From deleting social media to doing more than 200 past papers: How UAE students prepared for their GCSEs

From deleting social media to being active to doing over 200 past papers, UAE students took several measures to ensure success at the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination.

For Henry Fliss, who scored nine grade 9s and one grade 8 in his GCSE exams, one of the most important things when preparing for his exams was focus. To help with that, he briefly deleted all his social media accounts. “The phone can be quite a distraction so during some periods when it got really intense, I deleted everything so I could focus,” he said.

The Brighton College Dubai student was one of the thousands across the country to get their GCSE results on Thursday. Students from the UAE shone with many schools marking a 100% pass rate.

Meanwhile for Kazakh student Dilmukhammed Galin of GEMS Wellington Academy Al Khail, the most important thing during his exam period was to stay active and pray regularly. “I was doing boxing and wrestling classes at my gym all throughout my exam period,” he said. “It would be impossible for me to study every minute of the day. So, when I wanted a break, I would go to my classes. The physical activity would help blood rush to my head and help me concentrate better.”

The youngster also said that praying regularly helped him in multiple ways. “Praying helped me get my focus and calm me down,’ he said. “Sometimes I would just get so worked up with trying to get everything done so praying really helped me with that.”

Doing past papers

Top scorer of Raffles International School, Ahmed Mossa who achieved 7 A* said he did over 200 past papers during his preparation. “I think that is what really helped me,” he said. “A lot of past questions are repeated, and this helped me ace my exams.”

Henry also agreed. “I had so many stacks of past papers that I used to go through that I eventually had no more space on my desk,” he said. “So, I moved to the dining table where I would sit and write all my notes.”

In addition to practicing paper, Emirati student Mohammed Al Shamsi from Dubai British School, Jumeirah Park said he had mock exam sessions with his friends to exchange feedback and improve their way of tackling the paper. “I would review my weaknesses, and work on it until I perfected it,” he said. “My days consist of practicing papers, revising, and reaching out to teachers via email when I require additional assistance.”

Sacrificing interests

For Nikash Pandit of Kings School Al Barsha who scored secured nine Grade 9s and one Grade 8, one of the biggest sacrifices was giving up on playing football. “I did play sometimes but not as much as I wanted to,” he said. “I just buckled down and did what I needed to do. I had to learn how to study effectively like never before and I clocked in 5-6 hours of studies every day.”

Ahmed, who played basketball for an academy, said he also stepped back from the game during the exams. “Last year, I was competing even during my exams but this year, I knew I had to take a break because there was so much to study,” he said. “Now that the results are out, I can’t wait to get back to basketball.”

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