/sci/ - Science & Math

M2 and D1 today Op, did you do? How was it?

>>7319150
I did M2 last year but I had D1. It went better than expected, given that my revision strategy was skimming through the textbook. I don't know how the fuck it went well; I got a D in my mock lel
What did you think?

>tfw exam tomorrow

why the fuck
does 1/3x^2+2 - the square root of x+5 = 1-3x^2 square root x+5 -2 square root of x+5 over 3x^2+2
why do they leave the denominator
this shit makes no sense

>>7319156
what exam is it?

>>7319159
Algebra for Retards: Remedial Edition

>>7319152
M2 was standard, one tricky question but it was alright. I never revised for D1, didn't manage to fully complete the schedule at the end but I only need 28 UMS in D1 to get A* overall given that I get 90 on average in C3 and C4 so it's fine.

I think with the exception of that weird question in S3 the exams have been pretty average this year as of now but then again I don't take FP3, M5 or M4 so... we'll see.

holy shit school kids

>>7319144
I just completed my Biology exam for my Leaving Certificate (Irish finals exam). It went alright.

>>7319156
>does 1/3x^2+2 - the square root of x+5 = 1-3x^2 square root x+5 -2 square root of x+5 over 3x^2+2
1/3x^2+2 - sqrt(x)+5 = 1-3x^2 sqrt(x)+5 -2 sqrt(x)+5/3x^2+2
Could you write that again but with more parentheses?

>>7319167
I thought exams this year would be hard, but it's nice for my predictions to be false. I'm finding my exams this year easier than last year, though that's probably mostly due to preparation.
Not looking forward to S2 though. Ugh. Or Comp3 for that matter.

>>7319179
It's the opposite for me xD I banged out last year and this year I'm just riding off the fact I can get low UMS and get away with it. S2 is very nice and very late so you should be fine.

>>7319181
I guess I was disappointed with my A because I thought I could do better. It turns out that doing the homework on time actually helps, go figure.
The thing with S2 is that it's the same day as FP3, which is not as friendly as FP2. And then Comp 3 the day after.. but fuck that..

>>7319187
What modules you taking and how many exams you got left?

Having an exam in Organic Chemistry II tomorrow. As a whole, I passed all my exams until now, but with pretty shit grades unfortunately.

>>7319192
further maths:
FP1, 2, 3; D1; S2; M3. I have S1 spare from last year. FP3 and S2 left.
computing:
just comp 3
physics:
phya4 and 5

5 exams left.. excluding general studies..
I hope you're closer to the end than me lol

>>7319170
Is alright good? Which uni are you wanting?

>>7319200
Well, a pass is a pass at least. Good luck.

had my core 4 today
i did some stupid ass mistakes like forgetting to times the integral by 1/5
but overall i think ill still get an A*

>>7319201
Barely, F324 (Organic Chem) tomorrow with C3 and C4 coming up shortly plus the last Chem Unit F325. I regret doing Chemistry though. I seriously was lulled into believing Chemistry at A-Level was actually mathematical.

Mistakes were made.

>>7319206
Method marks are so great haha. Stupid errors are my bane.
>>7319208
I've heard chem is horrible. It can't be much worse than computing though.. fucking coursework, man. It killed me.

>>7319231
Nah, Chem isn't fundamentally hard to get your head around like some seemingly arbitrary stuff you do in maths. It isn't like Maths where you get just as many UMS in C1 as you do for FP2 when the disparity in difficulty is enormous. Chem is just memorising the exam style questions, with enough exam practice it's okay.

Of course there are a few exceptions to memory intensive exams. Biology at least in Edexcel is hellish from that point of view where it actually is genuinely difficult.

I've never heard anyone say positive things about Computing. Better yet most UK Unis don't require it for courses so everyone is pretty flippant about it.

>tfw it's tomorrow
>have no idea how to graph or solve polynomial inequalities
what the fuck am I going to do

>>7319238
Livemaths

>high school general

>>7319244
>High school
>A levels

Pick one.

>>7319205
I'm going to go to an Institute of Technology for Applied Chemistry.
The points requirements are much lower than that of a similar course in University.

>>7319236
Fair enough. I suppose it would have been better to do chem than computing. I have no idea why I let my teacher persuade me to keep it to A2. Neither of my unis give a shit about it.
What grades are you wanting?

>>7319249
Is that like chem eng?

