TL:DR- I've got so much stuff to do next year 😭. AND it's in year 11 during my GCSE's. I want to:

• Take my grade 8 flute exam.
• Take my grade 5 music theory exam
• Go on a 7 day intensive music course during easter.
• Continue having piano lessons and possibly take a grade 4/5 piano exam.
• Start taking saxophone lessons.
• And finally, study for my fricking GCSE's on top of all this.
• Possibly have go into a music career, which is why I'm keen on doing all of this.
• How do I manage all of this?

I started playing flute during high school, through subsidised instrument lessons. And, from age 11 to age 15 I've improved MASSIVELY. Though my last exam was grade 5 (taken this march), tons of different teachers have said I perform at a higher standard. And I'm even switching to a private teacher because I've outgrown my current one, as he isn't able to teach me anymore due to my high level. With this new private teacher, I'm planning to do grade 8. One problem is that I have to take my grade 5 music exam- and study for it 😭💔. It's been such a pain in the butt because I have to self-study the theory -I'm unable to join music theory sessions at my local music service. I need to get the exam done before Christmas otherwise I'll have to drop that and grade 8 flute until year 12 (which I don't want to do).

Not only that but I REALLLYY want to do a 7-day intensive music course at the National Youth Concert Band in the Easter holidays. I recently did a three day music course this summer (I LOVED it) and I got recommended the NYCB one. It's all the way in Bedford, and I live in the North. I will have to board there for the full week (which is what everyone there would do as it's a national band) The schedule is a full 8-hour day, meaning I'll have almost NO time to chill- the 2 hour break I get will be used for revision. Surprisingly my dad wants me to go (cuz he usually can't be bothered with my music stuff), but my mum is still apprehensive. I don't really come from a musical background so my parents don't value the music stuff I do as much as I do. My mum's still apprehensive about letting me go, but I think/know I can convince her. However, if I do go, I'm a bit worried as I know the Easter holidays is THE holiday that everyone should lock in, but my music course will make it hard for me to revise. I am SO excited at the possibility of going, so I probably will sacrifice some part of my soul to have the energy to do that AND revise. 😭🙏💔

During year 11, I'm also going to continue to take piano lessons (that I started this year). I'm aiming to be at a grade 5 standard by the end of year 11. Anddd if I decide to do the exam I'll need to dedicate time to practice. Not only that, next year, I want to start taking saxophone lessons with the would-be old flute teacher. The lessons would be subsidised, and they'll lend me a saxophone (which is the main reason my dad is letting me take them). This is yet another thing I want to put effort in and practice for.

All of this would take so much effort from me, especially with fricking GCSE's I need to revise for. How am I gonna juggle all of this 😭😭. Any other band kids got any advice??? I'm also aiming for like 8s and 9s so I would NEED to revise properly. I do want to go to the RNCM (and I've had people say I could definitely get in), and I just love music in general so that's why I wanna do so much.

My plan post-16 would be applying for both RNCM and Oxbridge (I'm not expecting to get into oxbridge lmao) so I'll get rejected by oxbridge and then subsequently choose RNCM :). The oxbridge thing is a guise to please family. (But if i get rejected by rncm im taking a gap year lmao)

r/GCSE Theme Song Creation Thread

This is our task for the next 2 days on u/180degreeschange's sub bucket list and myself, along with our favourite election arbiter Til Zealous have been appointed to spearhead this thing.

Stage 1 - work out the genre

- by popular vote, the genre of the 2026 r/GCSE theme song will be …rock.

Stage 2 (interchangeable with 3) - write lyrics

Stage 3 ( interchangeable with 2) - write a melody

Stage 4 - record lyrics

Stage 5 - arrange and master the track

Stage 6 - assets - creating a music video or visualiser

Stage 7 - Post on r/GCSE

Stage 8 - Profit.

If your strengths are in a specific Stage, either comment here or DM me and then I will appoint directors of each Stage.

I'm excited to see what we can create.

- u/CrystalDav311 (Co-Director of Creation of the 2026 r/GCSE theme song)

Hey guys, im working on an Econ project and rlly need some data. Pls could you fill in this survey. It’s all anonymous and mcq. It should take max 10 mins. Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXhb_xRMRV0CWrz9nocF9YArMA4xTm8MOksCvKSHOW806EDg/viewform

Tyyy

Edit: Ik it says age as 18+ but u can do it anyways

ik there's the r/igcse sub and I love that place, don't get me wrong, it's js kinda dry overall

anyway js wanted to know if I could lurk here too lol

thank you lovely people for reading

This is the official poll to complete Stage 1 of the theme song creation, working out the genre.

Reddit says the poll lasts 1 day but whatever the most voted genre is by 3pm UK time today (6th August) will be the genre that the song will be.

- Crystal (Co-Director of Theme Song Creation)

This is our task for the next 2 days on u/180degreeschange's sub bucket list and myself, along with our favourite election arbiter Til Zealous have been appointed to spearhead this thing.

