September 9, 2015
NOTICE: Migration
After three years of waiting and much fanfare, I have decided to migrate this blog to wordpress.com. The domain has now been changed and this blog is no longer active.
May 30, 2015
The Final Leg
It has been a fair while since my last post, and a huge deal has happened. These past few months have been a true roller-coaster on all levels of my life, be that personal, academic, social or familial. The faithful among you here would have read time and time and time again about my university considerations and the various factors that have plagued my thoughts with doubts about each institution I thought about and ended up applying to. In April the last batch of US university acceptances were released, and with them was the end of the waiting game for my decision. I shall not offload the reasons for and against each institution here but instead just give a quick overview of the process and my rough decision.
In the United Kingdom, I got a very tough conditional offer from the University of Cambridge, which I have selected as my "firm" UK choice, and a standard one from Imperial College London, who are my "insurance" choice. Applying to the UK universities isn't too draining. One finely crafted personal statement and a few informal interviews (apart from Cambridge and to a certain extent Imperial) are quite doable in the framework of the year-13 lifestyle. Cambridge was a different story. I needed to prepare properly for my interview there. I had two interviews. In the first one I was asked to sketch several modulus curves, following intensive questioning on an essay I had submitted to the college for a competition previously. The second interview involved preparing a few questions in advance, followed by a discussion of my solutions and extending them further. Overall it was quite an enjoyable day just from the experience aspect of things and I am glad to have had the experience of an Oxbridge interview!
In Switzerland, I applied to ETH Zurich, who give all undergraduate applicants a surprisingly easy conditional offer, regardless of grades as long as they meet the minimum requirements. However, the Swiss university application was a bit more challenging. As an international, I had to sit the Goethe Institut C1 German language exam to prove my German skills were up to scratch for the university, which required a bit of studying. I also had to improve my CV and get a copy of the official grade transcripts from exam boards and the school. I applied here because I thought I wanted to get out of the UK and experience something new in a new language, and ETH is listed as one of the top 15 undergraduate universities in the world, so it is not a bad place to end up at - even if it is not as well known as Cambridge. Additionally, I wanted to get a foothold in Europe, seeing as I think I want to end up living there when I am older.
In the United States, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was accepted by Harvard, who were my first choice next to Stanford. The US process was by far the hardest of them all. I needed to sit the SAT exam, two SAT2 exams and write a host of essays that required careful thought and self-reflection. All this took quite a while and if you are about to sit GCSEs, consider starting the entire process now so that your sixth-form time is less stressful, which is what ended up happening to me. Admittedly however, the US process probably did teach me some skills and helped me formulate my thoughts as to how I want to come across on paper in real life. The interviews themselves were all fascinating, just due to the type of people I got the chance to meet.
So, this left me in the very fortunate decision to decide between four world-famous institutions, which is on the one hand a lovely problem to have and, at the same time, a hard one to reconcile. In which country do I want to study? What are the relative benefits of each institution? (How much does the entire thing cost?). All these questions, combined with the fact that I still don't know whether I will make the ridiculous Cambridge offer (effectively A*A*A* and a 1 in STEP1 - a very tough additional maths exam) lead me to the decision to defer my Harvard offer for a year, allowing me to see whether I get the Cambridge offer. If I were to go to Harvard after results day, I would have to pack up and leave within 5 days, or if I decide to stick with Cambridge, take away a spot from someone on the Harvard waiting list: not exactly a moral or justified thing to do. The gap-year was thus the most sensible solution.
So, for one last time, it's A-Level exam season, which means doing silly numbers of past OCR papers to learn their stupid mark scheme particulars, bashing my head in with STEP questions and training my exam autopilot mode once again. Not to be too melodramatic about this entire thing, but it all does come down to the next three weeks of exams, and its in some way thrilling, yet absolutely daunting. Best of luck to those taking exams, and especially to the year 13 students who have offers to make. It's the final push of our long school careers thus far.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
In the United Kingdom, I got a very tough conditional offer from the University of Cambridge, which I have selected as my "firm" UK choice, and a standard one from Imperial College London, who are my "insurance" choice. Applying to the UK universities isn't too draining. One finely crafted personal statement and a few informal interviews (apart from Cambridge and to a certain extent Imperial) are quite doable in the framework of the year-13 lifestyle. Cambridge was a different story. I needed to prepare properly for my interview there. I had two interviews. In the first one I was asked to sketch several modulus curves, following intensive questioning on an essay I had submitted to the college for a competition previously. The second interview involved preparing a few questions in advance, followed by a discussion of my solutions and extending them further. Overall it was quite an enjoyable day just from the experience aspect of things and I am glad to have had the experience of an Oxbridge interview!
In Switzerland, I applied to ETH Zurich, who give all undergraduate applicants a surprisingly easy conditional offer, regardless of grades as long as they meet the minimum requirements. However, the Swiss university application was a bit more challenging. As an international, I had to sit the Goethe Institut C1 German language exam to prove my German skills were up to scratch for the university, which required a bit of studying. I also had to improve my CV and get a copy of the official grade transcripts from exam boards and the school. I applied here because I thought I wanted to get out of the UK and experience something new in a new language, and ETH is listed as one of the top 15 undergraduate universities in the world, so it is not a bad place to end up at - even if it is not as well known as Cambridge. Additionally, I wanted to get a foothold in Europe, seeing as I think I want to end up living there when I am older.
In the United States, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was accepted by Harvard, who were my first choice next to Stanford. The US process was by far the hardest of them all. I needed to sit the SAT exam, two SAT2 exams and write a host of essays that required careful thought and self-reflection. All this took quite a while and if you are about to sit GCSEs, consider starting the entire process now so that your sixth-form time is less stressful, which is what ended up happening to me. Admittedly however, the US process probably did teach me some skills and helped me formulate my thoughts as to how I want to come across on paper in real life. The interviews themselves were all fascinating, just due to the type of people I got the chance to meet.
So, this left me in the very fortunate decision to decide between four world-famous institutions, which is on the one hand a lovely problem to have and, at the same time, a hard one to reconcile. In which country do I want to study? What are the relative benefits of each institution? (How much does the entire thing cost?). All these questions, combined with the fact that I still don't know whether I will make the ridiculous Cambridge offer (effectively A*A*A* and a 1 in STEP1 - a very tough additional maths exam) lead me to the decision to defer my Harvard offer for a year, allowing me to see whether I get the Cambridge offer. If I were to go to Harvard after results day, I would have to pack up and leave within 5 days, or if I decide to stick with Cambridge, take away a spot from someone on the Harvard waiting list: not exactly a moral or justified thing to do. The gap-year was thus the most sensible solution.
So, for one last time, it's A-Level exam season, which means doing silly numbers of past OCR papers to learn their stupid mark scheme particulars, bashing my head in with STEP questions and training my exam autopilot mode once again. Not to be too melodramatic about this entire thing, but it all does come down to the next three weeks of exams, and its in some way thrilling, yet absolutely daunting. Best of luck to those taking exams, and especially to the year 13 students who have offers to make. It's the final push of our long school careers thus far.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
February 18, 2015
And as quickly as it had begun.
