Updated for 2018 and applicable for exams in 2019/2020, How to ACE your GCSEs teaches you how to ACE your exams. No matter how smart or behind you may think you are this book will teach you how to revise… properly!
Written by #1 bestselling author of How to ACE Your A-levels, Raja outlines how to achieve top grades at GCSE. Read this book to learn how to beat the system and dominate exams using information your teachers may not be aware of. Written from a student’s perspective, How to ACE Your GCSEs provides highly relatable, honest and straightforward guidance on how to achieve As and A*s.
Raja gives the keys to his tried and tested 3 step plan:
Step 1 – Method. Find out what top students do to secure top marks in exams.
Step 2 – Study Cycle. The term ‘work hard’ is often thrown around with no explanation. Working hard is a skill in itself which must be understood and practiced. Read examples of other students and their day-to-day habits during the academic year to help you gauge how much is enough.
Step 3 – Motivation. Increase your attention span through simple and effective tricks. Understand the damaging insecurities that hold you back from reaching your maximum potential and tackle them head on.
Read this book and arm yourself with techniques that will help you ACE your GCSEs and every other exam you may take during the rest of your life.
Lewis Stefkens
Hi Raja, after what I’ve heard about the mocks they don’t count towards anything but what happens is we get graded on them and what we get will be a prediction of the grade we will most likely achieve in the real exam. After revising science I did a past paper on Biology, Chemistry and Physics and got 3 Bs, however I was very close to achieving 3 As. After looking through I realised what the problem was. It’s not that I don’t understand the work, but more to do with answering the question and what the examiner is looking for. My weakness is answering exam questions because I always seem to get it wrong especially the long ones. I mean I get tricked very easily during an exam. Is there anything I can do to about this?
Many thanks
Lewis Stefkens
My science teacher explained that it’s not about knowing the work but you’ve got to be able to apply it and I could see where he was coming from.
Charley
Hi, I’m in year 11 now and I’m quite confused about alot of things so I have many questions.
•I don’t know how to do a revision timetable especially when I don’t know what exams I have on which day but it’s similar to other schools in the UK
•when do you think we should definitely start revising?
•I don’t know how to adjust the revision timetable if I have an extra assessment/practice test in classrooms
But I’m currently doing these subjects in GCSE
-English language and literature
-Maths
-Science (Triple award)
-French
-Geography
-Citizenship
-Textiles (doesn’t need revising)
I’ve bought your book. But really, I don’t know where to start. Could you help me with these problems?
Charley
Also do you have any advices on the amount of time to study each subject?page? And is it a good idea if I prioritise the amount of revision I do based on the importance. List of order of importance (most to least)
English
Maths
Science (all 3. triple)
Geography
Citizenship
French
Textiles
Academic Underdogs
Hi Charley,
Thanks for reading my book and for your question.
Revision timetable – When to start? Now. The answer will always be now!
Simply calculate the number of days there are between now and end of February, then divide that number by the total number of exams you have. This will give you the total number of days you have to prepare for each exam for your first layer. Don’t worry about your exam timetable for now, just work on getting the first layer done by end of Feb. Come back on here on Feb and update me on your progress.
What extra assessments are you referring to? Do they count towards your final grade?
Prioritising your subjects is a good idea.
I hope this helps.
Raja
Charley
Thanks for explaining this Raja. This really helped me understand it better. I will come back here for sure. The extra assessment so doesn’t count towards the final grade but they are sometimes mock exams in classrooms or end of topic exams/test. Thank you again it means a lot.
Charley
I’ve found out that I’ve got some mock exams starting from 5th Dec to 16th Dec. We’ve got no precise exam timetable but I’ve got only 4 weeks to do revisions. Also my English teachers have told me to revise English every week which is different to you layer methods. So what should I do?
Lewis Stefkens
Hello another question I have is that at this time there will be mocks coming up and also end of unit tests. Should I prepare for those as well or stay focused on the real thing? Also with some subjects I don’t have a textbook, so does that mean I have to use a combination of revision guides, online learning and classroom notes? Finally what happens if I’m doing a subject but I don’t complete in two weeks?
Thank you
Academic Underdogs
Hi Lewis,
Q1 – Do your mocks matter in any way shape or form?
Q2 – Yes. You will have to piece together your learning material from those different sources. Try and get this done sooner rather than later with the help of your teachers.
Q3 – Don’t worry if you can’t finish in 2 weeks – keep moving forward and focus on doing a little more each day. Even if you complete the first layer thoroughly for 50-60% of your exams by January, you’ll still be in a pretty decent position.
I hope that helps
Raja
Samer
Dear Mr. Raja
I have one moth left for my physics exams and I haven’t started. I’m retaking the exam and I remember most of the book, I’ve used your method but I scored an E. Is there any way I can achieve A*
Thank you
Taro
Hello my name is Taro, I’ve read your book and I’d like to ask a question about the layers. If my first subject on the layers is maths and I finish it after to weeks then move on to other subject does that mean for the next 2 months while doing other subjects I won’t revise maths.
Academic Underdogs
Hi Taro,
Thanks for reading my book. Yes – that’s correct and exactly how I did it. You could of course do multiple subjects all at one go, but it can be a little difficult to keep track of your progress.
