Category Archives: gcse maths

Revision For Paper 1 And Paper 2

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There are usually two papers in GCSE maths; a non-calculator paper and a calculator paper. Sometimes you may get more. For instance, the AQA 4360 spec has 3 papers and the OCR modular spec has more than 3 papers. For the sake of convenience, let’s assume you only have 2 papers. You may ask, “When do I stop revising for both papers and only concentrate on paper 1 as this is coming up first?”

Well, the general rule of thumb I use is the space between the first and second papers. Suppose the first paper is on a Wednesday and your second paper is on a Friday. The space between the two exams is simply 2 days. That means you should give yourself 2 clear days to revise for paper 1. On Monday of that particular week, you would stop any revision for paper 2 and concentrate solely on paper 1. You will continue to revise for paper 1 until your paper 1 exam is over. Then immediately after, you revise for paper 2. Revision before Monday is split evenly across both papers.

After the exams have took place, you’ll notice that the same amount of revision was dedicated to both papers. That’s the aim here because you want to maximise your result in both exams. Remember this is a general rule of thumb. You can approach each paper however way you like, just make sure that the same amount of time (approximately) is spent on each one.

For a more detailed analysis of approaching multiple exams in one go, see my GCSE Maths In Four Weeks Program.

Keep Yourself Motivated!

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Motivation is very important during revision. Motivation is what drives you to work. At times, revision will become tedious and motivation levels will drop. When this happens, it is important to quickly restore your motivation levels. What separates an ‘A’ grade student from a ‘B’ grade student is their ability to sustain motivation.

A well structured revision plan can boost motivation. This is because you know, in advance, what you are going to do. Student’s without a plan revise spontaneously. They read through a large textbook and answer the odd exam paper. This is not very effective at all. After a while, negativity starts to creep in. Students begin to think, “why am I doing this? Is this really going to work? Forget it. I’ll do whatever I can”. At this point, they’ve lost their focus and it’s unlikely for them to succeed.

Remember, different students have different ways to motivate themselves. It’s just a case of finding out what motivates you the most. Personally, whenever I lack motivation or the will to work, I’ll listen to an inspirational song/video or visualize the exam certificate in my hand with the A* grade on it. Just imagine the euphoria you would get when you open your results envelope and see this (with your name on it):

Certificate

Perhaps you could print this out and write your name on it. Then, place it somewhere where it’s clearly visible. Whenever you feel flustered, just look at the certificate.

How To Carry Out Your Revision

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Now that you’ve drawn up a revision plan, you’re probably wondering how to go about it. Your revision plan may consist of a list of tasks to do on a particular day and you may ask, when and how should I complete each task?

There are usually two ways that I do this:

  1. Complete all tasks by a set time: I may give myself a deadline to complete all of my tasks by. For example, this could be 3pm in the afternoon. Now that you have a cut-off for revision, you need to predict how long each task will take and whether you’ll complete them by this 3pm deadline. You may have to wake-up slightly earlier on this day so you can begin early. Or, you may have to increase the intensity just so you can finish by 3pm. In essence, you carry out your revision earlier in the day. The great thing about this method is once you reach this cut-off, you are free to do whatever you want for the rest of the day.
  2. Revision in short bursts: Sometimes it can be difficult to revise for long periods of time in the morning because fatigue starts to creep in. When this happens, its best not continue with revision because your brain switches off and thus, information will not stick. This is why, whenever I feel mentally drained, I leave revision for a while and focus on a completely different activity (note, your body will tell you when you should take a break). When I’m re-energised, I return to my books. In practise, I revise for 1 or 2 hours, take an hour break, revise for another hour, take another break and repeat this process. This is an alternative way of carrying out your revision.

Ultimately, it’s your decision. Choose a revision system that suit you. There isn’t a ‘better’ way. I like to incorporate both.

Why Sleep Is Important During Exams

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Sleeping is important during revision for two reasons: memory retention and memory recitation. I’ve explained what each of these things mean below:

1) Memory Retention – Memory retention simply means the ability to store information. You probably heard of the cliche ‘sleep on it’ many times before but it’s actually true. As you know, the brain never ‘sleeps’. It continues to ‘digest’ the information that you’ve just put in front of it when you’re sleeping. That’s why I would recommend that you revise your notes page just prior to going to bed. Let those important concepts flow through your mind until you drift off to sleep. Then, let your brain do all the rest.