A great deal has happened over the past few weeks. University applications are done, exam preparation is starting to kick into gear and I just got some sad news, if you want to call it that.
I decided that instead of wallowing at home all day, I would take a walk and be alone with my thoughts for a few hours. Around the local park, I managed to capture some really nice scenery of trees and the River Thames on my travels. What follows is a small gallery of some of these photos, unmodified and straight off my phone.
I decided that instead of wallowing at home all day, I would take a walk and be alone with my thoughts for a few hours. Around the local park, I managed to capture some really nice scenery of trees and the River Thames on my travels. What follows is a small gallery of some of these photos, unmodified and straight off my phone.
January 31, 2015
An Open Letter to The Admissions Officer
To the undergraduate admissions officer of a university I have applied to:
Please know that this is not a finely crafted personal statement or admissions essay, this is not me trying to excuse myself from the idiocies of thirteen year-old me and this is certainly not a coherent literary masterpiece, but I hope that through this and what you find on this blog, however embarrassing that may be, you get a bit of a context of my opinions, style and perhaps character. Maybe the students in my school are paranoid: many have changed their Facebook names, Twitter handles and taken their blogs offline, but I have decided against doing that, particularly in the case of this blog.
I am of the belief that opinions change with time and maturity. That is, in my opinion, exemplified in this blog. Through the years, my posts have wondered between Apple-fanboying to pondering perhaps some of the most irrelevant topics to recounting life-changing experiences. If you look through the archive back to 2010, the start of this blog, you will see thirteen year-old me ranting about Apple patent lawsuits and other perhaps embarrassing things. As the years moved on, I began to use the blog as more of a journal of some sorts, logging my worries, my ambitions and my university considerations.
This blog is a sort of time capsule. So is my Twitter and to a certain extent, my Facebook. I'm not trying to hide any of it - although I have restrictions in place, like any technically literate teenager! On the contrary: below I provide a brief narrative of some blog posts that have particular relevance to me, and perhaps even to you as well. Some are embarrassing, others, insightful, but in any case, they were all written by me at some point or another, and may serve to shed some light on the person behind the crafted application essays. There are some I have missed out on purpose to reduce clutter, but please feel free to browse! Of course, you don't have all the time in the world, and I do appreciate you reading my ramblings for this long.
From the "About" page:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps the most important post was my very long and heartfelt post, written over a week, about my experiences at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youths. Those three weeks were some of the influential in my life thus far.
Over my past two summers, I decided to briefly document my experiences. (2014: Part 1 and Part 2 and 2013 Part1)
I like to rant about many things things, including, but not limited to, exam boards, the UK education system and even silly phone applications.
Choosing between universities was a large challenge for me. I documented these concerns sporadically over many posts, but tried to consolidate it in “The University Dilemma” about a year ago. A-Level choices were also very challenging for me.
I documented the adventures I had during the Toyota Technology Challenge in 2012. Part 4 of a four-part series sums my “obsessive devotion” to the project well.
I wrote a three-part series one summer about my tinkering with an Arduino and Lego NXT components that I had found under my bed one day that I didn't want to throw out: Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
I also wrote a three-part series back in 2012 about an online radio station that a few of my friends had. I was the technical director, responsible for getting our voices onto the air!
Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
In October 2011, Steve Jobs passed away. Just two years after a close call myself, it really drove home how quickly things could change. I compiled a list of my favourite videos and images I could find of him and put them into a post, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”.
Of course, there are the posts and tweets I am embarrassed about. “The Dell Experience” in 2011 contains both my tweets and block-capital raging over a relatively unimportant subject. Another oddly written post, “The Ongoing Pinnacle of Human Achievement” documented my dismay at the retirement of the NASA Space Shuttle program.
…and yet some more embarrassment with some Sony and Microsoft Bashing in 2011.
Looking back at these posts, I have some to realise that I was a bit too much of an Apple Fanboy back in the day.
Please know that this is not a finely crafted personal statement or admissions essay, this is not me trying to excuse myself from the idiocies of thirteen year-old me and this is certainly not a coherent literary masterpiece, but I hope that through this and what you find on this blog, however embarrassing that may be, you get a bit of a context of my opinions, style and perhaps character. Maybe the students in my school are paranoid: many have changed their Facebook names, Twitter handles and taken their blogs offline, but I have decided against doing that, particularly in the case of this blog.
I am of the belief that opinions change with time and maturity. That is, in my opinion, exemplified in this blog. Through the years, my posts have wondered between Apple-fanboying to pondering perhaps some of the most irrelevant topics to recounting life-changing experiences. If you look through the archive back to 2010, the start of this blog, you will see thirteen year-old me ranting about Apple patent lawsuits and other perhaps embarrassing things. As the years moved on, I began to use the blog as more of a journal of some sorts, logging my worries, my ambitions and my university considerations.
This blog is a sort of time capsule. So is my Twitter and to a certain extent, my Facebook. I'm not trying to hide any of it - although I have restrictions in place, like any technically literate teenager! On the contrary: below I provide a brief narrative of some blog posts that have particular relevance to me, and perhaps even to you as well. Some are embarrassing, others, insightful, but in any case, they were all written by me at some point or another, and may serve to shed some light on the person behind the crafted application essays. There are some I have missed out on purpose to reduce clutter, but please feel free to browse! Of course, you don't have all the time in the world, and I do appreciate you reading my ramblings for this long.
From the "About" page:
"Opinions change, and I, as many other bloggers do, will freely admit that I am no exception. [...] This is not a technology blog, although it was initially started up to be so; instead, it had evolved into a personal diary of sorts, encompassing my thoughts, achievements and downfalls in one, easy to access place, so the world can laugh at my somewhat incoherent and silly musings."Whether accepted or turned down, I thank you for considering my application, and wish your 1st years all the best for 2015!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps the most important post was my very long and heartfelt post, written over a week, about my experiences at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youths. Those three weeks were some of the influential in my life thus far.
Over my past two summers, I decided to briefly document my experiences. (2014: Part 1 and Part 2 and 2013 Part1)
I like to rant about many things things, including, but not limited to, exam boards, the UK education system and even silly phone applications.
Choosing between universities was a large challenge for me. I documented these concerns sporadically over many posts, but tried to consolidate it in “The University Dilemma” about a year ago. A-Level choices were also very challenging for me.
I documented the adventures I had during the Toyota Technology Challenge in 2012. Part 4 of a four-part series sums my “obsessive devotion” to the project well.
I wrote a three-part series one summer about my tinkering with an Arduino and Lego NXT components that I had found under my bed one day that I didn't want to throw out: Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
I also wrote a three-part series back in 2012 about an online radio station that a few of my friends had. I was the technical director, responsible for getting our voices onto the air!
Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
In October 2011, Steve Jobs passed away. Just two years after a close call myself, it really drove home how quickly things could change. I compiled a list of my favourite videos and images I could find of him and put them into a post, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”.
Of course, there are the posts and tweets I am embarrassed about. “The Dell Experience” in 2011 contains both my tweets and block-capital raging over a relatively unimportant subject. Another oddly written post, “The Ongoing Pinnacle of Human Achievement” documented my dismay at the retirement of the NASA Space Shuttle program.