>>7319255
Well after my gap year I'm hoping to get to do Actuarial Science in the UK.
Highest requirement in the UK atm for that is A*-A-A at Cass however LSE, an equally good university, requires A-A-A so that's where I'd want to be I suppose.

If I somehow get my results and I do horribly I can choose to do it in a foreign country. Luckily the course is accredited meaning no matter where I take it I gain the same exemptions for my Actuarial exams so I don't really mind.

I did signals and Systems last friday and i got 30/30. Really happy. Next friday i have Data Analisys, but i studied way less and i hope for 24/30.

>>7319264
Nice. Well, I say "nice" but it sounds like my nightmare haha. S1 and S2 have coloured my perception of statistics somewhat. Though I'm sure probability theory is actually fascinating. Plus you'll make the £.

>>7319266
That's great, well done. Good luck, and 80% is still good! What does data analysis cover?

>>7319255
No, it's just a Chemistry degree. I wanted to do Chemical Engineering but I can't get the points requirements for the course, so I went with Applied Chemistry instead.

>>7319279
What do you intend on doing at university? Pretty much anything mathematical related will eventually lead back to statistics like it or not x]

>>7319279
DA is probability. Aleatory variables, Law of large numbers, Fourier Transformate applied in probability, etc..

2nd year Physics MSc at Imperial here, this thread is giving me some great memories of when getting high grades was actually possible.
You better 100% PHYA4 OP, Physics A-level is a joke.

>>7319298
Has Physics A level actually been getting harder over the last few years?

>>7319300
From what I've heard from teachers I kept in touch with the ISAs have gotten harder but I don't know much about the papers. Which optional unit are you doing?

Scored 90% on final math exam

Just hoping someone will ask me out by the end of the semester

Have a physics exam tomorrow. Statistics are, though, that years over years it has been only (+-10)50% of students who have taken the exams to succeed. The professor is, as we call in Lithuanian, an axe - has a very picky standards in evaluating the score, so there's only a few people in each group of our course (I study nanomaterial chemistry and am taking this physics course with chemists and biochemists), e.g. in my group its 1/10 of the students. For me, and for lots of my peers, the problems were too difficult from the just start, I mean ~3/5 of us haven't been studying physics since 10th grade, and boom we jump straight into complex mechanical problems which are solved through calculus entirely (we had taken calculus already, but it was mostly solving of "naked" calculus problems with little explaining of what does it mean in application, just mechanically training the skill). So as a result the semester is over and tomorrow we have the exam, and it is also the time when the shit will hit the fan. I hope that most of my peers have been smarter than me and have left more time to study, for me personally, the only possible way is to only hope that i get a problem that I have solved....
And the thing is, I somehow don't even want to just slip through... As I started to to study a day ago I noticed that with lots of effort the problems can be solved, only just the theory+problems/time ratio was too low. And after all I am fascinated by this professor himself and people like him, I mean I find the idea to have (only maybe) this knowledge of all the nature is very useful and interesting, being aware of all the physical world processes going around you...So I want to be more aware and master my physics course through summer. Failing the second time means I have to pay money and that's motivational too.
tl;dr Having physics tomorrow and don't know shit. Wish all of u good luck in (preparing for) your exams and those who have not succeeded - it's not the end.

>>7319304
I don't take physics, however everyone who takes it says it's more difficult then anything else they take. I was just wondering if they were hyping their ability or was there any truth to that sentiment. I'm glad I didn't take it to A2 then x]

>>7319208
>>7319208
Know that feel bro.

>>7319311
They're shitters mate, when I took A-level, Physics was the easiest thing I did. You look at the data sheet, plug the numbers into the equations and you're done. You even get marks for your units.
The hardest A-level I did (out of phys/chem/maths/fmaths) was Chemistry, I had to get all of my marks out of the plug and chug physical stuff (rates, acid/base etc).

>>7319320
Eh, I do those subjects but dropped physics at AS. Just looking at content to cover and briefly reading over it you could tell it was conceptually more difficult than Chemistry.

Also, how is Chemistry harder than F Maths? Like all factors considering Chemistry is literally just drawing arrows and remembering reactions and right there you've secured at least 60% of your grade.

Advanced Analitical chemistry next week, I'm worried a lot because the prof said he will give us a task and we will have to tell him how we would solve it.
Physical chemistry of soft matter the week after, easy.

>>7319322
Personally for me, I found the other parts of chemistry too memory based. The colour changes for ligands etc? The reagents/conditions? That's not me.

