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- Taking GCSE Maths or Physics? Learn how...
Learn how to prepare for GCSE exams in maths and physics.
LikeDecember is here and that means that the exams are quickly approaching. By the time you get yourselves together, May will already be knocking on your door. The best time to start preparing is now. Aside from gathering all your books and notes, you should also find past papers to cover.
Here's a list of things you need:
1. Books for the subjects you are taking
Let's start with books, gather them all and take a look at the content. Make sure you have notes on everything from the book, along with explanations. Pay attention to the fact that you can use some of the formulas only under certain circumstances. Formulae in kinematics work when acceleration is constant, but it does not have to be. When you have a case where you cannot use a formula, you should remember other tricks covered in class. One of those is finding the area under the graph when you need to find distance travelled.
2. Notes
Your notes are like detailed cheat sheets. They should contain drawings and formulae. When you study, you should go over all details, but try to derive formulae while imitating the process done by the teacher.
3. Past papers
When you are done with one round of studying, go over the past papers. You should do it quickly and note where you get stuck. DON'T look at mark schemes and then pretend you know the answer. Lying to yourself will get you nowhere near the passing mark, let alone a high mark.
Analyze your mistakes, take a look at what you got wrong and HOW you came to the wrong conclusion. That way, you will know what road not to take. Apart from this, you will notice that sometimes you misinterpret the question. If this is the case, pay attention to reading. When I was analyzing the mistakes of my students, most were the result of bad reading skills.
4. Mark schemes
The last step is analyzing the mark scheme. The mark scheme shows you not only the content of the answer, but HOW to express yourself when you answer questions. By this I mean that you should stick to the point. If the question is about conservation of momentum, then you should not mention other concepts. Don't mention what was not asked of you. Students usually think this will give them points, but it will not. Be precise! Precision concerns not only what you mention, but what words you use, or misuse. What I see in the classroom is that students misuse words, hoping that the teacher will let that pass.
The last recommendation for all students is that you should get enough sleep and eat regularly. Turn off your phones when you are at school or studying. You will find that your concentration improves.
Good luck!