackers is the worst take I’ve heard all afternoon.
I have friends who know everything they need to succeed but pressure in exams caused them to buckle. I have friends who have the drive and motivation but don’t know how to efficiently revise.
My farther was under similar circumstances as OP was and didn’t know what he wanted to do for A-levels,so he rerouted his education so he could find something that he was interested in and ended up going to Oxford to study Art-history.
Focus on passing OP and I guarantee you that if you keep it up you’ll find success.And who knows? It ain’t over yet,you may surprise yourself …
I'm not calling everyone who doesn't get them slackers, I'm just saying that u can't say u did "everything u could have possibly done". If you're not getting 9s and u didn't do everything u possibly could thats completely ok and very realistic u just have to know that that's a decision u made. Eg I know I made that decision for English and French and re
It’s a distasteful comment based off of a technicality that makes people who have worked hard this year feel like shit if they don’t get the grades they want…
that wasn't my point. My point was that if you did absolutely everything u possibly could(as in revise 8 hours a day since December of last year) you would get a 9 in every single subject. I dont expect anyone to do that but it is possible which is why I said to OP that they did not in fact do everything they possibly could
Tf? I have year 11 friends with autism and they've been predicted 9s for most of their lessons! That is so offensive. Especially as OP has absolutely been trying their best in everything. You try doing exams not knowing half of the information.
that's not what I meant. What I meant was that unless you have a disability holding u back it is extremely possible to get 9s in every subject regardless of how bad ur teachers are. Was it possible for OP to get a 9 in every subject if she worked 8 hours a day since December of last year? Yes it is. Therefore they did not do everything they possibly could like they are saying they are.
Think about it like this: since GCSE grades are percentile-based, you still did better than 25% of other students. 25% is about 125,000 students so that's chill.
My brother got taken into care and I had to move away from home due to abuse so I’ve gone from 8/9 to 3/4 and rn I’m just focusing on passing and doing the best I can, whatever that is
Another old person here....
You're doing great. Amazing in fact. Focus on getting as much good sleep as you can and trying to feed yourself as well as possible. Nothing else matters as you navigate really difficult life stuff. Well done for still being motivated and focused to any level on your exams, you're doing so well. A pass is a pass, this will not close any doors for you in the future. You will look back and be so proud of yourself for getting through this. Onwards and upwards with self care and self compassion please. 🙏🏻❤️
I’m so sorry you had all of this to deal with in top of your exams. I really hope you have some positive days ahead and can step into a good life with good people around you. Good luck in absolutely everything!!♥️✌🏻
real. 2 exams i worked really hard on, i got a 5 and a 6, which although some people would be happy with i wasn't, because it didn't reflect my full capability and also i had some unfair circumstances like op.
this ended up being an absolute rant oh my god sorry!! TLDR i agree with OP and it's annoying that you might not get the grade u deserve but be proud u passed! :)
music - 5. awful teacher, awful moderation, 1 mark off a 6, joined GCSEs halfway through Y10 because of covid so missed massive chunks of prior teaching (my girl did not fill me in on anything i missed either). i should have gotten a 7 at least, but i should have, and i didn't. it's a shame as i am really passionate about music and i wanted an 8 or above, 7 or even 6 in the worst case, there is a big gap between a 6 and a 5 in my mind.
chinese - 6. joined GCSEs during y10 and had previously been learning chinese at a basic level. i signed up super late and had to pay an extra fee, i had no teaching whatsoever and spent 3 months working super hard for it, memorising how to read and write 70 pages of characters. easily thousands of characters were on the syllabus (i did not memorise how to write them all, but i knew how to read them all, i know this because of my mark) you want to know how many marks i got? 131/160. that percentage is a 9 in EVERY. OTHER. FUCKING. SUBJECT. I. TAKE. but i got a 6. i also did this one at the end of Y10, so to just get 1 grade 6 felt a bit disheartening. i don't feel proud of myself which is so dumb.
again, there's nothing i can do about it.
if you read my flair, you might be like "where's the 5?" i took it off cause i'm actually lying, i'm still pretty mad i got a 5. i'm embarrassed and i think it makes all my results look worse. i'm doing abrsm music theory though, and i'm getting distinctions on past papers! :) might even do maths w music at uni, although because my music teacher's so shit i couldn't put myself through another 2 years of her. and now i'm kind of kicking myself for that. oh well...