>>7319326
Ah true. Still, at least it's better than Biology.

>>7319326
>>7319320
Oh and just to add, conceptually there's nothing hard about Physics A-level. You get the end of your little toe dipped into special relativity and that's about it.
>>7319327
True, I dropped Bio in January of AS because the whole mark scheme thing killed me.

A-level Maths is so boring compared to Undegrad Maths.

If you like maths, you'll like it at uni

>>7319289
Physics, lol. So I suppose I'll encounter a fair bit of statistics.
>>7319298
That's what I'm aiming for. It seriously is; it's no different from the GCSE.
>>7319309
Good luck
>>7319329
I don't even get that bit of SR.. my teachers chose astrophysics.
>>7319406
I bet it is. Physics is even more so.

>>7319167
Urg, M2 was annoying, I managed to get answers that seemed to make sense to all the questions but after chatting to some of my friends, I know I got some wrong, and messed up the projectile question with the given angle by getting the initial speed wrong wrong :(

>>7320405
A-level physics doesn't even use calculus since exam boards "wanted to make it accessible to people who don't do maths".

And then when people go to uni to do Physics, they get really surprised by the amount of maths they need to do, since they were expecting a standard similar to A-levels

>>7320418
Same. I came out of M2 thinking it went fine, but I think I got k wrong for the question with the cut lamina, and furthermore I didn't bother to take into account all the changes in the direction for distance of that particle later in the paper. Fuck.

I loved question 4 though, so many marks in so few lines once you've got your head around it.

>>7320579
This drives me mad, half the A-level is making sure your 'explanations' are worded in the same way as the marking schemes they use.

The absence of calc is a fucking joke.

>>7319150
>>7319167
>>7320418
>>7320679
k=1/9 faggots

>>7319245
A levels are taken in high school. Also >not IB

true pleb

Is it worth learning fp2,3 and step over summer before going back? And what's the best way to prep for step?

The fp1 paper this year was disgusting. Everything else 90+ UMS I'm guessing.

I enjoy physics but find it impossible to do the exams. Should I fast track accounting or something? I'm getting A* in maths and further but finding it hard to get the A in physics.

>>7319144

I'm surprised the exam period isn't over. I got all my exam results back and should be graduating with a 2:1.

>>7320702
GTFO Arsey.

>>7320724
What's the trouble?

>>7319144
>>7319150
>Edexcel

When will you idiots learn that AQA is master race.

>>7320865
With physics? How perfectly you have to word the questions. I find it difficult to express what I want to write and I though it was going to be a lot of maths involved but there are so many worded questions.

>>7320871
>He isn't MEI OCR

Kek, enjoy your piss easy exams

>>7320888
So much this. The wording has to be spot on to match the mark scheme. It should be noted however, that examiners must think through any non-standard answer and if it's correct then they should credit you. Some examiners are worse than others though, and just tick what's in the box in the scheme.

I don't think I ever lost any marks on physics calculations, be it in practice papers or the real deal, but the fucking 3 and 4 mark explanations would drag me down a bit.

Luckily the grade boundaries are low for physics, so it's no overly hard to get an A.

>>7319169
Holy shiet basement kids

>>7320889
>Thinking A-level is hard

University will destroy you.

taking the GRE in 3 weeks. just need to ace the Quant section, but studying for the whole thing

>>7319150
>>7319152
>>7319167
>>7319201
>D1
Oh shit niggas, you realise that stuff isn't even maths right?
You would have been better off doing psychology or any other pseudo -science.

>>7321086
D1 is an extremely important module for anyone doing anything maths related. It's also extremely trick.

>>7321099
I heard general studies was important too

>>7321103
Lmao

Did you get an E in D1?

>>7321189
>He thinks everyone is forced to do D1

>>7321201
But you are, it's a core module

Last exam was today. Part IA of the tripos is complete.

It wasn't that hard tbh but I didn't do as well as I hoped in some stuff.

Lmao, guys it's only A-levels. They're not that hard, just wait till you get to uni.

Just been completely savaged by this exam sesh.

Better have your arse prepared for that shit.

>>7321209
>it's a core module
You poor bastards, get a better exam board.
Or stay pleb, your call

>>7321240
Fuck off m8

I managed to get a B in D1, so no I'm not pleb AT ALL

>>7321242
Is that meant to be impressive?
I got As in my English GCSEs, you don't seen me bragging about that.

