gcse
i started year 11 on higher tier for both maths and science, however i have now been dropped down to foundation tier during november mocks which i was extremely upset about. my mental health has been up and down in year 11 so i had an extreme academic drop. march mocks have gone and my grades on both foundation science and maths is still not of the teachers’ standards to move me back up to higher tier. i’ve been persuading them so much but they said it is too late to move me back up as there is only 5 weeks approximately left until the actual exams. i know i’m capable of getting at least a grade 6 for both subjects if i work extremely hard but they still don’t care. i am not interested in taking any stem related a levels in sixth form as i want to do english literature, politics, etc… (subjects that relate to a lawyer career). does being in foundation tier affect me in the future? would i still be able to do my a levels? does it make my overall gcse grades look bad? please help me i really am stressing!
(edited 4 weeks ago)
hiya, sorry to hear your teachers are so inconsiderate ☹️ If youre set on becoming a lawyer, you will need good a levels, which ideally means going to a good sixth form that will help you chase the grades, otherwise its lots more work for you (honestly, I know. I am at a grammar aiming for A/A stars now, my friend who was same as me at gcses, 6/7/8s, she is now getting C/Bs at a levels at our old state school). Most colleges/sixth forms ask for 5/6 to get in, if youre looking at a grammar (i would highly reccomend if you want As at a level) then they will most likely be looking for 6/7s. Im sure you can put the work in, 5 weeks is plenty enough to do past papers from physics and maths tutor. I would reccomend getting your parents/carers to push the school to move you up to higher tiers again if your teachers are stupid enough to not believe in you. Good luck!
Original post by drizzydrake07
i started year 11 on higher tier for both maths and science, however i have now been dropped down to foundation tier during november mocks which i was extremely upset about. my mental health has been up and down in year 11 so i had an extreme academic drop. march mocks have gone and my grades on both foundation science and maths is still not of the teachers’ standards to move me back up to higher tier. i’ve been persuading them so much but they said it is too late to move me back up as there is only 5 weeks approximately left until the actual exams. i know i’m capable of getting at least a grade 6 for both subjects if i work extremely hard but they still don’t care. i am not interested in taking any stem related a levels in sixth form as i want to do english literature, politics, etc… (subjects that relate to a lawyer career). does being in foundation tier affect me in the future? would i still be able to do my a levels? does it make my overall gcse grades look bad? please help me i really am stressing!
Unlike healthcare routes where it doesnt rly matter too much which uni u come from, stuff like law or econ uni is rly important when it comes to getting ur first job or entering stuff like the magic circle (which since u said u wanna do law im sure u know about).
Here's smthing rly harsh but pattern up. I had rly bad mental health issues during year 11 too and was in and out of my therapists office.
I understand its super hard studying when your mental health is f****g with you but there's no other way around. You have to firm it for your future.
Talk to ur parents, if not talk to ur counsellor or head of SEN. That's what i did, i then entered the skls counselling programme thing and told my counsellor all about my problems. Bless her because I got extra time and rest breaks. This may help you, even if its not that much.
Its unfortunate ur teachers wont budge but maybe ask them if you can sit another sets of mocks just to show them you can get above 5s in your subjects?
This may work.
Also, you dont need to go to a good 6th form per say to get into a good uni. You need to get the subject you want and get good grades to get into a good uni.
Look at the requirements for a lvl subjects, law usually prefers students who takes essay based subjects so see if you can get 8s and 9s in ur essay based subjects for GCSEs.
I believe for most of the skls i looked at the minimum grade to do english, history and law was 6s so get 6s in english and history if you took that for GCSEs.
Try to get more 7s and 8s in those subjects to make up for the 5s you're going to get on ur other subjects. Even ur grades out essentially.
You don't need to get into a grammar skl or a top notch skl like brampton, ncs or lae if ur in london. Just ur own current 6th form is fine.
A-lvls is an independent thing, you raise ur own grades. You don't rely on the teachers like for GCSEs.
If you tell me what subjects you do i may be able to help you - i got 7s and 8s for my essay based subjects (tho i do bio chem and psychology currently).