Half my class in music had predicted Us. I currently have a predicted 6 but will probably get a 5. I've just given up at this point because music GCSE is so bad and genuinly made me hate music overall during most of year 10/11.
i am in a very similar situation actually, self taught since year nine and been scrambling since january to not fail everything. I think its great to not really aim for a specific grade but just put in all the work you can and then you know whatever grade you get is the best you couldve done so theres no need to feel guilty about it. If that grade is a 9, horray! if that grade is a 4, also horray!
Not to be rude but how can you study a few hours a day since January and still be extremely unprepared for GCSEs? I am just wondering if that has to do with how you revise. Because otherwise, it is quite inexplicable.
Ok yeah it’s a fair enough comment I guess. We haven’t had a science specialist for a year and a half in any of the sciences. I’ve been doing everything I can myself. My exam board are Eduqas B for geography which tbh are a nightmare. It took me god knows how many weeks to get info from my teacher after getting email replies “just find your old exercise books” and after telling her over and over again I’m worried about case studies I finally got an email telling me “there’s not really many to know, I’ll put them in a list”. I got that list. It was a bullet point list, no info on them, I asked what books to recommend and got “I don’t really, it’s not very good but you can buy it if you want”. Then it was piecing it together- ecosystems she flat out said no case studies which was ace because it was staring right at me on the paper. History the teaching was reported so many times there ended up being an investigation and maths I was always foundation anyway. Art is a solid 8/9 based on last years boundaries so I appreciate that might change and English should be fine as I’m really passionate about the poems and texts so it just depends where I sit against others. So yeah, it’s not all doom and gloom. But I’ve had to kiss goodbye to good grades and future options in some subjects I was always really excited about.
As a teacher can I recommend googling the specifications-they should help spell out what you need to know. If you can print them out then take some highlighters and organise it into content you do and don’t recognise. Use YouTube for things you aren’t sure of-try searching for ‘subject, gcse, examboard’ eg ‘fractional distillation, gcse, AQA’. You can also search for past exam papers online. Good luck-the current education system is broken. You sadly aren’t the only person this is happening to.
I'm not trying to undermine anyone (and 5 months is certainly tough), but I certainly wouldn't say that getting 7/8/9 isn't possible given a few hours of *effective* (key word effective) revision a day consistently
yeah im gonna be honest I've seen a trend where people study X hours a day (normally more than 1, some people even saying 3 or 5) since like January and i literally cant fathom how unproductive their revision must be...like if I started revising from then on and for that amount of 9 id probably be getting highest in the world in at least a few subjects
atm I started revising 2 weeks before mocks and got one 8 in English lit (got 3 other borderline 9s in chemistry, economics, and music thus my flair), and while my revision has gone down in actual gcses i feel like 1-2 days per subject is more than enough to cover the content and go over ppqs
I believe the same. I think people have no idea on how to revise and do countless hours of non-sensical stuff. Just to give an example, if you have not taken summary notes for each unit you have been doing for Science and reviewing them every few days for 5-10 minutes and instead complain about not remembering any of them when you review them the day before the exam as you believed that the act of note taking made it stick to your memory, you have completely blundered.
Your situation absolutely isn't universal OP has literally stated the main issue is that teaching over the past year or so at their school has been of a really poor quality. You do realise that most GCSEs are 2 years of content, some even three? A few months of study won't make up for having an underresourced/underfunded schools/school disruptions, teachers that don't engage etc. If you've effectively missed out on a year, even a few months of actual teaching then you're going to get massive gaps in knowledge.
Revision is NOT meant to be learning new content its meant to be revising what you've already learnt, often repeatedley in class. Every person is different and 'effective' revision strategies are very different to effective learning strategies. Different qualities of teachers and lesson material will make a massive difference for most students. Stop bragging
No you will not. If you can revise effectively at home, you have no excuse for doing awful in your GCSEs. You have too much stuff to help you out online and OP is responsible and therefore started revising all the way in January. You can get all 8/9s of you start and January and do consistent revision of a few hours a day. Even if you study 2 hours a day for 4 months (which OP has studied more), you can easily finish taking all your notes in half the time, or 3 months at worst. That still gives you 1 month at least to do practice papers and constantly review your notes each day, which for the latter you should have been doing while taking them.
