As the GCSE exam period rapidly approaches, there will be many students throughout the UK worrying that they don’t know their subject as well as they ought to. With competition for places in further education never more fierce and unemployment on the rise, there is a real desire to achieve good GCSE grades. Maths is of course one of the subjects that many further education establishments and employees value the most and also a subject that many students struggle with. If you are feeling under prepared for your GCSE Maths exam then there is no point wasting time worrying about it. You still have enough time to do some cramming and improve your chances of securing your desired grade.
Focus on your target
Your first step should be to decide upon which grade you are hoping to achieve in your GCSE Maths. If a C grade is realistically the best you are likely to achieve, there is no point wasting time on topics that you only need to know to achieve an A grade. If you are unsure as to which topics you need to learn in order to achieve your target grade, use the links below as a source of reference:
How to get a grade A at GCSE Mathematics
How to get a Grade B at GCSE Maths
How to get a C grade at GCSE Mathematics
Now you can have a look through all the topics that you need to learn and decide on your weakest areas – which you should of course give priority to.
Making a study plan
Once you have highlighted which areas you need to concentrate on, you may be a little disheartened. Now is the right time to work out a study plan to ensure that you spend some time on all the different maths topics on your list. Put together a calendar that shows all the spare time that can be allocated to maths revision. It is a good idea to incorporate all of your study subjects into this calendar, to ensure that they are not neglected. You should now be able to work out exactly how many hours you can afford to spend on each area.
Here are a few tips that can help you get the best results from your available study time:
- Break study periods into 45 minutes, taking at least a 10 minute break between each
- Make use of time spent on the bus or in the car whilst on the way to school
- Remove or turn off any distractions during study, such as mobile phone, Facebook etc.
- Try to organise some group sessions with pupils that are committed to their study
- Recognise which time of day you are at your best and tackle the most difficult topics then
Seeking extra help
In addition to studying alone and with your fellow pupils, it is a good idea to also seek extra help from a maths tutor – especially if you are struggling in certain areas. The one-to-one tuition affords you the opportunity to ask as many questions as required, in order to understand the topic at hand. This approach will mean that you come to understand problems quicker, leaving more time to focus on other topics.
You may struggle to find an available maths tutor at such short notice and with exams rapidly approaching. If this is the case, then you may wish to consider an online tuition service. In the past online tuition was somewhat limited. However, advancements in technology, such as onscreen whiteboards and VIOP capabilities, now mean that online tutors can provide a fully interactive service. Class sizes tend to be between 6 and 10, with attending pupils at the same learning level. Such services allow pupils the opportunity to take part in group work and also receive one-on-one tuition as required.
For more in-depth information on how such services work, visit iTutorMaths – online maths tutor.
Guest Post by Matt Barnes of iTutorMaths