(edited 3 weeks ago)
Original post by limbobimbo
Unlike healthcare routes where it doesnt rly matter too much which uni u come from, stuff like law or econ uni is rly important when it comes to getting ur first job or entering stuff like the magic circle (which since u said u wanna do law im sure u know about).
Here's smthing rly harsh but pattern up. I had rly bad mental health issues during year 11 too and was in and out of my therapists office.
I understand its super hard studying when your mental health is f****g with you but there's no other way around. You have to firm it for your future.
Talk to ur parents, if not talk to ur counsellor or head of SEN. That's what i did, i then entered the skls counselling programme thing and told my counsellor all about my problems. Bless her because I got extra time and rest breaks. This may help you, even if its not that much.
Its unfortunate ur teachers wont budge but maybe ask them if you can sit another sets of mocks just to show them you can get above 5s in your subjects?
This may work.
Also, you dont need to go to a good 6th form per say to get into a good uni. You need to get the subject you want and get good grades to get into a good uni.
Look at the requirements for a lvl subjects, law usually prefers students who takes essay based subjects so see if you can get 8s and 9s in ur essay based subjects for GCSEs.
I believe for most of the skls i looked at the minimum grade to do english, history and law was 6s so get 6s in english and history if you took that for GCSEs.
Try to get more 7s and 8s in those subjects to make up for the 5s you're going to get on ur other subjects. Even ur grades out essentially.
You don't need to get into a grammar skl or a top notch skl like brampton, ncs or lae if ur in london. Just ur own current 6th form is fine.
A-lvls is an independent thing, you raise ur own grades. You don't rely on the teachers like for GCSEs.
If you tell me what subjects you do i may be able to help you - i got 7s and 8s for my essay based subjects (tho i do bio chem and psychology currently).
Here's smthing rly harsh but pattern up. I had rly bad mental health issues during year 11 too and was in and out of my therapists office.
I understand its super hard studying when your mental health is f****g with you but there's no other way around. You have to firm it for your future.
Talk to ur parents, if not talk to ur counsellor or head of SEN. That's what i did, i then entered the skls counselling programme thing and told my counsellor all about my problems. Bless her because I got extra time and rest breaks. This may help you, even if its not that much.
Its unfortunate ur teachers wont budge but maybe ask them if you can sit another sets of mocks just to show them you can get above 5s in your subjects?
This may work.
Also, you dont need to go to a good 6th form per say to get into a good uni. You need to get the subject you want and get good grades to get into a good uni.
Look at the requirements for a lvl subjects, law usually prefers students who takes essay based subjects so see if you can get 8s and 9s in ur essay based subjects for GCSEs.
I believe for most of the skls i looked at the minimum grade to do english, history and law was 6s so get 6s in english and history if you took that for GCSEs.
Try to get more 7s and 8s in those subjects to make up for the 5s you're going to get on ur other subjects. Even ur grades out essentially.
You don't need to get into a grammar skl or a top notch skl like brampton, ncs or lae if ur in london. Just ur own current 6th form is fine.
A-lvls is an independent thing, you raise ur own grades. You don't rely on the teachers like for GCSEs.
If you tell me what subjects you do i may be able to help you - i got 7s and 8s for my essay based subjects (tho i do bio chem and psychology currently).
hey, thanks for helping!
i do
english
maths
science
statistics
religious studies
history
sociology
Original post by drizzydrake07
hey, thanks for helping!
i do
english
maths
science
statistics
religious studies
history
sociology
i do
english
maths
science
statistics
religious studies
history
sociology
I can give tips for re and history if u do AQA tht is.
For history i left it till the day b4 (do i recommend tht? No) and the thing tht got me from a 3 to an 8 overnight was memorising knowledge organisers of set topics. Just search up the topics followed by knowledge organisers and memorise ones posted by skls. It took me 8 hrs to memorise 56 pages, kinda slow but so worth it.
But icl wat rly helped me was the fact tht me and my friend sat 1 day b4 the exam figuring out which topics would come up. We looked at the patterns and figured the topics which havent been used would come up (and we were lucky in the aspect tht there werr only 4 topics or so unused) so we were prepped and ready.
