Revision countdown to GCSEs 2025
With GCSE season fast approaching, getting your child to start their revision early in January will give them four to five months to prepare and be exam-ready.
They need a well-structured, focused, and sustainable revision plan to make the most of this time. Here's how to help them maximise their chances of success:
Help them set clear goals
Revision works best when your child knows what to do and when to do it. This means they need to have a plan for each subject, and this starts with understanding the exam specifications and what examiners want from them.
Start by advising them to review past assessments, practice papers, or mock exam results per subject to identify their weak areas. This will allow them to target their revision timetable more effectively.
Suggest they focus more on subjects or topics they find challenging and break down revision into manageable chunks.
Help them design a weekly timetable with specific hours for each subject and topic. Aim for 1 - 2 hours a day of focused study (they can gradually increase this as the exams approach).
What can help is to use the free BBC bitesize revision timetable.
Advise them to do more than make notes
Active recall and spaced repetition are two highly effective revision methods for long-term retention. Instead of just reading notes or textbooks, get your child to quiz themselves regularly on the material. Suggest they try to recall key information from memory and check answers.
Help them create flashcards for key definitions, formulas, concepts, or practice questions. Apps like Anki or Quizlet can help with spaced repetition. For complex topics, create mind maps or diagrams to help visualise connections between concepts and remember them better.
Ensure they structure revision time
Timetables are all good, but it's essential to structure a revision timetable. Once your child has reviewed the notes and the content, they can choose a past paper and pick a question. Advise them to spend time revising that question and then answering it. Mark the answer and see where they lost marks, then revise again. Repeat the question later in the day to see what your retention rate is like. Variations in how they revise will also strengthen long-term retention.
Focus on past papers and mark schemes
Before working through the GCSE exam papers, students must practice the topics individually and cover all the specifications. After this, they can confidently approach practice exams. This will reduce anxiety and boost performance. Plus, thoroughly studying all the topics will give them a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
Then, start with timed conditions to get used to the exam format. After completing each paper, get your child to mark it using the official mark scheme to identify where they lost marks.
This will help them work on their exam technique, including answering questions concisely, structuring essays or long answers, and using the marks available to guide the depth of their responses.
In subjects like Maths and Science, the focus should also be on recurring question formats (e.g., word problems, multi-step calculations, or graph-based questions). In English, practice different types of writing prompts and literature questions.
Work on exam technique
When it comes to exam structure and marking, GCSE exams tend to repeat certain styles of questions. Getting your child to pay attention to these patterns and learn the best approaches to answering them, such as using formulas effectively in Maths and Physics, will help them do well.
Past papers can also identify the techniques or methods needed to master what the examiners want to see.
Use resources
Revision Guides and Textbooks: Use subject-specific revision guides (such as CGP or Collins) to focus on concise summaries and practice questions.
Online resources: Platforms like BBC Bitesize, Seneca Learning, or Khan Academy offer free resources covering various topics.
Videos and tutorials: Sometimes, watching a YouTube tutorial can clarify a problematic concept. Channels like "The GCSE Tutor" or "Khan Academy" have a wealth of content across all subjects.