IGCSE Environmental Management Chapter 3 Notes are now up on this blog!

Go to the following link on this blog to see my Chapter 3 Notes for IGCSE Environmental Management!:

http://ighelp.blogspot.in/p/environmental-management.html

The only Guide you will ever need to ACE your Exams - GCSE Edition \\ Part 2

Not a GCSE Student? This guide could still help you but why don't you click here to see my general study guide to ace your exams (no matter what board you are studying!). 

.

Click here to see my personal study tips you probably haven't thought of!

Welcome to part 2/2!

5

Notes

Base your notes mainly on study guides, notes from other resources like a better textbook than the one you own or the internet, and the syllabus. Your original textbook should only be used when you cannot get the same topics in another resource that fulfills the syllabus requirement. Study guides contain all the required information but in a condensed form and sometimes topics are even explained better! Make sure you use a certified study guide/textbook!

Here's a Venn diagram to summarize the above:

6

Past Papers

Solve all past papers! Learn from the past papers. The best way you can score more in your exams is to understand how the Marking Scheme answers questions. Okay, now I know this will sound extremely weird, but You have to think like the Marking Scheme. You have to learn what keywords are used, etc. The questions that have a total of 3 or more marks are the ones you should absolutely know on the tip of your tongue because these questions could get repeated. A lot of the long-answer questions have gotten repeated in previous papers - you'll see them at least twice. Even if you don't see a similar question twice in the whole past papers bunch, learn it because it could come in your paper. The best site for all papers in one place is xtremepapers.com. Hands down.

Just in case you didn't know this already: if a question is for 4 marks, the examiner expects four points from you in the answer.

7

Updating your notes

Update your notes once you finish solving past papers or, even better, while you are solving your past papers. Write down the long-answer questions and their answers. If there are variations in the answer of a question that has come twice in the past papers, you can do one of two things: write the combined answer in your notes (i.e. write duplicate points only once and then add the different points below those) or write down the answer to the question which is in the most recent paper. For example, if a similar/same question has appeared in a June 2012 paper and January 2015 paper (with slightly different answers in the marking scheme) write down the answer from the January 2015 paper. Be careful and don't mistake to similar looking but completely different questions as the same! GCSE papers can be tricky like that!

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Other things to keep in mind

Definitions are also important and even though they usually carry 1 or 2 marks there are a LOT of definitions to know and you should know all if you really want to snag every mark you can. If you are good at memorizing things, excel at whatever you know is important to memorize!

I probably still have my biology and/or chemistry & physics definition on my flashcards so comment below if you'd like me to update definitions on the IGCSE sections for the respective subjects.

Some papers require special preparation. For example, the Biology ATP paper usually asks for a magnified diagram of a picture provided. In that question you should know to make clear lines, not to shade, and to label parts according to your syllabus (for example if it is a plant, label all plant labels that you can recollect from your textbook or if it is a finger, label nailbed, keratin, etc).

Science ATP papers are usually specific when it comes to questions and if you spend a little extra time on the past papers you'll realise there are only a bunch of questions that keep repeating and you should basically just know all of them if you wanna ace your Science ATP paper.

The only Guide you will ever need to ACE your Exams - GCSE Edition \\ Part 1

Not a GCSE Student? This guide could still help you but why don't you click here to see my general study guide to ace your exams (no matter what board you are studying!). 

.

Click here to see my personal study tips you probably haven't thought of!

1

The very first step is to be thorough with the textbook

GCSEs are all about concepts and applying knowledge. Your textbook is your foundation. In the beginning of your semester/academic year you should begin reading the textbook, highlighting in it (basically whatever works for you). At this point, you could start making notes, but I strongly recommend not to finalize these notes and study from them as in the beginning, you won't know all the points you have to know. Remember that the textbook contains foundation, not everything you need to know. In fact, most of the time the textbooks will miss one or two things if not more.

2

Initial Studying

Find techniques that work best for you! Flashcards, highlighting, underlining, making notes in the margin of your books, and the Pomodoro Technique (if you haven't already, click here to view my post on what the Pomodoro Technique is and click here to see the pros and cons of the technique) are just some of the ways you can choose to study. At the beginning of the year, experiment with different methods and see what works. Read your study resources all over again once you have read and understood everything once - I assure you, some concepts will become clearer.

3

Syllabus! Syllabus! Syllabus

My English teacher wasn't wrong when she told me class "Syllabus is God!". Yes, it sounds extreme and yes, it sounds funny. But you should base all your studying on the syllabus. A-levels could require a bit more research beyond but related to the syllabus, but GCSEs do not require any additional concepts to be known. Stick to the syllabus! The syllabus is key when you are making your own notes

4

Don't hold back

When you think you haven't understood something properly either go to your teacher or the internet (or both if one of the above doesn't help).

When a question pops in your noggin about something not mentioned anywhere but you know that understanding the answer to that question will help you understand the topic go to your teacher or the internet! Trust me, it's better to be safe than sorry. If your gut tells you that you should at least try to figure something out, then do it! Making yourself more knowledgeable can not hurt in any way!

To be continued in Part 2! Stay Tuned!