Your GCSE Science exam explained – Expert author, Primrose Kitten

With expert author Primrose Kitten, your GCSE Science exams are explained in this dedicated revision resource, aiming to build confidence through helpful revision tips and exam strategies. 

Your GCSE Science exam explained

Preparing for your GCSE Science exams can feel challenging with multiple subjects to revise for. So, we’ve teamed up with Primrose Kitten, our trusted expert author at Oxford Revise, to break down exactly what you can expect.

From understanding exam structure to tackling tricky questions, Primrose Kitten explains how to approach your science revision with confidence and clarity. Whether you’re aiming for top marks or just trying to stay calm under pressure, this guide is your essential companion to tackling your Biology, Chemistry and Physics exams.

How to prepare for GCSE Science exams

Your GCSE science exams are coming up soon and there are six of them, which is quite a lot.

So what I’m going to do in this video is break down what’s going to be the structure of the exam so you can understand it a little bit better.

Now in these six exams you are going to have two Biology, two Chemistry and two Physics exams. It is going to be Biology one, Chemistry one, Physics one and then Biology two, Chemistry two and Physics two in that order.

Preparing for your GCSE Biology exam

Now in Biology paper one, especially in Biology, everyone revises this the most and then everyone comes out of the exam going ‘Oh, what was that?’ Because things happen in context in an exam. So the examiners expect you to take the knowledge that you know and apply it to a new context. And everyone finds this a little bit disconcerting at the beginning. But if we go into the exam expecting the unexpected, then it shouldn’t be such a shock for you.

Preparing for your GCSE Physics exam

Now when they come to physics exams, a massive massive chunk of the mark is on the ‘mathsy’ question, so the maths in physics and I know loads of people find this really, really scary. But it’s not.

What you need to do is to highlight the numbers in the question, pull the numbers out and make yourself a little key of what is going on. Find an equation and write down the equation in full, write down all the words. This is what the examiners are telling us they want you to do and then pop the numbers in. So substitute first and then rearrange afterwards. Write down the answer and don’t forget the units, you can get so many marks in these type of questions without actually doing any maths at all. So these are a great way to get loads and loads of marks.

How to approach multiple choice questions in a GCSE Science exam?

If you have multiple choice question a tick box question, and it says ‘tick one box’, please tick one box. If you tick two boxes, you’re not showing the examiner, you know what you’re talking about. So you will get no marks.

However, if it says ‘tick one box’ and you tick no boxes, then you are throwing away an easy mark. So please always, if you see ‘tick one box’ then tick one box.

How exam questions are structured in a GCSE Science exam

The beginning part of each question is going to be the easiest. So if you get to part E of the question and it’s really, really hard. Remember when you start the next question, you’re starting afresh.

I’m going to be here with you. Oxford University Press is going to be here with you. Every single step of the way.

Found Primrose Kitten’s GCSE Science revision tips and exam strategies useful? Watch more from Primrose Kitten on the Oxford Revise YouTube Channel.

GCSE Science Revision Guides