A-level results today....

[Meatballs]

Originally posted by Jonny_Darko
What the hell is computer science anyway? Sounds like a "soft" subject to me!

Its just playing computer games all day isn't it?

 

[Jonny_Darko]

Touche

 

[Furr]

Dont get my results till 2moz (due to the way i've done things) basically i left School last year, had a gap year and did one retake for the 6 unified marks i needed to get into the uni i choose, although i did it the hard way relying on doing well in that one paper instead of doing many papers, i checked the UCAS tracker just now and next to my name on my first choice uni in big red letters is ACCEPTED

wohoo

 

[Cdr]

heh they started doing some Computer Games course thingy at the Uni I was at, I was in my 2nd year at the time, I'd walk past the room and see them playing Q3 or HL or UT2003, and think 'Oh you jammy sods'

And then I thought, in the big wide world, it aint gonna count for much surely? A degree in how to play Computer Games (I'm sure that isnt the full degree, but its all I ever saw them doing).

So I carried on trawling thro mine

 

[The-Don]

Just waiting for my 2nd year of my holiday otherwise known as University to commence.... bring it on!

 

[Scouse]

Originally posted by xane
Can you clarify this ? Most people take 25 years to pay for their house ?

I did a little IT freelancing during my A-Levels, and some during my degree but decided to pursue a "career" in Environmental Management as it was the done thing.

If I'd just jacked in school at 16 and done what I'd always wanted to I'd be a millionaire by now and on for retirement at 35-40 instead of 50 like I am now.

 

[Scouse]

Originally posted by Jonny_Darko
I think it's really disgraceful how we get the same shite on the news every year:

"Record-breaking A-Level results have led to accusations that the exams are getting easier."

This is a terrible way to congratulate successful students on their hard work. I got my A-levels 6 years ago (BBCC) and the first thing I heard was that, in fact, I hadn't done well, just that the A-Levels had become so easy any pleb could get them.

And it really riles me up that Psychology, Media Studies (both of which I did) are seen as "soft" subjects. What a load of bull. I did A-Level Maths and English too and if anything they were easier than Psychology and Media.

So, if you got decent grades, don't let those scum get you down. Bloody well done, you've worked hard and you've got what you deserve.

It's not supposed to be insulting. What it is is a fact.

Psychology, Media studies are fucking piss easy and A-Levels when I did 'em were not much harder than old O-Levels (1992) - and I've looked at papers nowadays and they're not much harder than my GCSE's were (which in turn were a lot easier than O-Levels).


Lets face it - in the last ten years alone the pass rate has gone from ~70% to ~95% - you cannot tell me that it's because students nowadays work harder!!!!! Fuck that.



Degrees are worthless too nowadays aswell. I did fuck all work for mine and still managed a 2:2 (and when I say "fuck all" work I mean didn't make more than 10% of my second year lectures).

I breezed it - and I'm sorry to say that 90% of the people I met there did the same and I'd class most of them as retards.


Your exams mean dick. So did mine. Get over it.

 

[xane]

Originally posted by Jonny_Darko
I think it's really disgraceful how we get the same shite on the news every year:

"Record-breaking A-Level results have led to accusations that the exams are getting easier."

Mainly these thoughts are adopted by people of about my age who took A Levels back in the early 1980s. Before 1987 there was a fixed pass rate, you always got 30% fail and only the top 10% got "A" pass.

Also, a lot more course work is involved in exam grading, whereas when I were a lad the only subject that considered course work was Art, everything else was dependent on that one day that could change your life.

Whether of not it was a "harder" system is debateable, but it really is comparing apples and oranges.

Problem is, the "old system" is one that the average newspaper editor or company director was educated in, unfortunately there is plenty of debateable evidence to back them up, like the fact that GCSE pass marks have constantly been lowered in the last 10-15 years, it is so hard convincing people that in context things are not all that different.

In the eyes of most potential employers the exam system is supposed to sort the wheat from the chaff, if no-one ever fails then it is seen to not be doing its job.

 

[Scouse]

In the eyes of most potential employers the exam system is supposed to sort the wheat from the chaff, if no-one ever fails then it is seen to not be doing its job.

Spot-on m8.

 

[PR.]

Anyone seen that "That'll teach 'em" ?

30 sixteen year olds who have just finished their GCSEs going in to a school recreated as a 1950s Boarding school, they spend a month in there and work there way to doing there O levels.

So far they have done of of the subjects 11+s a great majority failed them, let alone the O levels

Its on CH4 9pm Tuesdays

 

[nylex23]

A Level French A, Maths C, Physics B
AS Further Maths B

Edexcel screwed the placement of my applied modules in my Maths/Further Maths and put two of the better ones in Further Maths instead of A Level Maths. So, I could have gotten a B in A Level Maths (which would have meant a D in Further Maths).

