Well, results days are flooding in. It’s great to see everyone in the ‘i feel happy topic’ than it’s counterpart.
My big tests are up soon, it’s that year for me. If you have any advice on how to not end up on this thread’s evil twin, then it shall be appreciated from me!
Best of luck; I remember GCSEs (I'm going to guess it's GCSEs based on your profile saying you're 15?) feeling huge for me at your age.
One piece of advice I would give you is not for how to approach studying, but instead in regard to results. That piece of advice would be; regardless of what you get at the end, there are always options. So while the exams are undeniably important and I would always encourage you to try your best, it really isn't the end of the world if you don't quite get the results you're hoping for. There isn't one correct linear path to take through life, and there are always alternative options regardless of what your outcome ultimately is. Even if you fail everything, you can always resit, and instead of failure, it should be taken as a learning opportunity. Believe me, you learn as much from failure as you do from success, possibly more. Not to mention that not everyone is academic, and there are so many brilliant, valuable qualities that these exams don't measure. If you are not naturally academic and struggle with school, there are still plenty of wonderful, fulfilling post-16 options out there even if you don't get spectacular GCSE grades.
I appreciate, however, that this is all very easy for me to say with my GCSEs now 5 years behind me... so let me show you that I learned this with age and experience. If you don't mind me digressing a little, let me tell you an anecdote from my own GCSEs.
Throughout Years 10 & 11, Computer Science was one of my star subjects. I was getting 9s in all of the mocks, my predicted grade was always a 9, and I'd set my sights on an eventual career in the Computing industry. But what did I ultimately get on results day? A 6. At the time, I was absolutely floored, and truly devastated. I was so crushed that I got 3 grades below my predicted grade, and even though I'd attained a spattering of 7's, 8's and 9's elsewhere, this 6 really weighed down on my mind. I thought it would jeopardise my future prospects. But with 5 years of hindsight and additional age and experience, let me tell you that that worrying was all for nothing. Despite my disappointment and alarmist thinking at the time, I was still above the grade threshold to study Computer Science A Level, and I later went on to get an A* in this. After that, I went on to study a Computer Science degree, and I came out with a first class honour's degree this summer. 5 years later, does anyone care that I only got a 6 in my Computer Science GCSE? Not in the slightest. GCSEs are simply a means to take you forward to whatever you do next, so once you're onto that next step, they hold little to no relevance in the long term (aside from maybe Maths and English to some extent). Nobody cares that I got a 6 in my Computer Science GCSE in the exact same way that nobody cares that I got a C in my Maths A Level. Now I have a Computer Science degree, no employer or postgraduate course cares about my 6 in Computer Science GCSE, or even my C in Maths A Level despite the fact that my upcoming MSc has an element of mathematics to it.
Without rambling too much, my point is that while GCSE grades might seem like a life or death matter at the moment, they really aren't that important in the long run, and regardless of what you get, it does not define your long-term future and there are always alternative paths. So if you end up not quite getting what you hoped for, don't stress. I promise you that it will all work out in the end.