Chattery II: for off topic generalities

[Eyes of Wolf]

Hello! I can sympathise with the crazy weekend - I spent the whole thing revising and have not done nearly enough. My mocks start tomorrow and carry on for two weeks, and I only have one day with no exams. Tomorrow's RS, History, and English, and I am already screaming at the thought of History (2 hours to write 3 essays and 6 longish, half-page answers, all on completely different topics).

[Sirkana]

Argh mocks! That sounds very stressful, but I'm sure you'll be fine - remember they really don't matter. And once they're over it'll be Christmas and you can relax!

I'm just trying not to think about my mocks because if I try to revise and do coursework and carry on with my life all at the same time I'll explode or something.

[Eyes of Wolf]

Aaaaargh, weirdly enough my German teacher told me she might submit my mock oral as the real thing if my two orals in May don't go as well. And we had an outside invigilator in History today. Is that normal, or does my school just take things really seriously?

Life? What is a life? (I'm seeing the Sherlock preview on Wednesday at the BFI. (AAA.) That is the extent of my life at the moment. Everything else is revision.)

[Sirkana]

Yeah, in retrospect, by 'life' I just meant the rest of my incessant schoolwork, really...

I actually think, although it's quite scary, that it's nice to have a back-up oral. It doesn't have to be your best, because you still have two more, but on the other hand, it means you have a safety net if the ones in May don't go quite as you plan. FWIW I did one of my real GCSE German orals last January and it was fine.

Having a real invigilator is a bit silly. but I suppose it means that teachers don't have to take time out to invigilate, which must be a pain for them.

Good luck with all of them!

[rosygirl]

we always had outside invigilators at my school, teachers weren't allowed in the exam hall.
i don't have any mocks any time soon, and no exams in january either just a mountain in june instead :/ got a few bits of coursework going on though, and we're tested in class & homeworks every week or so anyway, so i'm not entirely sure we have mocks

[Sirkana]

Lucky - it's nice to be tested little and often rather than have to do everything all at once.

[Eyes of Wolf]

Hm, I actually quite like having all the exams at one time simply because it's a big solid deadline which reminds you to work hard. These mocks completely crept up on me, though...and they reinforce quite how much of a difference there is between, say, History (5.5 hours of difficult, essay-based exams) and IT (coursework which is dictated by the teachers and a one hour exam which is difficult for the reason that the questions are so easy and so ridiculous). It's horribly unfair.

Also, our exam hall is constantly kept at -5 degrees. And you are not allowed to wear anything other than normal school uniform.

[Sirkana]

I tend to prefer exams being spread out so everything doesn't depend on a few weeks, but I can see why you'd like them all over and done with at once.

Also it's so true that some GCSEs are harder than others - I hate it as much as anyone when politicians moan about dumbing down, but Edexcel RS was a joke.

Argh I hate the cold...

[rosygirl]

now i'm doing A-levels, GCSEs seems so easy, i've learnt so much in just a term! at GCSE we'd have weeks of class and homework time to do an essay, but at a-level you're expected to churn out a 2,000 word piece in a weekend. the workload gave me a bit of a shock, but it's not too bad cos it's subjects you actually enjoy. i kinda prefer the 'little and often' approach for tests, though for the real thing it's gonna be all together and a little insane.
and i know what you mean about edexcel RS sirkana, it was a lot of material, but if you knew it all, it was easy, i managed to still get an A* doing the exam while i was ill.
ugh the cold is horrible. i get to college on the train, but have to cycle to the station first. you get freezing cold hands and face, but then your core gets really hot from all the work you put in battling against the wind :/

[Sirkana]

Yeah, the workload gets a lot bigger at A-level - not so much for Latin and Greek until A2, funnily enough, but everything else is a jump. I don't mind actually writing essays, but persuading myself to is so hard...

[Eyes of Wolf]

Urghhh, I already stay up until ridiculous times trying to desperately finish all my essays. Really not looking forward to the A-Level workload...although I kind of am, simply because all the subjects will be ones that I love.

Exactly, once I'm actually writing the essay it's fine, but I can procrastinate for hours before starting, simply because it feels like such a huge task!

The cold is urghhhhh. My least favourite part of a British winter is being on the bus, when the doors are constantly letting the cold in and the floors are covered in muddy water.

[Sirkana]

You'll manage. It is more difficult than GCSE, but it's so much better because everything's interesting.

Anyone doing anything nice for Christmas?

[rosygirl]

i've got the hordes of family descending on christmas day, otherwise just meeting up with friends and catching up on tv

[Sirkana]

Yeah, I've got a lot of family coming over as well.

I still have so much work...

[rosygirl]

oh god i've not even started on all my work. i have an absolute mountain of archaeology to do, and i planned to get it out of the way before christmas. i'm such a procrastinator.
anyway, merry christmas/happy holidays to everyone