Mehreen Baig is best known for her Saturday afternoon show on BBC's Asian Network but she was an English teacher and examiner. Now she has launched a YouTube series called Glow Up Your Grades, aimed at filling the gap in GCSE learning following the disruption of the Covid pandemic.
Her mission is 'to make school cool again' and she used the last of her savings to film the education series in a bid to help all students succeed in their exams, not just those who can afford private tutors. She believes that this, in turn, helps to boost mental health and wellbeing.
And she says there's a 15 minute trick that can make revising for your GCSEs a breeze. We invited Mehreen onto the award-winning Brummie Mummies Podcast to find out more.
Read more: How to get 100 per cent in your GCSE exams - podcast with Youtube sensation Mr Salles
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"I taught English for 10 years and I was an examiner during that time too so the one thing I know is how to help kids pass their English GCSEs," said Mehreen. "Glow up your Grades takes you through your English language and literature papers, telling you what you need to know and how to write your essays."
Listen to Mehreen's tips on the Brummie Mummies Podcast:
Mehreen's top tip is for pupils to start 'giving yourself homework' in Year 10 rather than trying to cram everything into Year 11. She said: "In Year 10, start going over what you've learnt after each English lesson, revising as you go so you're on top of it for the next year.
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"So, as you learn each poem, write down three key quotes and some analysis on a flashcard. It will take you a maximum of 15 minutes after school but it means that flashcard is made and you don't have to go over your notes and try to learn it again at the end of year 11.
"If every 14 to 15-year-old came home after each English lesson and spent just 15 minutes writing down some key quotes and notes from their lesson that day, it would make their life so much easier. Everyone underestimates how much revision you have to do for your exams.
"You put it off, thinking I still have a year or six months left. But, when you think you have eight or nine subjects and probably two exams for each, then, particularly for English literature, each exam has two texts you have to write essays on, it's a lot of content.
"So rather than leaving your revision to the last three months, if you start giving yourself homework by beginning to revise everything you learn in Year 10, it means you don't have to try to cram an unrealistic amount of revision in that last month before the exam."
Glow Up Your Grades features around 48 videos on everything from poetry and how to analyse it to key quotations from Macbeth.
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Find out more and listen to Mehreen on the Brummie Mummies Podcast here and watch Mehreen's videos on her Glow Up Your Grades YouTube Channel.
Please share this episode with anyone who may find it useful. You may also want to check out our episodes on the three questions every parent should ask on parents evening with headteacher Raj Mann, how to get 100% in your exams with Mr Salles, why dyslexia is a superpower with Kate Griggs and finding balance when revising with teacher Nicola Lappage.
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