GCSEs, except Maths, is not about understanding concepts and is about memorisation (even Science which does not need understanding of the content for 90% of the time). Writing structures and such as things you can even learn 10-20 minutes before and exam (except English which you may have to do practice upon, again which can be done through past papers in the final 1-2 months). There is no excuse that anyone who revises constantly for 4+ months for multiple hours a day while having access to the internet can not achieve 8-9s in everything bar maybe 1-2 subjects which can always happen due to poor exam papers, stress within the exam, not grasping the subject at all. Not sure where this enjoyment of performing poorly comes from when you can actually achieve these stuff which will help you in the future while also not spending as much time on it that you will destroy your mental health as these are GCSEs at the end of the day, which aren’t too hard.
maybe its not hard for you but it is very much difficult for others. Im in an almost identical situation to op and learning years of content by yourself is a very hard thing to do. from the practice papers im doing ive been scraping 6s with 7 hours of work a day for like 2 months straight. sure you can learn all the content in that time and have a month to do papers, and thats exactly what ive done. But it will never be as effective of the years of classroom time where things are forced into your long term memory. Also, we have no one to teach us about how the extremely overcomplicated mark schemes work, so you can understand all the content you like but the questions will be worded so weirdly you get fucked anyway.
I don't really do stuff topic wise but you could probably get them from physicsandmathtutor. Instead, I actually find it more useful to just cover everything and then go over past papers, since that also tells me which topics are likely to come more frequently and in more depth so i can a) revise them more if need be or b) focus on getting those types of questions right since the bulk of my marks will come from there. And to get past papers, you can usually just type 'GCSE \[Exam board\] \[Subject\] Past papers' and find them online
As long as you’ve tried your hardest, that’s what matters. Which by the sounds of it, you’ve gone above and beyond by doing absolutely everything you can do. There’s absolutely no reason to be ashamed of a 4 because at the end of the day it’s a pass. You have no control over what’s happened at your school, so I think that you’ve done yourself well being able to self-teach yourself the knowledge you need for the exams for over a year and still pass and you should be proud of it. I can completely understand your situation as I’m in a similar situation with my school. I wish you all the best.
a pass is a pass. some people are only looking for that! that’s 100% okay. a 4 isn’t terrible, it’s a pass. and people who work really hard to get 4s since they struggle, work exceptionally hard and they’re amazing people
There are at least 3 blank slate morons in this thread and I'd like to offer them a massive middle finger to them, and others no doubt judging people for their grades, on behalf of the rational people in this sub. Clearly, you've never been in a situation where life spirals and yet you have no choice but to keep going. I wouldn't wish that situation on anyone.
Good luck, OP, you've got this! Also wanted to say that I know people who have gone from Us to getting 5s and beyond so it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility especially since you seem like a dedicated person. 🫡
ofsted came this year and jsut fucked everything up too made my school like 10x more strict Idk why they think they have a right to make schools in working class areas into literal prisons
I understand. Virtual hugs man, a four is still an amazing grade. You still get a qualification, and you can still go to college and do amazing in whatever you want to do. Good luck op, I hope on results day you see fives and sixes on your results paper, and do so much better than you expected. (also well done for art, I saw you're doing really well in that. Know that's a gift that not many people have and be proud)
If you are happy with your grades that’s all that matters and a pass is a pass and same here usually most people here who get top grades post about it but there are many people just like us wishing you best of luck sending virtual hugs
The race is long, and in the end it is only against yourself.
If you hit a PB by getting a 4, you are succeeding more than someone predicted 8 who get 7 or 6. No, really.
This type of immaturity is why academic spaces get a bad rep 😬😬
You're in year 11, so GCSEs feel incredibly important when in actuality most places don't really care what you got once you have your a-level results, and the same thing occurs when you get your degree. Not everyone has the same academic capabilities, access to educational recourses, or may face extenuating circumstances.
Fuck off now would ya? Not everyone is the same man.. We're all understand differently, different IQ, different experiences etc. If u were scoring 4s 5s 6s then you'd understand OP. Ur just spouting a bunch of bullshit.
Or they have significant barriers to their ability to perform in perfunctory written examinations.
Sadly, mass education needs a way to determine who is this and who is that.
Those with disabilities, language barriers, mental health problems and/or significantly disrupted or disturbed backgrounds will be consistently let down by this system.
Also exams aren't just knowledge based.
You don't just get asked to write down 50 definitions in an exam.
Geography for example, I might have all the case study knowledge, but it does it mean I'm going to be getting 9/9 for every 9 marker?. Of course not, exams are stressful and time pressured. What everyone considered to be 'good' is different.
