We can help!
Here’s the Harefield Practice GCSE 5-Step Guide to a Stress Free
(or stress-reduced)
exam experience…
Exams… Arghhhhhh!
First things first, exams can be stressful.
Its normal to feel stressed and its very common to feel very stressed.
This guide is here to help you reduce that stress but if you are struggling, please
come and see us in the surgery. We can help you.
How To Get Help:
GCSE Students are of an age where you can come to the surgery with an adult (for
example a parent) or, you can come by yourself, whichever you prefer.
We can offer appointments (in a GP surgery appointments are called “consultations”)
:
· in person (you come and see the doctor face to face)
· by phone
· by video phone
· by text message
You can choose whichever type of consultation you want.
Contacting Us:
You can telephone us: Our number is 01895 822 944
Or
You can contact us online:
Take a look at our website: www.TheHarefieldPractrice.co.uk and click on the top left
button “Blinx Online Patient Access” to get started.
(Blinx is the name of the product we bought to help you contact us.)
It’s pretty good and it’s very easy to use.
GCSEs…
The first thing to say is that GCSEs are not as difficult as they feel. It can difficult
having to do so many at once though, and so a bit part of the solution is to find a way
to get super organised. Different people have different preferences, so you may need
to try out different ways and see what works best for you.
Test one GCSE first, do you like everything on a computer or are you better with
folders and bits of paper, for example?
And then, if you can, try and use the same method for every subject. It useful to be
consistent. If you use ring binders, for example, get one for each subject (perhaps a
different colour for each one). If you use folders on a computer have a separate
folder for each subject.
Our minds (and our memories) work well when they are compartmentalised, that is to
say each topic has its own space to sit. Medical books sometimes refer to “pigeon
holes” because of the way our thoughts get organised…
… with each one having its own special space.
It is very tough having to do so many subjects at once, especially if you are not
super-interested in every subject and ESPECIALLY if you do not feel confident in a
subject.
It’s true that there is a lot to learn, and it's easy to fall behind and feel lost.
It's also true that catching up is not as bad as you think it will be.
GCSE Exams come at a really inconvenient time in our lives.
Very often there are other stresses to deal with at the same time, for example with
parents, siblings, grandparents, boyfriends, girlfriends and people who used to be
your friends (but are not so friendly now).
However difficult or easy you find this kind of thing, it's better to do it without feeling
really stressed.
Try not to panic…
If you are prone to anxiety, remember that happens to most people at some stage or
other, so come and see us in the surgery and we can find ways to help.
In the meantime, here is some really easy, but super-valuable help to bump up your
grades with minimal effort…
The Harefield Practice “GCSE 5 Step Guide” is here to help!
It is just a guide, and not a magic wand, so this guide is NOT:
· going to teach you all of your subjects
· able to replace having to go to school
· a way to stop you needing to revise or do any work.
FACT: Generally speaking, the more work you put in, the better your grades will be.
However, it never hurts to get some help...
On the one hand, studying GCSEs teaches you a huge amount and studying
can be really fun and fascinating.
On the other hand, nobody is graded on how fascinating they found the
subject.
You will be graded on your performance in the exams and so it is worth spending
some time planning for the exams, which is not the same as studying or even
enjoying the subject.
Everything in this guide is freely (and legally) available online and this information is
all in the public domain for everyone to see.
There are companies online that will sell you much of the free information to save you
the effort of having to find it yourself, or you can save some cash by working out how
to find the information yourself.
THIS GUIDE IS NOT CHEATING.
You know that the exam is the test at the end of the course.
But did you know, that there are loads of different exams in each subject, and so
there must also be loads of different courses in each subject?
It is true that not everyone studying a GCSE subject is doing the same course.
THE 5 STEP PLAN
STEP 1: Find the 4 letter code.
Every exam (and so every exam course) has a unique 4 letter code.
You need to know your code and be absolutely sure you get the right code, or this
guide will not help you.
