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For Those Who Might Not Of Done Well In Jan/A-levels As a Whole

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Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey
Yet I can almost pull off A grades in the hardest physics exams when true 'A grade students' are getting less then 20% in it.


I don't understand your point?! :s-smilie: I was not specifying the answer to anyone but to Brain Cox's place in Physics. And, if a 'true A grade student' is getting 20% in a physics exam, then they are not A grade students then. They are E grade or U grade. :s-smilie: A grade is 80% in UMS. What does your grade have to do with my statement?:frown: Sorry for the ignorance.
Original post by Awesomesauce
I don't understand your point?! :s-smilie: I was not specifying the answer to anyone but to Brain Cox's place in Physics. And, if a 'true A grade student' is getting 20% in a physics exam, then they are not A grade students then. They are E grade or U grade. :s-smilie: A grade is 80% in UMS. What does your grade have to do with my statement?:frown: Sorry for the ignorance.


I was replying for something else, my bad.
Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey
Some people might of not done as well as they expected this January or are not coping with A-levels very well therefore might see continuing onwards a bit of a lost cause. Just because you dont get A's and B's in exams Is not the end of the world.

This Is how my A-levels have panned out, hopefully some of you can take this in and realise that you are not stuckif you dont perform well at A-level and can still to go to a good university.

My Background

I go to a normal public school nothing special and my GCSE's were not amazing - enough to get me into sixth form. I was in a mixed ability class for maths mostly comprised of foundation borderline students, and top set science (Just).

I originally picked AS Physics, Maths, Geography, Business.

Maths/Physics I found very hard, the jump from GCSE was absolutely crazy and I quickly learn that the time I spent in the classroom at GCSE was useless and I had not covered any basic topics, I didnt know what a quadratic was, what lines were (like y=x) how to factorise ect and spent the first two months confused not understanding anything. Physics was just as bad and we were on a new syllabus to the teachers were learning at the same rate as the students were. Geography was not as bad considering I did not study it at GCSE I found this quite a nice break from my other subjects. Finally Business I did not get on with as it was long essay writing something I'm weak at and did not enjoy.

Ultimately I did very badly on my exams especially the January ones. The second term exams I did better on but still no way near enough to progress onto A2 and salvage a decent grade so I had a dilemma decided resit the year or drop out. Honestly I could of dropped out at any time but my parents persuaded me to stay on.

I found the lack of people in my year beneficial and allowed me to concentrate and understand my subjects. I rearranged what I was studying and did more A-levels over the 3 years but kept a manageable amount.

Now part way through my A2 year I'm coming on increasingly stronger at both subjects (maths and physics) though still not at a high grade like A, but that was not expected of me.

Now I have made my university choices with my grades looking to be CCDBc I have opted to go for a foundation year in engineering at Loughborough university which i would of never dreamed about before though I could of gone for the main degree at Nottingham Trent if I didnt want to do a foundation year, there are plenty of decent universities to pick from.




Before I get shot down for
A) Doing a foundation year
B) Resitting a year
C) Not having A grades
D) Not going to a top 10 university


The point of this post was to emphasis that you dont need do well in your first set of exams to get where you want, if you put effort it you can get there it might just take a little longer.


So, I might see you in September! :biggrin:
Original post by Abused Tampon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2011/may/17/university-league-table-2012

Ranked 9

do you automatically get accepted at the uni you do a foundation year at once you have finished?


the guardian base most of their rankings on student satisfaction...not on academic excellence, you want the times on the good university guide
that having been said, loughborough is still a good uni
I've been in the same boat as a few of the posters in here.

Made some mistakes, meh, they happen, I don't give a **** what the usual pretentious merchant bankers on this messageboard think about Foundation Degrees.

I could have gone to any of my insurances, but, didn't really want to. So I dropped down to a Foundation Degree first.

I do an extra year.

Wow wee. I'm alive for 80.
Putting this back up for the worried people doing exams currently.
Original post by mrengineer
I don't think Brian Cox is a particularly good physicist that produces world class research, he simply raises the publics interest through his TV shows. Only really popular because he is a physicist that doesn't look like a nerd. Whether he is good at maths or not doesn't make a difference as to whether he is good at connecting with people through TV.

I don't get how your second point makes a difference...
Sure the engineer could try as hard as he can, but 1 crucial mistake in calculations that doesn't get seen, and boom, bridge collapses, you're in a river.

You need to have a good grasp of maths to become a good engineer.



That ^ is absolute rubbish, and I'll prove it to you.

My father is the lead Civil Engineer at the Victoria Station Upgrade on the London Underground - a role where he is the lead designer and overseer of the whole project - he hasn't got any A levels and he has very few O levels (GCSEs). He's also worked on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Crossrail, Kings Cross/St Pancras Upgrade work, he's worked as a technical designer for Arup..