>>7321276
Yeah it is actually

D1 is the hardest maths modules

>>7321292
Sure thing m8

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1401204
>D1 is very much a step into the unknown, no real algebra, mainly remembering sets of instructions,
>very dull for a lot of people, especially if you like a lot of calculus etc.
>personally I took it because it was necessary for other modules I wanted to do but as I've mentioned
>the maths is very easy & if you're used to remembering lists of things from other subjects you might fare a bit better with it


http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2710777
>I've self taught D1 this year and like others have said, there isn't really any difficult content.
>It's just algorithm after algorithm which is incredibly mundane, but I wouldn't rule it out as a choice!


http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18151998
>Did it about 5 years ago in Further Maths, it's usually the easiest module but post a few things you're having problems with and I'm sure some people can help.

>>7321292
I self taught it m8 and got 84UMS so what now?

It was piss btw

>>7321292
I'm not sure about your exam board, but D1 for AQA is probably the easiest module I've done so far (based on past papers anyway).

For AS Further Maths, I'm doing Further Pure, Decision 1 and Decision 2. I thought Decision 2 was an A2 module, so did my school fuck up?

Also, anybody have some good notes for Decision 2 they could share? Would really appreciate it.

>>7321372
No such thing as "AS" and "A2" modules apart from the cores (C1-4 and FP1-4)
You do D1 and D2 in AS then M1 and M2 in A2 if you wanted.
Usually schools do the mechanics and stats modules first to get them out of the way, then leave the D dregs until the end

I think I fucked up my AS levels, guys. I'm thinking of going to the University of Manchester for Computer Science, but how would they feel about me resitting a few exams to bump my grade up? I think I might end up with a high B in Maths (from one shit exam) but an A in Further Maths. And then there's Physics and Chemistry, but I'm not sure what grade I'd end up with but it's just one exam from each (and the bloody ISA) that costed be the grade I wanted.

Should've started revising earlier so I only have myself to blame, also panicked the exam hall since I'm a little pussy so I fucked up some otherwise easy questions. Give me hope that I'm not going to end up at Manchester Metropolitan instead, /sci/

>>7321414

Don't worry, mate.

Plenty of people fall down on AS levels, often unexpectedly. Plenty of people drop out of the entire academic system at this point. As long as you continue forwards with something to prove, you'll be fine.

Manc won't really care about you resitting a few modules. And if you have an A in further and explain that something went wrong with a module in the normal maths, they'll understand it's an anomaly.

But hey, at least you're not me. I've been seriously ill for half a year and haven't been in college. I did all my textbook cramming in this bed and just about summoned the energy to take the papers, which I then proceeded to right royally fuck up. I wanted to go to Cambridge, but oh well.


Which is stupid anyway, as I’d be completely unable to attend a university anyway in the state I’m in, unless I make a crazy recovery.

Fuck, I’ve got to do C3 this Friday. Better finish reading this textbook. This trigonometry chapter never ends.

Good luck with your comp sci, and goodluck with this C3 if you’re doing it too.

>>7321493
Thanks, it means a lot. Good luck in C3, buddy, I hope you'll end up making some sort of crazy recovery sooner or later.

>>7321223
Man, fuck you Cambridge kids, my exams are end of week 8.

>>7321414
wake up and smell the coffee man, unis dont give a flying fuck anymore about the details, everyone applying is a walking bag of silver shekels thanks to SFE, and will gladly take you in for almost bugger all; and being in year 12 and worrying about gliding into uni first time and making sure 'phew i got into my best uni as quick as possible, good golly im such a good goy' is like panicking about the 11 plus in the maternity ward after your mum dropped you anyway,

starting when i was 20 just gave me enough breathing room and made me less fragile, more confident and developed far more than you would because i know your type; iv'e seen 600 of them finish sixth form for the past 3 years and dive head first into the breach thinking the next (at least) three years of their life in all aspects will even remotely resemble what they're used to, before it changes again. you will be fine, just calm down; in the grand scheme of things you have no idea how close to pole position you really are, but thats because you haven;t taken a second to just look back at everyone else for a minute. also clearing at most places lets in anyone who can spell their own god damn name

>>7321848

You do realize universities don't exactly hate the idea of letting people study? That hasn't changed with the tuition fees, admission was limited by available spaces and applicants for those spaces before them and the same holds now. The only difference to the university between the old system and the new system is who is footing (part of) the bill, and it wasn't the universities before.

It is true, however, that waiting a year or two between end of HS and start of uni is not the end of the world.

