GCSE Physics Week 2 Exam Preparation Tips

Hi again, Imogen here 😊

I hope you had a lovely Bank holiday weekend and recharged some batteries!

Following on from last week, I hope you enjoyed going through your Physics specification and maybe even some other subjects too. I’m sure you’ve realised there’s lots of work to be done, but there’s also so much you’ve already aced! So let’s take a moment to give ourselves a big pat on the back! You deserve it and all this hard work will pay off. Promise!

But, there’s of course still more to be done for this final sprint. It’s the home straight now, so let’s jump in and discuss how we can maximise the efficiency of our final revision in these ultimate few weeks.

We first need to think about planning how we will tackle each of our weaknesses. Going through your specification last week will have hopefully highlighted these for you quite clearly. Ways to plan this out effectively are as follows:

· Gantt charts – these allow you to plot out your problems to tackle over a given time period! Don’t fall into the trap of agonising over its details and aesthetics though!

· Timetabling.

· Google/online calendars.

· To-do lists (that can be ticked satisfyingly!) – make as many as you find necessary. I like to have 3 on the go at any one time! One for general things, one for the week and another for the day. (Yes I’m a bit obsessed with lists okay?!)

Now, what should we write on these lists in order to conquer what we don’t understand?

In most cases this will include:

1. Reviewing content – get help from friends or teacher if it’s really confusing. Watch YouTube videos too, they were so helpful for me (as long as you don’t get distracted and fall down a rabbit hole!)

2. Using/making revision materials

3. Testing yourself

4. Practice papers

Above are the four stages to success in preparation for any exam! If you follow them properly then I guarantee you will do brilliantly.

“What does ‘follow them properly’ even mean though Imogen?” Well good question and I’m about to blow your mind…

Practice actually does not make perfect. Despite what you might’ve been told your whole life. Doing a few practise papers, maybe some answers are right and others wrong, you then think that’s a tick on your required ‘practice’, go to sit your Physics exam and walk off into the sunset. Unfortunately, chances are you have not improved. This is all down to how you define practice and subsequently how you improve from the mistakes you made.

Perfect practice:

This involves frequent reflection on the things that are going wrong, not just right. A good way to do this is making a table similar to the following:

I recommend making a spreadsheet or word document dedicated to just this exercise for each subject even. Think of it as your little bank of things to improve.

It is important to also consider where your more general weaknesses may lie, for example making units errors, being a bit rooky with prefixes or even finding the calculator tricky to use. Identifying these flaws can be done by referring to previously completed exam papers as well as teacher feedback. Make a physical list or add it to your table above, trying to be as succinct as possible. Now this is a perfect resource to refer back to when revising and also to bear in mind when approaching practice tests in future. Doing this allows you to formulate a method to target and overcome each of the issues. That method will depend on the issue and the person but in most cases strategic practice is indeed the key. This means targeting your practice onto the things you are trying to improve!

The final thing for this week is assembling your arsenal. Make sure you have all the equipment you need for revision as well as exam day. Download practice papers and try a few of them out (it doesn’t have to be in self-induced exam conditions!)

Good luck over the next week structuring your improvements and practice paper analysis. But make sure to schedule in rests, hobby and social time too, these are soo important! Just keep in check with yourself and your time management.

Have any questions about how to prepare for your A-Level exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Imogen. Imogen will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Imogen will answer them in these sessions.