This year, the GCSE CoEJ Past Paper Revision Course took place in Birmingham at the Sayedda Zainab (A.S) building during the 25th to the 28th of March, 2008. It was here that lessons were conducted by experienced and qualified teachers that had come from various backgrounds who were specialised in teaching Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and English. Students from all over the UK  who were in their last year of compulsory education came and attended this very well organised and educational course where we were given the chance to revise with the help of past papers that had been used for previous GCSE examinations which allowed us to see where we needed help. The carefully chosen teachers were extremely good in providing us with the help that we then needed by using fun and innovative teaching techniques that gave us the confidence to learn.

We were all given a specialized timetable that was suited to our own personal needs which contained five lessons that were all one hour each. The most amazing feature about these lessons however was the fact that there were no more than five students in each class which allowed us to get a lot more time with the teachers and attain the help that we needed in order to get the grades that we were aiming for. The timetable also consisted of a period known as ‘surgery’ which allowed us the students to sit with a teacher of our choice and get the help we wanted by going through questions that we did not understand. This was incredibly useful as we were given the opportunity to understand the very topics that we always had difficulty from. There were also break times and lunch times where we were given healthy food and drink that there never seemed to be a shortage of whilst there was also time allocated to Jamaat namaaz whereby we went to pray. In the evening, we also had a dinner which consisted of different foods ranging from the very delicious chicken and chips to the traditional mouth watering rice and curry which was after praying Jamaat namaaz at the Imambargah. During the course, we were given the chance to go to a nearby park where we played football which was really enjoyable.

The course lasted 4 days which allowed me to learn many things such as problem solving, getting along with other people and most importantly, how to revise. It was because of this course that I am now able to make positive steps to reaching my desirable grades for my GCSE’s which is very encouraging. Revision before the CoEJ PPP Revision Course seemed to look very hard, boring and tiring but this has definitely all changed and I do now look forward to opening my envelope in August  which I now feel confident will contain a set of really good grades.

Furthermore, the course gave me the opportunity to meet by far some of the most wonderful people that I had ever come across. These people who had come from all over the UK were awe-inspiring as they gave me the confidence and the persuasion that saw me through that very intensive week. I had lots of fun with these people and to this day, I honestly thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to meet such amazing people. To this day, I still talk to them at least once before I go to sleep and I hope to continually stay in touch. I really learned a lot from this course and I did have a great time. Having to leave on that last day was heartbreaking and I inshallah do hope that CoEJ will do a similar course next year in which I will most definitely go to.