THE curly-wurly, super duper, mega AWESOME current Year 10 2012/13 thread

Oh and French isn't particularly hard to grasp the basics of - and that's coming from me, someone who didn't really know anything up until a fast track GCSE last year. On track hopefully for an A*! I guess that apart from Mandarin, no modern foreign language i beyond a complete beginners to excel at it. Thing about Mandarin is all of the characters, there's so many of them! Luckily I was brought up speaking Mandarin.

Also, make sure you are entered into the higher reading and listening papers for languages at the end of your French and Spanish courses. If you were to take foundation, the highest possible grade is C. But its not really hard to get a good grade on a higher paper!

Yeah, Med is super competitive. And here, because of the frankly huge numbers of people applying each year (and we have only two Med schools in the whole country!) the quality of teaching, and, as a result, the competence of doctors has really dropped

Ah. So it's an antelope! I thought it was some kind of ancient reptilian thing-y?

We've already started school Our school year tries to keep in sync with the Tz'ian national system, because our sister Primary School uses the National syllabus, and so families would find it difficult to organise holidays if they had a kid in secondary and one in primary. So we start our year in July, have a month and a half break from December to mid-January, and end the year in early June.

So I've already started Yr 10 It's hard. We had a Maths test today and (even though I knew everything!) I couldn't finish in time. Nobody could, really. It was very unfair timing God knows what's going to happen to my marks!

Oh, where do you live? Sorry, I guessed you were British... *confused*
I think I would prefer that system actually; I hate having a really long, single break in the summer: I get so bored!
I wouldn't worry; if nobody managed to finish, your marks, even if they seem to be low, are all relative, and the teachers will take that into consideration.

Sure thing but I might not be completely useful due to you picking different subjects

I live in Tanzania It's a country on the East African coast, right under Kenya and Uganda. Or, to make things simpler, it's the home of The Lion King, Serengeti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Me, and the world's most outrageous electricity cuts

It's annoying, though, because when my dear cousins (from England, from US, from Kenya, etc) come over here for holidays, they have summer and I have school. We literally have a week or so only during which our holidays overlap!

I doubt they will. It's 'only' a class test, and besides, we don't do relative grade thresholds and stuff here. Your mark is judged as your mark, end of story. Thank God CIE doesn't think that way! And our Maths teacher kept scaring us today; we haven't gotten our papers back but we were discussing the questions, and he kept announcing, "Nobody has gotten this question right!" At the end of the class he told us he was kidding, but still. It was scary!


Huh. That's ok I already need a tutorial from you: How do you pronounce Welsh names? Like the 'y's that seem to be everywhere... I know there's a system, I just can't remember what it was :|

Lol depends on the name

Now I shall have to go look for it, or else it'll bug me. I do remember it had a double 'y' and a 'd'—Cryyden? Crydden? Am I making a complete fool out of myself with my incompetency at Welsh?

Hi! I'm also going into year 10. I'm excited about it yet really nervous at the same time!
I'm doing:
Spanish
Geography
Art & Design
Short Course Latin

As well as (compulsory) English Lit + Lang, Maths (a year early), RS, and Triple Science.

Im worried I won't be able to keep up with my school work and extra curriculars, and my art - apparently its a lot of work! But I just want to start so I can get it over with!

Hi! I'm also going into year 10. I'm excited about it yet really nervous at the same time!
I'm doing:
Spanish
Geography
Art & Design
Short Course Latin

As well as (compulsory) English Lit + Lang, Maths (a year early), RS, and Triple Science.

Im worried I won't be able to keep up with my school work and extra curriculars, and my art - apparently its a lot of work! But I just want to start so I can get it over with!

I live in Tanzania It's a country on the East African coast, right under Kenya and Uganda. Or, to make things simpler, it's the home of The Lion King, Serengeti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Me, and the world's most outrageous electricity cuts

It's annoying, though, because when my dear cousins (from England, from US, from Kenya, etc) come over here for holidays, they have summer and I have school. We literally have a week or so only during which our holidays overlap!

