15 August 2013 A-Level results: Discussion thread - results day is here!

I suppose I am. Yeah, my head of year was very reluctant to let me keep all four because apparently that's a privilege reserved for science students?! And what on earth is wrong with Psychology?!

My AS grades are good enough to stop me being too worried about the As, but exams this year ranged from mediocre at best to utterly catastrophic at worst, so I'm pretty terrified about Thursday... The subjectivity really doesn't help matters, either.

Good luck with them! Are you feeling confident?

Why not just do a year abroad before University or just afterwards?

I'm not saying that it is wrong to reject Oxbridge, but you may want to consider why almost everyone who gets an offer puts it as their first choice. I could share why I changed my mind about Cambridge, but I think it's best to discover or make these decisions largely on your own.

Are there any Year 12s which are awaiting for their results - particularly in the Sciences and Languages!?

How did you think you had done generally?



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Basing your generalisations on anecdotal evidence is pure stupidity, plain and simple. The fact you think this is a redeeming quality of your generalising is even worse.

There are good private schools and bad private schools, and good and bad state schools. Kids who go to schools offering good educations end up at better places, which makes sense.

Class? Have you heard of scholarships? Bursaries?

Of course children with pushy parents will often do better. That does not mean that everybody who surpasses your academic achievements is the product of such parenting, or a high class background.

AAA for UEA, but the for one of my reserves A*AA :\ oh good luck with that, what subjects do you do?

I might be rude, and I might come across as generalising, but at least I base my generalisations on real-life observations. Kids who go to private schools or have pushy parents that shove textbooks down their throats always end up at a much better place than everyone else, it's not right. Class has such a strong influence on someone's achievement, it makes me sick. Education in this country is rigged. It's a joke. I'm not as envious as you'd think; my parents are middle-class themselves and they didn't push me. They only wanted me to be happy unlike a lot of these proud dinner-party show-offs. I'm a product of my own desire to succeed, not some artificially instilled one.

Oh gosh, you're one of those that must be one hell of a workload! Philosophy and the English sound good...

Aah, you feeling okay about them? They're so subjective!

I'm awaiting... AS History and A2 Mathematics, so two very different ones

It is!

reserved for scienve students that'd have annoyed me if someone said that

Psychology is just loads of case studies I was looking through the AS/2 textbooks and it was too much content!

well, hopefully you'll be fine

Thanks I'm confident about history, maths I'm certain of an A, but I want the A*, however, C4 clashed with my GCSEs (Chemistry) and I messed it up

I think he just didn't want me personally doing four, but he couldn't physically stop me so I just ignored him.

There are a ridiculous number of studies to learn... It's all interesting content though! I hate the AQA marking though; it's my worst subject in terms of exam results despite the fact that grade boundaries are always really low.

I'm sure you'll have got the A*. Did you self-teach or were you able to sit in on A-level classes?

This cannot be disputed. Particularly when Michael Gove's reforms keep trying to make A-Levels even more harsh and standardised by changing it to end of 2-year exams, which obviously benefits the better-resourced schools (While state schools have suffered the worst of austerity) and the more academic kids that can afford private schooling and tuition. This government and the UK as a whole is VERY class orientated,and none more so than at the very roots of what stops social mobility in the first place; education.

a) You can support your kids and want them to be happy without being pushy.
b) Why is it a problem that parents who push their children have smarter children? Of course that's going to happen. Just like the best athletes were pushed very hard as children by their parents. If you practice, you get better. You don't need money to be pushy.
c) Class has a massive effect on achievement because the notion of class is linked to beliefs. The belief in the power and importance of education is a very middle-class belief. It has nothing to do with money.

Okay, this is really hard to explain to people who are clearly just pro-privitisation, right-wing fruitcakes. Of course you're gonna throw the 'generalisation' accusation on me and make me believe I'm prejudiced, you have nothing better to defend really. Okay, perhaps I am prejudiced, but I've based my generalisations on enough examples to make it a noteworthy generalisation. I've seen enough spoilt brats at university who do not deserve all the spoon-feeding they've had from the day they were born. That's just my opinion.





Yes I have heard of scholarships and bursaries. Aren't people who receive them in the minority though? Besides, most teenagers just want to be in the same secondary schools as the friends they already made in primary schools. Standard of education doesn't mean a thing to most teenagers until they reach GCSE and A-Levels when it actually starts to matter...



Yes... and you can't help but wonder if they'd actually make it as far as they did if their parents were not pushy, or if the schools they attended were not superior. I agree; achieved what I wanted in academia without any parental-influence or going to a fee-paying school... and people like me are in the minority. You'll understand once you get to university; you'll notice how many undeserving, inaesthetic cretins and morons make it there just because of the advantages they've had...

Okay, this is really hard to explain to people who are clearly just pro-privitisation, right-wing fruitcakes. Of course you're gonna throw the 'generalisation' accusation on me and make me believe I'm prejudiced, you have nothing better to attack really. Okay, perhaps I am a bit prejudiced, perhaps my argument is a bit flawed, but I think I've based my generalisations on enough examples to make it a noteworthy generalisation. I'm equally irked by this working class tendency to think that academic failure is cool.



Of course it makes sense, but do you not think there's something wrong that?



Yes I have heard of scholarships and bursaries. Aren't people who receive them in the minority though? Besides, most teenagers just want to be in the same secondary schools as the friends they already made in primary schools. Standard of education doesn't mean a thing to most teenagers until they reach GCSE and A-Levels when it actually starts to matter...



Yes... and you can't help but wonder if they'd actually make it as far as they did if their parents were not pushy, or if the schools they attended were not superior. I agree; I achieved what I wanted in academia without any parental-influence or going to a fee-paying school... but, people like me are in the minority. You'll understand once you get to university; you'll notice how many undeserving cretins make it there just because of the advantages they've had...

Yeah... January exams are a Godsend. But it also means the lack of them will make you try harder and what not. I want to do Creative Writing and Film Studies at Winchester University. Only 10 or so Uni's do this combined course, so i'm actually hoping that I get in, since the combination isn't that popular xD what do you want to do next year?

Good luck to you too! I did Maths, Biology, Psychology and History. Definitely dropping history and i think I'll be taking up AS Further Maths and i'll have to self teach a lot of it because my timetable doesn't allow me to go to all the lessons What about you? :P (you've probably said this previously but i'd have to look for a while ahaha)

And yea, with reference to the other guy's post, A levels majorly suck.

This cannot be disputed. Particularly when Michael Gove's reforms keep trying to make A-Levels even more harsh and standardised by changing it to end of 2-year exams, which obviously benefits the better-resourced schools (While state schools have suffered the worst of austerity) and the more academic kids that can afford private schooling and tuition. This government and the UK as a whole is VERY class orientated,and none more so than at the very roots of what stops social mobility in the first place; education.