Who /A2physics/ here?

I've got thermodynamics in a week and a verbal math exam in a few weeks.

>>7322784
>a verbal math exam
The fuck

Had my 1st year physics exam today, needed 20% of the exam mark to pass the course, aimed for 80% but I'm pretty certain I fell short ):

>>7320579
I know dude, it's such a shit syllabus.
>>7320871
My other exam boards are AQA. I prefer Edexcel tbh.
>>7320726
Awesome. What's your degree?
>>7321086
I didn't have a choice. I didn't choose general studies either, but I still have to take the exams.
>>7322780
Me. Did you do PHYA4 this morning? I didn't enjoy it.

>>7322837
>I didn't have a choice. I didn't choose general studies either, but I still have to take the exams.
Good lord why do you faggots go to colleges/sixth forms that don't let you actually fucking choose your subjects?

I did Chemistry, Physics, Maths (S1 and M1) and Computing. No general studies shit for me.
Computing was probably a mistake, but then I had to do something to lube up big black dildo that is A Levels

>>7322848
I do maths (M1 M2 with S1 spare), fm (FP1-3 M3 S2 D1), physics, computing and general studies. The workload is no different to just the previous four (I didn't do GS lessons).
I go to this 6th form because it's the best in my area. Most of them probably force GS anyway.
Also the maths department here is brilliant.

>>7322849
>Most of them probably force GS anyway.
They really don't. Nobody cares about your extra UCAS points, may as well put a gold star on your application instead for being a good boy.
There's a reason the top unis go by grades and not the points anymore, they completely ignore General Studies.

>Also the maths department here is brilliant.
It would look a lot better if you did S3 instead.
Actually since S1 is only a spare for core maths, you only need S1, S2 and M3 for further.
Seriously what the fuck are they doing? If this is how the good departments are run, what the fuck are the bad ones like?

>>7319144
Had an exam for digital electronics today. Walked in the room and my brain pretty much shut down. That's almost certainly the worst I've ever done on an exam. Oh well, engineering maths tomorrow, that should be pretty straightforward.

>>7322854
>They really don't. Nobody cares about your extra UCAS points, may as well put a gold star on your application instead for being a good boy.
There's a reason the top unis go by grades and not the points anymore, they completely ignore General Studies.
So what? It's not like it put me at a disadvantage. My uni doesn't give a fuck about GS or computing, but that doesn't matter. If my school wants to save the dumb kids that's up to them. I regret taking computing past AS but in the end it doesn't matter.
>It would look a lot better if you did S3 instead.
Actually since S1 is only a spare for core maths, you only need S1, S2 and M3 for further.
Seriously what the fuck are they doing? If this is how the good departments are run, what the fuck are the bad ones like?
S3? lol you can fuck right off. I'm going to do a physics degree. Stats is so shit and boring.
Also, the spare module could also be D1, S2 or FP3; it's just that currently S1 is spare considering what was cashed in last year. We do a spare one just for safety.
>>7322857

>>7322857
Whoops, forgot to reply, evidently. Good luck.

physics unit 4 today was easy as fuck

i wish i had a graphing calculator because you can store notes in the programs section and no one actually checks.

c3 tomorrow should be fun

>>7322883
Hm, I didn't enjoy it particularly. I'm aiming for 120 UMS in each exam but I'm not sure I've got that. Don't cheat.
Good luck with C3. Are you doing further maths?

>All these AS and A2 kiddies in my /sci/
jej

Good luck kids. You'd better be aiming for dem 120s.

>>7322900
I'm relying on 120s, given how shit I am at practicals. I have no idea how the EMPA went but in last year's ISA I got a D..

>>7322903
I hope you're not planning to pursue a career in science with such shitty practical skills.

I remember we had a titration to find the concentration of iron in a solid mixture containing sand.

10 minutes into the lab:
>Sir it's not dissolving in the water!

Wasn't just the dumbfucks either, even the straight A students were trying to dissolve sand into water.
Some of these people wanted to become fucking doctors, I'm scared for my future healthcare

>>7322912
I kind of was tbh. And I'm going to be doing 6h of labs every week for the next 3 (dunno about the 4th) years. Labs at university will actually be good, or at least they won't be shit.
Fucking hell, I hope they're better. I don't want 6h per week of wanting to sleep.

>>7322920
But college labs are spoon-fed, they only give you what you need.
You actually need to know your shit for university level labs.