I doubt they will. It's 'only' a class test, and besides, we don't do relative grade thresholds and stuff here. Your mark is judged as your mark, end of story. Thank God CIE doesn't think that way! And our Maths teacher kept scaring us today; we haven't gotten our papers back but we were discussing the questions, and he kept announcing, "Nobody has gotten this question right!" At the end of the class he told us he was kidding, but still. It was scary!

Ahh, awesome! How come your electricity supply is so dodgy?

You have a very widespead family! Were you born in Tanzania then? I think the furthest away member of my family lives in Somerset, which is only 3 or so hours from where I live; no exotic family trips here!

Eeep, that's harsh. We have teachers like that: the ones that are so sarcastic or are good at teasing you whilst keeping a straight face. I can never figure out if they are being serious or not, so I just try to be quiet when they're in a funny mood.

You'd pronounce it cri-(soft z ish)-un
don't worry I'm incompetent in it too

You sure don't seem so And that sounds so cool. Crizzun. Crizzzzzun Now I feel like learning Welsh!

Because our government guzzles so much cash that they couldn't pay for a fuel/coal/gas/whatever electricity supply 30 years ago, so we made the Mtera Dam (which in hindsight is good, what with all the green issues with electricity) (that sentence made no sense, I realise). The only problem with hydroelectric power is that when you live on the Equator, you kind off don't get too much rain The other problem is that our Government is a huge cash-guzzler (we receive the MOST aid in Africa, we have diamonds, gold, uranium, bananas, tanzanites, and we're the second most popular tourist destination in Africa, yet we're also one of the most poor countries.

As a result, we get 'rationing' in the hot months (November to February) where the cut off electricity for 10 hours each day, at least, and random cuts throughout the rest of the year, and complete failure when it begins to rain. Which makes no sense, but still. That's how they work!

I was born while my parents were on holiday in Kenya I was a little too early! Most people move out after they get married, usually because (my parents' generation) the girls married guys abroad, or, recently, they study abroad and get married there. That's just the 'regular' part of my family We have tons more... I think the only countries in which we don't have relatives are the EU ones. I don't second cousin's uncle who's French, sadly But Indian/African families tend to keep in touch with their most extended members, so that could contribute too!

Hi! I'm also going into year 10. I'm excited about it yet really nervous at the same time!
I'm doing:
Spanish
Geography
Art & Design
Short Course Latin

As well as (compulsory) English Lit + Lang, Maths (a year early), RS, and Triple Science.

Im worried I won't be able to keep up with my school work and extra curriculars, and my art - apparently its a lot of work! But I just want to start so I can get it over with!

Sweet! I'm also starting Yr10 in September.
We chose completely different subject ~ ^_^

That is the exact reason as to why I did not choose Art. I enjoy drawing and creating my own art piece, but doing as a subject.. I'm not too sure. Many people say that it is extremely time consuming, however it's worth it because you can then easily get an A or even A*.

Don't think about starting Yr10 too much. Just think like this - Yr10 and 11 is exactly the same as the previous years, only difference is that you get a qualification at the end of the two years. Don't worry too much and enjoy your holiday

Be glad you didn't choose Art, it is extremely time consuming and in my opinion, not the easiest of subjects to get an A or A* in. Ability is one of the least important factors, it isn't taken into account as much as it should be

I'm glad I didn't choose it. I dislike the art teachers. The best one has retired so.. Besides, I prefer music
I guess I was wrong there ^ Quite a few people had told me that its extremely time consuming, yet somewhat easy.
I am assuming that you chose the subject. Did you enjoy it ~ ?

I'm glad I didn't choose it. I dislike the art teachers. The best one has retired so.. Besides, I prefer music
I guess I was wrong there ^ Quite a few people had told me that its extremely time consuming, yet somewhat easy.
I am assuming that you chose the subject. Did you enjoy it ~ ?

Art is relatively time consuming but not easy... It's 97% for an A* so I don't think that's easy

Yeah the Art teachers at my school were really picky, and clearly insulted the work of students who had more talent than them. Aww good

And well I suppose it isn't a difficult subject, but when it comes to achieving a high grade, it is. I enjoyed it a lot in year 10 and the start of year 11. It was nice to just draw in lessons. But once it got to the exam period at the end of year 11, I had no time for it and it was the subject I least cared about.