Hi, my name is Josh O'Donnell. I have just finished my GCSE course and, although i could have done better, i thought it went really well. I'm sue if you are just about to start your GCSE course you are worried at the moment about the rumors of an impossible amount of coursework and homework. This, however, is not true. Yes you will get coursework, and it will be a steady amount of the two years but yet it is not impossible. Try not to think about it. My main tip to you though is to focus in class. I know that you will have been told this all throughout your school life but it is true; it makes a huge difference when it comes to the work outside of class. You dont have to sit at the front of the class to do well, i generally sat near the middle and i did just as well as those who sat at the front. No, you just have to take note of what the teacher says as they generally make sense. 

The first thing i must say on the topic of coursework is start it early, DO NOT leave it until the night or even the morning before if you are particularly disorganized. Doing this only makes the amount of coursework seem more, hence the rumors of incredibly large amounts of work. The simplest way of completing your coursework on time without staying up to a ridiculous hour the night before the deadline is to do small amounts of the work every night or every other night. Just 20 minutes a night is enough to do a substantial amount of the work in just a week when many of the projects are due in several weeks, or even months after the deadline.

At the end of the course my school conducted a survey on 'Study Skills'. When asked about what regrets or what they could have done better in their work over 80% of pupils admitted to leaving their coursework until the last minute and the top piece of advice from everyone was 'start your coursework early!'

During this course you will undoubtedly receive a constant barrage of tests, modules and vocab tests. This can be disheartening but it must be done. To learn the content in the vocab tests my advice to you is:

1. learn 5 or 6 words

2. Go and do some other work or if you have none set, revise over previous work.

3. Come back and test those 5 or 6 words then learn two more.

4. Go away and do some other work.

5. Come back and test those 8 words and so on.

This has been proven as the best way of learning vocab as it really helps to stick it in your mind.

For modules and other alike tests the only thing i can say is lern little sections every night. It is in a sense very similar to doing coursework. Doing little bits of work at a time but doing them frequently is how you learn.

To succeed in your GCSEs you must be ORGANISED and have good TIME MANAGEMENT. These are essential! Know your deadlines and designate your time accordingly. My tip is to use a diary and note down every bit of work set. Do not rely on your memory to remember every bit of work set and the details about it. Be forward thinking! When doing your work you must be ruthless in how you do it. Do not spend unnecessarily  amounts of time on it, just the recommended period. Complete the piece of work to the highest standard you can do and set it aside.

Well thats all i have to say on this now but once again, LISTEN IN CLASS and keep good notes.

Thanks and hope this helps. Good luck in your studies.