You will need to ask your school or college to confirm the correct 4-letter code for
each of the subjects you are studying. You can ask your teachers. They will know
what code you are studying for in their subject.
Of course, you know what subject you are studying, but it is important to find out
EXACTLY what exam you are studying for.
Each exam in the UK has a unique 4-letter code.
Example:
In this example, we will use “Maths”.
Did you know, not everyone who gets their Maths GCSE this year will have taken the
same exam or even studied all the same topics?
In the UK, there are several Exam Boards (they are the boffins that set the exams)
and in fact, each exam board sets several exams, several times each year, in each
subject.
These are some of the common exam boards in the UK:
AQA https://www.aqa.org.uk/
Edexcel https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses.html
OCR https://www.ocr.org.uk/
Cambridge https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/
They all provide Maths GCSE or equivalent. For example:
4 letter code: 8300, from AQA
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/mathematics/gcse/mathematics-8300/specification
4 letter code: 1MA1, from Edexcel
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/mathematics-
2015.html
4 letter code: J560, from OCR
https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/mathematics-j560-from-2015/
4 letter code: 0580, from Cambridge
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-
igcse-mathematics-0580/
Top Tip:
Buy or borrow a ring binder for each subject you are studying, and write the subject
and the 4-letter code on the front. It is essential that you get the right code.
STEP 2: Find the Syllabus / Specification for your subject (for your 4 letter
code).
The syllabus is the guide or instruction manual for the whole subject.
It contains everything that you will be taught across the 2 GCSE years and
importantly,
If it's not in your syllabus, it won't be in your exam
A typical syllabus is about 10-15 pages of “content” and then another few pages of
waffle about how they assess you.
It might still look like a lot to learn, but knowing the boundaries and having a
framework really helps, and if you go on to study A levels in a subject, they usually
cover the entire two-year GCSE syllabus in the first day or so. It is really not as much
work as it looks.
Remember, you MUST make sure you get the right syllabus for your exact 4-letter
code.
At this stage, all you need to do is find the correct syllabus online (they are
free) and put it in the correct ring binder.
Example:
In this example, let’s use English Literature…
1. AQA
If you type into Google: “AQA GCSE English Literature syllabus” you will find this:https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-8702/specification
The 4-letter code in this example is “8702”.
At the bottom of the web page, on the left-hand side, you will find the
syllabus/specification for GCSE 8702:
Click on the text and you get this file to download:
https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/1d552450a822e04717de340917da5d3b
91896f1a.pdf
It contains everything you need to know to pass 8702 English Literature GCSE.
2. Edexcel
If, on the other hand, you are studying Edexcel English Literature, the 4-letter code in
this example is “1ET0” and the information is on this page:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/english-
literature-2015.html
It contains everything you need to know to pass 1ET0 English Literature GCSE.
You can see why it's so important to get the exact 4-letter code. Although similar, and
although both exams award you “GCSE English Literature”, these two GCSE courses
are not the same.
For example AQA students can choose to answer questions on Shakespear’s Julius
Caesar, but that’s not an option for Edexcel students, who study Twelfth Night
instead, and it follows of course that the exam is not going to be the same either.
Be absolutely sure you have the right syllabus for each of your courses, and
put the syllabus in the correct ring binder.
STEP 3: Find the Past Papers for your subject’s 4 letter codeNext, you need to find and download past papers (previous exams) for your exact 4-
letter code GCSE.
A “past paper” is just an exam from a previous year. IIn the future the exams you are
going to do, will become past papers.
Most of the current GCSEs have been going unchanged for several years so you
may find there are 10 or more years of past exams (20+ exams) for your exact
course.
If, for example, you type into Google “Edexcel 1ET0”, you will see this page:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/english-
literature-2015.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=Pearson-
UK:Category%2FExam-materials
You have free access to dozens of past papers.
You will see that every past paper is different. No exam is ever reused.
But… if you look carefully, you will see that Questions do get reused, again and
again. You have no way of knowing what questions will be in your exam, but the
simple truth is, you can only ask so many different questions before you have to start
asking the same ones again.
