The Legendary Offtopic, Offtopic Thread.

[Veck]

I'm pretty indifferent anyway. Did Arsen Wenger have any good "I didn't see my team foul" moments?

[Luvitus]

I found an orange key. What does it unlock?

The pantry (go get your nutella and toasties)

[nyk45]

I'm pretty indifferent anyway. Did Arsen Wenger have any good "I didn't see my team foul" moments?

Forgot to watch the match, actually. Checked the result online.

[Luvitus]

School time, bye bye

[Goldbrand]

Aaaaah, I just re-read the Camp for Idiots RP from ages ago. Damn my writing style was bad....

Good times though, shame it couldn't last

[Veck]

So... Last night of half term, huh? It's been okay, I guess. I just wish there was more to do.

[Goldbrand]

So... Last night of half term, huh? It's been okay, I guess. I just wish there was more to do.

Is what every student in Britain is thinking I would wager, with different amounts of depression...

[Veck]

Uuuuuuuuuugh! I wish I could just take my GCSEs now. I'll be spending the next two months doing revision I don't need for an exam that I'm confident I could pass now. School is such a waste of time sometimes.

[Goldbrand]

I was the same at GCSE, but A level is a pretty big jump in terms of complexity. Be prepared...

[The Tom]

I agree with the above statement. Especially Physics. A level Physics completely ruined the magic of quarks for me.

[Goldbrand]

I agree with the above statement. Especially Physics. A level Physics completely ruined the magic of quarks for me.

They were magical? They were never even mentioned at GCSE to me

[The Tom]

When I was younger I was really interested in all things to do with the universe and quantum physics. Then I went to school. Some bits are OK, but then you remember that you've not done any work for the whole half term and risk failing horribly.

[Veck]

Quarks are the things that make up atoms, yeah? Pfft, I learned about them when I was about 5 years old.

[Goldbrand]

very true I was always a little curious, but was more intigued as to why noone could explain nuclear physics to me

And Veck, there's a lot more to it than that

[Kestral]

The Californian version of the GCSE is the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam). From what I hear from you silly Brits, it's remarkably easier and laughably easy. It's too over-emphasized over a test that anyone should be able to pass, but my school pushes it like its the goddamn test determining your entire life. (That would be the SAT) All it is 8th grade level material, and I don't know why they even bother "prepping" the honors/AP classes for it. Hell, a lot of kids are out of Algebra I by this point, which is the extent of the Mathematics portion. I'm not aware of science, however...

In the States, there generally is one standardized test that each grade has to take each year. Over here, it's a test with some acronym that no one bothers to explain to me (The STAR). That is also an easy test that I won't be taking half of, because I don't believe they test AP World History students and Marine Biology isn't included. This year, I have 3 standardized tests. Earlier this school year, I took the PSAT (Pre-SAT), and in a week or so I will be taking the CAHSEE, and the STAR comes in May. However, I will have to take the AP Test for World History, which is scored on a basis of 1-5. 3 is passing, and I took a practice test that rated me at 5.

On a somewhat related note, I'm looking forward to taking Physics, AP American Lit, AP American History, and Honors Pre-Calculus. (Maybe I even should take a language class in the summer).

Also, I've been ninja'd 5 times.

[Veck]

The thing is, tests these days are ridiculously easy. Go through some past papers from 10 years ago for French, and compare them to the ones we get today. People make up all those crackpot stories about the government trying to make us stupid so we're easier to control, but we certainly aren't getting any smarter if our obstacles in life are easier to get around.

[Goldbrand]

I think it's down to the fact that they're practically multiple choice now

They are easy, and I think that's the worst part, because A level is almost the complete opposite

[Veck]

Sciejce tests are multiple choice now, completely. Well, Additional Science papers aren't, but the ones I did in year 10 had four options for an answer. And I did Higher. Plus what's with this new ALAN test thing? We can get a B grade GCSE by doing a test on the level of my Year 6 SATs.

[Goldbrand]

Sciejce tests are multiple choice now, completely. Well, Additional Science papers aren't, but the ones I did in year 10 had four options for an answer. And I did Higher. Plus what's with this new ALAN test thing? We can get a B grade GCSE by doing a test on the level of my Year 6 SATs.

Yeah, I thought so.

ALAN? never heard of it

That I can believe, honestly it's like they haven't got enough to teach so they just repeat the same stuff.

[Veck]

We're actually going backwards in some ways for schooling. The schools themselves are becoming more and more like prisons, teachers are encouraged to spoonfeed the children with everything but then try and encourage them to be individuals, and quite frankly, my IT teacher couldn't work out where the internet was on a Mac.

[Argonanza]

Too many acronyms I've never heard of! I need a hug..

[The Tom]

Too many acronyms I've never heard of! I need a hug..

Aww

We're actually going backwards in some ways for schooling. The schools themselves are becoming more and more like prisons, teachers are encouraged to spoonfeed the children with everything but then try and encourage them to be individuals, and quite frankly, my IT teacher couldn't work out where the internet was on a Mac.

I suppose in a way I'm lucky to go to a school where it's the teachers and not so much the students who care about learning. I think my physics teacher has taught us more guesswork than anything this year. But then, I also do subjects like Russian, where you know about as much as the teacher and it all becomes a common learning experience. I might not know much more than the teacher, but that knowledge in itself is enough to keep me going.

[Veck]

You should've just SAT on the TABEL before you were PUZELD.

[MARS]

I'd talk about the horrible education we get these days but I'm too tired. Good night.

[Jakarius321]

I have a sneaking suspicion that they only got John Prescott on Top Gear tonight to let the audience have a go at him...