RE was more ab understanding each religion and the key points about it. I memorised like 2-3 important quotes from each topic but icl i made up the quotes in the exam - didnt get caught (I think) since i got a 7.
Litch i found this pdf which summarised each topic for me n compared it to the other religions i was learning about, or even diff denominations.
Im currently a science gcse tutor and something i always tell my students is tht examboards (AQA) will always reuse questions just rewording them. The M.S (mark scheme) is always the same. So memorise content thru the mark scheme. On the morning i memorised a YouTube video. They do one for bio, chem and physics, its called 'bio/physics/chem under 25 mins' from science shorts, im so upset i cant find the exact one i watched but i sat my exams in 2023 so u can scroll down to tht timeline. Also i watched this one tiktok creator who 75% accurately predicted which topics would be on the exam named Pat2cornelia or PCFG study.
Not to mention, ExamQA does these AMAZING pp walkthru the day b4 the exam. Pls watch them.
Trust start doing these rn and you're gonna be seeing a bunch of 8s and 9s.
TIP: LEARN HOW TO CONSTRUCT PARAGRAPHS EFFECTIVELY. I realised i lost many marks in history and re and english too because i didnt know the structures.
+ for english a rly common and AMAZING language technique to discuss is semantic fields because u can not only analyse the semantic field it self but the individual word as well. And always link sibilance to religious imagery, lifesaver (even better if it fits in with the CONTEXT)
Original post by limbobimbo
Unlike healthcare routes where it doesnt rly matter too much which uni u come from, stuff like law or econ uni is rly important when it comes to getting ur first job or entering stuff like the magic circle (which since u said u wanna do law im sure u know about).
Here's smthing rly harsh but pattern up. I had rly bad mental health issues during year 11 too and was in and out of my therapists office.
I understand its super hard studying when your mental health is f****g with you but there's no other way around. You have to firm it for your future.
Talk to ur parents, if not talk to ur counsellor or head of SEN. That's what i did, i then entered the skls counselling programme thing and told my counsellor all about my problems. Bless her because I got extra time and rest breaks. This may help you, even if its not that much.
Its unfortunate ur teachers wont budge but maybe ask them if you can sit another sets of mocks just to show them you can get above 5s in your subjects?
This may work.
Also, you dont need to go to a good 6th form per say to get into a good uni. You need to get the subject you want and get good grades to get into a good uni.
Look at the requirements for a lvl subjects, law usually prefers students who takes essay based subjects so see if you can get 8s and 9s in ur essay based subjects for GCSEs.
I believe for most of the skls i looked at the minimum grade to do english, history and law was 6s so get 6s in english and history if you took that for GCSEs.
Try to get more 7s and 8s in those subjects to make up for the 5s you're going to get on ur other subjects. Even ur grades out essentially.
You don't need to get into a grammar skl or a top notch skl like brampton, ncs or lae if ur in london. Just ur own current 6th form is fine.
A-lvls is an independent thing, you raise ur own grades. You don't rely on the teachers like for GCSEs.
If you tell me what subjects you do i may be able to help you - i got 7s and 8s for my essay based subjects (tho i do bio chem and psychology currently).
Here's smthing rly harsh but pattern up. I had rly bad mental health issues during year 11 too and was in and out of my therapists office.
I understand its super hard studying when your mental health is f****g with you but there's no other way around. You have to firm it for your future.
Talk to ur parents, if not talk to ur counsellor or head of SEN. That's what i did, i then entered the skls counselling programme thing and told my counsellor all about my problems. Bless her because I got extra time and rest breaks. This may help you, even if its not that much.
Its unfortunate ur teachers wont budge but maybe ask them if you can sit another sets of mocks just to show them you can get above 5s in your subjects?
This may work.
Also, you dont need to go to a good 6th form per say to get into a good uni. You need to get the subject you want and get good grades to get into a good uni.
Look at the requirements for a lvl subjects, law usually prefers students who takes essay based subjects so see if you can get 8s and 9s in ur essay based subjects for GCSEs.
I believe for most of the skls i looked at the minimum grade to do english, history and law was 6s so get 6s in english and history if you took that for GCSEs.