…and yet some more embarrassment with some Sony and Microsoft Bashing in 2011.
Looking back at these posts, I have some to realise that I was a bit too much of an Apple Fanboy back in the day.
January 4, 2015
A Year in Reflection - 2014
 |
| Celebrating New Year's Day |
Another year has come and gone, just as I was getting used to writing ’14 on my work instead of ’13. To all those still regularly reading these posts - despite their infrequent nature - and those who happened to stumble across this post on their internet travels, I wish you a happy new year! Just as quickly as it came, 2014 is a thing of the past, and seeing as this blog has become a lot more of a space for me to throw words onto a screen, reflecting on the past year is probably not a bad idea.
2014 was an interesting year for me on many levels. There were ups and downs, moments of celebration and moments of despair, but overall, I have my health, there have been no deaths in the family and miraculously I still have friends, so I would say 2014 was a good year for me personally. I have found that looking back on the past day, week or year firstly prevents the time flying away and secondly helps you to appreciate the good times more. One day, everything just came together, making for a really good day, and I would have almost missed it if someone hadn't asked me how my day had gone.
Academically, 2014 was a success. I got the AS grades I wanted and when I think about it, I am amazed at just how much work I put into getting those grades. I have a past paper progress tracker, and the grand total of past papers I did came to 193 across maths, physics and chemistry. I probably didn't need to do that many, but I remember somehow that I just picked up a paper and did it almost instinctively, which is in one way worrying that our schooling system encourages preparation in this way, but in another way, fascinating knowing what you can do when you put your mind to it - and have a lot depending on it!
September 6, 2014
Year 13
 |
| The rear entrance to the main building. |
And so it has begun: my final year of pre-university education. The thought is both an extremely exciting, as well as an absolutely terrifying one! I just got back from visiting ETH university again, and I do like the university a lot, and Zurich is an absolutely astounding city. Especially flying back to London, I now realise that fact even more. I don't really want to go into too much detail, but Zurich is certainly a favourite city of mine. Many thanks to my granddad, who came down to Zurich from Vienna for the two days to take me around the city and explore the niches with me, areas that I may not have known existed.
The university itself is as I had expected. I took the time to explore the course I am intending on applying to - electrical and electronic engineering - go on a few tours and attend a few lectures. The lectures were interesting as I leaned a great deal about software systems, but they were presented in German! The reason why I attended these was to see whether the language would be a huge barrier to my learning and I can say with complete confidence that it will not be!
One thing that did get me though was that ETH lacked that feeling of awe that I felt at Stanford. Now, the problem is that I tend to remember things better than they actually are, combined with the fact that I was at Stanford for 3 whole weeks, interacting with funny, intelligent and kind people. I didn't have that opportunity at ETH. In addition, imagining life in Zurich is hard for me, as I have only experienced campus university settings in the US and UK, which are very different to Europe, seeing as each university and city in Europe is so different! So I have to be very careful when I compare my university options.
Regardless, school has started, and university application deadlines are fast approaching! Cambridge wants the UCAS in by October, most US unis, sometime in December and Zurich's application opens in November. On top of that, I have the regular A2 subjects, and I am doing the most subjects possible with as few free periods possible, so this year is going to be great fun again!
And that was not sarcastic. My personal life has taken a very sudden turn for the better! I care not to elaborate much more on the open internet, but I can just say that several - or maybe one - things - or thing - have/has made me a very happy individual!
With that, let us take on the next challenges that await, and start the year with the same optimism that we did the last one, with the same poem:
It Couldn’t Be Done
By Edgar Albert Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Until next time.
August 17, 2014
Summer 2014 - Part 2
Well, these four weeks have gone far too fast. I just finished my four week internship at Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria and I must say, I learned a great deal there, not just about the automobile prototyping process, but also about the job world and life in general. Keep in mind that I decided not to go to Standard EPGY this year so that I could do this internship. In all honestly, I made the correct decision, not to forget the fact that I earned £1000 post tax in these four weeks, which isn't too shabby! So without further ado, let's begin.
I stayed with my very fun aunt over the four weeks in Graz. I've been to Graz before to visit her several times, but this time I really got to experience working life in a small city and see what kind of atmosphere Graz actually has. In comparison to London, it's not bad; just different. The constant arranging of meeting places and times isn't really necessary, as there is only one centre of town and everything is within 30mins on the public transport network away from the centre. When I think that it took me 45 mins on bus, tram, bus to get to work on the other geographical end of town, it's really not too bad. The people were nice and the cultural opportunities, immense: there were several free open-air shows on at the time. Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to go to one, but I passed a few on my commute. I'm sure there are such things in London, but the small city atmosphere is missing somewhat there. Going out onto the town at night is a regular and normal occurrence, even for the slightly older individuals, so the city centre certainly isn't dead on weekend evenings.
At work, I was required to clock in and out. I found this, as a non-shift worker, to be quite odd. I worked for 8.2 hours a day (38.5h week plus 0.5h for lunch), and if I worked overtime, I got to leave earlier the next day. The idea behind this is that your employer cannot exploit an individual, especially someone like an intern, but what surprised me was that even the bosses had to clock in and out! Of course, this system has issues: if I got all my work done for the day, I would have to sit out the clock to make sure I made the hours. Additionally, if I wanted to work at home in the evenings (as I would come to do), that work isn't counted on the clock, so there is a distinct work/play distinction, which I don't quite like that much: as the majority of life is work, do work that you like doing! If you like doing your work, then you will not have any problem working in your free time.
I stayed with my very fun aunt over the four weeks in Graz. I've been to Graz before to visit her several times, but this time I really got to experience working life in a small city and see what kind of atmosphere Graz actually has. In comparison to London, it's not bad; just different. The constant arranging of meeting places and times isn't really necessary, as there is only one centre of town and everything is within 30mins on the public transport network away from the centre. When I think that it took me 45 mins on bus, tram, bus to get to work on the other geographical end of town, it's really not too bad. The people were nice and the cultural opportunities, immense: there were several free open-air shows on at the time. Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to go to one, but I passed a few on my commute. I'm sure there are such things in London, but the small city atmosphere is missing somewhat there. Going out onto the town at night is a regular and normal occurrence, even for the slightly older individuals, so the city centre certainly isn't dead on weekend evenings.
At work, I was required to clock in and out. I found this, as a non-shift worker, to be quite odd. I worked for 8.2 hours a day (38.5h week plus 0.5h for lunch), and if I worked overtime, I got to leave earlier the next day. The idea behind this is that your employer cannot exploit an individual, especially someone like an intern, but what surprised me was that even the bosses had to clock in and out! Of course, this system has issues: if I got all my work done for the day, I would have to sit out the clock to make sure I made the hours. Additionally, if I wanted to work at home in the evenings (as I would come to do), that work isn't counted on the clock, so there is a distinct work/play distinction, which I don't quite like that much: as the majority of life is work, do work that you like doing! If you like doing your work, then you will not have any problem working in your free time.
