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Kliro
16-05-2005, 22:43
Hey, I remember we had a thread about GCSE's last year, the time has come again.

These ones are proving to be a lot harder, I've got my first exam tomorrow :erm:

Geology GL2, anyone else starting their AS's?

Chimaera
16-05-2005, 22:57
Nope, thank goodness - my exam years are well and truly behind me! But my daughters did theirs a couple of years ago - one was in the upper sixth, one in the lower (yeah, I know, bad planning or what!) Hopefully the system has been sorted out now so you don't end up doing endless exams - I forget how many they had to do each time - it seemed as many as when they did their GCSE's. I wish you every success with them Kliro - my fingers will be crossed for you - and don't forget to post your results back on here!
And not too late to bed tonight, either! ;)

shredder
16-05-2005, 23:15
Good luck Kliro! I'm just doing my university finals at the moment. Hope you've done lots of revision?! Yeah go to bed early and don't worry!

Macca371
16-05-2005, 23:51
Good luck with the exam Kliro!

Had my General Studies exam today, I think I did really bad but I'm not bothered as I don't really class it as an important AS Level.

I now have a week of nothing and then on Monday I have FOUR exams and then three in the two days afterwards.

I've just put a pizza in the oven, gonna be a long night of revision tonight...

Tezcatlipoca
16-05-2005, 23:52
Good luck to anyone with exams soon :)

Macca371
17-05-2005, 00:03
Thankyou.

What is really annoying me is the fact that my results will be waiting for me on the doormat when I get into the house from my 2 weeks in Turkey, and I dont' really wanna come back to bad grades!
__________________

Btw, this was on my General Studies exam today, you might be interested in it:

A man is beside a river with a goose, a fox and a sack of corn. He needs to get to the other side of the river. However, there is only one boat and there is only room for the man and one other thing. What journeys must the man make in order to get all objects intact and dry on the other side of the shore with as few crossings made as possible? Please note, at any moment neither the goose or fox can be together alone, or the goose and the sack of corn.

I spent about five minutes on this question and didn't get it so I moved on. I get it now, though.

Ramrod
17-05-2005, 00:05
Good luck Kliro.............I feel for you! :(
School, homework, exams.......bleaghhhh! :sick:

greencreeper
17-05-2005, 00:08
I've long maintained that we have exams because the people setting the exams did exams themselves. I think they're out-dated. There are far more reliable, and fairer, means of assessing a person's ability.

Good luck!

nffc
17-05-2005, 00:21
Good luck Kliro! I'm just doing my university finals at the moment. Hope you've done lots of revision?! Yeah go to bed early and don't worry!
Me too and it's bloody boring and the most annoying thing on the planet.
__________________

I've long maintained that we have exams because the people setting the exams did exams themselves. I think they're out-dated. There are far more reliable, and fairer, means of assessing a person's ability.

Good luck!
I agree with you.

bmxbandit
17-05-2005, 00:40
There are far more reliable, and fairer, means of assessing a person's ability.
probably rather depends on the subject...what did you have in mind?

Halcyon
17-05-2005, 00:40
Goood luck with yuor exams. I hope it all goes well for all those taking them this year.

I was lucky in that I was the last year where we only had A levels and not AS levels too.

nffc
17-05-2005, 00:59
Goood luck with yuor exams. I hope it all goes well for all those taking them this year.

I was lucky in that I was the last year where we only had A levels and not AS levels too.
lucky sod. we were the first year to do AS / A2 levels.

Macca371
17-05-2005, 01:00
And the people taking AS levels this year will be the first lot to be charged more student fees and given thousands of pounds more student debt :erm:

nffc
17-05-2005, 02:07
And the people taking AS levels this year will be the first lot to be charged more student fees and given thousands of pounds more student debt :erm:
It's free whilst you're actually at uni, until your salary goes above a certain level...

Vote labour, vote ripoff.

deedee
17-05-2005, 08:09
I must admit to being very lazy about revision for both gcse's & a-levels :nono: - all those years ago - just couldn't get motivated to sit with my head in a book night after night, still did fine & got grades a, b or c in all of my subjects, but that just made me realise (afterwards) what I could have acheived if I had applied myself :dunce:

I hope everyone with exams at the moment does well.

greencreeper
17-05-2005, 09:44
probably rather depends on the subject...what did you have in mind?
I could study pottery and write long essays about making pots. Doesn't mean that my efforts at throwing a pot won't look like abstract art. Knowledge of a subject is one thing, the ability to apply it another. I agree that, for example, an analysis of nature versus nurture in Shelley's Frankenstein might be better done on paper, but you could still have the student give a presentation or maybe write a short play.

