There are 60 days to go until the GCSE Music exam 2025. 60 is a nice number to pause on for some reflection.
What can be done in that time – can you make a difference to your grade in 60 days? Let me give you some thoughts.
Yes
Firstly, yes you can make a different with 60 days to go. Let’s break it down a bit.
60 days is 1440 hours, 86400 minutes, and I won’t bother with seconds. When put like that, it is quite a long time. Admittedly it will come around quickly, but there are lots of things to consider. But firstly I want you to read this statement aloud to yourself – it is not too late to make a difference to my GCSE music exam.
I remember revising though and it is tough. The endless hours of reading, writing and question answering. It can feel like it isn’t going in, and the worry is that you won’t remember any of it. You will, I promise! But it is important that you do all your revision with a positive sense of perspective. Everything you do will make a difference, and you have 60 days to keep working on your music.
10 minutes a day
But I have so much to revise, so many subjects, and I am more worried about maths than music. This is of course a position that you might find yourself in, but there is an approach that might help. 10 minutes a day would 600 minutes of music revision – thats quite a lot really, 10 hours in fact. 10 hours of revision should get you quite far in your understanding, and that is with just 10 minutes a day. So why not start there, particularly if you are feeling overwhelmed! Start small with 10 minutes a day, and of course if you up this to 20 that will be 20 hours of revision for music – enough to cover those set works!
Listening counts!
I am currently sat listening to Billy Joel, and all the while I am learning something new about music. Listening is so important in the lead up to the music exam and mustn’t be underestimated. the more you listen to the set works and other wider listening, the more prepared you will be. I like to call this Deliberate Listening whereby you listen to something specifically. Listening with purpose means that you are listening out for a key feature or element of music.
Why not take each set work and just focus on the melody. Or you could think about what features make it classical, cinematic or Indian influenced. Listening deliberately will meant that you are training your brain to hear key features that are likely to come up in the exam. Also, the more you listen, the more you are prepared for the unfamiliar listening question in the exam – if your board has one of those.
Focus on terms
Key terminology is the bread and butter of music – well kind of anyway. In the exam you will need to know your key terms and be confident enough to use them. I always say to my students that everyone hears the same thing, but some can use terms to describe it. The average person can tell you that it is the Star Wars theme tune, but a music student can add that it is a brass fanfare in a major key that uses triplets. Learning terms can come down to simply listing them, but it is also helpful to get the score out and write them on. You have to be able to hear the key terms – so we are back to more listening. Don’t underestimate the power of making lists, mind-maps or word clouds. Knowing your options in an exam is important and I train my students to make mental multiple choice lists.
You can also go through past papers and look at the terms that come up most often and make sure that you know them! You can complete a listening exam without even listening to the music.
The night before
60 days to go is a long time, but you can also make a difference the night before the music exam. This is something I focus on with my students and I have blogged about this in the past. The night before is crucial – a good nights sleep, healthy dinner and some helpful last minute revision. Then you need to get up early, do something physical and have a healthy breakfast. These marginal gains are important, and just like the 10 minutes a day, they are small changes that have a big impact.
Exam skills
So much of the music exam comes down to the skills required to complete the paper. Key terms, listening and approaches to writing are all crucial. You need ot know what to expect int he exam, and that is why you will have completed mock exams. The more papers you can look at, the better. You need to know what to expect and then practice that. If you have a long answer question, then make sure you have thought through all the options. What might come up and what might the examiner ask? Whilst we can’t predict with 100% certainty, we can go into the exam with a good idea of what to write in every circumstance.
It is important to practice your writing and go into the exam with somethings stored in your head. A longer answer question is your chance to show that you can analyse music with confidence and skill. You can practice this at home and then show your teacher to get feedback. Knowing how much you need to write is important. But it is also important to work out how much you can physically write in the time you have. Make sure that you know what time you have in the exam and work towards that.
60 days
You have 60 days to go until your GCSE music exam and you can make a difference to your outcome. There is no need to stress or panic, just break it down and make sure you do something – start somewhere, with something! It won’t always be easy, but just 10 minutes can make a difference, even if you have other revision on your desk. Every moment will count and that is something to keep in mind when you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere.
I want to wish every GCSE music student the very best of luck as you approach the exam. You have chosen to study a great subject and I know you will want to do well in the exam! Keep your head, listen to your teacher and keep your mental health under control. Music is a great subject and the exam is something that you can definitely prepare for with 60 days to go!