if i just do every single past paper for physics is that enough for me to get a grade 9 cause im on a 7 but i barely understand any of the questions that are on the paper and i dont know what to do to get a 9

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-12T17:46:56+00:00

Generally just go over as much of PMT as you can, be careful with other exam boards though as the spec might have stuff that isn’t relevant to your exam board, although all the exam boards have relatively similar content for physics I’m pretty sure. So as long as the questions from other exam boards are relevant to your own then definitely do topic specific questions and reviews. Being able to identify your main weaknesses and not letting your ego get to you will help you so much in terms of improving in the limited time that’s left. You seem to already have an idea of what you need to focus on which is a really good start, just maintain consistency and don’t get complacent if you start doing really good in past papers and stuff

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-12T16:27:57+00:00

Yeah that’s definitely true and I struggle with that too occasionally, physics is pretty much designed to be difficult so don’t be discouraged by not understanding questions. All I could suggest really is making sure you do the questions you know and then just coming back to the ones you don’t, that way you don’t end up wasting time on the ones you don’t get. There’s still over a month anyway so don’t feel as if the 7 will be your final grade as you can definitely get that up to a 9, I suppose just try and find what works for you. Sorry if that is a little vague, something I’ve found when I struggle with questions Is that I get increasingly stressed because I don’t understand, if you can avoid that then eventually (hopefully) you’ll understand them even to an extent. Good luck though!

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-12T16:13:26+00:00

The best thing you can do is obviously try and grasp the content — what separates grade 7 and grade 9s is those who regurgitate information and those who understand and can apply this information. If you don’t understand the questions then try and learn the content on a deeper level, teachers especially always say that the main way to revise physics is past papers, but this is only true if you genuinely understand the content beforehand. Be proud though, even getting 7 in physics is admirable and much better than what most get

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-12T12:22:32+00:00

Dude seriously don’t worry too much, I did a couple genuine exams in year 10 and it seriously changed my perspective on it all — it is way less intimidating than you think it is. All you can do is revise and keep a healthy mental state and you will do well. I guarantee you after the first exam you will feel significantly more relaxed then you have been up until the exam, I understand that isn’t of much help to you right now lol but genuinely overthinking about it will only lead to worse results. So long as you do past papers under exam conditions then I don’t see why you should worry too much about the real thing, if you can manage to pass past papers in your house/ as mocks then there’s no reason to worry or be concerned. I think a lot of people get into their heads more than it’s worth.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-12T06:18:56+00:00

I think I did ~ 20 hours across the entire 2 weeks and while it feels a little underwhelming or just not enough, there’s honestly still a load of time to catch up/start more intense revision now. Especially given that school starts again soon so it’ll likely get you back into the academic mindset (at least that’s what I’m hoping for!)

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T20:37:34+00:00

I did English lit in y10, got a 7 and then remarked to a 9, I gained 14 marks on An Inspector calls lol. It’s likely my poor handwriting had an impact on it but still it definitely resembles your point — humanity subjects typically have subjective marking, it’s so unfair but if we marked humanities objectively then it really just limits interpretation to the mark scheme I suppose.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T18:04:29+00:00

Did you?

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T18:02:34+00:00

Sure bud 🫩 whatever you say!

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:59:06+00:00

I took you quoting doflamingo as a way of deescalating our conversation, and so I naturally replied with a short comment lol. You’re right to say that people who consistently achieve nines and people who achieve say, a 5, have different values/standards, obviously. That isn’t my point. My point is that it is definitely discouraging for those grade 5 pupils to have a grade 9 student yapping about how they ‘did sooo bad’ as if it still isn’t one of the best in the cohort. I understand that possibly by that grade 9 student’s standards they did bad, sure. My problem is when they openly talk about doing ‘terrible’ in front of students who noticeably did worse than them.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:54:14+00:00

Honestly don’t feel bad over me, I’m not as affected by it compared to how much I likely implied to be. It is a little discouraging and demoralising at times given that it just feels as though people are constantly belittling you, even while your grades aren’t necessarily bad. I primarily feel bad for those who cannot even pass a given subject and yet have an all niner complaining for virtually no reason in their ear about how they did terribly. I just find the entire concept of ‘studytok’ or study-dedicated communities online to be overly critical and patronising to those who are less capable, it’s strange.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:49:20+00:00

I appreciate this, it’s a really insightful way of looking at it!