Kliro
17-05-2005, 22:30
Thanks for the wishes of luck etc.

First exam was pretty good, havnt got anouther for 9 days now :)

Is no-one else doing their exams?

greencreeper
17-05-2005, 23:22
First exam was pretty good, havnt got anouther for 9 days now :)
What subject is next, Kliro?

lazyboy
17-05-2005, 23:24
I'm doing my AS-Levels too. Had General Studies on monday, what a random exam! Next one is physics practical tommorow :(

Not looking forward to that...

Jarandco
17-05-2005, 23:29
I'm really bad this year - dont seem to have the motivation to revise, and i know i should be!! :(

Anyway has general on monday same exam as Diamond, with the river questiuon thing, did it during the test, altough mcuked it up first time round, other than that wasent too bad the exam, altough again i dont rate it very high as most unis dont seem to accept it as a subject!

Got physics pratical tomorrow hwich should be fun, the last one was horrible so not looking forward to this, also annoying is the afct that it can be on anything and you cant really prepare for it!

greencreeper
17-05-2005, 23:45
I'm doing my AS-Levels too. Had General Studies on monday, what a random exam! Next one is physics practical tommorow :(

Not looking forward to that...
Welcome <unfurls red carpet>

Physics - huh. Gassing watercress and faffing with magnets is about all I remember really :D

lazyboy
18-05-2005, 00:09
Welcome <unfurls red carpet>

Physics - huh. Gassing watercress and faffing with magnets is about all I remember really :D

Thanks for the welcome! :)

Good luck to everone taking exams!

I better be off to bed dont want to be falling asleep tommorow

Maggy
18-05-2005, 00:46
It's free whilst you're actually at uni, until your salary goes above a certain level...

Vote labour, vote ripoff.

Err not really.I was 'invited' to pay part of my daughter's tuition fees. :(

Macca371
18-05-2005, 00:58
Monday: Maths (Core1), (Core2). General Studies (Social), (Cultural).
Wednesday: Critical Thinking
Thursday: French (Listening, Reading, Writing), (Reading, Writing)

greencreeper
18-05-2005, 10:12
They do AS levels in critical thinking? :erm: What does that involve? I would have thought that you either can think critically, or you can't. Not something you can learn as such.

Macca371
18-05-2005, 10:18
They do AS levels in critical thinking? :erm: What does that involve? I would have thought that you either can think critically, or you can't. Not something you can learn as such.

That's what I thought before I started the course, that it teaches you to make quick, important decisions or something. But, the course is actually about thinking critically in the sense of how a critic might think, when reading a text. You analyse arguments and look at their flaws, weaknesses and strengths.
__________________

Forgot to add, I hate it!!

Chimaera
18-05-2005, 10:26
Nice to see some things don't change - both my daughters were forced to take the AS/A level General Studies course and exam - only to find that none of the Universities they applied to would accept it!
Why put students through another set of totally worthless exams? Makes no sense to me?

Kliro
18-05-2005, 15:08
What subject is next, Kliro?

Geology again, a week tomorrow then Geography, then a week after Biology and Chemistry.

What fun! :erm:

We don't do an exam in general studies this year, dont think my college takes it very seriously.

Yeah I totally agree Jarandco, I just cant be bothered with revision, I revised more last year, I just wanna go out and have fun :D

Chris
18-05-2005, 18:03
lucky sod. we were the first year to do AS / A2 levels.

Aww, stop moaning! ;) Scotland has had a system equivalent to GCSE/AS/A2 for decades, and it is widely held to be one of the finest exam systems in Europe. Mrs T studied for Standards, Highers and SYS (Sixth-Year-Studies, latterly renamed Advanced Higher) and benefited with a broader advanced education than I got by going straight from nine GCSEs to four A levels.

Chris W
18-05-2005, 18:30
Aww, stop moaning! ;) Scotland has had a system equivalent to GCSE/AS/A2 for decades, and it is widely held to be one of the finest exam systems in Europe. Mrs T studied for Standards, Highers and SYS (Sixth-Year-Studies, latterly renamed Advanced Higher) and benefited with a broader advanced education than I got by going straight from nine GCSEs to four A levels.

