Top Ten Tips for GCSE Revision

Written By: Janvi Pankhania (A-Level student at Haberdashers’ Girls’ School – achieved 10 Grade 9s and 1 Grade 8)

1. Sleep – do not sacrifice your sleep! A lot of students tend to believe that studying later into the night and cramming will improve your grade. This is a complete myth! In fact, your brain will not be able to function and process information during late hours so reviewing content will be of no use. Being well rested is crucial for good performance during exam periods.
2. Active forms of revision – alongside your notes, flashcards and Quizlets, ensure that leading up to topic tests, mocks and exams you are doing active forms of revision. This can include blurting, making mind-maps or testing yourself.
3. Past paper questions – ensuring that you know all the content is always good, but you will not achieve a grade 8/9 without completing a good set of past paper questions! This will help you apply your knowledge to different questions and understand exactly what the mark scheme is looking for.
4. Whiteboard – get a whiteboard! If you don’t have one already, I can’t urge you enough to get a whiteboard. One of the most useful forms of revision is blurting, and having a whiteboard makes it so much easier to write down everything you know and fill in what you don’t know or got wrong.
5. Don’t have your phone whilst revising – it’s definitely worth trying to keep your phone in another room whilst trying to revise so you don’t procrastinate as much.
6. Make sure to get some fresh air and exercise – you’re usually always sitting down whilst studying, so make sure you are also getting some fresh air and moving around too! Taking a break to exercise can also help improve the quality of your next revision session.
7. Remember to socialise – try to make sure you are still seeing your friends and don’t stay locked away in your room trying to study! Although GCSEs are stressful, taking time off revision to see your friends even for a short while is a great way to recharge.
8. When you don’t feel like revising, start off with your favourite subject – this will help you get into the flow of revision and then slowly start to draw your attention to the subjects you need to work more on.
9. Embrace the exams – you will undoubtedly be sitting a lot of exams over a long period of time, so try to feel comfortable with the process of going into the exam room.
10. Try to feel as prepared as possible – this will ensure you don’t feel as stressed going in for the exam!