Depends on entry requirements I guess, hopefully they'll go easy on the first years.

>>7322925
They're spoon-fed and dull as fuck. An hour of timing a pendulum's swings, fucking great.
Luckily first-years only have to pass their labs. But if they're interesting I'm not too worried.

>>7322925

My first-year uni experience was that you only need to be able to follow instructions to pass the labs and reading the material during the write-up is enough to answer any theory bits in the reports. Not very challenging by any means.

>>7322837
I did, and fucked up the first and last question.

>>7322950
I think the last question was okay, but I probably lost a mark or two on the third law because of a mind-blank. Might have blagged Q1 though.
What was up with the graph Q - typo or what?

>>7322859
>So what? It's not like it put me at a disadvantage.
It would put you at a disadvantage because it would take up your time which could be used more usefully by doing a real subject.

Which is the best maths exam board and why is it MEI?

>>7323213
I used to think MEI was shit but Edexcel keep producing absolutely terribly worded questions.

I think we can all agree that AQA is still the shittiest for maths though.

Apoligize for shitposting but i saw a physicsthread and couldn't help myself:
Exam tomorrow, but cant wrap my fucking head around bosons. What are they and what makes them different than fermions?
>inb4 highschool gtfo inferior being

>>7323204
Meh, I haven't revised for it so it doesn't matter.
>>7323252
Bosons have integer spin; fermions have half-integer spin.

>>7322883
They do at my college, before they exam they check everybody's for the 'All data cleared' message. Besides I can't think having notes on a calculator would be all THAT useful anyway, if you can't even remember the content of the exam then you won't be able to tackle the more complex questions.

>>7323213
MEI is based. I did C1-C4 FP1-3 M1-4 S1-4 D1-2 NM and DE and got A*A*A*.

>>7323213
>>7323245
Can be just agree that the entire idea of exam boards is shit?

>>7323376
>Can be just agree that the entire idea of exam boards is shit?
Explain

>>7323376
Yeah.
>>7323387
Schools want to do well in the league tables so they're likely to choose the easiest exam board.

>>7320679
You know what is a fucking joke? The fluid mechanics section. Not even a mention of the Bernoulli Equation, just word questions "describe the flow of air around a ball" etc. Don't know why they even bothered including it.

>>7322780
Wait a sec

A levels are taken at age 17 - 18, therefore if you're not doing A2 you are underage b&

>>7323412
Technically 25% of the A2 year still haven't had their birthdays yet so it's safe to assume most people doing any A Level papers in this thread are underage.

I did mine 4 years ago so I'm just here to laugh at the struggles.

>>7323387
>>7323400
Before they were introduced (because hi I'm John major and wanna be the next thatcher with muh privatisations), exams were set by academics in universities, which meant no retarded syllabi, mark schemes or exam-driven culture that we have now.

Ever since then, in order for the different exam boards to do do business, they've had to make the exams and syllabi easier and more accessible because schools want to inflate their ranking in the leaderboards for more funding/business. And then they wonder why we're dropping in international league tables.

Eg. In AS physics for AQA and Edexcel, it is required to learn about reflection and refraction (including Snell's law and total internal reflection), whilst for OCR, you don't need to learn reflection or refraction, and only one gas law. Not to mention that A level physics no longer has calculus as well as nothing on fluid mechanics, entropy or relativity in order to make it more acessible to less mathematically minded students, turning it into nothing more than number crunching and regurgitating definitions.

And there's shit like this: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100122400/the-scandal-of-britains-corrupt-examination-boards/

>>7323460
Sorry, better link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/8940781/Exam-boards-how-examiners-tip-off-teachers-to-help-students-pass.html

>>7323443
>I did mine 4 years ago so I'm just here to laugh at the struggles.
SAME
I remember when I agonized over this shit. Feels good to watch other kids squirm

>>7323443
>25%
>most

>>7323460
Why not just get rid of A level and let kids into university at 16 for a 5 year course?

>>7323443
Nigga I'm 23.

>>7323499
Meant for >>7323412

>>7323498
There's still GCSEs to consider. Also, specialising too early isn't a good idea.

>>7323498
retarded as fuck idea, imagine picking your degree based on your experience of gcse subjects AND only being 16

>>7323495
Yes 25% of the A2 year plus everyone in AS year is <18

I know that standards are dropping but come on dude, try next time.

>>7323499
I really wouldn't brag about that m8.
Most people your age have already graduated.