July 14, 2014
Summer 2014 - Part 1
 |
| The entrance to the Isle of Grain facility |
I’m sitting here with my portfolio document open, the US common application and UK UCAS web-interface up, and a large, white, blank Word document, waiting to be filled with words of inspiration that will hopefully grant me acceptance to a university in the US or the UK. The only problem is that these ethereal words are not making their way onto the page. I’ve noticed that getting what is in my head onto paper is much harder than I initially expected. Combined with the fact that almost every sample essay I read is a thrilling journey through some life-changing experience that has left the author thoroughly changed, the task seems more and more daunting.
The UK personal statement is much easier. It’s just a well-ordered list of academic achievements with some reflection. my writing style is much better suited for that kind of essay. The US university essays are just completely different, and I don’t have a clue where or how to start. In any case, I’ll get through it somehow, but in the meantime, I have here to spew out my thoughts in an uncontrolled and un-succinct manner. I am somewhat wary that an admissions officer can come across these posts, so I’ll eventually write “An Open Letter to the Admission Officer” post, directing them to the important posts on this Blog.
June 29, 2014
Peterhouse Essay Competition
 |
| Punting on the River Cam |
In any case, after several weeks of work, researching and writing the essay, I finally sent it off and began the long-overdue panic for the end of year exams. A bit of background to the competition: Peterhouse College, based in Cambridge, run annual science, english and history essay competitions, with set titles and a 4,000 word limit. The winner of each competition receives a cash prize, and, along with the second place and highly commended candidates, are invited to attend an awards luncheon at the college.
One day in June, I received a letter with the Peterhouse College letterhead. Tearing the envelope apart, they informed me that my essay had been highly commended, and that I was invited to the awards luncheon and to stay the night in the college’s accommodation! As you can imagine, it was all very exciting! So on the 26th of June, I made my way to Cambridge from Kings Cross Station in London, found my way to the college and was directed to my room for the night. Unfortunately, I had arrived late, so I missed the dinner, but Cambridge offered a host of places to eat well for a decent price. I managed to find some other prizewinners in the accommodation later that evening, and we stood in the hallway discussing universities, our essays and how one individual believed it to be disrespectful to a book if it is read in the late evening, when one cannot fully focus on it. Fascinating stuff, I have to say. We stood and chatted until about 12:30am.
June 23, 2014
The Other Side of the Fence
We meet again, dear readers. On the other side of the proverbial exam fence. There have been many a hurdle and many a challenge, but we are all done with it now! It has been a wonderful month, filled with ups, downs, surprises and boredom, and I congratulate my peers taking GCSEs and AS levels. It's all done for one more year. All the best to the A2 candidates, who still have a few action-packed weeks ahead of them.
I have already done my exam board run-down in my previous post, so I will not bother with another. If you want to see my reaction to some of the papers, I point you to my twitter profile, where the occasional tweet to OCR wasn't an uncommon occurrence!
I must point out that my writing skills have gone promptly down the drain, seeing as I had 10 mainly maths-based exams for which I had to prepare. The only reason why I can string together a full sentence without mentioning an OCR key word impulsively [Van der Waals! Minimum energy!] is because I had to write a German essay in my one German exam. Looks like my contrasting AS choice wasn't a bad move after all!
A lot has happened these past few weeks, notwithstanding the exams! Most notably perhaps, is the letter I received a few weeks ago, informing me that the essay I had written for the Cambridge Peterhouse Kelvin science essay prize had been highly commended, and that I had been invited up to Cambridge to overnight and have a formal lunch at Peterhouse college! That is taking place this week, so I am very excited! I also did a paper count to see how many past papers I had done for preparation for these exams. The grand total is 194, 140 of which are maths papers! So, in a year of approx. 6000 waking hours, I spend 300 on maths alone (not including marking time). That's 5% of my year, which is approx. 30 days - including sleeping time. That's a lot of time. I really hope I get the grades I want!
I have already done my exam board run-down in my previous post, so I will not bother with another. If you want to see my reaction to some of the papers, I point you to my twitter profile, where the occasional tweet to OCR wasn't an uncommon occurrence!
I must point out that my writing skills have gone promptly down the drain, seeing as I had 10 mainly maths-based exams for which I had to prepare. The only reason why I can string together a full sentence without mentioning an OCR key word impulsively [Van der Waals! Minimum energy!] is because I had to write a German essay in my one German exam. Looks like my contrasting AS choice wasn't a bad move after all!
A lot has happened these past few weeks, notwithstanding the exams! Most notably perhaps, is the letter I received a few weeks ago, informing me that the essay I had written for the Cambridge Peterhouse Kelvin science essay prize had been highly commended, and that I had been invited up to Cambridge to overnight and have a formal lunch at Peterhouse college! That is taking place this week, so I am very excited! I also did a paper count to see how many past papers I had done for preparation for these exams. The grand total is 194, 140 of which are maths papers! So, in a year of approx. 6000 waking hours, I spend 300 on maths alone (not including marking time). That's 5% of my year, which is approx. 30 days - including sleeping time. That's a lot of time. I really hope I get the grades I want!
April 11, 2014
The Road to Exam Season
Remember. Back in September when you told yourself, "ahh, those exams are ages away! I have time!", along with all the rhetoric about being able to handle the workload of 5 AS subjects. Remember all that naïvety? Well, look where we are now: in the throws of the Easter holidays and prime revision time for the AS exams, the first of which for me is in just under 5 weeks.
It very slowly dawns on you that perhaps you have let yourself in for more than you could handle, and then it suddenly hits you like a very heavy, very large boulder that, yes, you still have a lot of work to do to hit that 90% mark boundary to even be considered for Cambridge entry. Am I saying that those events have happened to me? Well, kind of.
A few weeks before the Easter holidays, I got a rather abysmal mark in my Chemistry (Atoms, bonds and Groups module) mock, followed shortly by a low A grade in C3 maths. That was my "oh crap" moment. That was the point at which I considered whether I had over-exerted myself over the year in extra-curricular activities and failed to focus on what actually mattered: the exam!
The conclusion I came to was that it was completely and utterly irrelevant! I had done what I had done and I had to deal with the exams now, but I must say, if I had another shot at the year, I would not have done anything different with regards to extracurriculars! This year especially, I have developed my non-academic skills immensely, not to mention developed as a person significantly.
But now we are, and here we will stay unless I significantly step up my exam game. The funny thing is, I understand the syllabus contents, it's just the mark schemes that I have to conquer! In Chemistry, for example, a 10 mark question has exactly 10 marking points, unlike at GCSE, meaning that you have to know exactly what the question wants you to write down. Fortunately, that's really only the one exam board: OCR. They are ridiculously specific in some areas and far too broad in others. For example, a marking point for the green chemistry question - a farcical topic in itself - "how do chemists help reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere?" Is "make decaffeinated coffee".
No, I am dead serious. It's absolute idiocy. There are many more such examples!
Physics papers are very pleasant. We do like to make fun of WJEC, the Welsh board, but they do write very good physics papers: unambiguous, straightforward and clear. You will always know exactly what they are asking you to write down. Further, there are no annoying quality of communication (ie, English) marks, as they are not subject to the English exam board rules! Those marks really do not belong in a science paper anyway! The practical exams - which do not require obtaining stupidly accurate results, like chemistry - are equally very good. I am genuinely glad that we moved away from OCR in Physics.
