Just finished My GCSE's :)
- Thread starter Rorschach II
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I spent the summer after my GCSE's, to coin a term, GETTING LASHED with my friends I suggest the same it was brilliant, then come back and do your A-levels (big up Politics A-level?)
Could someone be really kind and compare the standard American tests taken around year 11 (SAT I, SAT IIs, Regents exams in New York State, and AP Exams) with the GCSE and A-levels? I'd love to know just where everyone else is at, and what my credentials coming into next year are if I wanted to go to uni in Britain.
I hope you picked what you wanted to instead of what your parents/teachers told you to, I didnt it was a mistake. Exams don't really matter both myself and my father have Degrees in Business and IT he uses I don't. I have a licence to drive an FLT and reach truck, I earn more money than he does.
Personally, I thought it was a bit of an anticlimax (I did them this year too, btw).Rorschach II said:
What subjects did you take?
So...are GCSE's similar to our ACT's?? And I'm going to assume A-level's are similar to what we call AP classes...which are annoying as hell!
My year is part of an experiment and we've done some exams early. They were okay, apart from history which had an entire section full of questions that we hadn't done all year which made everyone panic.
Oh, this. If GCSE maths is headache inducing, A level will have you wishing you could throttle the teacher. Seriously, don't take it, save yourselves!GamesB2 said:
I did my GCSEs last year. Afterwards I was nervous but eventually forgot about the impending results and enjoyed the epic long summer that you get. I did no revision for mine and I got all As and Bs so I wouldn't worry. GCSEs are designed to help you pass. A-levels are designed to help you fail. Good luck regardless though and make sure you make the most of summer =]
I have my last A Level exam tomorrow, Geography G4 - Sustainability. Joy of joys!
I can't wait for it to be over, I have a huge back catalogue of games and books to enjoy.
I can't wait for it to be over, I have a huge back catalogue of games and books to enjoy.
Holy crap, maths is one of my options for sixth form D:GamesB2 said:
Also did anybody take a diploma? I finished my IT Diploma a few weeks ago and I have to say it was the worst thing I've ever been put through. Such a disorganized and difficult course after all the good things and lies we were told about it. Not to mention half the things we did were useless, with useless teachers who left us in the middle of a new course with no support.
During my GCSE's I didn't care much for them. I tried hard in year 11 but it was just too late, and I had bad results (I didn't even know how to study). I bucked up my ideas and went into GNVQ business studies. After that I never looked back.
My exams for University (Human Computer Interfaces - a 2 hour exam) and a Java programming exam (1 hour and 30 mins) were fine. I studied as best I could, I went into the exam and answered all questions to the best of my knowledge and then that was it. Regardless, I didn't cry over any spilled milk. I have been accepted into a top-up year for my Degree thanks to my results.
My exams for University (Human Computer Interfaces - a 2 hour exam) and a Java programming exam (1 hour and 30 mins) were fine. I studied as best I could, I went into the exam and answered all questions to the best of my knowledge and then that was it. Regardless, I didn't cry over any spilled milk. I have been accepted into a top-up year for my Degree thanks to my results.
I'm strongly against an education system that revolves around exams. Mainly because I'm not good at them but that's another topic 
Learning for exams instead of learning for the sake of learning just doesn't work. It's far too ridged a system to allow creativity. In fact, I've seen peoples creativity stifled BECAUSE of the ridged curriculum.
Learning for exams instead of learning for the sake of learning just doesn't work. It's far too ridged a system to allow creativity. In fact, I've seen peoples creativity stifled BECAUSE of the ridged curriculum.
These exams are foreign to me (and justifiably so), so I proffer the most relevant exams I can: AP exams, the ACT and the SAT.
The AP exams (college level tests, for those that don't know) were a breeze. 5 is the highest score attainable and I scored 5's in AP Calculus AB and BC, US History and Spanish with little effort (especially in Spanish, which I expected to fail because I didn't do ANYTHING in that class). I got a 4 in AP Literature, which I raged so hard about because I love literature and I couldn't believe I did worse reading ENGLISH LITERATURE than reading SPANISH.
As for the SAT's and ACT's (I guess you could call them preliminary college tests so the schools know how "good" you are) I got 1850/2400 on my SAT and 31/36 on my ACT. I studied for 45 minutes maximum for the SAT, so I didn't expect to do that well (I actually did pretty fairly) and I didn't know what the fuck the ACT was like at all, and getting a 31 (the equivalent of a 2000 on the SAT) stunned me.
All in all, tests are bullshit and are hardly a measure of intelligence or college readiness here in the states: they simply measure memorization, test taking strategies and to a small extent, what you actually learned.
EDIT: The Uni finals I've taken have ranged from "what the fuck am I reading?" to "really? This is the test?"
God damn, I hate that I'm a Bio major, and have done best in Humanities. Its like becoming a cook and realizing you're only good at critiquing the food.
The AP exams (college level tests, for those that don't know) were a breeze. 5 is the highest score attainable and I scored 5's in AP Calculus AB and BC, US History and Spanish with little effort (especially in Spanish, which I expected to fail because I didn't do ANYTHING in that class). I got a 4 in AP Literature, which I raged so hard about because I love literature and I couldn't believe I did worse reading ENGLISH LITERATURE than reading SPANISH.
As for the SAT's and ACT's (I guess you could call them preliminary college tests so the schools know how "good" you are) I got 1850/2400 on my SAT and 31/36 on my ACT. I studied for 45 minutes maximum for the SAT, so I didn't expect to do that well (I actually did pretty fairly) and I didn't know what the fuck the ACT was like at all, and getting a 31 (the equivalent of a 2000 on the SAT) stunned me.
All in all, tests are bullshit and are hardly a measure of intelligence or college readiness here in the states: they simply measure memorization, test taking strategies and to a small extent, what you actually learned.
EDIT: The Uni finals I've taken have ranged from "what the fuck am I reading?" to "really? This is the test?"
God damn, I hate that I'm a Bio major, and have done best in Humanities. Its like becoming a cook and realizing you're only good at critiquing the food.