Try to get more 7s and 8s in those subjects to make up for the 5s you're going to get on ur other subjects. Even ur grades out essentially.
You don't need to get into a grammar skl or a top notch skl like brampton, ncs or lae if ur in london. Just ur own current 6th form is fine.
A-lvls is an independent thing, you raise ur own grades. You don't rely on the teachers like for GCSEs.
If you tell me what subjects you do i may be able to help you - i got 7s and 8s for my essay based subjects (tho i do bio chem and psychology currently).
Btw lemme know if u talk to ur SEN teacher, yk wat exaggerate sum stuff, it'll help
Original post by limbobimbo
I can give tips for re and history if u do AQA tht is.
For history i left it till the day b4 (do i recommend tht? No) and the thing tht got me from a 3 to an 8 overnight was memorising knowledge organisers of set topics. Just search up the topics followed by knowledge organisers and memorise ones posted by skls. It took me 8 hrs to memorise 56 pages, kinda slow but so worth it.
But icl wat rly helped me was the fact tht me and my friend sat 1 day b4 the exam figuring out which topics would come up. We looked at the patterns and figured the topics which havent been used would come up (and we were lucky in the aspect tht there werr only 4 topics or so unused) so we were prepped and ready.
RE was more ab understanding each religion and the key points about it. I memorised like 2-3 important quotes from each topic but icl i made up the quotes in the exam - didnt get caught (I think) since i got a 7.
Litch i found this pdf which summarised each topic for me n compared it to the other religions i was learning about, or even diff denominations.
Im currently a science gcse tutor and something i always tell my students is tht examboards (AQA) will always reuse questions just rewording them. The M.S (mark scheme) is always the same. So memorise content thru the mark scheme. On the morning i memorised a YouTube video. They do one for bio, chem and physics, its called 'bio/physics/chem under 25 mins' from science shorts, im so upset i cant find the exact one i watched but i sat my exams in 2023 so u can scroll down to tht timeline. Also i watched this one tiktok creator who 75% accurately predicted which topics would be on the exam named Pat2cornelia or PCFG study.
Not to mention, ExamQA does these AMAZING pp walkthru the day b4 the exam. Pls watch them.
Trust start doing these rn and you're gonna be seeing a bunch of 8s and 9s.
TIP: LEARN HOW TO CONSTRUCT PARAGRAPHS EFFECTIVELY. I realised i lost many marks in history and re and english too because i didnt know the structures.
+ for english a rly common and AMAZING language technique to discuss is semantic fields because u can not only analyse the semantic field it self but the individual word as well. And always link sibilance to religious imagery, lifesaver (even better if it fits in with the CONTEXT)
For history i left it till the day b4 (do i recommend tht? No) and the thing tht got me from a 3 to an 8 overnight was memorising knowledge organisers of set topics. Just search up the topics followed by knowledge organisers and memorise ones posted by skls. It took me 8 hrs to memorise 56 pages, kinda slow but so worth it.
But icl wat rly helped me was the fact tht me and my friend sat 1 day b4 the exam figuring out which topics would come up. We looked at the patterns and figured the topics which havent been used would come up (and we were lucky in the aspect tht there werr only 4 topics or so unused) so we were prepped and ready.
RE was more ab understanding each religion and the key points about it. I memorised like 2-3 important quotes from each topic but icl i made up the quotes in the exam - didnt get caught (I think) since i got a 7.
Litch i found this pdf which summarised each topic for me n compared it to the other religions i was learning about, or even diff denominations.
Im currently a science gcse tutor and something i always tell my students is tht examboards (AQA) will always reuse questions just rewording them. The M.S (mark scheme) is always the same. So memorise content thru the mark scheme. On the morning i memorised a YouTube video. They do one for bio, chem and physics, its called 'bio/physics/chem under 25 mins' from science shorts, im so upset i cant find the exact one i watched but i sat my exams in 2023 so u can scroll down to tht timeline. Also i watched this one tiktok creator who 75% accurately predicted which topics would be on the exam named Pat2cornelia or PCFG study.
Not to mention, ExamQA does these AMAZING pp walkthru the day b4 the exam. Pls watch them.
Trust start doing these rn and you're gonna be seeing a bunch of 8s and 9s.
