I am generally a hard working person and revision has never been a huge problem for me, but working on 11 subjects up to GCSE standard all in the space of a month is pretty hard going. During my mocks, I found that balancing revision for all these subjects was hard and so I set myself goals to start GCSE preparation well in advance. I didn’t achieve these goals; about 2 weeks before my actual exams I realised that I hadn’t done close to as much revision as I should have.
My friends were all in the same boat, so my advice to anyone nearing their GCSEs is to prepare yourself and pace your revision – the last thing you want to be doing is staying up until a stupid hour in the morning doing last minute preparation which is what a lot of people end up doing. That said, going over the whole syllabus of your exam the night before or even hours before your exam is a good way to make last minute information stick in your head. I left the last bits of my revision to do when I was in bed, right before I went to sleep as I found that this way I could remember the information for the exam, even if it meant I forgot it all in the days after the exam.
On receiving my exam timetable, I realised I had days with up to 3 heavy exams one after another and then days with only one short exam. It’s frustrating, but you just get through it. I think the main problem with the GCSE process is the boredom that everyone experiences with constant revision. Social lives diminish and going on Facebook or watching TV is a continuous temptation that we must resist. I think a small balance is definitely needed: I found myself on Facebook numerous times when I should have been revising, and the odd day spent out with my friends was wasted revision time. However, I don’t think this was time badly spent - everyone needs time to rest and recuperate as GCSEs are a lot more stressful than you think. Parents don’t seem to understand this – mine didn’t anyway as they urged me to stay in as much as possible, avoiding most social activities until my exams were over. They needed to realise that this is not always the key to exam success.
Another good thing to remember is to stay calm whatever. Going into the exam room feeling confident is always a plus; one of my best friends has chosen English Literature as one of her A level options. During our English Literature GCSE, she had a panic attack as she was running out of time and realised she had done the wrong question. There’s a good chance this has affected the grade she deserves, and so I now know that to achieve your best you should always stay calm and collected.
Last minute panics and the realisation that I didn’t have the right material to revise from is something everyone experiences, but somehow everyone gets there in the end and most people are pleasantly surprised on results day. I lost my entire Geography folder about a week before I went on study leave, and I haven’t found it since. I got round it though by photocopying one of my friend’s entire folder and actually it turned out fine – I thought the exam went pretty well.
Often I found that after completing an exam I felt I had written a good paper, however on walking out of the exam room and comparing answers with my friends, my view completely turned, and I felt I had messed the exam up completely. I haven’t received my results yet, but from speaking to friends in older years that have already done their GCSEs and got their grades, I realise that this happens to everyone, and most people do a lot better than they think they will. Fingers crossed this will be the same for me.
Looking back, I think I could have done more work than I did, but I think if I could do my GCSEs all over again, I wouldn’t actually do anymore work. Revising constantly is too much for anyone and I realise now that I did a lot more preparation than I thought at the time. The build up to GCSEs is so great throughout your lower school education that during the exams everyone had almost heard enough of the GCSE hype to bother with much work. The best thing I found is to remind yourself of the long and carefree summer holiday that lies ahead of you, and it will all be worth it to knuckle down and work for the last couple of weeks.
Overall, the GCSE process was long winded and stressful. Two years of constant pressure and work all comes down to a few weeks of exams. I know some people who even cried in their language orals due to the immense pressure they felt they were under. I think the strain is too much for what GCSEs actually are, although the pressure certainly helps motivate you to revise more!
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