He doesn't have a very good grasp of mathematics at all, not pure mathematics anyway. He struggles with some of the problems in my Mechanics 1 book! You really don't need much beyond AS maths to be a good engineer anyway!

The only maths skills he ever has used in the last 30-odd years of working are basic differentiation and integration, reasonably basic trig and on occasion second order differentials. Nothing like the level of complexity that people who do A levels in maths/further maths have to learn! He did BTECs and HNDs in Surveying, Structures and Soil Mechanics to get to uni to do his degree in Civils, he has done no pure maths study in his whole life!

Don't listen to this person, it's not necessarily the case that you need a good grasp of maths to be a good engineer. Sure, you need a basic grasp of some fairly easy concepts but you aren't going to be a mathematician - there will be days when you're an engineer that you're sitting in an office looking at plans or just reading other people's emails/reports :tongue:

To be a good engineer you need to be able to write well (there's LOADS of reports you'll need to put together, they don't tell you that at the open days!), you need to be a team player, well organised, willing to roll your sleeves up and go out on site, go out on night shifts, go out and get your hands a bit dirty. Above all, you need to have a sense of humour for those long days where you're not doing anything of any particular interest!

Apologies for the essay :wink: but I felt the need to tell you all that you don't have to be the brains of Britain to get to where you need to go!!
Reply 47
Original post by libbymimnagh
That ^ is absolute rubbish, and I'll prove it to you.


I am afraid it isn't rubbish. To complete a modern engineering degree you need to have a strong grasp of maths. You won't need to be as good as those on a maths degree itself, but to communicate in what is essentially a very technical job you sometimes need to describe abstract concepts. Being good at maths makes this all easier. Just saying... :smile:
Oh my Ms. Coffey - Just to say congratulations on your place at Uni.

I think i speak for all other Uni's including mine (Oxford brookes) that we are sad to not see you with us.

good luck :smile:
Original post by Jing_jing
:tongue: Yes I know, it seems slightly hypocritical when I am one of those people who get lots of As but exams aren't everything. My best friend is AMAZING at art, she doesn't do very well academically but as an artist :love: I could never draw like her!

:laugh: Yes it is!

Also I love your sig! :biggrin:



Aww, I like you. :biggrin: You see to be in the minority of people on here. :smile:
Reply 50
Very anecdotal but true and valid advice. (Btw it's 'might not have', not 'might not of'.)
:smile:
Original post by Dominicque
Aww, I like you. :biggrin: You see to be in the minority of people on here. :smile:


:h: Thank you! You have no idea how much this cheered me up, currently sitting in some kind of summer camp affair in China and my roomate has just screamed after finding a dead locust in her bed :tongue: Things are not going well :laugh:
Original post by mrengineer
I wouldn't want to walk over a bridge constructed by an engineer who struggles with AS maths :/


Who knows? You probably already have walked over bridges constructed by engineers who struggled with AS Maths.
Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey
Just because you dont get A's and B's in exams Is not the end of the world.





:lolwut:
Original post by Aspiringlawstudent


:lolwut:


Its not though.
Concluded my experience by adding my final results.
Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey
Concluded my experience by adding my final results.



Original post by Lady Gaga's Bottom
I've been in the same boat as a few of the posters in here.

Made some mistakes, meh, they happen, I don't give a **** what the usual pretentious merchant bankers on this messageboard think about Foundation Degrees.

I could have gone to any of my insurances, but, didn't really want to. So I dropped down to a Foundation Degree first.

I do an extra year.

Wow wee. I'm alive for 80.


How did you manage to do foundation year? Which foundation course did you do? Where do you find info on foundation courses?
Original post by Dee Leigh
How did you manage to do foundation year? Which foundation course did you do? Where do you find info on foundation courses?


As I've not started one I can only answer the last question.

I started looking around on university websites, you need to be careful as some foundation years want you to have not done relevant A-levels before taking up the foundation year, examples are Durham and York. You can use UCAS to search Foundation + X subject and that will narrow it down a little. I ended up picking Liverpool/Sussex/QMUL/Loughborough but looking back on it I would of picked Sussex/Loughborough/Manchester/Sheffield or Leeds.
Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey
As I've not started one I can only answer the last question.

I started looking around on university websites, you need to be careful as some foundation years want you to have not done relevant A-levels before taking up the foundation year, examples are Durham and York. You can use UCAS to search Foundation + X subject and that will narrow it down a little. I ended up picking Liverpool/Sussex/QMUL/Loughborough but looking back on it I would of picked Sussex/Loughborough/Manchester/Sheffield or Leeds.


Ok thanks
Original post by Dee Leigh
Ok thanks


Anytime.

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