Think I'm going to fail my GCSEs?

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I'll give you a brief over-view of my problems:

English:
I have problems with syntax , expression and ordering my thoughts.

Science:

Syntax and again ordering my thoughts so my answers look like a mess. Plus, I have bad hand-writing.




Maths:

They're just really obvious stupid mistakes and I have no idea why I make them. I don't feel like I'm distracted or anything but I have lots of thoughts rushing into my head all at once most of the time. What could be the cause of my silly mistakes?
Right now, I'm thinking either attention or working memory?
I don't know, I'm actually quite good at maths but I make far too many silly mistakes.

By the way, my exam has added extra marks for grammar and I'm not very good at grammar, plus it's hard to read my handwriting.

I don't know why I make so many silly mistakes in maths.

Any help, please? Any ideas why I could be making silly mistakes and solutions?


Btw, my school won't help me because I don't fail my tests but I don't do as well I can in my view.

I assume you will be beginning GCSE work after the Summer? I wouldn't stress too much about poor handwriting. Even my own isn't that great, but most are still able to read it OK. I don't know enough about you to make judgement, but with the struggles you have with organizing your thoughts and paying attention you could have ADD. Have a look at other symptoms and see if they apply to you.

(Thread moved from Autism discussion to School and College life)

Thanks

I'll try to address as many of your points as possible.

1. Bad handwriting is not a problem, so long as your handwriting is readable. My handwriting is atrocious, while I used a laptop in my A Level exams I didn't in my GCSE ones, and I had no problems getting good grades. I do not know which exam board you are on, but in my experience on GCSE level marks for grammar/spelling are minimal. Abnormal syntax mayn't be too much of a problem, I'm always splitting my infinitives, especially in Science. So long as your work is reasonably coherent then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Mostly, on GCSE level, they're looking for key words and phrases that indicate you understand the content. So long as you can outline the mechanics of, for example the resistance of a wire with a current running through it, whether or not your sentences are well formed isn't much of an issue.

I miss out whole chunks of sentences when I write, mostly because I think much faster than I handwrite and slightly faster than I type, and it hasn't really been a problem for me personally. I only sat English Literature, English Language, Maths, and Double Science for my GCSE, mainly because of non-attendance because of family problems. Although I have a fair few difficulties on top of those detailed above I still managed to get AABCC, and you'll find that unless you want to go to Oxford or Cambridge then your GCSE grades are of little consequence once you've got them (so long as you have at least 5 A*-C's). And even with my meagre GCSE grades I still got a place at The London School of Economics and Political Science.

(Sorry if my anecdotal evidence isn't helpful, I just thought it might be comforting to hear from someone who has similar problems. But of course I don't know the severity of your issues, so I can't comment directly on how you will do, and the only similar case I have is my own.)

I just developed a simple way of ordering my thoughts and planning my answers, particularly for essays and creative writing for English literature and English language. All I do is I take 5 minutes at the start of any timed examination (or if it is a home written essay, as much time as required) and just write down every bit of information I want/need to include on a piece of paper. Once I have all of this written down I link up common themes with arrows/colours and cross them out when used. Hence despite having my mind going at 100 mph I get a logical order and flow to my work, which enables me to be more comprehensive (and often quicker) in my answer.

This works particularly well for essays in science based subjects:
(For example if I were to write about the human eye)

Question: Explain the structure of the human eye

What does it do? -> See
How many do we have? -> Two
What are the different parts? -> Cornea, Iris, Sclera, Lens & Retina
What do these bits look like? -> Clear, Coloured, White, Clear, Red
What do these do? -> Allows light into eye and adds power, adjusts light level in eye, protects eye, focuses light, turns light into signals.

As this is just a rough plan, your handwriting can be as poor as you want, but you put down enough info to write an answer. Then for your proper answer you can take your time, improve your handwriting and have all the information you need (just copying over the page and writing in full sentences!

Hope this helps (I didn't work this out until first year of University)