GCSEs: A Guide to Revision

GCSEs 2026 are rapidly approaching! I'm currently working as a TA in a school in West London, and with our year 11s having their last day at school tomorrow (at the time of writing this) I'm all too aware of the prospect of revision and exams that looms over them. That being said, GCSEs are not all doom and gloom. They are an opportunity to show off everything you have learnt in the past 2 or 3 years, and also a last chance to do many subjects that you won't study beyond this level. So, if you are just about to commence your study leave I thought I would share a couple tips and tricks for the exam period, many of which you will have heard before, but when I sat my GCSEs (7 years ago now which is crazy to me!!) they did in fact work, and coming away with straight 9s was still to this day one of my proudest achievements.

Starting off with some general revision tips:

1. Make a Revision Timetable

You most definitely will have heard your teachers yapping on about this one, but I really recommend that you do actually do it! Write down when each of your exams are and make a plan between now and then of what you are going to study each day. In the same vein, write down what you want to do for each subject before you sit the exam. Do you want to go over all the content or just the parts you find tricky? Do you want to do a certain amount of past papers and practice questions? Do you want to go through a study guide or any other resources? Whatever it is, write it down, make a checklist, and work through it according to your timetable. I promise it will save you a lot of faff!

During my GCSE study leave I did all of this by hand and stuck my nicely decorated and colour coordinated timetable on my wall, but by the time I got to uni I had it on a Excel document o my laptop, so see what works for you and what will help keep you accountable.

2. Get yourself a revision guide with practice questions

This is the number one thing (aside of doing as many past papers as possible) that helped me with my revision. There are so many good guides out there which I will link below, but the ones with exam style practice questions and mark schemes are the best because it so so important to get used to answering the style of question you will face in your exams. Make sure to always mark any practice questions you do otherwise you'll never know how to improve!

My Fav Revision Guides:

CGP (Complete Guide and Practice)

Oxford Revise (Complete Revision and Practice)

Past Paper Questions:

Physics and Maths Tutor

Revision World

Save my Exams

3. Change your environment

Changing up where you study is also very important as it gives you a reset. Some people like to do it where they study in certain spaces for certain subjects - such as maths in your bedroom, english in the living room, french in the local library etc - as this can help them get their brain into the right mindset for each subject. I never really did that but I did change up where I was going to study in order to keep myself excited. If it's sunny then sitting outside in a park or in a coffee shop with an iced latte made me excited to go out and revise. If you are studying at home, say in the evening, light a candle, get a snack, and romanticise the work. I also recommend trying as hard as possible to avoid studying in the same room that you sleep in, it makes it very hard to differentiate between work and down time!

Another thing I used to do was play real time study with me videos in the background as I did my revision. It gives you a sort of companionship and the same level of accountability and incentive to keep going I then got later on when studying in university libraries. It also gives you a set time to study for. I used to watch the ones by Ruby Granger and Unjaded Jade on YouTube which I have linked but there is probs loads more good ones out there now.

Onto the actual exam tips:

4. Pack your pencil case the night before

There is literally nothing worse than getting into your GCSE exam and realising that you don't have the right equipment! To avoid this, and avoid any stress the morning of your exam, I suggest packing your bag (and in the same vein laying out your uniform) the night before. For your exams you will need a clear pencil case and clear water bottle. I used a ziplock bag which is unglamorous but did the job.

Here's everthing you will need:

• Black pens x 3 (at least) - ink pens or biro depending on what you like

• Blue/coloured pens x2 - for annotating questions

• Highlighter - also for annotating questions

• Pencils x3 (at last) - for diagrams, make sure they are sharp

• Pencil Sharpener

• Rubber

• Ruler - 30cm long at least

• Protractor and Compass (for maths)

• Calculator - make sure you have got it approved by the school before hand as some schools require you to do this

• Clear water bottle - its so important to bring water into your exam

• Candidate Number/Student card (depending on what your school asks you to bring)

  
  

5. Highlight the question (or RTFQ)

Highlighting the key words in the question is one of the best ways to ensure you are actually reading it. One of the most common mistakes people make is answering the question they want to answer or think it is asking rather than what it is actually asking. Highlighting the key command word - Describe, Explain, Outline etc - and the key topic words to include ensures you actually read and take in what you are being asked to do. My mum was an accountancy lecturer and her number one piece of advice for her students (which she then used to always tell me and my sister) was to RTFQ (which stands for Read The F*ing Question). At the start of every exam I would write RTFQ at the top of the first page of paper as a reminder to double and triple check what they are asking you to do. You'll never get any marks if you don't answer the question they are actually asking. Also ensure you answer all parts of the question, if it asks you to do two things make sure you don't just stop after the first one.

6. Number of Marks = Number of Points to Make

This is a hack your teachers have probs also told you, but the number of marks a question is worth is a guide to how many points (or steps if its maths) that you need to make. A 3 mark question will need three points in your answer. Putting one word is not gonna get you all three marks. Same in maths, if its a 4 marker then there are 4 steps you are going to have to do in your working. In science, the 6 markers needs 6 points!!

7. Write out the equations + Remember your units

This one is mostly for science (especially physics) but always start a maths question by writing out the equation you are going to use. You will get a mark for identifying the correct equation! In the same vein remember your units. Firstly, to see if you need to convert any values before you stick then in the equation (if its given in cm and the equation uses m then remember to convert) and secondly in your final answer. If you're not sure of the unit then using the equation can help you. Speed = distance (in m) /time (in s) therefore the unit of speed is (m)/(s) or m/s.

8. Always show your working

Just do this! Please please please don't ever just write the answer. If you get the wrong answer but have the correct working (ie you juts made a silly error in something like writing down numbers) you will still get marks! Showing your working is so unbelievably important (I can hear maths teachers country wide begging you all to do this!).

9. Please please check your work

Checking through your work at the end of an exam is boring. I'm aware its boring and I hated doing it. But, these are your GCSE exams! Please just go back and check all your calculations with your calculator, double check you answered all the questions, that you added enough points for each mark, and that your spelling and grammar was correct. These little things make such a difference and there are 100% things you will have made errors in simply because of the stress of doing the questions - take time at the end to check. If possible more than once!

And finally the most important point of all:

10. Remember to take breaks and have some fun!

Revising for your GCSEs should not consuming all of your life! No one needs to be studying any more than the length of a school day (6-7 hours). Please go touch some grass, go for a walk, do some exercise, talk to your friends and family, and keep up your hobbies. Continuing with my gymnastics training was the best thing I did during my GCSEs. It gave me a specific time every evening to be out of the house, away from my books, chatting to my friends, exercising, and enjoying myself. It also gave me a deadline to be done with revision by each day and that structure really really helped to motivate me.

So good luck everyone! You got this!