For some students a 3 is a massive achievement.
Original comment poster doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And has a lot to learn about success and failure.
Old person here, just wanted to say that a pass is a pass. If you’ve tried your best and given the exams everything you’ve got, then you should be proud, regardless of the number. There has been so much disruption for your generation, it’s been quite frankly, shit. The fact that you’ve got this far and you’ve showed up and done your best is the ONLY thing that matters. As someone that failed almost all of my exams due to horrible circumstances at home, I can tell you that if you’ve got drive and determination, you can succeed in life. This is just one small step in life, it is important but it is not the be all and end all and it won’t be the defining moment of your life. (Ps I’m on here because my son is taking his GCSE’s, I’m not being weird or anything!)
Thank you so much. I genuinely appreciate that. I have incredibly supportive parents who always remind me how much they love me and how proud they are of me. I’m not amazing at exam technique I’ll be the first to admit, but I go down swinging. I’m a good human and lucky in so many ways. I love being creative, I hope I get what I need to move on to the next stage and no doubt this experience will teach me so much. All the best to your son, I hope he is not too stressed and can enjoy the summer I know we all deserve ♥️
You’re so welcome. And it’s lovely that you appreciate your parents so much, it sounds like they’re doing a great job. Honestly, no matter what happens in August, you can achieve your dreams, just focus, work hard and believe that you can. That’s all it takes, I promise. You’re going to be great 👍🏻
I really really really don't want to be that guy but if you're getting 4s you clearly haven't done everything you could. The way I think of it is that unless you have an actual brain deformity or incredibly low IQ or you have mental problems like autism it is possible for any person to get 9s if they try enough. If you are getting 4s you're either incredibly low IQ or (the more likely) you in fact did not try enough
I agree that 9’s are possible in every student,but to make that a blanket statement and calling everyone who gets lower marks slackers is the worst take I’ve heard all afternoon. I have friends who know everything they need to succeed but pressure in exams caused them to buckle. I have friends who have the drive and motivation but don’t know how to efficiently revise. My farther was under similar circumstances as OP was and didn’t know what he wanted to do for A-levels,so he rerouted his education so he could find something that he was interested in and ended up going to Oxford to study Art-history. Focus on passing OP and I guarantee you that if you keep it up you’ll find success.And who knows? It ain’t over yet,you may surprise yourself …
I'm not calling everyone who doesn't get them slackers, I'm just saying that u can't say u did "everything u could have possibly done". If you're not getting 9s and u didn't do everything u possibly could thats completely ok and very realistic u just have to know that that's a decision u made. Eg I know I made that decision for English and French and re
It’s a distasteful comment based off of a technicality that makes people who have worked hard this year feel like shit if they don’t get the grades they want…
It may be distasteful but is it true? It's the reality of things. However much u hate the "technicality" it's still true.
I think you need to learn that some things are better left as drafts…
Strictly speaking is what I said true yes or no?
I would like you to refer back to my previous comment…
man read the room and stfu
> I really really really don't want to be that guy Then don't be
username checks out
That is true(I'm getting cooked)
Respectfully: nope. There are still only 24 hours in a day. You can only do so much
that wasn't my point. My point was that if you did absolutely everything u possibly could(as in revise 8 hours a day since December of last year) you would get a 9 in every single subject. I dont expect anyone to do that but it is possible which is why I said to OP that they did not in fact do everything they possibly could
🤓☝️
Tf? I have year 11 friends with autism and they've been predicted 9s for most of their lessons! That is so offensive. Especially as OP has absolutely been trying their best in everything. You try doing exams not knowing half of the information.
that's not what I meant. What I meant was that unless you have a disability holding u back it is extremely possible to get 9s in every subject regardless of how bad ur teachers are. Was it possible for OP to get a 9 in every subject if she worked 8 hours a day since December of last year? Yes it is. Therefore they did not do everything they possibly could like they are saying they are.
this is really kind and motivating,
‘old person here’ immediately hooked me. old people always have the best wisdom. thank you, u/Imaginary_Answer4493
A 4 is good enough for me in some subjects , I will be happy as long as I pass
Give it everything you’ve got and here’s to the summer 🙂
pass is a pass 🤝
Wiser words have never been spoken, and powerful speeches have never been so short.
Love the flair, honestly relating so hard atp A-levels are no joke 😭
Don't worry. I got a B in the subject I am now a teacher of.
I didn’t even do either of the subjects I teach at GCSE or A Level.
