Tip 7 - Don’t compare yourself to others (and stop generically labelling grades as “good” or “bad”)

Simply put, don’t compare your progress to that of other people. It’s fine to check how much content you’ve covered, but it’s best to ask a teacher rather than students from other schools. This is because some people may have covered topics in a different order and this could lead you to feel like you’re behind. Asking a teacher takes away the stress of that, and teachers will likely be able to advise you better for how much revision is best as they will know your strengths personally and won’t make up a random obscenely high amount like some people try to push on others in this subreddit and other studying places. (disclaimer: you will know yourself best however the point I’m making is that teachers are trained to help you through this and other students may be trying to make themself appear better or could unintentionally confuse you). If you are unsure if you’ve covered all topics and you can’t contact your teacher, it’s always helpful to look at the official exam specification on the exam boards’ websites to check that you’ve learned everything you need to. The one exception to this is asking for study advice, as fellow students will be going through the same course as you and will be able to give you revision ideas and advice. However don’t forget to tailor this to your own needs.

And just to add, not comparing yourself to other students also applies in terms of grades. Since you’re on a gcse based subreddit as you read this, you will likely have seen the many posts about achieving high grades in mocks or self study. This is a very very slanted view of how everyone as a whole is actually performing; if people are actively searching for studying groups the chances are that they are interested in studying and thus the grades you see here will reflect that. Not to mention that people will be more likely to share “high” or “good” grades than “average” grades because of the prestige it brings. I promise that in real life, not getting straight 9s isn’t shameful or strange - in fact only a very small amount of people even get a single 9 in their gcses. Please don’t feel pressured or expected to do that, even though it may appear that way, this isn’t normal. It’s not!!

Focus on the grades that you want and need, and remember you are worth more than numbers anyway. And while 4s or 5s may feel low to some people, they will feel high to others, so please don’t label grades as “bad”!! If you’ve got those grades it means you’ve got a gcse, and that’s freaking amazing

And for the record, well done for all your hard work so far. You’ve all got this and you’ll achieve great things :)