IB is the best way to go IMO, it's bluddy hard, but results are not influenced by politics, you do 6 subjects and it is a wide range :)

disadvantages: not many schools offer it, and not many job application forms have space to enter your results

more info here: http://www.ibo.org/ibo/index.cfm

Graham M
18-05-2005, 19:02
Good luck mate, I did my AS levels 3 years ago now, im sure theyve improved since then. I hope you did better than me

o Psychology - U - Due to not turning up to the exam, the teacher was horrrrible - I gave it up half way through the year.
o English Language - E - Upgraded from a U after the teacher ordered a remark
o Physics - U - Drew a total Mental Blank on the day but i could reel off any of what i learnt now :(
o IT - B - My best subject of all, wooo glad i carried it onto my current course which im coming to the end of now, 3 weeks to go :shocking:

eerrrr
18-05-2005, 19:27
I've got my AS exams now. I'm studying Computing, Maths, Physics and English Lit. I had Computing today and it was rather easy, it's more like a GCSE course if anything. Maths Core 2 shouldn't be too bad, though I'm terrible at Stats. Physics is gonna be a little crap, and English will be dull as usual, glad I'm not taking it next year. :D

General Studies is terrible, and it's impossible to teach. Here's a question that was in my 'Scientific Domain' paper on monday;
"A man is walking with a bag of corn, a fox, and a goose. He comes to a river which must be crossed, with a small boat nearby. The boat can only hold himself and one item. He can't leave the fox with the goose, and he can't leave the goose with the corn.
Write how he will get himself and all his items across the river safely, using the minimum number of trips."

Of course, I got it wrong. :P When I found out how to do it I was so annoyed! It's so simple! And that was the Scientific Domain, I'm not gonna do any better in the Cultural or Social papers (nobody seems to know what kind of topics they cover :S).

Anyway, good luck to everyone doing their exams.

Macca371
18-05-2005, 22:29
I've got my AS exams now. I'm studying Computing, Maths, Physics and English Lit. I had Computing today and it was rather easy, it's more like a GCSE course if anything. Maths Core 2 shouldn't be too bad, though I'm terrible at Stats. Physics is gonna be a little crap, and English will be dull as usual, glad I'm not taking it next year. :D

General Studies is terrible, and it's impossible to teach. Here's a question that was in my 'Scientific Domain' paper on monday;
"A man is walking with a bag of corn, a fox, and a goose. He comes to a river which must be crossed, with a small boat nearby. The boat can only hold himself and one item. He can't leave the fox with the goose, and he can't leave the goose with the corn.
Write how he will get himself and all his items across the river safely, using the minimum number of trips."

Of course, I got it wrong. :P When I found out how to do it I was so annoyed! It's so simple! And that was the Scientific Domain, I'm not gonna do any better in the Cultural or Social papers (nobody seems to know what kind of topics they cover :S).

Anyway, good luck to everyone doing their exams.

What is your Maths exam board? OCR?

greencreeper
19-05-2005, 00:18
Forgot to add, I hate it!!
You hate thinking huh. Well you are a teenager :p: :D

You'll know of De Bono then? Tutor at Uni, an expert on things such as critical thinking, was always quoting him. I tried getting my head round some NLP books he (the tutor) lent me but I'm just too cynical.


Geology again
Geology? :shocked: Never had anything like that when I was young. It's a whole new world these days. Amazing what people are studying.

I've probably narrated this before but it's a good lesson for life. At school they asked, in music, what instrument I wanted to learn. I said, "Violin" - always liked the violin. They gave me a cornet. That's life for you :shrug:

eerrrr
19-05-2005, 15:07
What is your Maths exam board? OCR?
Yep, OCR, I think. We study Core 1, Core 2 and Statistics at AS, then Core 3, Core 4 and another module at A2. I've chosen Mechanics to study next year. How about you?

Macca371
24-05-2005, 19:48
Yep, OCR, I think. We study Core 1, Core 2 and Statistics at AS, then Core 3, Core 4 and another module at A2. I've chosen Mechanics to study next year. How about you?

I'm OCR, but instead of doing Statistics I'm doing Mechanics this year. Core 1 and Core 2 went alright, could have done much better. The last question was horrible though about solving a bleeding trigonometrical function, the thing I really knew nothing about. Also, I have realised that on the question about finding the area under the graph using the trapezium rule, I got that completely wrong because I had my calculator in radian mode instead of degrees the whole time! Doh! Stupid me. Anyway, I think Core 1 went quite well though. Mechanics on the 16th June which is quite far away thank God because I need to do a lot of revision for that.

