The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

michaels

zagubov wrote: »

Ah, but they'd have already come through the O level system. Good preparation for the old A levels.

So how come that was the year with the lowest proportion of passes and a grades if it was so easy then....

And of course those 5 a s were obtained by a lad who went to the local secondary and state sixth form and certainly no tuition or even parental help with studying. The only good thing in those days was 100% exam assessment so there was no mark reduction for a rather lackadaisical approach to coursework and homework.

zagubov

I taught A levels that year and to the best of my knowledge this would be long before the changes that people suspect lead to grade inflation.

I'm pretty sure that getting 5As would be exceptional! :beer:

SingleSue

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

When I first got ill (ME/CFS) and then sacked I did a typing course with the idea of trying to get to University.

Started a BSc in Applied Psychology, part time. I had some help in that as a disabled student got to take exams in small room, also extra time due to cognitive difficulties (can't find the right words quite often eg that big white thing in the kitchen that's cold = refrigerator, but often can't even find an everyday word like that. I still have that problem, but 20 years later it's even worse now! :eek: ).

Got through Level 1 OK over 2 years. Did half level 2 then things got more difficult as my health worsened. Never finished level 2, despite trying over 2 years to do the second half of it. The crunch came when my lovely FiL died in the summer, and the Uni didn't even let me know when term started.

It was costing an arm and a leg that I didn't have anyway. But I learned how to use a computer, and even got husband to get internet at home! :j So learned a lot that continues to be of use to me today (even the Psychology :rotfl: ).

There's no way I could do OU as couldn't do the Summer School stuff. Plus my health is so up and down it would be difficult for me to get course work in on time too. Besides, I prefer to spend my money on hats and clothes nowadays! :rotfl: Oh, and plants and pots and caravan stuff too of course! :beer:

I hit the same problem, I at first thought it was stress with the boys but over time it became harder and harder to think of normal words let alone Acts of Parliament and especially in stressful exam conditions.

Typing on forums I can choose when I am able to type and can cover when the words slip away from me, in exams it's not quite so easy.

The new fun game for the boys (as I can no longer cover it up at home), is guess the object mum (aka me) is trying to talk about while wildly gesticulating, is it a door? A window? No, she's talking about a shelf!

SingleSue

Regarding exams. I am a member of a forum for students and although I post fairly rarely, I do read.

What I see are very motivated young people working very hard to reach their goals. These are not students who coast along doing the bare minimum but students who plan, who study, who revise, who read deeply into their chosen subject matter.

I also read their angst, their stress and how much pressure they put themselves under to reach their goals.

I think we do a great disservice to our young people when we talk about the exams they take. A huge amount of these young people do care about their futures and work themselves almost into the ground to get those amazing results. I've also seen the sort of things being covered and whilst there may have been things that were covered in 'O' levels from my day missing, there are also things being included in current day GCSEs that didn't appear until a higher level back in my day.


I can't compare A levels because I never did any, well I did one year of one and then they cancelled the course (a year before AS levels became a thing, how blooming annoying as I had nothing to show for it)


I've had three children go through the system and I will never forget eldest son just before his GCSE results day, he was sitting in a corner so stressed at the outcome, had put his all into his exams, that he was almost catatonic. It's a memory I will never forget, that one moment that will stay with me forever.

LydiaJ

Thank you Sue

Pyxis

Forgot to say, [STRIKE]Lydia[/STRIKE], (SORRY! Got muddled up!) Viva, that my test kit has arrived, so I'll send that off today.

Many thanks for the heads-up, and for all the research you put in to arrive at the recommendation.



Was a bit intrigued by the instruction to rub the 'cotton bud' anti-clockwise' around the inside of the cheek.
Am wondering why anti-clockwise, unless it's to do with the amount of pressure you can exert, compared with going the other way?

Just one of my little curious musings!

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Am wondering why anti-clockwise, unless it's to do with the amount of pressure you can exert, compared with going the other way?

It's probably like hair - if you brush it down it smooths it - if you brush it upwards it goes mad and sticks up ... and cells are a bit like that, so you need to do the equivalent of "brushing up" to scrape from the rougher sides.

I am not sure my brain could work out which direction anti-clockwise is though,... that would take some working out and "practising in the air to get it right before putting the stick in your mouth".

If I look at, say, a clock in front of me, I can clearly see which way is anti clockwise.... holding a stick in front of me, then bending that round to go into my mouth, to then rub it round anti-clockwise against the inside of a cheek ... probably beyond my mental processing and motor skills

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's probably like hair - if you brush it down it smooths it - if you brush it upwards it goes mad and sticks up ... and cells are a bit like that, so you need to do the equivalent of "brushing up" to scrape from the rougher sides.

I am not sure my brain could work out which direction anti-clockwise is though,... that would take some working out and "practising in the air to get it right before putting the stick in your mouth".

If I look at, say, a clock in front of me, I can clearly see which way is anti clockwise.... holding a stick in front of me, then bending that round to go into my mouth, to then rub it round anti-clockwise against the inside of a cheek ... probably beyond my mental processing and motor skills

Wherever your starting point is, treat it as the top (12 o 'clock) and move your finger to the right for clockwise, and left for ant-clockwise.

Sometimes I have a problem with a screw I want to remove that's in a funny position, especially if it's upside down somewhere, and I can't get a good look at it, and then I have to think about it a bit.

I once knew someone who had a problem with clockwise-ness, so for screws she would say "Righty-tighty, lefty-loosy" , but that doesn't always work in upside-down scenarios.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Wherever your starting point is, treat it as the top (12 o 'clock) and move your finger to the right for clockwise, and left for ant-clockwise.

Sometimes I have a problem with a screw I want to remove that's in a funny position, especially if it's upside down somewhere, and I can't get a good look at it, and then I have to think about it a bit.

It does make you wonder how "thick people" get on in life doesn't it

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

It does make you wonder how "thick people" get on in life doesn't it

I think sometimes it's just that some people have never had to do it, never thought about it, so just need to get habituated to it, like anything else, really.

There's also the the problem that if someone never uses an analogue clock or watch, they might not be too sure which way round the hands go, anyway!