2) Memory Recitation – Memory recitation is very important too. It just means how well you can recall things. The information is stored in your mind but your brain has to retrieve it. I’m sure you’ve been in the situation before where someone has asked you a question and you know the answer but you just cannot locate it in your brain. You don’t want this to occur in the exam. You don’t want to say to yourself: ‘I know this but I cannot remember that all-important step or formula’. After a good night’s sleep, memory recitation is stronger. The brain is able to dive more deeper into the temporal lobe (the part of the brain where memory is stored) and see what information is currently there.

These two factors are very important if you want to achieve an A or A* in GCSE maths. As you now know, sleep can play a huge part in improving these two things. Never sacrifice sleep during revision. Sleep should be one of your highest priorities. If you have to free-up time, sacrifice other things.

Why Planning Is Key

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Planning is important in any endeavour, let alone revising for your GCSE maths exam. Planning ensures that you complete all of the things you intend to do, by a set date. To achieve a top grade in  GCSE maths, you must plan your revision in advance. You need to give yourself enough time to go through all the material before the exam. You do not want to enter the exam knowing (in the back of your mind) that you did not cover all of the material.

The best place to start is your resources. What resources do you have access to? Resources include revision books, online websites, worksheets, exam papers etc. Any material that is relevant to your exam. Gather as many past papers as you can because it is important that you complete as many as possible, especially in the run up to your exam.

Then, you will need to choose an appropriate resource to learn from. The size of the resource will depend on the timing of your exam. If your exam is in a couple of weeks time, you will need to choose a small resource; if you decide to revise online, you would search for ‘GCSE maths notes’. You would search for ‘notes’ because you need to refer to something concise. You cannot afford to read tonnes of information. If you want to revise from a textbook, choose one which is not too big. A large textbook, which is 300 pages long, is not wise.

I am a very efficient person so I tend to choose a reasonable-sized resource. I prefer to revise from a book because I don’t like to stare at a computer all day. I like to move freely when I am revising. I will not choose a textbook which is too big; for example 300 pages, because I find it difficult to read heaps of text. On the other hand, I would not choose a book which is too small because it may not be detailed enough to grasp all the content. Usually, I would revise from books which are around 100-150 pages long. I feel this is a good length to absorb all of the theory. Also, I like to go for textbooks that contain a batch of practise questions so I can test myself along the way.

The next thing to do is look at the topics. A quick way to do this is to view the contents page of your revision guide. Get a feel for the topics. How many pages are there in a single topic? Once you establish the number of topics, you can begin to draw-up a revision schedule. You need to compare the number of topics and exam papers with the number of days until your exam. For instance, suppose you had a revision guide which had 10 topics, a collection of 8 exam papers and your exam is in 10 days time. This is how I would structure my revision:

  1. I would study 2 topics a day so on the 5th day, I would’ve completed the theory section. I would do practise questions in that time too.
  2. From the 6th day onwards, I would complete 2 exam papers a day. On the 9th day, I would have finished my exam papers and be ready for the real exam on the next day.

This is a small example but you should get the idea. Keep in mind that exam papers are very important. You should spend extra time on answering exam papers and checking if they’re correct. You want to perfect your exam technique so when you enter the exam-hall, you will be confident on what grade you will get. Those practise papers will give you a good indication on how you will perform in the real thing.

The important point to remember here is whatever plan you draw-up, make sure you stick to it! Don’t give up half-way through. Sometimes, you may draw-up a plan which is difficult to follow at the beginning. This is because you haven’t had much experience in planning before. If you feel that your plan is very unrealistic to begin with, then make some minor changes. Remember, it is all about trial and error. See what works best for you. Only you will truly know if you’re doing enough.

And don’t spend days planning your schedule. As long as you have a rough idea on what you’re going to do, that should be good enough. Do you see how brief the one is above? All you need is a brief list of things to do and just tick-off each thing at the end of day. Then, start over!

For a ready-made revision schedule, I’d highly recommend my GCSE Maths in 4 weeks program: www.passgcsemaths.com It will show you how to achieve your target in GCSE maths in the most efficient way possible.