You can try it. Think of something (it can be anything, your dog or your phone or your
favourite TV program for example) and ask yourself questions about it.
How long before you slow down and have to start rephrasing questions that you
already asked? It wont take long. Now imagine doing that for more than 10 years!
Questions in the past papers are fairly likely to come up again.
To begin with, it’s worth just having a nose through a few of the past papers without
trying to answer the questions. You will soon see that there is a pattern to the way
questions are asked. There are only so many ways you can ask GCSE students
about the same limited syllabus for any subject. Questions get rephrased and
questions get asked year after year.
Even if your own GCSE exam does not include exact questions that have been
asked (and you have seen) before, they are likely to be quite similar in content or in
their format. It's worth reading as many previous questions as you can as you
prepare.
Once you have the past papers, double-check they are definitely the correct
ones for your 4 letter code, and pop them in your ring binder.
STEP 4 Find the Mark Schemes for your subject’s 4-letter code
Pay attention.
This is the bit that can really help your stress…
As we just saw, there are only so many ways you can ask a GCSE student about a
topic and, as it happens, there are only so many ways that the questions can be
answered as well.
The Mark Scheme is intended for the examiner but they are freely available on the
internet and they really are very useful.
The examiner is the person who will look at what you wrote in your exam afterwards,
and decide what score to give you.
The Mark Schemes makes sure that thousands of examiners all mark the exams the
same way, so that everything’s fair and examiners are given clear instructions telling
them when to give marks to students and also how many marks to give.
There are often boundaries where examiners are invited to give some marks if you
do something, and then they can then give extra marks only IF you include
something else in particular in your answer as well. Take a look at a few Mark
Schemes and you will soon get the idea.
The Mark Scheme will guide the examiner and tell them what gets high marks, and
what gets low marks.All of the mark schemes are also freely available online, for example, here are the
mark schemes for Edexcel 1ET0:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/english-
literature-2015.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=Pearson-
UK:Category%2FExam-materials
The Mark Schemes can vary from subject to subject, and are best used alongside the
corresponding exam paper.
Now you have the question (which usually indicates how many marks are available)
and they have the mark scheme telling you how to get some or all of the marks.
If you practice several questions, you will soon get a feel for how to answer the
questions in a way that gets the marks and that SAVES TIME for many students in
GCSEs is one of the biggest battles.
It is possible to spend a long time writing lots that only gets you one mark. You could
have written a small amount, briefly referring to 2 other points and achieved 3 marks.
It takes a bit of practice to master what is called “exam technique” but once you get
the hang of it, its quite simple.
This step looks a bit complicated but quite the opposite is true. Thousands of
students will be handing in thousands of answers, and there has to be a way to make
things fair and to standardise the marking of exams across the whole country, from
town to town and also from year to year. The marking scheme has to be set out very
clearly which is why its so useful.
Every past paper will have a corresponding mark scheme covering all the questions
in that exam.
Download as many as you can for your exact 4-letter code in each subject and
put them in your ring binder.
STEP 5 Put it all together.
This is the bit that really helps.
To start with try and find a question in a past paper that relates to a bit of the course
you are interested in, studying or revising.For example, consider this question in our example English Literature GCSE AQA
8702:
Question1:
“Starting with this speech, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents
Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman.
Write about:
• how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in this speech
• how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole. [30 marks]”
You can see that this question is worth 30 marks.
The maximum score is therefore 30, and the minimum score is obviously 0, but how
are marks achieved to get you from 0 all the way to 30?