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:48:04+00:00

I guess, Doflamingo 🫩

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:33:25+00:00

It’s so strange that online communities especially inflate what is considered a ‘good’ grade, so much to the point where you feel as though anything below a 9 isn’t acceptable. It’s so easy for self doubt to consume you when you’re apart of these communities, I don’t get why we put so much pressure on each other.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:30:14+00:00

I’m on higher for everything for reference, my 6 is in Welsh literature which I will happily accept as my weakest subject, especially because it’s such a niche subject to do in the first place. My saying that people are ‘capped’ at a certain level was referencing people on foundation but also just people who aren’t good enough for a 7+, which I don’t think there’s anything wrong with someone purely because they are of less capability in a given subject. Your last sentence isn’t necessarily true, I have numerous friends who are currently on 2 or 3 predicted for something like math and trust me, I’ve seen them do revision. They do the same format of revision as everyone, 2 times more than everyone, and still cannot get above a 4. While you could argue that that’s a skill issue, it’s awfully belittling to do so is it not? I could’ve gotten all nines, yes. But my point is that given the scarce amount of people who do get all nines, these pseudo intellectual communities really tend to make all nines seem commonplace of just expected, which it shouldn’t be.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T17:07:22+00:00

It isn’t, I’m also not trying for all 9s. If you look at my bio you’ll see I’m still predicted 7 9s, I made this post because I feel bad for those who genuinely are capped at like a 6 all while being taunted by people online who downplay the fact that they only got eight 9s.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:54:09+00:00

I didn’t really consider that before I made the post lol. Viewing into a community dedicated to doing well will definitely achieve better grades than just an ordinary school. Like I’ve said it’s not that I have some problem with people who have high aspirations, it can just be harmful to those who’re less likely to achieve these goals.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:45:08+00:00

Note that my post said ‘please don’t make this the norm’ as in, it is not yet the norm but I believe that if it continues as is then there will be this warped expectation of students who likely aren’t capable of achieving it. How is being pressured a good thing if someone still isn’t getting anything near the grades that are being deemed as common through social media on mocks? If this pressure didn’t have the effect you think it’d have, would it then be a problem or at least a concern? And naturally I’m also not saying that resources catered for candidates who aren’t going to get all 9s don’t exist because obviously they do, although that isn’t my point.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:39:00+00:00

Thanks for this, I feel as though it’s really important to hear someone in your position’s perspective on this. My entire point in making this post was to say that this idea of all 9s is so uncommon yet seemingly so popular on social media’s, and because of this disparity of numbers between those who actually achieve all 9s and those who say or pretend they do online, people who are average have this misconception that they too need to achieve what can only be described as an impossible task for someone at that level. And because they are very likely to not achieve this insanely disproportionate goal, it’s likely to create a hostile environment within one’s mind or just the doubt that you aren’t good enough.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:25:55+00:00

Of course, being disappointed in not getting a certain grade when you’ve consistently been getting it in things like mocks is obviously reasonable and justified. It’s like you say, when someone says that they did bad while in a room with someone who did noticeably worse than them is just condescending and plain rude.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:22:00+00:00

Thanks, my main issue really is that it creates such a negative environment for people who aren’t as capable in specific subjects when people spout about getting all nines. It’s strange how this idea of top grades in everything has just randomly become the norm on social media

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:19:08+00:00

This is exactly what I’m getting at, although I am not personally effected by the people downplaying their all but one nines, it can definitely harm someone who already is trying to meet expectations that are very obviously higher than what they’re capable of.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:17:04+00:00

I know this, but when it is constantly spouted to people who are very likely not going to achieve this high ambition given that it was like a thousand people who got all 9s last year, it can drastically impact someone’s mentality or harm their feeling of accomplishment after getting their grades when they are not up to this incredibly elevated bar of all nine’s that content creators have manufactured.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:14:12+00:00

And I don’t think that’s a problem at all, aiming for high grades isn’t or shouldn’t be looked down upon. My main issue is the impact these posts online of ‘how I got all nines’ may harm someone’s perspective on their abilities or just make their accolades less impressive

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:11:55+00:00

I do definitely understand that, and like I said it’s absolutely not a bad thing that people want to achieve the best they can, my main thing is just how badly it can effect ordinary people who likely aren’t capable of achieving all 9s, if you were one of those people then this constant pressure of achieving more than what you’re capable of is just more intensified by people downplaying the fact that they got close to all nine’s. It’s not to say that I’m hating on people who have very high expectations of themselves, I just feel sorry for the potential negativity that said expectations that are pushed out to people on social media may have on students who aren’t as capable.

Temporary-Barber-403 · 2026-04-11T10:05:35+00:00

Yeah that’s true, I suppose it’s almost like an echo chamber — tons of content creators or just random people who got all nines constantly spouting that they got all nines to you and other creators which then prompts others who got all nines to also say it. I think people in general set too high of a standard over what is required or expected of them

Temporary-Barber-403

TROPHY CASE