TIP: LEARN HOW TO CONSTRUCT PARAGRAPHS EFFECTIVELY. I realised i lost many marks in history and re and english too because i didnt know the structures.
+ for english a rly common and AMAZING language technique to discuss is semantic fields because u can not only analyse the semantic field it self but the individual word as well. And always link sibilance to religious imagery, lifesaver (even better if it fits in with the CONTEXT)
thank you so much honestly!! i feel so much better! and considering that you managed to jump from a grade 3 to an 8 overnight really gave me the hope that it is possible if you REALLY WANT it. (i’m currently on a 2 for history) with science that is so true i think i would definitely memorise the mark schemes. obviously i’m still going to do everything that i can to move up to higher because i know i’m capable. but worse case scenario, should i just memorise both foundation and higher mark schemes? or not? because i know that foundation for combined science is literally no different to the higher paper its just some topics won’t come up. i feel like i can definitely get my grades up high for humanities and even science. but any tips for maths? thats something that i STRUGGLE with
Original post by limbobimbo
Btw lemme know if u talk to ur SEN teacher, yk wat exaggerate sum stuff, it'll help
yes i will do, also i may be dyslexic which the school have done a test for but they are saying its too late for me to have extra time. i REALLY need extra time and essentially a room on my own because i tend to panic a lot and i don’t want to perform badly for my actual gcses due to anxiety. how did you manage to get your own room for exams? my school are a bit harsh so i will try my best to push them. my mum is going to get a letter written as well so hopefully that will help!
Original post by drizzydrake07
thank you so much honestly!! i feel so much better! and considering that you managed to jump from a grade 3 to an 8 overnight really gave me the hope that it is possible if you REALLY WANT it. (i’m currently on a 2 for history) with science that is so true i think i would definitely memorise the mark schemes. obviously i’m still going to do everything that i can to move up to higher because i know i’m capable. but worse case scenario, should i just memorise both foundation and higher mark schemes? or not? because i know that foundation for combined science is literally no different to the higher paper its just some topics won’t come up. i feel like i can definitely get my grades up high for humanities and even science. but any tips for maths? thats something that i STRUGGLE with
Imo, i think the foundation is deffo different to higher - not only is it different topics, but also the depth of detail u gotta learn is different too.
I'd say since you're doing foundation, stick to memorising the foundation markscheme.
It's quite easy to raise grades overnight for humanities and english once u understand how to construct paragraphs and the content for sure.
For maths, idk if i should rly advise u since i got a 6/7 (i forgot which) when i was predicted a 9.
Imma just relay wat i advised another member on this app in another post:
'Honestly, GCSE maths isn't hard if you put the correct effort in. By correct effort, i mean revising effectively.
I'd start off by working through every maths genie topic from grade 1 - understand each topic carefully and dedicate one flashcard to each
topic that contains everything that you think you would forget or find hard to grasp when watching the videos to help you.
Then, I'd work through the practice mock sets (its 18 sets from every pp in edexcel maths GCSE).
https://www.mymathscloud.com/modules/gcse-igcse-o-level/practice-papers/edexcel
After I'd start with these pp
https://stpaulsmaths.com/2020/03/18/piximaths/
^ i dont remember where they're from but there are similar booklets to these called aiming for grade 7, etc, and they were super hard. The PixiMaths ones are mid.
ALSO MAKE SURE TO REVISE VERY PP,
QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS RECCURING
Yes a written letter is gonna be so helpful! As ive mentioned i kinda took advantage of all the 'kind-hearted' teachers in my skl and opened up to them, they're the ones who got me the help ofc (my SEN director, counsellor and my bio teacher).
Moreover I had a history of panic attacks so it wasnt like i was lying - and my bio teacher always helped me out with mine so it wasnt hard to get extra time and a room (well it wasnt a room with me and myself since my skl was small, it was me at the back of the foundation students hall.)
Moreover I had a history of panic attacks so it wasnt like i was lying - and my bio teacher always helped me out with mine so it wasnt hard to get extra time and a room (well it wasnt a room with me and myself since my skl was small, it was me at the back of the foundation students hall.)
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