2015 exams

[Qwerty133]

With both GCSEs and As levels starting tomorrow, I'd like to say good luck to any other forum members taking any exams this summer.
Tomorrow is Economics and Physcolagy at As level, as well as couple of less popular choices.

 

[bb21]

Here's to all taking part in the exams getting the grades they want.

 

[Qwerty133]

With a 09:00 exam tomorrow I probably should get to sleep soon, especially as the 07:00 bus awaits thanks to unreliability, and being advised to get to college as close to 08:00 as possible as the queues for the compulsory unsecure bag and phone store can often be an hour long.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Good luck everyone. I've got my final exam in 10 days, shortly followed by another (thankfully short!) exam, practical assessment and a oral exam with completely unknown content.

 

[Kite159]

My exam for my OU course is first week in June, something I'm not looking forward to (first exam in 9-odd years)

 

[Searle]

Good luck guys, I've got five two hour maths finals, starting on Thursday, for a fortnight. Hope everyone does well!

 

[DarloRich]

Exams are easy these days. They give decent grades away with the conrflakes. When i was a lad.................

 

[pemma]

Exams are easy these days. They give decent grades away with the conrflakes. When i was a lad.................

That same argument was what people were saying back when I was at school. Most teachers seemed to be of the view exams are equally as hard as ones 10 years earlier but the longer GCSEs and A Levels have been in existence the easier it is for teachers to predict potential questions. They also know what types of answers did and didn't get maximum marks in previous years so the people taking the exams go in to them better prepared and consequently do better. I recall my A Level Maths teacher giving us past papers which were 10 years old and they didn't seem any easier or any harder than the ones from the previous year or the ones we actually did as exams.

 

[Searle]

Exams are easy these days. They give decent grades away with the conrflakes. When i was a lad.................

please don't tell me you're serious :roll: I'll send you a past paper of mine if you really think this

 

[SS4]

please don't tell me you're serious :roll: I'll send you a past paper of mine if you really think this

It sounded like sarcastic to me. Like when we see the Daily Mail et al claims exams were easier back in their day.

 

[ainsworth74]

Gentlemen I think you may have missed the sarcasm

Good luck to all, I'm pleased such days are now behind me!

 

[fishquinn]

Good luck all! I have mine coming up next year and the year after.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Good luck all. Just remember the further up the education chain you go, the harder they get!

Oh to be doing GCSEs again...

 

[Yew]

Good luck, and I'll always remember my maths teacher picking out an O-Level paper from the mid 60's with a question of 'Write (several thousand) words of the relationship between god and mathematics....'

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Good luck all. Just remember the further up the education chain you go, the harder they get!

Oh to be doing GCSEs again...

Agreed, GCSEs pale in comparison to university finals...

 

[DarloRich]

Gentlemen I think you may have missed the sarcasm

Honestly it is wasted on some people

I think exams are hard until you understand what an exam is testing you on. It isn't really the subject or your knowledge but your ability to pass an exam.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Agreed, GCSEs pale in comparison to university finals...

Some of my finals i could take my text books in. How easy is that................

 

[TheNewNo2]

The last exam I did was my PhD viva voce (if that counts). Being in work does seem to decrease the need for such things.

I stand by my assertion that significant numbers of untrained monkeys could pass some GCSE exams, although to my mind a lot of them are all about teaching the wrong thing. Maths for instance teaches a lot of formulas but little in the way of "number sense". Several of my colleagues for instance are smart people, but seem utterly unable to perform basic estimation. I don't know if any of you did (or have children who did) the Junior/Intermediate/Senior Maths Challenge papers - you had a paper of about 25 multiple choice questions, and fairly challenging questions. Yet the odd thing was that they never required particularly advanced maths concepts, they just required you to think laterally. Don't calculate the answer, work out which CAN'T be the answer. I tested myself on one of those after a few months at university and it was easy. Not because I'd learnt new concepts, but because I'd learnt to think differently.

 

[me123]

The last exam I did was my PhD viva voce (if that counts). Being in work does seem to decrease the need for such things..

Sadly, I'm in no such luck. Despite me being in work, the next exam I have to take costs £419 (of my own money - not paid by my employer), + costs of revision material (courses, books, online materials etc) which are also nice and pricy. The pass rate is just 40%, and if you fail you have to pay for it once again.

So enjoy your free exams kids, while they last

Seriously though, good luck to all sitting exams in whatever capacity, and I sincerely hope that all your hard work will pay off. Most important guys, once they're done, enjoy yourself!

 

[krus_aragon]

I stand by my assertion that significant numbers of untrained monkeys could pass some GCSE exams, although to my mind a lot of them are all about teaching the wrong thing. Maths for instance teaches a lot of formulas but little in the way of "number sense".

Indeed. The curriculum in Wales is being restructured to address this in Maths. National tests now have a separate test for numerical reasoning (see some example reasoning materials here). Similarly, from next year, pupils will follow two mathematical GCSE courses: Numeracy and Mathematics.

I don't know if any of you did (or have children who did) the Junior/Intermediate/Senior Maths Challenge papers - you had a paper of about 25 multiple choice questions, and fairly challenging questions. Yet the odd thing was that they never required particularly advanced maths concepts, they just required you to think laterally.

I thrived on these at high school, or at least for the three years until my school stopped participating. Each years questions (and answers) are shared on the UKMT's website. I urge people to have a look if you're not familiar with them. Adding one or two to a run-of-the-mill pub quiz would spice things up quite nicely.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Sadly, I'm in no such luck. Despite me being in work, the next exam I have to take costs £419 (of my own money - not paid by my employer), + costs of revision material (courses, books, online materials etc) which are also nice and pricy. The pass rate is just 40%, and if you fail you have to pay for it once again.

MRCP? I have big sympathies with you lot for having to pay those sorts of sums for compulsory training on top of registration fees.

 

[Drsatan]

Once you enter full-time work and you have to sit an exam to advance further in your career, it can be bloody difficult to motivate yourself to sit down and revise after a long day at work.

Not to mention, your employer won't give you time off to revise unless you book if off as holiday.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Once you enter full-time work and you have to sit an exam to advance further in your career, it can be bloody difficult to motivate yourself to sit down and revise after a long day at work.

Not to mention, your employer won't give you time off to revise unless you book if off as holiday.

Agreed. Luckily, Costa were good to me and allowed me to have as much time off as I felt was needed.

 

[Kite159]

Thankfully it is all over with for me, after doing the long walk to St Mary's Stadium, I was nervous when sitting in the little waiting room, waiting to be called into a function room for the exam.

Looked like one of the module exams allowed students to bring in a text-book.

I guess only time will tell if I did enough to pass, I think the results come out in July time, then I will need to decide to do the 3rd year this year or not

 

[cactustwirly]

I've got 5 more to go, until I finish a week on Tuesday (16th)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Two left, one of which could well be the worst exam I've ever sat.

 

[MCR247]

How did everyone else doing A-Levels do?

 

[Qwerty133]

3As and a B at As this year, but have to say that I found the exams much easier than my GCSEs...

 

[bb21]

3As and a B at As this year, but have to say that I found the exams much easier than my GCSEs...

That is excellent.

 

[theblackwatch]

3As and a B at As this year, but have to say that I found the exams much easier than my GCSEs...

As bb21 says, great results! What are your next plans - uni or not?

 

[43074]

3As and a B at As this year, but have to say that I found the exams much easier than my GCSEs...

Brilliant!

I found AS exams much harder than GCSEs, I went from A-grades to Cs in the space of a year.

Still, I recovered it this year and I'm studying at Leeds from September