Anyway, my next exams:

Tomorrow - Critical Thinking (both papers)
Thursday - French (both papers)
8th June - Spanish (Both papers)
10th June - Physics (Both papers)
15th June - Maths (Mechanics paper)

Then back to college at the end of June :rolleyes:

eerrrr
24-05-2005, 23:41
How is Mechanics? I'm taking it next year to fit with my Physics, so I should be okay with it. It's gotta be better than Statistics!

I've got exams on Friday, then then rest in 2 weeks, then I go straight back to college on the 13th June to start A2. :(

Good luck with your exams!

Macca371
24-05-2005, 23:55
How is Mechanics? I'm taking it next year to fit with my Physics, so I should be okay with it. It's gotta be better than Statistics!

I've got exams on Friday, then then rest in 2 weeks, then I go straight back to college on the 13th June to start A2. :(

Good luck with your exams!

Mechanics isn't too bad, 80% of it is about the formula 'F=ma', all about forces etc... It goes hand in hand with Physics so really it's like being qualified twice for the same thing, ish.

Good luck everyone.

nffc
25-05-2005, 01:55
Mechanics is hell.

Macca371
25-05-2005, 19:51
Crappio, just had my critical thinking and I put the wrong candidate number (I put my school candidate number instead of my college one), so I crossed it out and put my real one next to it (but outside the marked box). My friends said it should be alright, I hope so. Can't believe I'm so silly.

Kliro
26-05-2005, 19:53
heh, think it will be alright, finished geology today wooo.

Wrote about 6 pages for the last question.

Boy do I feel sorry for the examiner getting paid £1.50 to mark my paper :)

Dave Stones
26-05-2005, 20:17
Mechanics is hell.

piece of advice, don't do an engineering degree. it only gets worse...

Macca371
26-05-2005, 20:36
Well, made the same stupid frigging mistake again, on my French exam, wrong candidate number but crossed it out. I'm just glad that I noticed it, even if it was in the last minute. :erm:

nffc
27-05-2005, 00:14
Mechanics is hell.

piece of advice, don't do an engineering degree. it only gets worse...

No way am I gonna do another degree, at least for a few years anyway. :(

eerrrr
27-05-2005, 16:26
I had my English Lit exams today, 3 in a row. So 3 hours of writing with a 10 minute "break" after the first hour. Quite intense, I worked up a blister on my finger from all the writing. :(

Oh, and Diamond, are you going to do anything about the candidate number mistake. I don't think it really matters in your case since you corrected it, but my friend thinks he forgot to write his number on one of his papers, and couldn't sort it out at the end because they'd already sent the first papers off. He's going to contact them and find out, so if anything of interest comes up I'll let you know.

Macca371
27-05-2005, 16:31
Oh, and Diamond, are you going to do anything about the candidate number mistake. I don't think it really matters in your case since you corrected it, but my friend thinks he forgot to write his number on one of his papers, and couldn't sort it out at the end because they'd already sent the first papers off. He's going to contact them and find out, so if anything of interest comes up I'll let you know.

Thanks a lot :tu: but I've told the head of MFL at my college who had told the college's exam officer so I hope to get hear something soon also.

pop80_uk
27-05-2005, 16:54
I've got my AS exams now. I'm studying Computing, Maths, Physics and English Lit. I had Computing today and it was rather easy, it's more like a GCSE course if anything. Maths Core 2 shouldn't be too bad, though I'm terrible at Stats. Physics is gonna be a little crap, and English will be dull as usual, glad I'm not taking it next year. :D

General Studies is terrible, and it's impossible to teach. Here's a question that was in my 'Scientific Domain' paper on monday;
"A man is walking with a bag of corn, a fox, and a goose. He comes to a river which must be crossed, with a small boat nearby. The boat can only hold himself and one item. He can't leave the fox with the goose, and he can't leave the goose with the corn.
Write how he will get himself and all his items across the river safely, using the minimum number of trips."

Of course, I got it wrong. :P When I found out how to do it I was so annoyed! It's so simple! And that was the Scientific Domain, I'm not gonna do any better in the Cultural or Social papers (nobody seems to know what kind of topics they cover :S).

Anyway, good luck to everyone doing their exams.

That question, bout the fox is answered and asked on an episode of the Office!:Yikes: :rolleyes:

eerrrr
27-05-2005, 18:53
That question, bout the fox is answered and asked on an episode of the Office!:Yikes: :rolleyes:
I know! One of my mates got it correct because he saw that episode, it's so annoying!
Quality exams these. :rolleyes:

Oh, and no problem Diamond. Cheers for the rep!

