For all of us who must endure GCSEs.

[Sephiroths samurai girl]

Cleocatra Osiris

My GCSEs are next year. I've been predicted A-A* in most/all of them. Except R.s. I think.

In R.S. I usually end up offending many people. Mainly Christians.

I got an A* in my recent Chemistry exam though. boo ya!

I've only got A in Maths I think and C in Biology. I don't like Biology.

Oh Do you mean RE? Thats what we call it. I did mine last year and got a B or something. 1 mark off an A. You just gotta think of it as a science when you write the essays, ya know. like these people think this, those people think that, i think this. i had the same problem until i started doing it like that. and I'm not even religous.  

[illyrianth]

Cleocatra Osiris

In R.S. I usually end up offending many people. Mainly Christians.

In which case, your teacher should feel ashamed that s/he has been unable to pass on to you the basic premise behind having RS in schools at all. The reason behind teaching RS in modern times is an attempt to promote understanding and therefore tolerance. Considering the spiritual beliefs of others shouldn't really be such a difficult thing to do, especially if one wishes to have one's own beliefs respected.  

[A Lost Iguana]

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[Cleocatra]

Kyos-girl

Cleocatra Osiris

My GCSEs are next year. I've been predicted A-A* in most/all of them. Except R.s. I think.

In R.S. I usually end up offending many people. Mainly Christians.

I got an A* in my recent Chemistry exam though. boo ya!

I've only got A in Maths I think and C in Biology. I don't like Biology.

Oh Do you mean RE? Thats what we call it. I did mine last year and got a B or something. 1 mark off an A. You just gotta think of it as a science when you write the essays, ya know. like these people think this, those people think that, i think this. i had the same problem until i started doing it like that. and I'm not even religous.

I don't think of it as Religious Education, it's just Studies.

Because the school are shits.  

[illyrianth]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[Cleocatra]

illyrianth

Cleocatra Osiris

In R.S. I usually end up offending many people. Mainly Christians.

In which case, your teacher should feel ashamed that s/he has been unable to pass on to you the basic premise behind having RS in schools at all. The reason behind teaching RS in modern times is an attempt to promote understanding and therefore tolerance. Considering the spiritual beliefs of others shouldn't really be such a difficult thing to do, especially if one wishes to have one's own beliefs respected.

It's the main fact that I am lazy.

I put down for the Christian Weddy ceremony "Stuff happens here"  

[A Lost Iguana]

illyrianth

RAR! GO YOU! smile

Yes, I'm jealous, but hey...all the best with that! blaugh

Thanks. It'll be three years of pain, but I, hopefully, will get to spend one of the years either in Chicago (CDF@Fermilab) or Geneva (ATLAS@CERN). At the moment I'm working behind a checkout at Tesco. <_<

I missed the deadlines for grad schemes, not appreciating how difficult it would be to get a decent job in the area (London commuter belt) with no experience, and no money to afford to stay in the city.

One of my old flatmates did well in RS, even though he always attacked religion when he was given the option. His teachers always had to concede that his points were well justified and supported.  

[Foetus In Fetu]

A Lost Iguana

Foetus In Fetu

Life is so completely and utterly unfair.

I know... I had already agreed to join the UCL's HEP group when Oxford's HEP sub-department offered me a full D.Phil studentship. So, unfair... ;_;

Hahaha.

A Lost Iguana

Sorry; but I cannot stand people whom feel the need to list grades, especially GCSE grades�where the quality of the school is as important, if not more, than the ability of the student in the current climate.

I'm not sure if 'quality' is a word I would use to describe the importance a school has. Students of private schools do achieve higher grades at GCSE than students of state schools but from what I've heard it's because they're coached for taking exams much more intensively than because the level of understanding is higher. To get an A on a science exam, for instance, you have to be able to infer certain things from results or apply seemingly unrelated knowledge; at a private school students are probably taught where examiners will expect them to make this connection whereas my experience with state school is that students are often left to learn this ability of their own accord.

It's not that the teaching is better, maybe, but that more exam support is available. My chemistry teacher said probably the truest thing I've ever heard about exams the other day: "You don't need a lot of knowledge to get an A on an AS-level exam, you just need exam technique". It's even truer of GCSE exams.

