Top 5 Tips: How to Revise GCSE Science

Written by: Dr John Adam for Medic Mind

It’s common to be intimidated by the amount you need to know to ace your GCSE Science exams, but don’t worry – we’ve got you! Here’s our best advice for your revision. 

Our Top 5 Tips for GCSE Science

1. Alternate your techniques
2. Use the past papers
3. Teach someone else
4. Take care of yourself
5. Do more of what you don’t like

1. Alternate your techniques

Plenty of websites will tell you that the very best way to revise is with flashcards, mind maps, chunking and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. Really, the very best thing you can do is use all these techniques to keep it fresh and understand the content from all angles. You can only write so many flashcards on one topic, so why not try something different to keep boredom at bay! 

Here’s a quick list of techniques for revising that you might want to try out:

• Flashcards
• Mind-maps
• Simple reading
• Condensing a topic down to a single page
• Writing your own questions
• Writing lines repetitively

Try them all out and rotate in the ones which work well for you! 

2. Use the past papers

GCSE Past papers (and mark schemes) are a goldmine of information. Firstly, there are only so many questions that can be asked around a relatively short syllabus and if you’ve done every past paper since the exam began you can count on some of the same questions coming up. 

Secondly, you’ll begin to understand how the examiners want you to answer the questions and the exact words that they’d like you to use. Let’s think about photosynthesis; the AQA GCSE mark schemes insist that you use the word light to describe where plants get their energy, sunlight is also allowed but you wouldn’t get the mark for just sun! Know your enemy and get to grips with the mark schemes. 

3. Teach someone else

If you don’t understand a topic, you won’t teach it well. So, trying to teach someone else a topic exposes the parts of it you’re less good at and can guide your revision accordingly. You can do this in a couple of ways. 

First, try teaching a family member who knows nothing about the topic. That way, if they’re getting confused you should probably revise the topic so that you can explain it more simply! If there’s no one in the house, it’s sometimes even useful to just pretend you’re talking to someone and see if you can explain it in a way that sounds good. You could even try talking to a pet! 

If you have friends also doing their GCSEs, you can divide up the work. Try saying that you’ll each spend the evening revising a different topic, then teach it to each other on a break the next day. You’ll all be accountable, you’ll all have to get to grips with your individual topics, and everyone gets a mini-revision session on a topic they haven’t done yet! 

4. Take care of yourself

All other advice is pointless if you’re not taking care of yourself. You can’t expect to efficiently revise if you’re feeling rubbish, hungry or thirsty. So, you need to make sure to get the basics right.

Try to get enough sleep each night. Set a regular sleep and wake time and try to stick to it! You can even time your sleep to REM cycles to feel more refreshed when you wake up, check out sleep timers on Google for these timers. Remember as well to try and keep away from electronics for about half an hour before bedtime and keep your routine as similar as possible. 

Make sure you eat healthily and stay hydrated. Caffeine is a great tool for revision, but sometimes a bottle of water or a snack will serve you just as well! Don’t neglect the basics of having some water nearby and going for a snack if you need one. Eat three meals a day and keep time when you’re eating as rest and relaxation time. You’ll only wear yourself out if you try to work through every meal! 

Remember to take breaks. Your GCSEs are really exhausting exams, and you’ll be revising long hours for them. Take breaks, even if it’s just 15 minutes to watch some YouTube or TikTok in between 1-hour revision sessions. 

5. Do more of what you don’t like

It’s only too easy to fall into the trap of revising the subjects you like as a GCSE student. This is because it’s gratifying, and you do well on practice questions or flashcards that you’ve prepared. It’s harder but much better for your revision to spend time on topics that you hate or find more difficult. Try to make a list of these, and don’t let yourself fall into the trap of avoiding them! Try to imagine an exam made up of your worst areas, and revise for that rather than the exam you want. Before long you’ll be seeing your marks skyrocket!  

Above all, stay confident and trust the process. By revising as consistently as possible, you will see your marks improve even if it’s not immediate. Good luck! 

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