55 Days Left To Exams? Do These 5 Things Today!

⏰GCSE Countdown: 55 Days Left!⏰

Happy Monday!

I hope you had an amazing weekend. If you are in Year 11 (or you are the parent of a Year 11 student), you will know you now have 7 Weeks Left to the start of GCSE season – exams officially start on 4 May and GCSE English exams start in exactly 55 Days.

If you are starting to feel the overwhelm – perhaps it feels like there’s too much to do, too little time and you don’t know where to start, I want to give you the only FIVE things you should do which will set you up well for exam season!😊

PS: I will be doing a GCSE Video on this on YouTube next weekend so if you want to see more – just check out the channel and watch the video when it’s out next Sunday:

I’m stressed.. overwhelmed.. what should I do?

Between now and your GCSE Exams, do only these 5 things and you’re set for exams:

1️⃣ MAKE A TIMETABLE:

Make sure this week you MUST have a revision timetable setting out all the subjects you’ll revise after school and the weekends. (Yes.. weekends if you’re not already using them for revision). You need to invest at least 2 hours a week per subject on revision. This is not only English – it’s all your GCSE subjects. Time will slip away if you don’t plan for it. Then once you make a timetable – STICK TO IT!

2️⃣ FINALISE YOUR FLASHCARDS:
At this stage – you need to revise efficiently. What that means is you need to whittle down all your knowledge – across all your subjects – into flashcards and mindmaps. Don’t forget for English, I’ve done this for my students so if you need quick flashcards for your set texts, you can get them here: https://www.firstratetutors.com/flashcards. Get your flashcards DONE this month!

3️⃣ PRACTICE EXAM PAPERS:

Teaching time is done at this point in the year. You’re not learning anything new (hopefully!) in school. What that means is you need to practice APPLYING your knowledge by doing 100% exam paper practice. That’s why every Sunday in my GCSE English class I’m so focused on past paper practice – this is the only thing that you will be tested in. You need to crank out those past papers!

4️⃣ GET MARKED FEEDBACK:

This is the only way you’ll know if you’re improving and going in the right direction after doing all those past papers! If you’re able to get your teachers to review your practice, get their feedback. But if your teachers are too busy to look over your work – don’t forget that for English GCSE – I’ll be giving ALL my students DAILY MARKED FEEDBACK this Easter in my small group GCSE Booster Class.

Over Easter, we’ll have TARGETED GCSE Revision for GCSE Language Paper 1 & 2, with daily intensive classes and daily past paper homework with marked feedback from me. If you want to boost your marks, get super specific feedback from me and know what GCSE Grades you’re on as well as see improvements – join my small group Easter Booster Class here: https://www.firstratetutors.com/booster

SIGN UP HERE

5️⃣ REVISE FROM MODEL ANSWERS!

Finally - and this is KEY – you need to revise from the pros. Read what teachers and model students have written. See how it all comes together (the GCSE answer, the ambitious language, the quotes) in GCSE Model answers. Then take that language and use it in your own writing Again, that’s why I’m so keen on model answers in my GCSE Classes as this is how I’ve seen students improve – so your revision MUST include model answer revision!

I hope this helps!😊