Maths is, I must say, not straightforward. The exams are possibly the first I have come across that actually require you to think a bit! Of course, we are not talking about the Core 1, Core 2 and Further Pure 1 modules, which are quite straightforward, but the mechanics 1, statistics 1 and Core 3 modules. It's taken me 5 past C3 papers to get up to the 90% that I want. I am still hovering around 93-95%, but by this stage, 100% is looking more and more possible, but I will undoubtedly slip up somewhere and drop a few marks, as always happens.
For the uninitiated, the further maths AS qualification requires 6 exams, each 1.5h long. Next year, one does another 6 for the full A-Level. It's been called the hardest A-Level by many, and I must agree! I have been given 12 of these papers to complete over the Easter holidays, but because I want to secure the chances of 90+%, I am doing about 16 - one per day! I was even doing one at the airport before a boarded a flight, where I am currently writing this.
Unfortunately, because the maths department is so large at my school changing exam boards is not going to happen anytime soon. And guess which board we do: lovely OCR! (I can't stand them now). The exams are much better that the Chemistry ones, but one can occasionally come across the stupid question, which is so ambiguous that you don't know how to answer it. Indeed, it's worse when these questions are 2 or 4 markers, because then the stakes are much higher!
German is also a lovely exam. Well done the Edexcel board! It's a nice relaxing 2h45min exam, which can be completed within 1.5h, and where you get your own MP3 player for the listening section, do you can stop and replay certain sections. It's truly fantastic! The exam next year is apparently equally good, with a good German literature section, which I am looking forward to!
So, what can you take away from this post other than learning about my unrelenting hatred of
OCR? Very little really! It might be worth mentioning that all my exams are now up-to-scratch, it's just a matter of fine tuning the exam technique and knowing what keeps Mr OCR happy. For those who are about to take their GCSEs (sophomore year for my US readers), enjoy them. It only gets worse from here! For those revising for their AS, A2 or equivalent exams, I wish you all the best and hope that you get the grade you have been working towards, if not better! Just remember, it's a game you are playing with the exam board, OCR especially. If you have more than two subjects with OCR exams, then I salute you and wish you all the best.
We currently find ourselves with the most horrible month ahead of us: the exam season, where tensions run high and breakdowns ensue. Preparing for that by running yourself into the ground now is potentially the worst thing you could do. Work hard, but, as the rhetoric of my teachers goes, remember to take a break. "But breaks are for the weak!", I hear you say. Maybe, but the apparently weak are those who know how to enjoy themselves, while still getting good grades, a skill I am still lacking somewhat: until recently, my take on "a break" was doing a quick Core 1 paper and seeing (for fun) how quickly I could complete it - 40mins is the current record, with the required criteria (90+% score). That's a bad idea, I now realise!
I will, as I said before, most likely be unable to write a blog post for a while now. So, if I don't, again, the best of luck to you all, and we will see each other, war-torn and exhausted, on the other side!
Until then, goodbye.
It very slowly dawns on you that perhaps you have let yourself in for more than you could handle, and then it suddenly hits you like a very heavy, very large boulder that, yes, you still have a lot of work to do to hit that 90% mark boundary to even be considered for Cambridge entry. Am I saying that those events have happened to me? Well, kind of.
A few weeks before the Easter holidays, I got a rather abysmal mark in my Chemistry (Atoms, bonds and Groups module) mock, followed shortly by a low A grade in C3 maths. That was my "oh crap" moment. That was the point at which I considered whether I had over-exerted myself over the year in extra-curricular activities and failed to focus on what actually mattered: the exam!
The conclusion I came to was that it was completely and utterly irrelevant! I had done what I had done and I had to deal with the exams now, but I must say, if I had another shot at the year, I would not have done anything different with regards to extracurriculars! This year especially, I have developed my non-academic skills immensely, not to mention developed as a person significantly.
But now we are, and here we will stay unless I significantly step up my exam game. The funny thing is, I understand the syllabus contents, it's just the mark schemes that I have to conquer! In Chemistry, for example, a 10 mark question has exactly 10 marking points, unlike at GCSE, meaning that you have to know exactly what the question wants you to write down. Fortunately, that's really only the one exam board: OCR. They are ridiculously specific in some areas and far too broad in others. For example, a marking point for the green chemistry question - a farcical topic in itself - "how do chemists help reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere?" Is "make decaffeinated coffee".
No, I am dead serious. It's absolute idiocy. There are many more such examples!
Physics papers are very pleasant. We do like to make fun of WJEC, the Welsh board, but they do write very good physics papers: unambiguous, straightforward and clear. You will always know exactly what they are asking you to write down. Further, there are no annoying quality of communication (ie, English) marks, as they are not subject to the English exam board rules! Those marks really do not belong in a science paper anyway! The practical exams - which do not require obtaining stupidly accurate results, like chemistry - are equally very good. I am genuinely glad that we moved away from OCR in Physics.
Maths is, I must say, not straightforward. The exams are possibly the first I have come across that actually require you to think a bit! Of course, we are not talking about the Core 1, Core 2 and Further Pure 1 modules, which are quite straightforward, but the mechanics 1, statistics 1 and Core 3 modules. It's taken me 5 past C3 papers to get up to the 90% that I want. I am still hovering around 93-95%, but by this stage, 100% is looking more and more possible, but I will undoubtedly slip up somewhere and drop a few marks, as always happens.
For the uninitiated, the further maths AS qualification requires 6 exams, each 1.5h long. Next year, one does another 6 for the full A-Level. It's been called the hardest A-Level by many, and I must agree! I have been given 12 of these papers to complete over the Easter holidays, but because I want to secure the chances of 90+%, I am doing about 16 - one per day! I was even doing one at the airport before a boarded a flight, where I am currently writing this.
Unfortunately, because the maths department is so large at my school changing exam boards is not going to happen anytime soon. And guess which board we do: lovely OCR! (I can't stand them now). The exams are much better that the Chemistry ones, but one can occasionally come across the stupid question, which is so ambiguous that you don't know how to answer it. Indeed, it's worse when these questions are 2 or 4 markers, because then the stakes are much higher!
German is also a lovely exam. Well done the Edexcel board! It's a nice relaxing 2h45min exam, which can be completed within 1.5h, and where you get your own MP3 player for the listening section, do you can stop and replay certain sections. It's truly fantastic! The exam next year is apparently equally good, with a good German literature section, which I am looking forward to!
So, what can you take away from this post other than learning about my unrelenting hatred of
OCR? Very little really! It might be worth mentioning that all my exams are now up-to-scratch, it's just a matter of fine tuning the exam technique and knowing what keeps Mr OCR happy. For those who are about to take their GCSEs (sophomore year for my US readers), enjoy them. It only gets worse from here! For those revising for their AS, A2 or equivalent exams, I wish you all the best and hope that you get the grade you have been working towards, if not better! Just remember, it's a game you are playing with the exam board, OCR especially. If you have more than two subjects with OCR exams, then I salute you and wish you all the best.