The other thing is that a lot of students don't do as well as they should have due to personal problems and such, and grades usually reflect this. There are also a lot of very intelligent people who end up with poor GCSEs because they never made the effort, maybe because they thought they were stupid.  

[A Lost Iguana]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[Foetus In Fetu]

A Lost Iguana

I do not imply that the students are any more equipped to handle work at higher levels, only that they will get better grades at GCSE and A-levels than students of the same ability at "lesser" schools because of the support.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I was just nitpicking, really. I happen to think that the coaching detracts from the quality of the education because while students are taught where connections lie and able to achieve in the short term because of it they're also deprived of the opportunity to learn for themselves how to make the connection. There's a reason these exams test for that ability and it's that it's a necessary skill if you want to achieve by yourself in that subject area; if you learn beforehand where the connections are supposed to be then you're producing for yourself a false positive. Maybe I'm wrong, but I know that it skews the results and I don't like that (it all goes back to life being horrendously unfair wink ).

In conclusion, I agree with you in a particularly verbose way.  

[illyrianth]

A Lost Iguana

illyrianth

RAR! GO YOU! smile

Yes, I'm jealous, but hey...all the best with that! blaugh

Thanks. It'll be three years of pain, but I, hopefully, will get to spend one of the years either in Chicago (CDF@Fermilab) or Geneva (ATLAS@CERN). At the moment I'm working behind a checkout at Tesco. <_<

I missed the deadlines for grad schemes, not appreciating how difficult it would be to get a decent job in the area (London commuter belt) with no experience, and no money to afford to stay in the city.

One of my old flatmates did well in RS, even though he always attacked religion when he was given the option. His teachers always had to concede that his points were well justified and supported.

If you end up at CERN, keep an eye out for Professor Martin Salt... smile He's my cousin, more's the pity. I say more's the pity, as he is not only damnably brilliant, but...quite cute too...>.< There is NO justice.

As for the London commuter belt....I can find you a job in Basingstoke, but that's probably not going to be close enough, is it? Besides, Basingstoke's a shithole.  

[Nebelstern]

illyrianth

Nebelstern

Preparation into working life

What in the name of the gods is THAT meant to be?

Y'know, they only brought the star gradings in the year AFTER I did my GCEs...Ah, memories of ages LONG gone by~sulks~

Um, I don't have any exams this year...er...in fact...unless I go and do another degree, doesn't seem I shall ever have any exams again. Strangely, this does not fill me with the glee I thought it would.

Utterly stupid, pointless common sense questions about life in general - basically a citizenship exam.

For example: - Spot the potential accidents in the picture below;

e.g. Dog about to be run over, baby with a knife etc...  

[Broken Keys]

Am I stupid or are you all going to better schools than me because you all seem to be doing much better from me and from what I think I know, you aren't much older than. eek xp  

[illyrianth]

Nebelstern

illyrianth

Nebelstern

Preparation into working life

What in the name of the gods is THAT meant to be?

Y'know, they only brought the star gradings in the year AFTER I did my GCEs...Ah, memories of ages LONG gone by~sulks~

Um, I don't have any exams this year...er...in fact...unless I go and do another degree, doesn't seem I shall ever have any exams again. Strangely, this does not fill me with the glee I thought it would.

Utterly stupid, pointless common sense questions about life in general - basically a citizenship exam.

For example: - Spot the potential accidents in the picture below;

e.g. Dog about to be run over, baby with a knife etc...

eek

But dear gods, WHY?!

The mind truly boggles. NO wonder it's so hard to decide whether or not to actually GIVE someone a job when that's the sort of tat which gets thrown at you in schools.  

[A Lost Iguana]

illyrianth

[If you end up at CERN, keep an eye out for Professor Martin Salt... smile He's my cousin, more's the pity. I say more's the pity, as he is not only damnably brilliant, but...quite cute too...>.< There is NO justice.

Think of the gene pool.

illyrianth

As for the London commuter belt....I can find you a job in Basingstoke, but that's probably not going to be close enough, is it? Besides, Basingstoke's a shithole.

Haha, I'm fine behind the checkout for the moment, it's only until September.

I never took any kind of citizenship lessons, am I morally bankrupt?