Cat-Muffins Can't Cope With College - The Continuation

[Jibar]

The alliteration means there's an outpour about to occur. Angst Umbrellas at the ready folks.

It's been hanging over my head throughout my year at college, but as my A Levels draw closer and closer it has become quite obvious that I am going to fail.
I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm talking about and I've learnt almost every detail of my courses by heart. It just seems the one thing I cannot do is learn what these exams want of me. I joyfully picked purely essay based subjects, so there is no clear list of things I need to know.
I can't help but feel that if I make it onto the second year I would handle myself much better, with much of the focus shifting to coursework, something I can handle myself very well with thanks to some quite liberal deadlines. What people have told me of University suggests I could also do well there, but it's this first year that stops all progress from being made.
If I don't pass this year, I have the option of redoing it but there's not much chance of succeding there, or of my teachers letting me redo their courses.
I'm left wondering, just what can I do?
I've looked and I've learnt and I've tried, but I cannot get anything above a C on an exam paper, which is not enough for my teachers to let me continue. If I can't get move onto the second year, I'm not going to be able to go to Uni, and if I can't get to Uni, I'm pretty much screwed. A nice collection of steadily worsening neurosies and "quirks" means I sort of stop functioning when placed in a workening environment.
I've looked at what some my heroes have managed to accomplish without further education (particularly Alan Moore) but times have changed and without those qualifications how will I get any publisher to take me seriously?
The only idea I've had is a little ludicrous, and so not really up for consideration.
Seriously, what do I do?

[Closet_Skeleton]

I can't help but feel that if I make it onto the second year I would handle myself much better, with much of the focus shifting to coursework, something I can handle myself very well with thanks to some quite liberal deadlines.

I appear to be a year older than you and am currently screwed because I didn't do my coursework in time.


I've looked and I've learnt and I've tried, but I cannot get anything above a C on an exam paper, which is not enough for my teachers to let me continue.

That's harsh. What do they do, kick you off the course so you can't knock them down the league tables?


Seriously, what do I do?

My only advice is to look at some sample A grade answers and study and copy them.

[Player_Zero]

Cs are pretty respectable grades, ya' know. Your teachers will seriously throw you off of the course if you get a C? That seems mighty unlikely to me. If your tutors won't allow you to advance in the course with a C I think that there is something awry.

I got much lower grade in the mocks than I did in the real exams... Which leads me to believe that in doing mock exams you are more likely to get a lower grade, so you are probably more likely to do better in the real exams.

...From your post I couldn't help but feel you have a defeatist attitude about this. This sort of negative outlook generally doesn't help you with revision and, at least in my case, will drag your grades down... You said that you are smart enough for these courses, so perhaps you not being able to acheive the grades which you know you can get is more to do with you believing that you can't. :smallfrown:

Also, there's not anything wrong with resits or repeating a class. You're more likely to get a better grade if you do so, too.

If you are dead set on further education then you should try you hardest in the exams and if you don't do as well as you think you could then you can retake them afterwards. It's not as though it's the end of the world if you fail, because you can always get more than one go at it.

I realise that you will know this already, but to reiterate: revision is generally the best idea for getting better grades. As you say you are taking subjects such as History or English, so the best sort of revision would be practising on exams from previous years in my experience. Looking over te mark schemes will most likely help you learn what they're looking for.

Please feel free to ignore my advise, given that it is from someone who got 3 Cs (And two As, but they were in maths and therefore don't count.) at AS level due to never revising and building card pyramids at the back of lessons for most of the year.

[Brickwall]

Damn you Brits, and your colleges and universities being different things.

I'd support the idea of looking at sample answers and studying them. It doesn't always work, but it's a shot.