We currently find ourselves with the most horrible month ahead of us: the exam season, where tensions run high and breakdowns ensue. Preparing for that by running yourself into the ground now is potentially the worst thing you could do. Work hard, but, as the rhetoric of my teachers goes, remember to take a break. "But breaks are for the weak!", I hear you say. Maybe, but the apparently weak are those who know how to enjoy themselves, while still getting good grades, a skill I am still lacking somewhat: until recently, my take on "a break" was doing a quick Core 1 paper and seeing (for fun) how quickly I could complete it - 40mins is the current record, with the required criteria (90+% score). That's a bad idea, I now realise!
I will, as I said before, most likely be unable to write a blog post for a while now. So, if I don't, again, the best of luck to you all, and we will see each other, war-torn and exhausted, on the other side!
Until then, goodbye.
March 22, 2014
CanSat, Extracurriculars and Impending AS-Levels
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| Our CanSat following descent and impact. |
It has been a long time, and I do apologise for that. About three months have passed since my last post, and I must say, I feel about three years older since the Arkwright awards ceremony. This post will not necessarily be very long: I just want to write something quick to update the readers - if they still exist - and to provide a log for future Nick. Hello there Future Nick! If you are interested, today is the day that Russia signed the agreement to annex Crimea from Ukraine and accept it into the Russian Federation.
Although I am no historian, and have not done history since age thirteen (because the UK system is great like that) I am not ignorant about the past. World War 1 started due, simply put, due to growing international tensions and a very finely balanced network of treaties and agreements. The thought that the treaties and agreements that are currently in place having an uncanny similarity to those of pre-WW1 times has not eluded my thoughts, and especially with the EU and all their complicated membership rules, I do feel somewhat uneasy about the global political and social situation. As my father so simply puts it, it only takes one person to tug on one piece of a string for the entire web to unravel.
While we sit here and await doom - I am over-dramatising - lets update you!
Lets talk about my A-Levels. Remember when I said that I could handle it? I might have been a bit over ambitious there. With the exam season rapidly approaching, I am finding myself panicking over the modules, specifically Core 3 and Further Pure 1 maths. Why is this the case? Well, I just make stupid mistakes. It is not a matter of a lack of knowledge: it rarely happens that I am unable to complete a question, but rather I will loose marks due to a rouge negative or writing 2^2 = 2 or something equally as stupid. The fact of the matter is, I need more practice if I want to score an average of 90%, which will be taking place over the easter holidays.
My friend made a throwaway comment about me refusing to take a break from work. His maths teacher heard it on passing us. He stopped and proceeded to give me a lesson on how I should take at least one week off and not to any work. I said, “yeah, maybe only one paper a day then”, to which he scoffed and made me promise that I would take a week off and do no work. Whatsoever. Bear in mind that I have never met or spoken with this teacher before! So yeah, now I have a forced respite, enforced by three teachers now…
January 5, 2014
People, Work, and the Great Year Ahead.
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| London Arkwright Scholarships award ceremony |
First, let me wish all of you still reading a happy new year! It has indeed been a long time. Over 6 weeks! It has been a busy half term, with every waking moment of mine being occupied by something, such as my recent school production of Julius Caesar, for which I was the assistant lighting director in preparation for my new appointment as chief of lighting; setting up the Greenpower Formula Student 24+ competition at my school! for which we need to build a race car; preparing a series of presentations for the 2014 Arkwright Scholarship applicants, and heading up product development in my Young Enterprise team, for which we design, market and sell a product.
It's been a busy term, yet my social life has surprisingly not gone completely down the drain. What little I had before still exists. It's neither growing, nor shrinking, but that's all alright with me! Who needs "frenemies" anyway? They are a complete waste of time and effort.
Funnily enough, I actually tell people I dislike them to their face in most cases. It's a useful skill to possess when you need to wade through the "lower third" quickly, but the key thing is, I am open to changing my opinion: one person, I never much liked, before I was placed into a German class with him and had to work with him. I later told him that although I never much liked him and thought he was a self-righteous twerp, I now thought he was a great guy.
Granted, I tend to hold a rather negative view of people in general. "People suck" is my life motto, and it has served me well this far; however, recently I have had to reevaluate this conclusion, following three events. The first is with regards to YE, and I would prefer not to go into that until after the competition has concluded.
Second was my introduction to the A-Level years. I am suddenly in classes with people, with whom I have had little to do with the past three years. This being the case, my evaluation of these people from three years ago was completely incorrect: many of them have grown up in terms of maturity, and are no longer classified in my "lower third".
Third was my recent holiday with my sister and her friend. I was astounded how much there is to talk about with regards to guys and parties and socialising and gossip and whatnot. They spoke about people "getting with" other people and how scandalous that was and "oh my god" and "no, she didn't". First, I cannot stand the phrase "get with": it sounds so crude and disrespectful. The problem is, all other phrases sound sappy and/or incongruous, so I am open to suggestions about what to call it and perhaps we can disseminate this new, innovative, phrase to the wider population.
In any case, I would have classified my sister and her friend as a "lower third", but seeing them not pouting on Facebook or taking selfies, and just being silly, I wouldn't. This raises an interesting dilemma. Potentially, it could be the case that my "thirds" system needs to be reevaluated for more granular relations with people. To get a general overview of a person, it still works perfectly well, but when I engage in a deeper conversation or a longer acquaintance with the person, I need to discard the system.
That's not to say that my sister and her friend are not twerps. There, the system does not fail, but the definition of the "lower third”, being people that I cannot, will not, and won't get along with, is incorrect for them.
Overall, I am changing my world view, with respect to people and how people interact with society in general. I am not making it a New Year's resolution, seeing as those go out the window by no later than the 5th of January (hence why I have not made any and posted this on the 5th), but a challenge to myself. I will still judge people in the typical Weninger fashion, but my conclusions will change. I have noticed myself doing this already ever since my exciting excursion to Stanford this past summer.
More immediate, perhaps, is my impending SAT exam for the US, A-Levels and applications to university over the course of this year. Reminiscing on 2013, I must say, it would probably rank in one of my top three years so far: I won the Toyota STEM Challenge, went to Belgium for BalloonSat, got accepted to Stanford EPGY for the summer, became the head of the Engineering Society at SPS, was awarded an Arkwright scholarship, but most importantly, I met many of new, fascinating, interesting, intelligent and kind people, with whom I would like to stay in contact with for a very, very long time to come.
2013 was a great year. 2014 is going to present lots of challenges, especially with regards to university choices and applications, but as I said in my post just after the start of the academic year, a challenge is always welcome, and faced with full vigour.
2013 was a monumental year, but here is to an even more monumental 2014. Give me your worst.
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| Celebrating the New Year in the Alps with family and friends |
October 22, 2013
The University Dilemma
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| Stanford: a view from Hoover Tower |
I have mentioned again and again that I am torn between going to the US and staying in Europe for University. Do I want that campus lifestyle in a relatively foreign and exciting country, with some of the best institutes of the world, or do I want to stay within the culture I want to potentially live and work in [in later life, anyway] and learn a second - maybe even a third - language properly by having classes taught in them? The UK, despite it being a familiar scene to me, is also not out of the question. Cambridge and Oxford are both world-class institutions, and dirt cheap compared to the US. In this post, I would like to dissect this dilemma - in my signature broken and disorganised way - and hopefully reconstruct it in a somewhat coherent manner.