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by Scouse
Lets face it - in the last ten years alone the pass rate has gone from ~70% to ~95% - you cannot tell me that it's because students nowadays work harder!!!!! Fuck that.

Bear in mind that a "pass" is a grade A-E. What's a more useful statistic is the number of A-C grades (between 65% and 70% this year, according to this source). What the current exam system seems to be doing is to grade people where A is the best, and E is more or less the worse. The goalposts have moved - it's now a case of "if you fail, you're really buggered it up". Yes, maybe it's easier to get a higher grade now, but to reflect that, University offers are bound to be higher to compensate.

Originally posted by Scouse
Your exams mean dick. So did mine. Get over it.

If you're going to go to University and slack for three years, then yes it will mean "dick". However, work hard and it will make a difference. A First cannot help but endear you to a potential employer. Oh, plus you actually learn things, which is the whole point of a degree.
I'm currently at Cambridge, next year I will be aiming for a First. I think that means a little more than "dick".

 

[Cdr]

Originally posted by Scouse
If I'd just jacked in school at 16 and done what I'd always wanted to I'd be a millionaire by now and on for retirement at 35-40 instead of 50 like I am now.

And what would have made you a millionaire?

 

[Scouse]

If you're going to go to University and slack for three years, then yes it will mean "dick". However, work hard and it will make a difference. A First cannot help but endear you to a potential employer. Oh, plus you actually learn things, which is the whole point of a degree.
I'm currently at Cambridge, next year I will be aiming for a First. I think that means a little more than "dick".

Why does slacking mean that your degree is worthless? If you pass it you pass it. You have to learn the stuff to pass in the first place. A modicum of effort on my part would have got me a first. I think the fact that it offered no challenge to me and many of my peer-group meant that we dicked about instead.

And, frankly, that was a million times more important in terms of my social development than studying hard at my degree would have been.


All the people who had to study their asses off to get firsts (and the ones that didn't need to but did it anyway) had no life. THAT is what is important. Fun. Enjoying yourself.

Don't go to Uni and turn into some career minded dick who, when they're 40, realise that they've lost sight of what's important in life and then goes through some crappy mid-life crisis.

Precicely what would a first from Cambridge mean if it doesn't mean dick?

Lets examine it:

Does it mean you're clever? No - it means that you can get a degree - which the labour government want FIFTY per cent of people to get in the future - hardly special.

Does it mean you'll earn loads of dosh? No - I'm living proof of that. (The reason I'm loaded is that I made a stab of it myself - the degree was no help (although the social development was!)).

What "things" will you learn that are that important? Unless you're doing a vocational degree with a view to doing a job you're particularly interested in then there's fuck all point to them really

What are you going to be doing in Cambridge BTW m8?

 

[Scouse]

And what would have made you a millionaire?

If I told you that then everyone'd do it.


Don't worry tho - I'm well on my way now (not that a million squid is that much money any more)

 

[Cdr]

If its to train chickens as modern soliders - a universal solider if you will - then I've already patented that idea (Patent #14268212).

Some degrees are worthwhile, and are needed for certain jobs - eg. a degree is needed to become a solicitor / barrister (a law degree would be appropriate, although you can do a conversion course if you have a degree in another subject like English).

I have a degree (Law - 2:2), and I'll be joining the RAF later on this year - what does this degree get me? It gets me an extra 6k a year from the day I start IOT.

What does a degree mean in the police force? It means accelerated promotion.

You want to be a structural engineer - you'll need a degree.

There are more examples.

Yes there are some degrees that aren't worth the paper they are written on. But an employer has 2 people stood infront of him, one left school at 16, and the other went onto A-Levels and University - who's gonna get the job?

 

[Clowneh!]

What about one who left school at 16, hes now 23 with his experience in whatever job; and a 23 year old with a degree?

 

[danger]

Originally posted by Meatballs
im going to kent too computer science you doing a year in industry or summat? im only g400

Yeah G404, comp sci with a years industrial placement... from what the people there said you can decide at the beginning of the second year whether you want the sandwhich year or not whichever you appleid for

 

[old.ignus]

Fuck uni I'm off in the RAF, we study a specific trade and get to shoot guns while we're doing it, I'm determined to become an officer one day, and when I leave I get the bollocks of a pension and military training guarantees you a decent job.