Failing that, seriously, look at ways to go without university schooling. For instance, learning a trade. Do you have trade schools over there? While it's a few hundred years too late for you to go apprentice yourself as a blacksmith, you can still generally find education, formal or informal, in many trades. If you had real dedication, you could become a jeweler, a tailor, a cook, a machinist, a carpenter, or an artist. Look toward those avenues. I'm sure at least one will interest you. If you find one, research, research, research. Go through your web of friends to find a person in the business, and get to know that person. Informal apprenticeship is still somewhat possible, and at the very least, they can direct you toward some way to break into the business.

Or you could mooch of parents and friends for all your life, but that tends to be unfulfilling. I'd call that Plan F or so.

[Player_Zero]

Damn you Brits, and your colleges and universities being different things.

...

Or you could mooch of parents and friends for all your life, but that tends to be unfulfilling. I'd call that Plan F or so.

You're the ones who have it backwards, we just have the decency not to say so. :smalltongue:

Unfulfilling? Damn... Looks like I gotta' get a new plan. :smallsmile:

But yeah, we have a "Trade school" equivilents, but depending on which university you're looking to go to they may not be considered as valuable a qualification as an A level. (At least, I think that right...) Not that I'm saying that it isn't a viable choice, naturally.

Specifically though, I think Jibar wants to go to university in order to become a published author. Though I could be wrong. And that publishers are more inclined to publish a work by a university graduate.

*Gets back to physics coursework* It's sciencerific.

Edit:
Damn you Brits, and your colleges and universities being different things.

...

Failing that, seriously, look at ways to go without university schooling...

Go to university without university schooling? What a novel idea. :smalltongue:

[Thufir]

I don't know if it'll help you or not (I can't even remember if it helped me or not), but when I did A-level English Lit, my teachers gave us copies of the assessment objectives to give us an idea of what we were meant to be putting in our essays. They then also gave us model essays with indications as to which bits were meeting which assessment objectives.
Above all, I'd say the best idea is probably to ask your teachers what you're not doing right. After all, it's kind of in their interests to ensure you do as well as you can.
Also, they're being really harsh if they won't let you continue with a C.
Hope it all works out some way or other. *Hug*

[Serpentine]

Firstly, try talking to your teachers, about your options if you do fail, and about what you need to know/do for the exams. They will want you to pass, and should be happy to help you.
Secondly, there are lots of backdoors into universities. If you can't get in straight away, just do some work for a few years and then try to get in as a mature-age student (and if the UK is mean and has weird rules and stuff that stop that, come to Australia instead).

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

Jibar, I believe your angst and fretting calls for...A BOR STORY!

There's a rumor floating about that I'm a smart guy. This rumor has been following me since I was a teen. It's like being stalked...but I'm being stalked by my intellect for decades.

I was 13 when I was sat down by a school psychologist for an IQ test. You see, despite my being smart, I was barely scraping by in ALL of my classes. When the test results came in, everyone was scratching their collective heads.

According to the test-giver's notes, I was "near-genius without effort." I was able to read at college levels. I was about three years ahead of myself in the math department. My creativity was off the charts. My memory was about average. But..."without effort"? :smallconfused: As the lady psychologist said in her notes, if I couldn't get an answer correct immediately, I became too frustrated to answer at all. And her greatest frustration was that some of my answers and behavior fell outside test parameters. Not that this was on the test, but if I was asked what the sum of 2 + 2 was, I would explain the history of the first 2, how it met the second 2, give a little backstory about the second two, and then go on to tell all about how they became 4.

The problem was all about structure for me. I was struggling through school because it didn't interest me. School was like a coloring book, with the pictures all laid out before me, ridged black lines telling me what I should already see...and I wanted to take my crayons and draw outside the lines. I could hand in all the homework and reports I wanted. When it came to a standardized, structured test, I was doomed.

Now, one would think that Mr. Genius would catch on and learn something from it. Nope. I schleped this load of luggage all the way to college, where I started spending my own hard-earned money on classes that I would fail, drop, or do poorly in. Oh, I did quite well in those classes that required creativity. Creative writing, drama, communications...I have some very fond memories of a few courses. But math, history, or science...Those classes were the bane of my existence.