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| ETHZ: the main building |
August 30, 2013
A European in America and Other Fun Things
As the summer draws to a close and the memories of it are still fresh in my memory, this post is almost a bit too late! As many of you know from my last post, This summer was potentially one of the most influential on me as a person and in my academic career thus far. I know, being only sixteen, talking about a “career” is a bit too foresightful, but in all honesty, I do not bother too much to think about that: I just do what I enjoy, and those activities are called by others “CV builders”. I am just lucky that the stuff I enjoy doing is actually helpful! Anyway, enough with my possibly condescending mini-rant, onwards with the adventures I had this summer! This post is likely to be very long, so beware!
First, but not the focus of this post, I was kindly invited to go to Imperial College to undertake a week’s worth of work experience, working on the European Commission Project, BioSonic. The aim of the project is to devise a system and build a proof-of-concept plant thereof, by which waste sawdust would be processed into commercial chemical products. I, along with a good friend of mine and, rather interestingly, an American from Edinburgh, spent part of the week in the lab conducting rough experiments to determine the most important factor in the processing stage: time, compound concentration or temperature. I am not sure of the level of classification the project planners want to keep the project at, so I kept the description as ambiguous as possible! Overall though, my time spent at Imperial was great and I would again like to thank all that made that week (and a bit) so enjoyable: The post-doctoral research fellow, the professor that organised the entire week and even the PhD students in the coffee room, who explained their PhD projects to me!
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| Me in my lab coat |
July 30, 2013
Summer and Miscellaneous Events
Editors note: I have been exceptionally lazy. My presumption of the events described below being demanding were correct, so as such, I have not had time to post! I am at the EPGY course at the moment, dealing with their computers stuck on the silly 8.5x11” paper size and bemusing American spelling, but believe me when I say that there will be a very long and involved post in the near future regarding the matter.
My word, this summer has been, and is going to continue to be, fantastic! Much has happened and much more will happen. I have learned a lot and I shall be learning much more. Yeah, you get the picture: an action-packed, quintessentially nerdy, profoundly perplexing summer!
Let’s start as I always do with my infamous airplane posts: I am currently sitting on a United airlines Boeing 747-400 on hoe way from London Heathrow to San Francisco! Also, this is my first long-haul flight traveling alone, in addition to it being my first visit to the US west coast. The reason? I applied for the Stanford University Education Programme for Gifted Youths Summer Institutes and was somehow accepted, even on my extremely rushed application!
Me, a gifted youth! The thought befuddles me.
I will be at Stanford University for three weeks, studying Environmental and Earth Sciences; the quantum physics and AI courses were oversubscribed, I have been lead to believe. As expected, my entire family was spamming me with congratulatory messages, while my teachers told me that I "will never want to come back"! We shall see: I have recently come to the realisation that the UK is not half bad, especially having been down to the lovely Winchester to meet Alicia Cuddeford (see her guest post).
My word, this summer has been, and is going to continue to be, fantastic! Much has happened and much more will happen. I have learned a lot and I shall be learning much more. Yeah, you get the picture: an action-packed, quintessentially nerdy, profoundly perplexing summer!
Let’s start as I always do with my infamous airplane posts: I am currently sitting on a United airlines Boeing 747-400 on hoe way from London Heathrow to San Francisco! Also, this is my first long-haul flight traveling alone, in addition to it being my first visit to the US west coast. The reason? I applied for the Stanford University Education Programme for Gifted Youths Summer Institutes and was somehow accepted, even on my extremely rushed application!
Me, a gifted youth! The thought befuddles me.
I will be at Stanford University for three weeks, studying Environmental and Earth Sciences; the quantum physics and AI courses were oversubscribed, I have been lead to believe. As expected, my entire family was spamming me with congratulatory messages, while my teachers told me that I "will never want to come back"! We shall see: I have recently come to the realisation that the UK is not half bad, especially having been down to the lovely Winchester to meet Alicia Cuddeford (see her guest post).
June 24, 2013
Education and the Examination Swindle – Part 4
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| Image from "Get the Best Grades Now Blog" |
Editors note: The lovely Alicia Cuddeford has gracefully written a post to continue with our "Education and the Examination Swindle" series. As ever, I may or may not [suspense!] agree with her views, but I have written a few footnotes for the reader's amusement. Enjoy!
Hello again TheCompBlog readers! Since Nicolas didn’t think that my post last year was complete rubbish, I have been invited back to write for him about this darn education that keeps inconveniencing my life. For those who don’t know who I am, I’m Alicia and I am a student in the grand old city of Winchester. I wrote a post for Nicolas last April about my opinions on secondary education which can be found here, but now, seeing as my past year at 6th form college is fresh in my mind, Nicolas thought it would be nice for me to share them.
I feel like I should probably introduce my college, because I’m told that it is quite prestigious. Peter Symonds College, or “Hogwarts” as it is commonly known by a street urchin like me, is one of the largest sixth form colleges in the country. Ben Ainslie and Jack Dee came here, something which Peter Symonds really get off on – newspaper articles are smeared along the walls to let us know that we too could achieve greatness, while also serving the purpose of allowing cynics like me to snort at them. As previously mentioned, it is in Winchester, therefore the target student is from an affluent family who shop at Waitrose and dress in Jack Wills clothing. Because of this, I initially thought that I wouldn’t fit in well here, but I was wrong.[1]
June 19, 2013
The Trials and Tribulations of the GCSE - an Introduction.
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| Image from The Guardian |
Notice that rhetoric technique there? No? Well, I probably got an A - as opposed to an A* - in English language, which would be rather disappointing, given that I was predicted ten A*s and a B.
B, you say? Yes, a B. sorry for the rather confusing nature of the previous structure and for my rather pompous tone! That B was for Ancient History. Interestingly, that was the one of two GCSEs I took, everything else was iGCSE. For my foreign audience, keep on reading and I shall explain everything in a moment. Anyway, having seen that mark, I basically ignored all other subjects and revised Ancient History like there was no tomorrow. As it is a GCSE, it's modular, which is annoying to the umpteenth degree, considering that it was the only qualification for which there were three exams.
Anyway, I feel like I did not screw any exam up hugely, so I am relatively confident for straight A*s, but we will have to wait for August.
A bit of context. The GCSE - the general certificate of secondary education - is a stupid qualification (see here, here and here). Despite its stupidity, it's the mandatory qualification all UK students have to do at 16 in order to get into a sixth-form college (or years 12 and 13 to get GCE A-level qualifications, the general certificate of education advanced level, to get into university. Silly naming schemes, right? You'll hear me complain about this later on!). There is also the iGCSE, the international general certificate of secondary education. This qualification is done by only international UK schools, but private schools within the UK can opt to do it as well. Apparently, it is a more challenging qualification with a better syllabus. Stupidly enough, UK state schools cannot choose to do the iGCSE, they have to do the GCSE. Way to close the education gap, Gove.
