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Is TSR home to some of Britain's most intelligent people (judging by their GCSE's)

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I have no idea what that means lol :biggrin:

I was schooled in Spain so I have an ESO certificate. The level is nowhere near the same, especially in maths and of course, English, which is taught as a foreign language. I probably would have done better at an international school.

Let's just say, I'm a repeat offender :p:

I see.

Reply 41

buchanan700

BBBBBBCCCCCD at GCSE,
A*BC at A level, plus a B in AS.
Getting Cs at uni so far.

No worries. :wink:

Reply 42

MrHappy_J

Original post by + polarity -

Let's just say, I'm a repeat offender :p:

I see.

haha right :tongue:

anyone who thinks the british education system is crap should check out spain. It's honestly one of the worst in Europe if you're not rich.

Reply 43

+ polarity -

Original post by MrHappy_J

anyone who thinks the british education system is crap should check out spain. It's honestly one of the worst in Europe if you're not rich.

What's wrong with it?

Reply 44

MoonShadowWolf

Got mine through pure stubborn-ness.... Also how I got my a-level's. Be as stubborn as hell and no intelligence is required :smile:

Reply 45

MrHappy_J

Original post by + polarity -

What's wrong with it?

Everything from the disparity between state schools and private schools to the lack of formal assessments, the shoddy teachers, unruly classmates creating havoc as soon as the teacher walks out of the door, long hours (9 to 5, 8 to 5 in a state school), low level of English teaching and lack of school uniforms outside of private schools leading to a fundamental lack of respect for the rules. Not to mention the rubbish school dinners consisting of fake, overcooked, overboiled, mediterranean "healthy" food, and highlighted by a distinct lack of custard pudding to make it better.

Still, I musn't dwell on the past *sigh*

ESO sounds for Obligatory Secondary Education btw :teehee:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 46

+ polarity -

Original post by MrHappy_J

Everything from the disparity between state schools and private schools to the lack of formal assessments, the shoddy teachers, unruly classmates creating havoc as soon as the teacher walks out of the door, long hours (9 to 5, 8 to 5 in a state school), low level of English teaching and lack of school uniforms outside of private schools leading to a fundamental lack of respect for the rules. Not to mention the rubbish school dinners highlighted by fake, overcooked, overboiled, mediterranean "healthy" food, and highlighted by a distinct lack of custard pudding to make it better.

Still, I musn't dwell on the past *sigh*

ESO sounds for Obligatory Secondary Education btw :teehee:

I'm fairly sure some of that exists here too :p:

Reply 47

MrHappy_J

Original post by + polarity -

I'm fairly sure some of that exists here too :p:

Yeah I figured, but I genuinely don't think there's a single good state school in Spain, whereas in this country it varies.

As you can tell, I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all.

Reply 48

Selym95

'TSR' attracts the vein intelligentsia dominantly. Most would argue that the further qualifications after GCSE's are a better indication of intelligence e.g. A-level and degree. The contrast in intellectual demands of GCSE's seem to be dominantly less than A-levels and further qualifications.

Reply 49

MrHappy_J

Original post by Selym95

I can't say I agree, I'm at uni and I'm fairly stupid.

Reply 50

Chezsa

Woah o.o I didn't get any A*'s but I was happy getting 7As out of 14 GCSE's c:
I'm predicted a BBBC but currently going through a lot and I'm really struggling with revision and my stupid memory but going to buckle down from tomorrow!

Reply 51

PinkEye

In my opinion, GCSEs are not an accurate way of measuring 'intelligence'.

Achieving A*s at GCSE generally constitues rote learning the content, doing past papers and learning the mark schemes. I've found, from personal experience, that if you do that, you will most likely achieve A*s.

But then again I have friends who performed average at GCSE and then went on to get As at A Level!

i dread to think so.

Probably going to get negged for this, but GCSE's and A Levels are all down to how well you memorise things, not intelligence. Anyone can pick up a book, read it then answer questions about it in an exam

Reply 54

Henwin

I think it depends on the subject.

In my opinion, an A* in a subjective subject like History is more of a sign of intelligence than an A* in Biology (and that's from someone who has a B in History and an A* in Biology)

Subjects like sciences are considered harder, but really all they require is focused revision and memorising the key words and concepts, whereas essay subjects like History and English require understanding and the intelligence to create something if that makes sense.

Maybe not so much at A Level but at GCSE, you can literally memorise your notes for the science subjects and it's not difficult to tick some boxes and define some key words. I'm not saying it's easy, just that it needs memorising more than anything else.

Reply 55

The Socktor

I disprove that statement; all I got were 2 Bs, 3 Cs, 2 Ds and an E.

Then again I had a lot of family issues at the time.

Reply 56

matty123

There is no such thing as intelligence, you study hard, you get good grades. Simple as that.

Reply 57

Aquar

Someone that isn't clever will not get straight A*s; they are intelligent if they do so, end of story.

However, that does not mean that someone that doesn't get straight A*s isn't clever, because I know that there are many things that can stop this, such as lack of effort, anomalous exam results, lack of revision, etc.

Reply 58

littlemissmidget123

im not a terribly high achiever, but not a low one either.. its just down to hard work to get top grades, and a bit of natural talent... exam technique usually fails me...

i lived in munich to took the IBMYP and a handful of igcses on top... they are much harder than normal gcses, no coursework, and harder topics.. i did stuff that wasnt taught here until alevel maths

Reply 59

chinaberry

We-e-ell.....I very much doubt it.....GCSEs prove very little, much less than you might think. So- I would say no, instead we have many who have been well trained in the system. Is that laudable? Perhaps...