GCSE revision guides

[christine34]

Can anyone recommend good GCSE revision guides? Know about Bitesize, but what are Letts/Lonsdale etc like? Someone else mentioned CGP? Any advice much appreciated!

Find the board and then look for the guide. There are specific Edexcel RE ones which are great.

What exam board are you using?

There are letts, collins, CPG and others :)

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As already stated make sure the revision guide fits the Board your DC is taking. Secondly make sure your DC likes the look of the guide. My DD preferred CGP , but my son preferred other books (Lonsdale for sciences) as they had less words per page. I think it is important to consider their views as if they don't like the look of a revision book they won't open it!!!
Do note that some of the revision workbooks do not come with answer books, you buy them separately. This is annoying but it is important to get see exactly what the model answer contains. Happy Revising!

Thanks, Scary - not sure of board but will check... thanks raccles/goinggetstough - great suggestions. Many thanks.

I like the Edexcel RE ones because they are written by the former chief examiner Victor Watton, they give model answers and show how to get the higher grades. I use them for revision with classes and keep a set at home as well as I find them useful.

Thanks, Scary - will definitely make a note of that one - thanks again.

CGP is good for English.

Thanks, Roisin - have a few CGP KS3 books at moment and DS likes the humorous way they're written - I also think they are good - definitely look at those for GCSE - wish we'd have had Bitesize in my day - would have suited me and I may have got better grades - just about scraped through all my exams except Maths for which I was in bottom set - we were treated with contempt by upper sets!!!!!! (currently studying it to re-take in 2012)!!

My dd doesn't like the Letts ones because they tend to combine all the exam boards into one book and it is difficult to see what is relevant. CGP can have too much on the page and is a bit messy to look at. Sorry that's absolutely no help whatsoever but I shall watch to see if there are any recommendations as I am having the same problems!

christine34 I would first find out which exam board and then google that board and get past papers for that subject. Sorry to say most boards charge for them. Also you can get mark schemes which show right answers and exemplar material which is made up of past candidates' scripts with markers' comments. Hope this helps. Good luck

You can download past papers and mark schemes without charge from Edexcel at least. You have to ensure that you have the right spec though as some have changed/ are in the process of changing.

The mark schemes and exemplar materials are in the back of the Edexcel RE revision guides, which is partially why I use them as it shows the difference between the different grades of answer.

www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse is a good one ds1 used it last year in conjunction with bitesize, cgp and past papers

I think variety is important. we used a collins one for his triple science as they had one specifically for his specification, bitesize have podcasts which can be downloaded onto MP3 players, their books though I think aren't particularly great on depth

as has already been said, get the information re which exam board and any specification your dc is following as you don't want to waste time revising from a book that covers only half your course

Many thanks for all of your very helpful replies - much appreciated!

As well as revision guides you should check out the websites of the relevent exam boards. They often have hints and tips on how to answer the questions and what the examiners are looking for.

My DTS's like CGP guides the best and they cover most exam boards.

from a science point of view, look for ones with work books that allow a child to test their knowledge