May 5, 2013
The Happenings of a GCSE Student
My word! It has been over 6 months since I last posted! Astounding how quickly time slips past. I remember those carefree days when GCSEs were a faint enigma in the distance, never to be seen or manifested. Alas, I am sitting here with five days to go until the horror story that is the national public exam of the Secondary Certificate of Education.
I have been wondering lately during those less-than-ideal revision sessions, why they are called certificates of education. I mean, yes, there is some aspect of learning and thinking involved, but I am convinced that most people will be able to pass with a C grade even the hardest iGCSE, just going over exam technique and how to, as my Ancient History teacher says, "play the game". It seems like a rather futile exercise to me!
On the same point, why do we even have this silly independent exam board system? I wrote a rather extensive piece on this a while ago, but the idea has just returned to me: In a nationwide standardised exam, designed to benchmark all students against each other, why do we have varying levels of difficulty? I am doing the AQA English Literature and Language certificate (or some other fancy name that does not mean much), and it is purportedly harder than their GCSE offerings. Silly, right? Even within exam boards there is variation! Astounding, If you ask (the very non-ostentatious) me. Get the joke? No? Most of my family don't either... I am not the funniest person...
Anyway, back to why I have not been posting: there has been a lot of stuff going on! To start with, there were my GCSE mocks, which went towards setting my predicted grades, which interestingly, I do not get to see. Then there was exam feedback (and the mountain-load of associated homework). Then there was this whole thing about Arkwright Engineering Scholarships and the relatively difficult processes in being awarded one [I find out in a month!], followed by working on our entry to the 2013 Toyota STEM Challenge as well as designing an experiment that went 30km into the stratosphere (and the associated difficulties). Oh, and then preparation started for the actual GCSEs. I will probably think of something else I would have done, but thats what I remember off the top of my head.
So, all in all, I hope that my readers will forgive me for my negligence to this blog. I have promised time and time again to move to Wordpress, and I assure you that it is in the works. The problem is that I am too cheap to pay for hosting and I want to challenge myself to create my own webserver at home, considering that I know absolutely nothing about webserver operation and maintenance!
Oh, yes. I remembered. We are also entering CanSat UK this year, where we have to launch a pseudo-satilite in a can to an altitude of 1km, conduct a primary mission of collecting certain weather data, as well as a secondary mission of our choosing. It will be fun!
I have been wondering lately during those less-than-ideal revision sessions, why they are called certificates of education. I mean, yes, there is some aspect of learning and thinking involved, but I am convinced that most people will be able to pass with a C grade even the hardest iGCSE, just going over exam technique and how to, as my Ancient History teacher says, "play the game". It seems like a rather futile exercise to me!
On the same point, why do we even have this silly independent exam board system? I wrote a rather extensive piece on this a while ago, but the idea has just returned to me: In a nationwide standardised exam, designed to benchmark all students against each other, why do we have varying levels of difficulty? I am doing the AQA English Literature and Language certificate (or some other fancy name that does not mean much), and it is purportedly harder than their GCSE offerings. Silly, right? Even within exam boards there is variation! Astounding, If you ask (the very non-ostentatious) me. Get the joke? No? Most of my family don't either... I am not the funniest person...
Anyway, back to why I have not been posting: there has been a lot of stuff going on! To start with, there were my GCSE mocks, which went towards setting my predicted grades, which interestingly, I do not get to see. Then there was exam feedback (and the mountain-load of associated homework). Then there was this whole thing about Arkwright Engineering Scholarships and the relatively difficult processes in being awarded one [I find out in a month!], followed by working on our entry to the 2013 Toyota STEM Challenge as well as designing an experiment that went 30km into the stratosphere (and the associated difficulties). Oh, and then preparation started for the actual GCSEs. I will probably think of something else I would have done, but thats what I remember off the top of my head.
So, all in all, I hope that my readers will forgive me for my negligence to this blog. I have promised time and time again to move to Wordpress, and I assure you that it is in the works. The problem is that I am too cheap to pay for hosting and I want to challenge myself to create my own webserver at home, considering that I know absolutely nothing about webserver operation and maintenance!
Oh, yes. I remembered. We are also entering CanSat UK this year, where we have to launch a pseudo-satilite in a can to an altitude of 1km, conduct a primary mission of collecting certain weather data, as well as a secondary mission of our choosing. It will be fun!
December 16, 2012
Reflections and Reconsiderations
On my first ever Lufthansa flight, I figured I would write my typical Christmas post, reflecting on the past year and the achievements that have been made by us. Now that i think about it, 2012 has been an eventful year! Unfortunately, I do not really have any one topic to ramble on about, but anyway, it has also been an Intriguing few weeks for me. I have progressed well in my various projects, namely, BaloonSat, where we are due to send a radiation monitoring experiment into the atmosphere; my IP ArdPi buggy (more on that later) and my various controlled assessments and courseworks that I am required to do. However, perhaps most interestingly, I have now become a standing candidate for the Richmond borough for the UK Youth Parliament.
It's quite a funny story actually. The leaflet advertising it came to my tutor group and I took one, figuring that it might be a fun thing to do. Once the first meeting came around and went, I became apprehensive of my willpower to carry this through, due to the work it requires and my own personal workload, especially with A levels coming up over the next two years. Another person from my school decided to drop out that evening for precisely those reasons. I, on the other hand, decided to hedge my bets and hold out making a decision until the next meeting.
So, this Saturday I went to the second meeting, full of apprehension, hoping to make my decision following it. We discussed many things, including how to put together an effective manifesto, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I met many new and interesting people of about my age from demographics I had never had the pleasure of interacting with, often with different, yet valid, opinions, for which they were willing to argue with a passion. We discussed and debated many local and national issues, such as transport, energy and the recent education reforms. I even encountered people from a rival school just down the road from us, and despite the many stereotypes my school made of them, we greatly enjoyed ourselves. I managed to greatly embarrass myself, as I always do, by saying that she looked similar to "Sue" from the American TV show, "The Middle". Luckily, she still spoke to me afterwards...! (She kinda did though, just better looking and without the braces!)
Hence, I have decided to continue with the process, and as such I ask you, as I am currently compiling my manifesto, to bring to my attention any issues, both on a local and national level, that you would like me to take a look at and consider putting into my manifesto. It is, after all, you that will be voting! I shall keep you all updated as the process goes on, but for now, the mock GCSE exams are looming, and so, revision is in order [Oh dammit, the Geography! All that Geography!].
In terms of the bigger picture, it is a daunting task to concisely and interestingly list all the big events that have occurred this year. I mean, there are highs: the (unconfirmed) discovery of the Higgs Boson, Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the upper-atmosphere and of course the London Olympics, as well as the lows: the death of Neil Armstrong and the recent Newtown, Connecticut shooting, for which I send my genuine thoughts and condolences. Yep, 2012 was an eventful year indeed, and I think that no one does it better justice than Google and their annual Zeitgeist video.
So for now, I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season, and if I do not get back to you by then and we are all still alive (get the 2012 apocalypse reference?), a happy new year!
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