I tried to do the college thing full-time. When that wasn't working out, I tried part-time while working in my free time. Eventually, I dropped out altogether.

Today, I regret not completing my college education. I often consider going back, preferrably taking home courses and getting a degree. I can't afford it, and I fear getting the finances through some kind of aid because I may not meet their standards when it comes to grades. But had I found a way to screw my head on properly way back when, recognise my problems, and work with them instead of against them, I might actually have a degree in something today.

YOU seem to be ahead of me on that one. You appear to have an idea of what's wrong, you just lack a solution. My main suggestion is that you NOT give up. Aside from that, I have two other suggestions:

1. Talk to your current professors. Explain your problem as best you can, and see if there's some way for them to work with you. Perhaps they'd be willing to allow you to take your tests as oral exams. Understand that you're asking a lot, as you're far from the only student having a problem getting good grades...but you might well be the only student showing a desire to find a way to demonstrate that you know the material.

2. If that doesn't work, repeat the year...but have that talk with your professors at the start of term so they understand where your future problems are stemming from. Most professors set aside time to counsel students. Ask if you can see them regularly to demonstrate that you've been grasping the material all along, but a standardized test is your downfall. A good and wise professor will appreciate your desire to find a solution "outside the box."

The bottom line: do your best not to give up. If you do, you may regret surrendering as one barbarian monk does to this day.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Jibar, you're insane.
Now, I'm betting sometime this month they'll sit all first years down and gve The Big Speech about second years and A Levels.
Same here.
But as far as I know they can't stop you from taking an A Level as long as you pass the AS Level.
I know people who got EECB at AS who took all of those subjects at A Level. Besides, you can do these things called 're sits' in January to boost your AS grade.
Just decline the poorer grades and get your AS boosted next year. I know three people planning on resitting a module or two next year.
Just don't resit the coursework modules.

Oh, and less than 50% of people get Cs and above at AS level.
Think on that.

[Miraqariftsky]

I don't know if it'll help you or not (I can't even remember if it helped me or not), but when I did A-level English Lit, my teachers gave us copies of the assessment objectives to give us an idea of what we were meant to be putting in our essays. They then also gave us model essays with indications as to which bits were meeting which assessment objectives.
Above all, I'd say the best idea is probably to ask your teachers what you're not doing right. After all, it's kind of in their interests to ensure you do as well as you can.
Also, they're being really harsh if they won't let you continue with a C.
Hope it all works out some way or other. *Hug*

I agree wholeheartedly.

Just believe in yourself. Know that you can do it.


Hope and pray ye'll do well.

One more bit of advice: DON'T YOU BLEEDING DARE SLEEP LATE.

Goodnight, yo!

[Quincunx]

Brickwall, re: apprenticeships.

This is only gleaned from reading British news online, not from experience or immersion, but there's deep interest in homegrown 'skilled tradesmen'* but without the financial backing for apprenticeships. The national, or as close as it gets in whatever portion of Great-Britain we're discussing here, weekly rates of pay for apprentices are legally set a bit below the weekly rates for state benefits (what we would call welfare), which requires working double jobs or being supported at home for the duration of an apprenticeship.

As for Jibar's well-defined trouble--sorry, no experience means no usable advice. I was pleasantly surprised to open this topic and not find ill-defined emotional upset. A well-defined problem should have a solution.

*Anyone know the name of the British equivalent to the U.S. annual careers outlook guide, with numbers employed per trade and projected growth and such?

[sapphail]

Quick question - what is an A level exactly? Is that the last year of school?

I did well enough in school to get a small scholarship from my uni, was there for 2 and a half years of my degree and then deferred to work for a year. I then decided there was no way in hell I was going to spend the rest of my career sitting behind a desk enduring office politics. So I dropped out and am now doing an apprenticeship as a chef.