>>7323498
Nah, we need secondary education. We should bring back vocational education because not everyone is academically minded and fit for uni, as well as grammar schools for social mobility. And we have unis set the exams again.

>>7323516
B-BUT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO UNIVERSITY
MUH 50%!

But seriously though, I don't think uni is for everyone and neither are a-levels.

>>7323514
Dont remind me.

But in my defence, I took a few years out due to a declining mental state.

>>7323522
It keeps people off the unemployment statistics though.

>>7319144
Complex analysis in a week, will most likely fail.

>>7323526
This is the very reason the target exists, I imagine.
>>7323528
It sounds interesting though. Is it?

>>7323528
Is it interesting?

I liked Real Analysis and like Complex Numbers

>>7323541
>>7323545
It's more fun than Real Analysis, though I didn't really like it.

good luck homies
c3 thread >>7323340

>>7323595
bro you could've posted here
this was meant to contain all that shit

>>7323610
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okMN4A6FnA8

>>7319144
lel "Pearson". Americucks

>>7323614
What? Pearson is British.

Who did AQA Physics 4 today??

>>7323873
I did it 3 years ago

>>7323252
Bosons have integer spin, fermions have half integer spin. Only one fermion can occupy a particular quantum state in a system while bosons can all be in the same state if conditions allow.

Think of the Pauli exclusion principle, electrons are fermions so they can't be in the same state as another electron in an atom, this leads to shells and orbitals.

Bump

So how about that C3 then?

>>7325229
Pretty easy.

>>7319309

what the fuck man

>>7323873
I had it. What's your opinion?

>>7322808
yeeah. for almost all subjects we have a written test and a verbal test. written is problem solving and you get 3 hours. verbal test is taken once you pass the written test, where they test your knowledge of theory: you pick a paper at random and it has 3 questions. you get around 30min to write down your concept and then go for it. they can ask you to do some problems as well.

average of the two grades gets you a final grade for the subject.

>>7325229
Wasn't bad, last years paper was a lot easier though

>>7321292
People at my sixth form do D1 if they can't do S1 or M1, that is how retarded easy it is.

>>7320888
For Physics and Chemistry you can pretty much learn markschemes to get good marks though. Like the same 3-4 six mark questions always come up so just learn the six points you need to make to get the marks

Did Edexcel C3 today and think it went really well only losing a couple marks with the trig identities.
I have failed Further Maths because I fucked up M2 and FP2.
PHYA4 went great, CHEM4 was ok.
I'm completely dependent on aceing C4, PHYA5 and CHEM5, but I'm incapable of concentrating to revise so it will probably come down to revision the night before. Add stress to that and I can't even sleep
I've also noticed that all the exams this year seem harder than usual.

Did I mention that all the memorising in Chemistry is fucked up?

Did OCR(not MEI) C3 today, was fairly easy to be honest, I think I dropped about 5 marks according to the solutions someone posted on student room. I've got F335 Chemistry, C4 maths and unit 5 aqa biology next week which arent that bad. I only need AAA this year to do medicine in September. Will post a link to me livestreaming my suicide if i dont get the grades though

Anyone else doing OCR B Chemisty this year?

>>7325493
I've never done that because it feels dishonest.

>>7325514
Enjoy failing your exams then m80

>>7325487
i did d1 earlier this week, tfw only got like 64-62

>>7325514
>I've never done that because it feels dishonest.

Who the fuck gives a shit about dishonesty in exams?
No, seriously tell me why you care so much about it?

There are other people who are getting ahead of you because you can't bring yourself to learn a few sentences?

You think in 5 years time, you'll look back and say "Wow, I sure was glad I was being honest and dropped all those marks, otherwise I'd feel really bad".

>>7325513
how much volunteering and work exp did you do to get into med?

i fucked it i think by not doing enough cos i only realised i wanted to do med last may 6 months before the application deadline

>>7325515
>>7325522
I just prefer to work things out for myself. It's always the people that memorised the mark schemes who complain about exams. I'd rather understand the content than memorise shit that doesn't make sense.
I'm not going to fail; nowhere near.

