Guide to GCSE Coursework

GCSEs are the culmination of your years spent at Secondary School. They are the starting point for your future career, so getting the best grade is important. You’ll need to show your examiner that you can apply what you have learnt in lessons to your own piece of original work, and that is not always an easy task.

If you are reading this page then it is likely that you are working on coursework counting towards your final GCSE grade. Perhaps these are GCSEs that you need in order to progress on an AS/A level course, so it’s important to get them right.

Coursework is a graded set project that you need to complete during your exam year. It is set in order to test your ability to carry out an extended project outside of the exam room. Whereas exams are essentially memory tests, coursework can include experiments, essays, or research projects completed at home or in the classroom.

Certain techniques are essential for passing your coursework or essays, and you must demonstrate that you are capable of mastering these techniques in order to achieve your desired grade. They include -

Answering the question. Don’t write what you want to write. Write what the examiner wants to read. Try writing the title in your introduction and conclusion to be sure you have addressed it.

Understanding the keywords: Analyse – look at HOW your topic is described in an essay, or what your experiment is physically doing. Contrast – how are your subjects different from each other? Compare – look at how the subjects are similar.

Ensure you complete methodologies, refer to data and reference your sources. Remember that a Primary source is an original text or experience of your own, and Secondary is someone else’s opinion.

Create a good over-all structure to your project with a clear introduction stating your aim, and a conclusion which briefly repeats what you have discussed in the main body of the text.

Coursework Bank can help you achieve the techniques above by providing examples of past essays. We know its not easy to complete a project when you don’t know how it should finally look, and the same applies to essay writing. Through us you can access a database of essays from students who have made the grade. These essays can be invaluable because they demonstrate the standard and techniques required to achieve top marks.

We understand that completing good quality coursework, essays and exams is a worrying time. There can be a great deal of pressure on you to do well. If the stress of all this is worrying you then check out the database of essays for high quality guidance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>