transitioning into GCSE year

If you are one of the many people who are going into year 10 in the UK after summer, then you will know that this marks the start of the GCSE syllabus. For a lot of people this seems like a scary concept given that your GCSEs are some of the first exams that provide you with actual grades, and this concept, for a lot of people can be daunting. 

However, as someone who is going into year 11 (yes, I managed to survive) I remember feeling like that, but for me, this has been one of the best school years. I find it a lot more interesting, because I’m not doing as many subjects and I’m doing the subjects that I enjoy instead of all subjects. You also spend more time on each lesson, so it seems to be a bit of a better pace for me and we’re able to go into more detail on each topic, although this may vary from school to school.

A few things I would say from my experience would be:

• Make sure to keep more supplies on you than you expect that you’ll need. You never know when a pen will run out or a pencil will snap or anything like that, so it’s better to be prepared.
• Buy the bigger lever arch folders instead of the small ones that don’t hold much. This way not only do you have more space in the folder, but it’s easier to keep everything organised and together.
• Make sure to pay attention in lessons. I know this seems like common sense, but that amount of times that I caught myself not paying attention in lessons was more than I’d thought it would be. 
• Don’t be afraid to talk to the teachers if you need help, they are there to help after all, even if they seem scary, they’re only human after all. 
• Remember to put some time aside for yourself. It’s not healthy to be doing school work all the time. Try and dedicate time everyday to do something you enjoy, and give yourself chance to wind down.
• Remember to stay organised and on top of everything. If you try to do your homework on the day you get it, it’s a lot less stressful and it gets it out of the way quickly. This may also save time later, so you have more free time. 

Also, most importantly, have fun and enjoy yourself! I know school is hard, but you can pull through this! All of us at TWE believe in you and we have your back. We are always here for you to talk to and our social media is there if you need to contact us.

I hope this article was helpful to you, if it was - great! If not, let me know; I’ll be sure to take the feedback on board. I also hope that your first GCSE year isn’t too hard and that you get the results that you deserve at the end of year 11. Feel free to contact me on social media and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Good luck! I believe in you.
-Alex❤️