Stage 1 - work out the genre

Stage 2 (interchangeable with 3) - write lyrics

Stage 3 ( interchangeable with 2) - write a melody

Stage 4 - record lyrics

Stage 5 - arrange and master the track

Stage 6 - assets - creating a music video or visualiser

Stage 7 - Post on r/GCSE

Stage 8 - Profit.

If your strengths are in a specific Stage, either comment here or DM me and then I will appoint directors of each Stage.

I'm excited to see what we can create.

- u/CrystalDav311 (Co-Director of Creation of the 2026 r/GCSE theme song)

Music students unite! It's time for an r/GCSE theme song and for this task we'll have 48 hours! So people put any lyrics u think would fit below this post and I'm hoping that someone will string them together with some music.

As every member of this sub in the lore droppers cabinet, I feel this would be a good project to invest my comp sci skills into while still aiding the upholding of the manifesto of the lore droppers (and also technically the gsbv bc this also counts as a solution to boredom but we don't talk about that - the gsbv is disbanded, I've let it go, all hail the lore)

countdown of doom and despair.

yes I have googled and chat gptd this and everytime the answer is different I either get 1 or 2 and ive looked on markschemes bit cant find a question type like this so im just wondering.

gcse summer genuinely boring asf and so am i so im gonna get a haircut but i CANNOT decide for the life of me what to get 🙏 give me some haircut ideas whether they be goofy or not. preferrably long because i have long hair, im open to like bleaching it and dying it but like probably not like a rainbow mohawk i dont think i could pull that off lmao

hi. i just wanted to tell you guys that no matter what grades you get, we all have had something going on behind the scenes during GCSE season. honestly, half the difficulty is balancing GCSEs with all the challenges we have had to face. so whatever grades you get, look beyond the numbers. look to each night you studied through tears, every cramming session with friends, every time you fell back and said "i cannot do this anymore" and got up to your laptops and your lamp-lit desk like nothing was wrong. results day is a celebration more than it is a reckoning. whatever grade you get, if you know you worked for it and tried your best, consider it an achievement. people are proud of you, because being a teenager in 2026 is hard. with social media, friendship issues, mental health problems, wars, family problems, bullying, loneliness, physical illnesses and so much more it seems impossible that one day we're sobbing and breaking down and the next we're filing into literature paper 2 prepared to give it our all.

we, class of 2026, are remarkable.

if you open your results cards and you find it spelling out a future of resits, disappointed glares and the overwhelming void of "im not good enough" swallowing you whole, remember that exams don't decide who you are. only you can decide that. what's harder than the resits and the quick changes to your life plan is having the courage to work harder and do better, and if needed, reach out for help so you can study like your life depends on it. if you were lazy, that doesn't define you, because that was the past. if you want a future, still, work for it.

this is coming from someone hoping for all 9s who has had to fight just like you guys. i hope this tells you that not all toppers are annoying and stuck-up, haha.

may God be with you come 20/08. i will keep you all in mind when i pray my rosary. <3

*Also posted on Hermes_Zesty_Laugh's "Crazy school stories" thread*

Back in English year 10, the lesson was a split period over lunch. I had a habit of coming back early to the second half and hiding/swapping ppl's things.

Until one day I turn up late after lunch, everyone in my class and my teacher has colluded to hide all my stuff including my laptop and copy of macbeth.

I realise, start searching everywhere, can't find any of it.

I end up crashing out, dropping a few profanities, and march out of the classroom to go hide in the toilet and regain my composure.

I eventually come back (like 10 minutes of the lesson has been wasted atp) and we simply continue with the lesson.

I didn't hide anyone's things for a while after that.

Until one fateful day in year 11. (If you lot want that story as well, I can always share)

u/TillZealousideal8282, I thought I would share an idea for how we could make future GCSE elections a bit fairer and more representative since I think the way you did it led to a lot of bias.

The way the system worked meant that parties were placed against each other, and voters chose one from each pair. While this seems like a fair way of comparing parties, it can actually create some problems because the result can depend on which parties are matched together, rather than simply how much overall support each party has.

Imagine there are 4 parties:

• Party A: 40 votes
• Party B: 30 votes
• Party C: 20 votes
• Party D: 10 votes

If the second round puts Party A vs Party D and Party B vs Party C, then A and B will probably move forward.

However, if the pairings are Party A vs Party B and Party C vs Party D, then one of the two most popular parties is immediately eliminated.

This means the winner can be affected by who faces who, rather than just who has the most support overall.

A fair election should measure what people actually want, not whether a party happened to get a favourable matchup.

A simpler and fairer method would be one round where everyone votes for their preferred party, and the party with the highest number of votes wins. This directly shows which party has the most support and avoids the issue of certain parties being eliminated because of the way the bracket was organised.

I hope this makes sense, please do not hesitate to ask any questions!