Ashanti’s Top Tips for Surviving GCSE Season

Posted on 28 May 2018

With the exam season upon us, we asked several students who are currently revising to give us their tips for exam season. Here Ashanti gives her top 5 tips for surviving GCSEs.

1. Don’t procrastinate

Don’t focus on how your notes look.

For year 10s, start revising early; you will regret putting things off. And don’t spend ages making your notes look pretty, focus on information.

2. Revise as you go along

Make revision notes as you learn in class.

Make revision materials for what you’ve learnt that day so it’s out of the way. Use revision guides (Use the Scholastic revision guides. They are extremely helpful, perfectly concise and don’t make lame jokes that make you want to cry. In other words, they are the best), class notes, homework and BBC Bitesize to make effective revision materials.

3. Staying organised is vital

Use YouTube! Studytubers have some great tips.

Do all your homework on the day you get it to ensure more time for revision. Plan your revision for each subject when you get closer to exams to give yourself enough time to cover everything thoroughly with needing to cram. Keep revision materials from year 10 for year 11. Organise the revision materials into folders for each subject and take care not to mix up topics. Use YouTube. For study tips, check out: Unjaded Jade and Revision With Eve. Eve’s channel is especially useful for last-minute revision tips. There are also lots of channels with helpful content, in case you didn’t understand something in class, or what to learn ahead. If you miss a lesson, catch up ASAP. If you don’t understand something in class, don’t be embarrassed to go to your teachers for help. This is best done at the time; not months down the line.

4. Get enough sleep

It’s better to get up early to revise than to stay up late

Revising early in the morning before school is better than revising late at night when you should be sleeping. Always try and stay relaxed. Worry and stress cause problems sleeping which means you won’t learn as well as you would / you won’t perform to the best of your ability in exams.

5. Look after yourself

Drink lots of water when revising, it’s important to stay hydrated.

Eat regularly and healthily, don’t skip breakfast, exercise and stay hydrated. Take breaks during revision but within reason and find ways to motivate yourself

6. Stay Focused

Listen to music if it helps but just because you want to, doesn’t mean it won’t be distracting.

It’s okay to listen to music as long as it doesn’t distract you. Remove all potential distractions from around you when revising so it’s easier to concentrate. Keep your workspace tidy.

7. Repetition is key

Revise things at least 3 or 4 times to help it go in.

The Leitner System is very handy for learning things within a couple of days. Quizlet is practically a godsend, because you can learn large amounts of things extremely quickly. Another general thing is to revise things at least 3 or 4 times. Also, Sticking notes around the house so you keep seeing it is something pretty much everyone knows about. Basically, your brain absorbs the information without you even realising. A-maps are better than mind maps because it helps you process things faster and you can learn things more quickly. Record yourself saying key information and then keep playing it back.

8. Learn things using your senses

Associate the things you learn with other senses.

I’m not joking; this really does work for some people. If you listen to a certain song while revising key dates for history, you might remember the dates if you play the song in your head or if you chew a certain flavour gum when revising poetry, chew the same flavour gum another time and see if you remember the quotes.

I really hope some of these help might help you out. Good luck with your exams!

You can find out more about Scholastic’s range of GCSE 9–1 revision guides and exam practice books on our website: www.scholastic.co.uk/gcse .