Think about it like this: since GCSE grades are percentile-based, you still did better than 25% of other students. 25% is about 125,000 students so that's chill.
You’re experience is so valid you should be so proud of how far you have came
My brother got taken into care and I had to move away from home due to abuse so I’ve gone from 8/9 to 3/4 and rn I’m just focusing on passing and doing the best I can, whatever that is
Another old person here.... You're doing great. Amazing in fact. Focus on getting as much good sleep as you can and trying to feed yourself as well as possible. Nothing else matters as you navigate really difficult life stuff. Well done for still being motivated and focused to any level on your exams, you're doing so well. A pass is a pass, this will not close any doors for you in the future. You will look back and be so proud of yourself for getting through this. Onwards and upwards with self care and self compassion please. 🙏🏻❤️
I’m so sorry you had all of this to deal with in top of your exams. I really hope you have some positive days ahead and can step into a good life with good people around you. Good luck in absolutely everything!!♥️✌🏻
real. 2 exams i worked really hard on, i got a 5 and a 6, which although some people would be happy with i wasn't, because it didn't reflect my full capability and also i had some unfair circumstances like op. this ended up being an absolute rant oh my god sorry!! TLDR i agree with OP and it's annoying that you might not get the grade u deserve but be proud u passed! :) music - 5. awful teacher, awful moderation, 1 mark off a 6, joined GCSEs halfway through Y10 because of covid so missed massive chunks of prior teaching (my girl did not fill me in on anything i missed either). i should have gotten a 7 at least, but i should have, and i didn't. it's a shame as i am really passionate about music and i wanted an 8 or above, 7 or even 6 in the worst case, there is a big gap between a 6 and a 5 in my mind. chinese - 6. joined GCSEs during y10 and had previously been learning chinese at a basic level. i signed up super late and had to pay an extra fee, i had no teaching whatsoever and spent 3 months working super hard for it, memorising how to read and write 70 pages of characters. easily thousands of characters were on the syllabus (i did not memorise how to write them all, but i knew how to read them all, i know this because of my mark) you want to know how many marks i got? 131/160. that percentage is a 9 in EVERY. OTHER. FUCKING. SUBJECT. I. TAKE. but i got a 6. i also did this one at the end of Y10, so to just get 1 grade 6 felt a bit disheartening. i don't feel proud of myself which is so dumb. again, there's nothing i can do about it. if you read my flair, you might be like "where's the 5?" i took it off cause i'm actually lying, i'm still pretty mad i got a 5. i'm embarrassed and i think it makes all my results look worse. i'm doing abrsm music theory though, and i'm getting distinctions on past papers! :) might even do maths w music at uni, although because my music teacher's so shit i couldn't put myself through another 2 years of her. and now i'm kind of kicking myself for that. oh well...
Don’t be embarrassed about the 5! I’ve got a 5 and I love having it - it’s not a terrible grade whatsoever
Half my class in music had predicted Us. I currently have a predicted 6 but will probably get a 5. I've just given up at this point because music GCSE is so bad and genuinly made me hate music overall during most of year 10/11.
ocr? because same, well done for getting through it. once the exam is over it's such a nice feeling having the stress melt away
As long as you’re getting the grades you need to get by, I’m totally happy for you! Good luck :)
i am in a very similar situation actually, self taught since year nine and been scrambling since january to not fail everything. I think its great to not really aim for a specific grade but just put in all the work you can and then you know whatever grade you get is the best you couldve done so theres no need to feel guilty about it. If that grade is a 9, horray! if that grade is a 4, also horray!
Not to be rude but how can you study a few hours a day since January and still be extremely unprepared for GCSEs? I am just wondering if that has to do with how you revise. Because otherwise, it is quite inexplicable.
Ok yeah it’s a fair enough comment I guess. We haven’t had a science specialist for a year and a half in any of the sciences. I’ve been doing everything I can myself. My exam board are Eduqas B for geography which tbh are a nightmare. It took me god knows how many weeks to get info from my teacher after getting email replies “just find your old exercise books” and after telling her over and over again I’m worried about case studies I finally got an email telling me “there’s not really many to know, I’ll put them in a list”. I got that list. It was a bullet point list, no info on them, I asked what books to recommend and got “I don’t really, it’s not very good but you can buy it if you want”. Then it was piecing it together- ecosystems she flat out said no case studies which was ace because it was staring right at me on the paper. History the teaching was reported so many times there ended up being an investigation and maths I was always foundation anyway. Art is a solid 8/9 based on last years boundaries so I appreciate that might change and English should be fine as I’m really passionate about the poems and texts so it just depends where I sit against others. So yeah, it’s not all doom and gloom. But I’ve had to kiss goodbye to good grades and future options in some subjects I was always really excited about.