Let's take a look at the corresponding section in the Mark Scheme and see what it
says about this exact question:
Indicative content
Examiners are encouraged to reward any valid interpretations. however,
include some of the following:
Answers might,
AO1 • Power in terms of status • Lady Macbeth’s power in terms of her
relationship • Lady Macbeth as a powerful/effective character in the play • How
Lady Macbeth changes as the play develops • Contrast between Act 1 and Act 3
and/or Act 5
AO2 • How Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth to influence the plot development
• The use of language to suggest Lady Macbeth’s desperation for power • The
use and effect of imagery of the supernatural • The use and effect of pronouns
to suggest power and control
AO3 • Ideas about power and how it is achieved/perceived • Ideas about the
role of women • Attitudes towards the supernatural • Ideas about the
soul/heaven and hell • Ideas about equality/status • Contemporary reception
towards Lady Macbeth’s behaviour in this speech and actions elsewhere in the
play .
Now, having read the mark scheme, go back and read the question again. It will look
different once you know what kind of answers the examiners are looking for.Now go and read that section of Macbeth again (the passage will be in the exam
paper, you don’t need the actual book for this). Knowing what kind of questions you
will be asked does change the way the text looks. Most likely, you’ll notice things,
such as particular words that didn’t seem important before.
You won't be able to memorise the exact answers for your own exam, but if you
practice, you will soon get a feel for how the examiners want you to answer. The
more you practice the easier it will get.
Top Tip:
You can help the examiners give you marks, once you realise that they will be looking
at a Mark Scheme just like the ones you have looked at when they check your
answers.
So how does this all help?
The fact is, there are only a limited number of ways to ask questions about Macbeth
(or any subject) before you start asking more or less the same questions again, and
the Mark Scheme spells out how to get the marks and importantly how to get extra
marks in or order to get higher grades.
Macbeth is a play about a powerful woman.
In the past students have been asked:
How does the author portray Lady Macbeth’s strength?
How are women in Macbeth portrayed?
How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth?
These are essentially the same questions, not about the naritive of the story but
about the tools used by the author, and you will see in the marking Schemes that the
marks are essentially awarded for making the same points.
You can practice this exercise at home...
Listen to your latest favourite song.
Now ask yourself questions about it.
“How did the author create this emotion that I have now?”
Did the speed, volume, choice of notes, choice of instruments, choice of words
contribute. Now got up a level… how did the words and the music interact. Was there any
silence or anything unexpected, like a pause or a change in volume?
How did the words interact. Did several words start with the same letter or
rhyme with each other.
Now write yourself a Mark Scheme for your questions. When do you give just a few
marks and at what point do you start to award extra marks?
What answer would get top marks?
You have just entered the World of GCSE Examinations (which is not the same as
working hard at school for 2 years).
For each subject, download as many past exams and mark schemes as you can and
then practice practice practice.
Soon enough, you will discover this thing known as “exam technique”. It’s a way of
answering questions in order to gain more marks without having more knowledge or
doing more work. It has very little to do with your knowledge at all and nothing
whatsoever to do with your love of the subject (or not).
Exam Technique is more to do with your
knowledge of the examination process itself.
By learning the ways that the examiner wants the questions to be answered, you will
find, after practising a few times, that you tend to answer that way.
Then, when you go back and look at the syllabus, and then the actual subject
material for that subject, you will discover that you begin to anticipate where
questions are likely to come up, how questions will be asked and even how to answer
them effectively to get all the marks.
This is not cheating, and this information is freely available for everyone.
This guide will not make you pass your exams without doing any work, but it may
help you with the stress of taking exams/
If you are feeling the stress of having to study for your GCSEs, and are not sure
where to begin, this is a good place to start!At the Harefield Practice, many of our very stressed GCSE students have been using
this guide for a few years now, and while it won't read the books for you, it will help
you when you do, and as the exams get closer, it may help you focus your time
effectively.
If you are struggling with stress, please speak to an adult. It does not help to keep
the stress locked away, and bottling it up inside can make it worse.
Please speak to a responsible adult such as your teacher or parent, or come and talk
to your doctor.
There are also many other places you can contact for help, for
example www.Kooth.com and www.youngminds.org.uk/
There are also a range of additional services exclusively for people living in
Hillingdon: https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/7593/Targeted-programmes-for-
children-and-young-people
Remember, in any kind of emergency, please call 999