>>7325527
I choose to go for medicine in january of 2014. I did about 8 months volunteering in my local hospital feeding patients on a stroke ward before I applied last october. I only did 2 days of actually shadowing doctors though lol. Just don't say how much work exp you actually did on your ps just talk about what you saw. You could honestly do no actual work exp and they wouldn't care. As long as you have been in a care giving environment and have stuff to talk about it you are good

>>7325537
urgh its disgusting im 100% certain ill get the grades its just not having enough exp that is gonna fuck me over and force me to do chem eng or something

i can get a week at a gp is that + a hospice or a care home for a month probs enough? ive also got no extracirriculars cos i do fuck all but sit in my house and drink

>>7325528
Of course, understand is much more valuable than memorising but I don't see how a mark scheme can be nonsensical. It's useful to learn from, as you can see where marks are given for what

It's good to know the stock answer to a question.
>Oh it's question about X
>Let me just write out Y

But where does dishonesty come in to all this?

>>7325541
The week at a gp's is very good, even if you don't see shit you can make up stuff about the importance of the doctor patient relationship.

A month is okay but for volunteering they like to see a longer commitment for that kind of thing, you can easily get volunteering at your local hospital. Just contact the volunteer coordinator, they are always desperate for more people.

The no extracurriculars kind of fucks you over cos they like to see team work examples. Can you get involved with something at school? I did DofE and they loved that shit at interview

>>7325500
The A level exams are generally harder this year. I too don't get a wink of sleep on exam days, which is strange because I don't feel that stressed out.

I think I lost 3 marks on C3 today, which is a shame. Hopefully we'll still get full UMS, which is usually low 70s.

I too fucked up M2. Don't know what came over me, I was doing well on practise.

Good luck with the rest of your exams. 5 Chemistry exams for an A-Level seems excessive, we have 4 on OCR.

>>7325556
you lie to yourself that you learned it upon seeing that you passed the exam.

>>7325556
>It's useful to learn from, as you can see where marks are given for what
That's a fucked-up definition of learning.

>>7325570
>>7325514

I agree with these two, the exam system is ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining: I scored among the highest in the country last year, but I don't even consider myself the smartest in my class. It's all about markscheme mining.

>>7325565
>>7325570
I never said one should only learn from mark schemes, I did say understanding is more important than memorising mark schemes. It's a useful aid. If you don't know the answer to a question, it's sometimes better to just look at a mark scheme rather than search through a book for one small sentence hidden away.

You want to get the most marks possible in an exam, why hinder yourself?

The course I do at uni doesn't hand-out solutions to any past papers or mock exams for reasons mentioned in the posts above me, but I'm still getting high marks in them.

I guess people have different ways of learning

>>7325599
I meant
different people have different ways of learning

Had multivariate analysis 2 days ago it went good. Got A stochastic modelling and some Bayesian fuck exam next week, shitting brix

>>7325563
We seem to be roughly on the same boat, good luck.
What Uni and offer did you get?
I need A*AA for Durham which seems impossible because Chemistry will undoubtably be a B or even a C, and they won't take my Portuguese as part of the offer.
Also Chemistry doesn't have 5 exams, the exam I have (CHEM5) is the second exam of A2. There are 6 in total over AS and A2 which includes practical assessments.

>>7321086
You're defining maths incorrectly.

Maths, physics and biology a2 fag here, all aqa.
C3-Pretty easy, although harder than most of the past papers
C4-Really fucking easy
S2-Even easier than C4
Bio4-First few questions were hard, got easier progressively
Bio5-Next Wednesday
Phys4-Not hard, but some strange questions
Phys5-Next thursday

Pretty good exam season so far, although I only need AAB to get into York for Physics so I'm probably not under as much pressure as some

>>7325886
Oh, and dreading bio5 next week. I hate the essay but at least the grade boundaries are low.

>>7325439
Really wasnt too bad, There was a lot of theory this year but, would have preferred more calcualtions

>>7325886
What optional topic for physics??

>>7326102
Astrophysics

had electronics 1 yesterday (transistors, opamps, diodes)

in a week i'll have intro to computer engineering and the day after maths 2 (diffy qs, stats, linear algebra, multivariable calc, fourier series) and then circuits 1 the week after that(first and second order circuits, power, circuit theorems)

>>7326097
Same.
>>7327170
Oh, I do that too. I would have preferred applied tbh.
>>7327273
Ugh I always found circuits boring as fuck. Does it get more interesting after high school?

>>7327452
The applied one is essentially just more further mechanics right? Would probably be easier, although I find the astro interesting aside from all the lenses shit

>>7327494
Yeah do astro aswell, and yeah all of it is interesting enough but Len's are awful

>>7322963
Typo

>>7325500
PHYA4 great and Chem4 only ok Chem 4 was easy it was the physics which had the pisstake questions