Too many students are studying for these soft options, thinking they'll get high paid jobs for the rest of their lives. I know for a fact that the real money to be made in the future is in the trades. If you had any idea how much money a qualified plumber will be able to make in a few years time thanks to the number of student studying computer science or whatever, you'd be down the libary looking for all the books on plumbing. I was at college studying motor vehicle repair and there were about 7 people on our course, 3 on the plumbing course and about 5 on the electricians course, but the numerous computer rooms at the college were all full nearly all day.

 

[echo]

'Soft' subjects is such a massive load of bollocks, Philosophy, English and History for me, Philosophy was by far the hardest subject, and it's supposedly easy, pah!

 

[old.Fweddy]

Am I the only one that switched to Psychology because the classes were 90% female?

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by Scouse
Precicely what would a first from Cambridge mean if it doesn't mean dick?

Lets examine it:

Ok *cracks knuckles*

Does it mean you're clever?

Yes. People who aren't clever don't even get offers from Cambridge. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but that's the way it is - you have to be clever to even get in.

Does it mean you'll earn loads of dosh?

Not necessarily - there's a lot of chance in any career - but a good degree from a good University will make it considerably easier to get a better job with a higher salary.

What "things" will you learn that are that important? Unless you're doing a vocational degree with a view to doing a job you're particularly interested in then there's fuck all point to them really

Err.... programming techniques, operating system structure, hardware design are the three main ones that spring to mind.

What are you going to be doing in Cambridge BTW m8?

Computer Science. Just finished my first year.

 

[Scouse]

Originally posted by FatBusinessman
Ok *cracks knuckles*


Yes. People who aren't clever don't even get offers from Cambridge. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but that's the way it is - you have to be clever to even get in.


Not necessarily - there's a lot of chance in any career - but a good degree from a good University will make it considerably easier to get a better job with a higher salary.


Err.... programming techniques, operating system structure, hardware design are the three main ones that spring to mind.


Computer Science. Just finished my first year.

1- No. It doens't mean your clever. Any monkey can get a degree, and as we've already demonstrated - straight A's at A-Level aren't too hard nowadays with a little application (considering 1 in 5 people get an 'A' in any given subject that shouldn't be too hard).

2. What do you mean by "better job"? Last place I did some work at had 1000+ graduates in their call centres all doing shit work for 11-18 grand a year.

Admittedly - some jobs require a degree. You can then expect to start on 15-18k and then move up to, what, 70k, if you're lucky?? Don't make me laugh.

3. All those things you've learned at uni. Couldn't you have taken vocational courses in them? Got industry-recognised qualifications????


I hate to say it. I got my degree - realised that once you start working it's both experience, WHO you know and a little luck that counts - not to mention having the balls to do things that other people wouldn't do.

I turned down the offer of getting on a PhD course at the end of my degree because I knew at best I'd be bored shitless earning 40k/year in some dick end job - and the doctorate still wouldn't have made me "clever".....


Degrees DON'T make you clever.

Degrees DON'T make you happy. (Neither does money for that matter).

Degrees, in the most part (unless it's specialised) teach you stuff you probably won't ever need to know.

Oh. And they're easy

 

[echo]

What if you just wanna learn? Still pointless?

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by Scouse
Degrees DON'T make you clever.

Degrees DON'T make you happy. (Neither does money for that matter).

Degrees, in the most part (unless it's specialised) teach you stuff you probably won't ever need to know.

Oh. And they're easy

Sorry, I thought you said we were discussing "a first from Cambridge" (to quote your post). Granted, a 2:1 or 2:1 from a mediocre University isn't really going to do wonders for your job prospects, but from a top University (Oxbridge and Imperial are, I suspect, the top three) does mean you're clever and will teach you useful information and skills. Ok, it isn't a sure-fire shortcut to happiness, but nothing is.

And I can speak from experience that a Cambridge degree is a very long way from easy.

 

[nylex23]

Have you enjoyed your first year there FBM?

 

[FatBusinessman]

Not really, but not as a result of the course. More because of not really being prepared for the University experience.

But the course itself has been quite enjoyable, except for the fact that they make first-years take a Natural Sciences subject (in my case, Physics )

 

[nylex23]

It's 50% Nat Sci in the first year isn't it? What was wrong with Physics, didn't like it? .

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by nylex23
It's 50% Nat Sci in the first year isn't it? What was wrong with Physics, didn't like it? .

There are 2 options:

• 50% Compsci, 25% NatSci, 25% Maths ("hardcore")
• 25% Compsci, 50% Natsci, 25% Maths ("softcore")

I took the 50% Compsci option.

And no, I didn't like Physics. Physics was the bane of my life for 6 months. If you are planning on coming to Cambridge, do not do Physics. I cannot emphasise this enough.

 

[nylex23]

Hehe, well I applied but didn't get in. I want to change my Comp Sci course at Birmingham to either Physics or Nat Sci .