Anshul
Ikraan
Hi, my name is Ikraan. I am currently in yr11 and it is the beginning of the. I am already stressing because my whole life i have never been good with exams. I try my hardest i revise and work but when it comes to the day of the exam my nerves take over and this gets me really stressed. I keep putting myself thinking on results day i will fail and be hugely disappointed and so will my parents and everyone else and im under alot of pressure.
But later this week i found ‘ace your GCSE’ in my twitter feed and i felt a sense of hope so i clicked on the link and i watched the video and was very relieved that there was someone out there who could help me ace my GCSE and not get stressed. The problem with me is that i dont seem to know how to revise properly. My front and classmates seem to do it well with their strategies but they dong work for mr the information doesnt seem to stay in my head and it feel really dumb and stupid so i was hoping that this book will save me so i orded it and when it comes to exam results day and i pass because of this book i will grateful for the rest of my life!.
Academic Underdogs
Hi Ikraan. Thank you for your comment and for reading my book. Don’t worry if you’ve had trouble with exams in the past. This doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent or capable. All it means is you need to learn how to build self discipline, establish a study strategy and execute that strategy. Reading my book will help you do that! Keep us updated on your progress!
Raja
Ikraan
Thank you sooo much!
But i haven’t read the book het but i orded.
It still hasn’t arrived and its been overa week
Ikraan
That didnt make sense
Ive oreded the book but it hasn’t yet come.
Its been over a week
Lewis Stefkens
Dear Raja
I bought this about a month before my year 10 mock exams and honestly it is the best book I’ve read ever in such a long time. While reading I decided to create my layer 1 timetable for year 11 which I did about a week before school. I started revising my first subject which is geography about a week ago and I have a few days left before my 2 weeks is up. I read that I should only use the textbook. My school does have them for most subjects but I’m not allowed to take them home, plus they’re not for sale. All I have is revision guides. I checked with my teachers for each subject and asked if they had all the learning material that would be in the exam. I took some time to check it out and sure enough they did. I realised that I had no other choice but to just use them. I used the scribble technique for a few days and it already took its toll. I usually covered about 5 to 6 pages a day however it took me close to half an hour just to do one page. At first I remembered quite a lot of the information and it was all coming back to me but as the week went by it was back to the old me. A few days ago I did 2 pages in 2 hours on a topic we hadn’t learned yet. I then decided to remake my timetable and put geography at a later date and even made my second layer which finishes in early May which worries me because that is the month that exams start. Should I go ahead with this or not?
Thankyou
Academic Underdogs
Hi Lewis. Thanks for reading my book and for your question. I’m glad to hear you’ve started your layered learning timetable. My advice to you is to keep moving forward and don’t worry about changing your timetable. Focus on getting your work rate up to 5-6 pages an hour. This will come from using the scribble technique correctly. Spending half an hour per page shows that you are being stubborn and pushing hard – this is a good thing! However, it also indicates that you might be trying to memorise the textbook word-for-word rather than understanding the content. As you read through the textbook, try to absorb the key points and concepts. When you scribble, it should feel like you are explaining those key points and concepts back to yourself.
I hope this helps,
Raja
Lewis Stefkens
Hi Raja
Thank you for helping me. Information is something I do tend to absorb after being taught it and then going through it. But another problem is that sometimes I know the information and when it comes to a test or an exam, it’s that I don’t seem to know what the question is asking and just write what I know. Is there anything I can do to change that?
Liam
When do you think we should definitely start doing the layers technique? And although I’ve read the book how do I do the revision timetable? I’m finding it really hard to get started with creating the timetable
Academic Underdogs
Hi Liam,
To really give you the best chance next year, start the layered learning timetable from now. Total up the number of days between now and end of February and divide that number by the total number of exams you are sitting in the summer. That will roughly give you the amount time you should spend preparing for each exam for your first layer. Then come back on here in February and update me on your progress.
I hope that helps
Raja
Sayeem Khan
Hello
My name is sayeem and I’ve been in year 10 since two or three weeks and like all my other friends I am very stressed about my GCSEs.
I’ve bought your book but I don’t understand most things from it. It might be because I just moved in UK a year and a half ago. So I’ve been trough your book but as I already said I couldn’t understand everything perfectly.
I am writing this hoping you could guide me trough out the steps. Also I think I am in a bad position.
The subjects I am going to do GCSEs for are the following:
-English language
-English literature
-Mathematics
-Science ( combined science).
-French
-media studies
-Religious studies
-Physical education
-Statistics
And that is all, I think I already got an A* target grade for French because I lived six years in France so I don’t need much revisions for that.
Please give me the advice you consider appropriate for me, thank you.
Academic Underdogs
Hi Sayeem,
Thank you for reading my book. As there is a lot you don’t understand, I think the best thing to do is e-mail me the top 3 questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them. Please e-mail me on anshul@academicunderdogs.com
Thanks,
Raja
Finn Cartwright
I have read your book over the weekend before going into year 10. I plan to use your book as a guide for my revision and would like to ask if I should begin the layer system, using core textbooks, in year 10 for exams in year 11? If not, what do you recommend to do in year 10 for revision for those exams, if anything at all?
Academic Underdogs
Hi Finn,
Thanks very much for reading my book. Starting in year 10 would put you ahead of the game so I definitely recommend it. You can also spread the revision over a longer period of time. So in the book we mentioned 13 days preparation per exam if you start in Year 11 – this would mean 3-4 hours of revision a day. Given that you are starting in year 10, you can allocate 30 days preparation per exam and work 1-2 hours a day.
I hope this helps.
Raja