Self-study is a must when revising your GCSE maths exam. Self-study simply means to learn completely on your own. You choose a suitable resource to learn from; it could be a textbook or online video tutorials for example. It does not matter what resource you choose. The important thing is that it helps you achieve your target grade in the end. Self-study may be a little difficult to adopt initially, but it’s crucial if you want to develop intuition – a key skill when overcoming maths problems.

At school, you just ‘go through the motions’. The stuff you learn is not usually retained. This is mainly due to:

1. The ‘slow’ nature of a lesson: A single topic/concept is spread over 3 or 4 lessons to give enough time for less-able students to fully grasp the material.
2. Distraction from peers: It is difficult to gain everybody’s attention in a class of up to 30 kids. There are a handful of students who will disrupt the lesson and prevent others from learning.

As a result, a student may only work half-heartedly in a classroom environment. This is why it is important to include self-study in your revision schedule. Do not always rely on your school lessons. Most of your progress will be made at home.

Most of my academic success has come from self-study. I firmly believe that you can only fulfil your true potential when you revise on your own. This is because you develop your own initiative, understand the importance of target-setting, overcome obstacles etc. etc. If you are looking to get a A / A* in your GCSE maths, you must base your revision schedule around self-learning.

Here are the top 10 benefits of self-learning:

1. It increases independent (critical) thinking.
2. Students develop responsibility. For example, learning to complete a task by a set time.
3. Students can learn at their own pace, without any ‘restriction’ from a teacher’s lesson.
4. Student develops a good work-ethic.
5. Self-satisfaction is gained through learning a new concept on your own as opposed to a teacher explaining it to you.
6. More theory is retained when self-learnt instead of parents ‘spoon feeding’ information to you.
7. An increased likelihood of reaching one’s potential (as mentioned before).
8. Students are better prepared for higher education when their background has an element of independent learning.
9. There are alternative ways of learning as opposed to the fixed learning methods of schools.
10. The student can take their learning-experience as far as they want it go.

For a self-study program in GCSE maths, visit my website: www.passgcsemaths.com.