An Effective Method to Revise GSCE Science
A Simple Straightforward (maybe not easy) way to achieve a 7,8 and 9 in GSCE Science
Unlike Other Online Revision Advice, I’m going to give you an actual tangible plan that I myself Have been using for almost a Year and a Half to secure nothing less than a Grade 9 Every Single Exam.
Enjoy
Grade 7 Method
Tier 1 or the Method to Achieve a Grade 7 in your Science Exams is as Follows:
Open up Freesciencelessons on Youtube (no doubt you’ve heard of him if for some reason you haven’t, He is the Most Subscribed GSCE Youtuber Solely due to the fact that his GSCE Science Videos are taken directly from the Science Specification and contain all the Essential Information, (In other words, he’s a very trustworthy source)
Open up your Flashcard System (which you should have made/established if you read my previous active recall article), This could be either Digital Flashcards such as Anki or Quizlet, Or Simple Physical Flashcards. Or Stick with your Note Taking System if for whatever reason you like studying more and getting worse grades :)
And Simply Make Flashcards based on the Information Provided, Ensure That each flashcard has a specific direction Question with Clear Answers that aren’t Paragraphs long. Such as: “Name the 3 Parts of the Brain” instead of “Describe Ecosystems”, doing this helps avoid simply “memorizing” what answer you are supposed to give and instead reaps the full benefits of Active Recall
Planning:
For this Grade 8 Method I’d Advise:
Starting around a Week in Advance (Assuming You are being tested on 2 Topics, therefore more topics = earlier start, For Example, a Test on 4 Topics would usually equal 2 Weeks in Advance)
Taking around an Hour or so per Topic to make your Flashcards from Freesciencelessons YT. Since luckily each topic has been divided into playlists with around 6-7 Videos of around 3-4 Minutes each (Meaning you can knock a playlist out in an hour Max.)
Spending the remainder of your time Practice Answering your Flashcards around Twice a Day, which should take no more than an hour.
And You’re Set
Bear In Mind that I only Advise this Method of Preparation for 2 Circumstances:
For whatever reason, you weren’t able to revise earlier / don’t have time so now you need a fast revision method that takes a week or so.
You’re Content with a 7 and really just want to do the bare minimum - (I Don’t Encourage or Condone this) (lol)
Grade 8
Tier 2 or the Method to Achieve a Grade 8 in your Science Exams is as Follows:
(Obviously to get to this stage you first need to complete Tier 1)
Apply the Same Process as Tier 1 however this time you’ll be building on the Flashcards you’ve already made from Freesciencelessons by using your given Textbook
The Above 3 textbooks are the Approved AQA Textbook
(So if your school is using anything else they’re setting you up to fail lol, in all seriousness make sure you aren’t trusting any source of information for your GSCEs that isn’t taken from either the Specification or these 3 Textbooks)
Few Things to Keep in Mind:
- Some Content Mentioned in the Textbook will already be in your flashcards so you obviously don’t need to make two of the same flashcard
- If there is any Conflicting Information (e.g The Textbook might say XXX but free science lessons say XZY instead). I would advise you to:
Consult the Specification
Consult your Teachers
And you should probably trust free science lessons over the textbook; I know it seems sketchy but the content there is taken directly from the Spec so I would always trust that over the Textbook.
However, don’t let that scare you because it’s unlikely that these 2 Sources of Information are going to Contradict Each Other
To Make it Simpler to Comprehend, Take the Above Diagram
- As you can see there is an overlap in the content covered by both Freesciencelessons and the Science Textbook; This is the Core Fundamental Content you absolutely need to know if you want to even Pass
- And then there’s some content only covered by the Textbook and Freesciencelessons
- And that’s precisely why we are Revising from both sources of Information - To get the WHOLE Venn Diagram at our disposal so that no matter what the Examiners ask of us - We Are Prepared for it.
It definitely sounds Weird but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a question during an Exam that I can only answer because I Revised from BOTH sources of Info.
Planning:
For this Grade 8 Method I’d Advise:
Starting around 2 Weeks in Advance (Again Assuming You are being tested on 2 Topics, therefore more topics = earlier start,)
Take around an Hour or so per Topic to make your Flashcards from Freesciencelessons YT, and then another Hour to Make them From the Textbook. Therefore It will likely take you around 2 Days per Topic,
Spending the remainder of your time Practice Answering your Flashcards around Twice a Day, which should take no more than an hour.
