• Question: What grades did you get in your exams, (GCSE's, A-Levels etc.) and how did you revise for them?

    Asked by ibot to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 19 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by hopper.
    • Photo: Sam Tazzyman

      Sam Tazzyman answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I got 7 A and 3 A* GCSEs, and 3 A and one B at A-Level. I revised for them by attending lots of revision classes, and by re-reading my notes from the year. There’s not really any substitute for hard work. Actually for my degree I had to revise even harder.

    • Photo: Steven Daly

      Steven Daly answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I got 3 A*s, 3 As and 4.5 Bs. I mostly did a lot of past exam papers for practice, and made sure I read over all of my notes a lot. I find past papers a great way to practice, because they make you apply your knowledge, and you end up thinking much more than you would from reading alone.

      Good Luck with them!

    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I got 10 GCSEs, 7A*, 3A, and 4 A’s at A level.

      I revised by reading through my notes, then putting them away and making new condensed notes on index cards or 1 side of A4. This meant I had to distill the key ideas for each subject. I found it useful to actually write something rather than passively read notes. Then before each exam, I would look through these condensed notes to refresh my memory. I would also do practice questions from past papers, which I found very useful.

      As Sam says, basically the more time you put in the more you get out.

    • Photo: Vera Weisbecker

      Vera Weisbecker answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      In Germany your final mark is constituted from your last two years’ worth of marks, so it is not really comparable. My average mark was something like an A – like an A but not an amazing A. And I would have never ever gotten that if I hadn’t been able to kick maths off my curriculum. I revised pretty much by sitting down and going through my notes. I think it is a good idea to check whether you can paraphrase (say in different words) what is written in your notes. If you can, that means you understood it.

    • Photo: Katie Marriott

      Katie Marriott answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I got 9 B’s, 5 A’s and 1 D for GCSE. At A-level I got 2 B’s and a D, and a B at AS-Level.

      I read my notes and text books to revise. And go through old exam papers to get used to the way questions are worded. Revision is made easier if you make sure you work hard through the year and ensure you understand things as you go. That way you are not learning things for the first time when you are revising and you are more likely to remember it. At least that is what I found anyway.

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