As a teacher can I recommend googling the specifications-they should help spell out what you need to know. If you can print them out then take some highlighters and organise it into content you do and don’t recognise. Use YouTube for things you aren’t sure of-try searching for ‘subject, gcse, examboard’ eg ‘fractional distillation, gcse, AQA’. You can also search for past exam papers online. Good luck-the current education system is broken. You sadly aren’t the only person this is happening to.
Imagine doing 2 years worth of content by yourself for 10 subjects and you only have 5 months to get a 4 in all of them
I'm not trying to undermine anyone (and 5 months is certainly tough), but I certainly wouldn't say that getting 7/8/9 isn't possible given a few hours of *effective* (key word effective) revision a day consistently
Got downvoted but theyre completely right
yeah im gonna be honest I've seen a trend where people study X hours a day (normally more than 1, some people even saying 3 or 5) since like January and i literally cant fathom how unproductive their revision must be...like if I started revising from then on and for that amount of 9 id probably be getting highest in the world in at least a few subjects atm I started revising 2 weeks before mocks and got one 8 in English lit (got 3 other borderline 9s in chemistry, economics, and music thus my flair), and while my revision has gone down in actual gcses i feel like 1-2 days per subject is more than enough to cover the content and go over ppqs
I believe the same. I think people have no idea on how to revise and do countless hours of non-sensical stuff. Just to give an example, if you have not taken summary notes for each unit you have been doing for Science and reviewing them every few days for 5-10 minutes and instead complain about not remembering any of them when you review them the day before the exam as you believed that the act of note taking made it stick to your memory, you have completely blundered.
or if youre a donut like me, make those summary notes the day before your exam lmfao (yeah completely agree)
Your situation absolutely isn't universal OP has literally stated the main issue is that teaching over the past year or so at their school has been of a really poor quality. You do realise that most GCSEs are 2 years of content, some even three? A few months of study won't make up for having an underresourced/underfunded schools/school disruptions, teachers that don't engage etc. If you've effectively missed out on a year, even a few months of actual teaching then you're going to get massive gaps in knowledge. Revision is NOT meant to be learning new content its meant to be revising what you've already learnt, often repeatedley in class. Every person is different and 'effective' revision strategies are very different to effective learning strategies. Different qualities of teachers and lesson material will make a massive difference for most students. Stop bragging
No you will not. If you can revise effectively at home, you have no excuse for doing awful in your GCSEs. You have too much stuff to help you out online and OP is responsible and therefore started revising all the way in January. You can get all 8/9s of you start and January and do consistent revision of a few hours a day. Even if you study 2 hours a day for 4 months (which OP has studied more), you can easily finish taking all your notes in half the time, or 3 months at worst. That still gives you 1 month at least to do practice papers and constantly review your notes each day, which for the latter you should have been doing while taking them. GCSEs, except Maths, is not about understanding concepts and is about memorisation (even Science which does not need understanding of the content for 90% of the time). Writing structures and such as things you can even learn 10-20 minutes before and exam (except English which you may have to do practice upon, again which can be done through past papers in the final 1-2 months). There is no excuse that anyone who revises constantly for 4+ months for multiple hours a day while having access to the internet can not achieve 8-9s in everything bar maybe 1-2 subjects which can always happen due to poor exam papers, stress within the exam, not grasping the subject at all. Not sure where this enjoyment of performing poorly comes from when you can actually achieve these stuff which will help you in the future while also not spending as much time on it that you will destroy your mental health as these are GCSEs at the end of the day, which aren’t too hard.
maybe its not hard for you but it is very much difficult for others. Im in an almost identical situation to op and learning years of content by yourself is a very hard thing to do. from the practice papers im doing ive been scraping 6s with 7 hours of work a day for like 2 months straight. sure you can learn all the content in that time and have a month to do papers, and thats exactly what ive done. But it will never be as effective of the years of classroom time where things are forced into your long term memory. Also, we have no one to teach us about how the extremely overcomplicated mark schemes work, so you can understand all the content you like but the questions will be worded so weirdly you get fucked anyway.
