The 5 best resources for GCSE revision
Joana Rodriguez
Your parents may tell you that with the internet, revision is the easiest than it's ever been, that you have no excuse for not knowing where or how to start. But this couldn’t be further from the truth: with so many resources, guides, websites and YouTube channels, it can be very confusing to even know where to begin. Hopefully, however, this article might help you out a little.
5. Cognito and Freesciencelessons (YouTube)
The Cognito and Freesciencelessons YouTube channels are perfect ways to be introduced to science topics. Both the channels explain possibly tricky concepts in both double/combined and triple science, in no longer than 5 minutes. Explanations provided by teachers can very often be confusing and overly complicated, but these two resources are totally straight to the point and easy to understand: they cover only what GCSE specifications require. To understand the basics of topics in Bio, Chem or Physics, they are genuinely essential.
4. The CGP Textbooks
The CGP Textbooks, you can ask past students, are genuine life savers. Like the Cognito and Freesciencelessons YouTube channels, they easily and simply explain everything required in your specific course, and best of all, have textbooks for iGCSE courses as well, not just GCSE. They contain and explain everything you’d possibly need to know for your course, and extend beyond Science subjects. They sell textbooks for more uncommon subjects, like Food Tech and Sociology. If you prefer to learn through reading, and having physical resources (or even if you don't; they also have digital textbooks), the CGP books are crucial.
3. Dr. Frost
Dr. Frost is essential for maths revision: not only do they both provide complete and detailed tutorials on practically every maths topic, for any and every predicted/aimed for grades, but they also have honestly endless resources to practise topics, and a huge library of exam-style questions. If you want to quickfire your maths revision, these two resources are infinitely helpful. Dr. Frost even allows you to create quizzes for yourself, and gives you the option to keep going until you’ve reached a level of consistency you’re happy with. And it’s totally free.
2. Save My Exams
Save My Exams was the most crucial and constant resource I used during my iGCSE revision. Though a pretty large portion of its content is stuck behind a paywall (excluding past papers), I genuinely recommend paying for a membership (and if you can’t, just know you can have as many people logged into an account as you’d like…). This website has absolutely everything you need for efficient revision, from notes to understand topics, to past papers and quizzes specific to whatever topic or subtopic you’re focusing on. Their Maths sections contain video step-by-step explanations of every exercise too, so you’ll never be in the dark about a solution. And for iGCSE students, this website is a life saver. Though a lot of revision content is limited to GCSE syllabuses, Save My Exams provides just as detailed and extensive resources for iGCSE students.
1. Quizlet
If I could recommend only one website to guarantee worthwhile revision, it would without a doubt be Quizlet. If you’ve heard of spaced repetition and feel like it might be helpful (which it is), Quizlet is essential. Flashcards are perfect for studying very content-heavy subjects, especially essay-based ones. It was practically the only resource I used for History and Psychology, (alongside past papers, of course) and I have 0 regrets. Quizlet is both remarkably effective and easy to work with: whenever I felt burnt out, I just did flashcards on Quizlet, and revised well. Though making your own flashcards is very helpful in getting all the information you need in your brain, since you usually learn while you make them, Noteroo provides very detailed, course-specific flashcards for many subjects.