Macca371
05-06-2005, 05:42
Spanish on the 8th, Physics on the 10th and Mechanics on the 15th.

God I cannot wait to be free of exams.

Kliro
05-06-2005, 12:55
Biology tomorrow and Chemistry on wednesday (I can see myself doing some resits :()

-Then going on holiday on thursday - WOoooooooooooo

Macca371
05-06-2005, 13:06
Biology tomorrow and Chemistry on wednesday (I can see myself doing some resits :()

-Then going on holiday on thursday - WOoooooooooooo

Lucky you!

Kliro
07-06-2005, 23:42
Chemistry tomorrow - Still have not revised (have no motivation)

Don't really care, as I'm definately dropping this!

nffc
07-06-2005, 23:57
Chemistry tomorrow - Still have not revised (have no motivation)

Don't really care, as I'm definately dropping this!

Blah... that's easy though. Just LEARN IT, that will work for A-level (/got high 90s overall)

Macca371
10-06-2005, 14:27
Physics was a bit yukky

Jarandco
10-06-2005, 17:34
Physics was a bit yukky

Physcis wasent nice! :(

But at least its over now! :D

Macca371
10-06-2005, 22:45
Physcis wasent nice! :(

But at least its over now! :D

Did you do it? Are you edexcel Specification B (Salter's Horners) course by any chance?

nffc
10-06-2005, 23:08
Isn't A-level Physics just learning how to use the formula sheet to talk bull?

Macca371
16-06-2005, 16:46
Mechanics was AWFUL.

Bad note to end all my exams on. I'm feeling very depressed now :(.

Jarandco
16-06-2005, 16:49
Did you do it? Are you edexcel Specification B (Salter's Horners) course by any chance?

no OCR specification, wasent a good exam!

But just had D1 maths today and that was surprisingly nice, altough i'm sure that there was a mistake in the exam paper most people said that so i believe that means the exam board has to give us full marks :p:

Dave Stones
16-06-2005, 16:54
no OCR specification, wasent a good exam!

But just had D1 maths today and that was surprisingly nice, altough i'm sure that there was a mistake in the exam paper most people said that so i believe that means the exam board has to give us full marks :p:

you should be so lucky, if it was a genuine mistake then they would just ignore the marks from that question, and moderate accordingly.... ;)

i never did discrete maths at a level... what exactly is it?

Macca371
16-06-2005, 16:59
Decision Maths. It's about algorithms and stuff I believe.

Macca371
22-08-2005, 21:21
Well?! What did everyone get?

Just got back from Turkey, opened the dreaded letter and...

A French
A Spanish
A Physics
A Maths
B General Studies
D Critical Thinking

Verrrrrrrrry happy :) :D

What did everyone else get?

xcdtowg
23-08-2005, 01:27
Mucho gratz brainy, those be great grades!!! :)

Halcyon
23-08-2005, 16:46
Congratulations !!!
Hope everyone is happy :)

Ramrod
24-08-2005, 01:33
Humiliation for only A-level student not to get straight A's (http://www.deadbrain.co.uk/news/article_2005_08_18_0633.php) :DDoug fell foul of two different regulations while taking his A-levels. In Gardening Studies he failed to turn up for the exam because he "wanted to watch Neighbours" and consequently got a zero mark, which translates as a B under the current grade boundaries.

Meanwhile in Pornology (the study of internet pornography during IT lessons) Doug turned up but "couldn't be bothered" to answer any of the questions. After writing his name correctly, which scored him one mark (an A-grade), he then produced a mobile phone from his pocket and began playing Snake. He was removed from the room when he challenged one of the invigilators to beat his score and had his exam declared void.

xcdtowg
24-08-2005, 15:02
Like to see you go and do them and get straight A's...hmmph :D

Halcyon
26-08-2005, 00:35
LOL @ Pornology. I wonder if you can do a degree in that at cambridge. ;)

greencreeper
26-08-2005, 06:22
Thinking back to my school days, I don't remember that many people getting A or B grades. I guess it doesn't really matter whether exams are getting easier or not, because the way the system is going, sooner or later it will have no value at all because most people will have a degree, which totally devalues them. A thick chav with straight As and a first from Oxford is still a thick chav.

A customer was asking what was needed to do my job because her son was thinking of working in IT support. I said that he needed decent GCSE English and Maths grades, but that's all. Six months in a call centre to gain experience of handling customers, and he can probably move sideways into IT support. When I started at college you pretty much couldn't work in IT unless you had a degree. Sigh.