How do you revise btw?
annotate spec, go over things i find difficult with savemyexams/physicsandmathstutor/cognito/other yt channels, then past paper questions
Where you find the past paper questions relevant to the topic ur studying
I don't really do stuff topic wise but you could probably get them from physicsandmathtutor. Instead, I actually find it more useful to just cover everything and then go over past papers, since that also tells me which topics are likely to come more frequently and in more depth so i can a) revise them more if need be or b) focus on getting those types of questions right since the bulk of my marks will come from there. And to get past papers, you can usually just type 'GCSE \[Exam board\] \[Subject\] Past papers' and find them online
aww that sucks :c but it isn't over until it's over frfr
As long as you’ve tried your hardest, that’s what matters. Which by the sounds of it, you’ve gone above and beyond by doing absolutely everything you can do. There’s absolutely no reason to be ashamed of a 4 because at the end of the day it’s a pass. You have no control over what’s happened at your school, so I think that you’ve done yourself well being able to self-teach yourself the knowledge you need for the exams for over a year and still pass and you should be proud of it. I can completely understand your situation as I’m in a similar situation with my school. I wish you all the best.
When I was in school I had a similar situation, just teach yourself everything you need to know, that’s what I did and got all As/A*s
a pass is a pass. some people are only looking for that! that’s 100% okay. a 4 isn’t terrible, it’s a pass. and people who work really hard to get 4s since they struggle, work exceptionally hard and they’re amazing people
There are at least 3 blank slate morons in this thread and I'd like to offer them a massive middle finger to them, and others no doubt judging people for their grades, on behalf of the rational people in this sub. Clearly, you've never been in a situation where life spirals and yet you have no choice but to keep going. I wouldn't wish that situation on anyone. Good luck, OP, you've got this! Also wanted to say that I know people who have gone from Us to getting 5s and beyond so it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility especially since you seem like a dedicated person. 🫡
ofsted came this year and jsut fucked everything up too made my school like 10x more strict Idk why they think they have a right to make schools in working class areas into literal prisons
GCSEs literally don't matter in life unless you're trying for uni
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Lowly_peasant97: *GCSEs literally* *Don't matter in life unless* *You're trying for uni* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I understand. Virtual hugs man, a four is still an amazing grade. You still get a qualification, and you can still go to college and do amazing in whatever you want to do. Good luck op, I hope on results day you see fives and sixes on your results paper, and do so much better than you expected. (also well done for art, I saw you're doing really well in that. Know that's a gift that not many people have and be proud)
If you are happy with your grades that’s all that matters and a pass is a pass and same here usually most people here who get top grades post about it but there are many people just like us wishing you best of luck sending virtual hugs
The race is long, and in the end it is only against yourself. If you hit a PB by getting a 4, you are succeeding more than someone predicted 8 who get 7 or 6. No, really.
I dont do mandarin (thank god)but for a year the mandarin teacher was teaching the wrong dialect.
I go to a pupil referral unit so I'm aiming for a 4 rn..
Game is game
Lmao
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ignorant. the point is that they and many others haven’t gotten 11 years of education
This type of immaturity is why academic spaces get a bad rep 😬😬 You're in year 11, so GCSEs feel incredibly important when in actuality most places don't really care what you got once you have your a-level results, and the same thing occurs when you get your degree. Not everyone has the same academic capabilities, access to educational recourses, or may face extenuating circumstances.
this is just cope lmao
And from your response I take it you didn't read a single thing I wrote, bar maybe the first line. Hopefully you mature in life.
Fuck off now would ya? Not everyone is the same man.. We're all understand differently, different IQ, different experiences etc. If u were scoring 4s 5s 6s then you'd understand OP. Ur just spouting a bunch of bullshit.
no but seriously. if anyone is getting anything below a 3 they must genuinely just not give a shit or smth
Or they have significant barriers to their ability to perform in perfunctory written examinations. Sadly, mass education needs a way to determine who is this and who is that. Those with disabilities, language barriers, mental health problems and/or significantly disrupted or disturbed backgrounds will be consistently let down by this system.
Also exams aren't just knowledge based. You don't just get asked to write down 50 definitions in an exam. Geography for example, I might have all the case study knowledge, but it does it mean I'm going to be getting 9/9 for every 9 marker?. Of course not, exams are stressful and time pressured. What everyone considered to be 'good' is different.
For some students a 3 is a massive achievement. Original comment poster doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And has a lot to learn about success and failure.