And You’re Set
Grade 9 Method
Ah, so you’re a Go Big or Go Home kind of person….
As before, To reach the Grade 9 Method you obviously need to have your flashcards from both the Grade 7 and Grade 8 Method.
The Grade 9 Method only has some slight modifications:
After the Flashcards have been made, you need to double-check your content via the Science Specification which can be found here:
Chemistry: https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/chemistry/specifications/AQA-8462-SP-2016.PDF
Biology:
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/biology/specifications/AQA-8461-SP-2016.PDF
Physics:
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/physics/specifications/AQA-8463-SP-2016.PDF
If you don’t know what a specification is: It’s simply a PDF Document by the AQA Exam Board listing out everything that you need to know per topic, and therefore is a great resource to double-check that your content is accurate as well as adding an extra layer of security by making sure you don’t miss anything
For Example:
(If Any Source of Information contradicts or doesn’t follow the Specification, that source of information is outright wrong, Therefore the Spec is pretty much the ‘Highest Authority’ if you will)
Step 2:
At This point pretty much all your Content has been finished and you’re simply revising from your flashcards around a week or so prior to the Exam.
To have the best possible chance of securing that 9 you need to take advantage of the absolute Goldmine that is PAST PAPERS AND EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS
You can find Exam Style Questions taken from Past Papers which are nicely Organised into Topics here:
https://www.cognitoresources.org/
And you can find full-length of Past Papers here:
https://www.cognitoresources.org/
However, there is a specific Method of using these Practice Questions:
For Exam Style Questions Per Topic, Simply Skim/Read through the Questions and Mark Schemes to get A) A feel and understanding of what kind of answers the examiners are looking for and B) If you get lucky you might find a model answer to a commonly asked 6 Marker Question which you can then learn to get 6/6 if that were to ever come up (a bit of an advanced technique but it works like a charm)
For Full-Length Past Papers, Print them out and use everything you’ve learned + a Timer to stimulate exam conditions and practice answering questions you’ve never seen before, mark them, learn from your mistakes and repeat.
Planning:
For this Grade 9 method, I’d advise:
Starting around 2.5 to 3 Weeks in Advance gives you Optimal Time to Make all your Content
Spending the remainder of your time (which should be around a week or so prior to the Exam) Practice Answering your Flashcards around Twice a Day, which should take no more than an hour.
AND Doing Your Exam Style Questions and Past Papers
And You’re Set.
If You Do End up Following this Grade 9 Method, there is little to nothing preventing you from Getting a Grade 9
However, Be Aware of a Few Things:
1) The 9 or any grade at all is only secured if you understand how to apply what you’ve learned, therefore you could do the Grade 9 Method and still get a 7 if you don’t understand how to apply your knowledge to exam questions (Hence the Importance of practicing past papers and exam questions)
2) Do not get discouraged by seeing friends or People around you studying Less and getting similar Marks while you put your all by doing the Grade 9 Method: Because A) When Finals roll around you’re the one whos going to be familiar with How to Actually Properly Revise, B) Everyone has different Intelligence Levels for Different Subjects, Therefore Some Students Might be studying Less but Getting HIGHER Marks, there's nothing you can do about this so you can either Moan about it or Put Your Head down and Study Because at the end of the day When You Apply anywhere for Anything, No One will ever Ask you How Much You Studied, All they’re going to care about is What Grade Did you get. So there isn’t any opportunity to say ‘I Only Studied a Day and got a Grade 7’
I know it seems like a lot of Hard Work, But the most Worthwhile things are rarely easy.
Finally Heres a Method I like to use to Keep Track of My Progress while using the Grade 9 Method:
As You can See I’ve Filled in Each Topic as Green depending on Weather I’ve finished my Flashcards from the Textbook, Specification or Freesciencelessons
Still need to finish C14 and C15 Spec :(
Well That was Quite a Long one, But That Should Definitely transform your way of Revising Science and give you a Straightforward Tangible Plan to Help you Secure that Grade
My Email is Always Open for Questions.
Until next time….