Point being, don't worry about 'if I don't go to uni I'm screwed'. Everyone says that. It's not true and puts an absurd amount of pressure on you at a time when you really don't need it. Example: we were told in Year 12 that we weren't to miss an exam under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! EVER! One of my teachers said, word for word, 'if you're sick on the day of the exam, come in, we'll put you in a seperate room with a bucket'. And she wasn't joking.

It's not true that if you don't go to uni you'll be a checkout chick or dole bludger for the rest of your life. Trust me - within 12 months of graduating your school results will mean almost nothing to you, because you'll be too occupied with the next thing. So stress not. And to my (limited) knowledge, they can't stop you doing final year unless you actually flunk this year.

[Arioch]

Quick question - what is an A level exactly? Is that the last year of school?

Ah, the problems different school systems cause.

An A-level is the qualification you get at the end of Year 13 - the seventh year of secondary/high school. It is divided up into several modules spread over two years. Three modules make an AS, six a full A-level. A-levels are required to enter university. You need GCSEs (the next level down - the exams I'm doing in a few weeks' time) to do A-levels.

Hope this helps. What's the system in Australia?

[Totally Guy]

Let me just convert it all into the universally known school grading system.

GCSEs are O.W.L.S,

A-levels are N.E.W.T.S,

O.W.L.S are taught for the first 5 books or years.

And N.E.W.T.S are taught for 2.

Once Jibar has completed this lot he might get to go to Unseen University to further his skill.

[Player_Zero]

Let me just convert it all into the universally known school grading system.

GCSEs are O.W.L.S,

A-levels are N.E.W.T.S,

O.W.L.S are taught for the first 5 books or years.

And N.E.W.T.S are taught for 2.

Once Jibar has completed this lot he might get to go to Unseen University to further his skill.

You, sirrah, have the well versed manner of a gentleman and breath as fresh as a summer ham.

But yeah, you do GCSEs until 16, which are pretty much compulsary, then A levels which are 'optional' until 18, then you go to university, which is also optional.

[Lianae]

Hope this helps. What's the system in Australia?

In the last two years of school, year 11 and 12, you do a different course depending on what state you're in, for example in Victoria we have VCE and NSW has HSC. As far as I know they're pretty similar between the states. Basically the score you get at the end of year 12 which is used for Uni entry depends on how well you did in your end-of-year exams and coursework over the 2 years.

Jibar, from your post I gathered that you know all the information but you just can't put it into the exams. Looking at old papers is really really helpful, especially in essay-based subjects, and also ask your teachers for structures or methods for writing the essays, marking schemes/criteria are also really helpful. We spent almost half our time in some subjects on stuff like this, and it can really pay off.

[Charity]

I got a first on the strength of doing every passed paper I could find.

Jib old man, confidance is an important ingredient to successful academia you need some of my cocky lil sod pills, I'm sure I have some left from back in the day. *hands Jib some tic tacs*

Do all the passed papers; remember you're a muffin god and kick arse matey...
*wanders off to find some cheerleader pictures... not for Jib, just for his own amusement*

[Glaivemaster]

E is a passing grade, D is an ok/average grade, C is a good grade, B is an excellent grade and A is an amazing grade. If you can't get anything better than a C, then you're still doing pretty good

I rarely got anything better than a C in any of my test papers and mock exams, except for a couple of complete flukes which I could never emulate. I ended A-levels with a BCCc, and managed to get into one of the better universities in the country. With lower grades I still coud've gone to a decent university

What do you do? You keep going, get those C grades, ace your coursework and come out with maybe 3 Bs at the end of it all, which will get you into a few decent universities. People here are giving pretty good advice, you can follow most of that (particularly talking to your teachers, they should know what they're doing. Especially if they're asking for consistent Cs)

[Serpentine]

I'm on a high C average at the moment...

'course, here "C" means "Credit", which is actually pretty good :smallwink: