Anyone else getting exam results tomorrow? (or in the near future)

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 1:32 pm

Originally posted by frogus
Although we use letters, we do not use all the letters.
In descending order of achievement the results you can get are (IIRC) -
A*
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
U

Although I don't know if you can get G's at A-Level. You can certainly get them at GCSE.
As for getting into university, I don't believe that there are any unis which require three A's (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL etc require AAB). To cut off students, the universities interview people, look at what they have done with their lives (helping grannies across roads, charity work, useful extra-curricular activities etc). I am not sure if they look at actual exam results...

Ah right, it goes down to G. At A-level, though, there is no A*, and it only gets down to E before the dreaded U's start being handed out.

Oxford does give AAA as an offer, several (York and Loughborough in addition to those you said) give AAB. And I can confirm that Universities do look at exam results, both GCSE and AS levels, at interview. Sorry

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:15 pm

Remember N's! You get an N for a Nearly grade. So if you just miss an E or G then you get an N. Not that it means anything.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:17 pm

Thanks Kam & Frog, your system is very...different

So what are the universities looking for during those interviews? What kind of questions do they ask? Is there a "hidden agenda", ie is there a structured set of variables they look for, or is more the interviewers personal assessment?

In Sweden, you apply with your grades and/or test result, and the requirements are equal to the cutoff of students that are accepted. This means requirements fluctuate a little from year to year, depending on how many applicants there are and what grades they have. The highest requirements are doctor, psychologist, architect and journalist at the best universities. Sometime those education programs require top grade in all subjects, usually around 15-20 subjects.

Only a few educations use interviews, physician and psychologist are the only ones I know of. It usually works so that they call the 100 students with the best grades to one or more interviews, then 40 of those are picked for the 40 places at the education.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:31 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans
So what are the universities looking for during those interviews? What kind of questions do they ask? Is there a "hidden agenda", ie is there a structured set of variables they look for, or is more the interviewers personal assessment?

All the interviews I've been in have been very friendly and low-key - I certainly don't think they were looking for anything other than what they admitted to

The Oxford interviews were more academic, but they still weren't asking trick questions - they just want to know how much you know.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:42 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
All the interviews I've been in have been very friendly and low-key - I certainly don't think they were looking for anything other than what they admitted to The Oxford interviews were more academic, but they still weren't asking trick questions - they just want to know how much you know.

That's nice - the Swedish educations who use interviews aren't looking for knowledge or academical achievements at all, that is what the grades are supposed to provide a measure of. Instead, the interviewes aim to examine how well a person fits the idea of what is a suitable person for this profession, and that the student is likely to manage to success and graduate. Large statistical studies have been made of students, so the uni's know what factors make a student more likely to graduate from long, demanding educations and not. The problem as I see it, is that the uni's are selecting people who can cope with the present conditions at the uni's, rather than realising something might be wrong with the education program. For instance, at the psychologist education, the use of interview based intake of students instead of pure grade based intake, reduced the degree of students with immigrant background from 5% to 0%. That is very bad since there is a vast need for psychologists who can speak other languages that Swedish and English in immigration and trauma psycholog - many immigrants who come here have a traumatic background with war, torture and lost family members and are in need of immediate care.

So, what kind of questions have you been asked?

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:50 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans
So, what kind of questions have you been asked?

Hmm, currently I can only think of three...

- Why do you want to come to this University?

- In what ways was Virgil influenced by Homer in the writing of the Aeneid, and how and why does he deviate from the pattern?

- Are you a schizophrenic psychopath who will attempt to slaughter your roommate before continuing on a killing spree through the streets of our fair city?

One of the above is untrue.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:51 pm

Kameleon, this is your official warning. Please do not spam this thread, or I will be forced to report you to the moderators.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:52 pm

Did I say you could speak? You nowhere in the original post or subsequently said that you didn't want any spam, so just put a sock in it, OK?

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:55 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
Did I say you could speak? You nowhere in the original post or subsequently said that you didn't want any spam, so just put a sock in it, OK?

Stop me

And no, I won't stop telling you she has to die, either

Tybaltus · Post by **Tybaltus** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:55 pm

Either Kam has to go to some mental fascility, or I am seeing only Kam's posts talking to himself, in which case, I must go to a mental fascility....

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:55 pm

*clubs his inner voice in the head*

Ouch. Well at least that's over with

Hiya Tyb, how are you today?

*swats at a spot over his left shoulder* No I won't, and I resent that remark!!

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:00 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
- Why do you want to come to this University?

- In what ways was Virgil influenced by Homer in the writing of the Aeneid, and how and why does he deviate from the pattern?

- Are you a schizophrenic psychopath who will attempt to slaughter your roommate before continuing on a killing spree through the streets of our fair city?

One of the above is untrue.

Judging by your latest posts Kammy, I'd say the Virgil/Homer question is the false one, and the last one is, at least in your case, certainly motivated

Are you planning a career as The Oxford Chainsaw man?

Tybaltus · Post by **Tybaltus** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:00 pm

.........uh..................

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:04 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans
Judging by your latest posts Kammy, I'd say the Virgil/Homer question is the false one, and the last one is, at least in your case, certainly motivated

Are you planning a career as The Oxford Chainsaw man?

Well, we can't all be right all the time...maybe they should have asked, but...

Whaddya mean, "planning"??

Did you ever wonder what happened to frogus' girlfriend he was so besotted with a month or so ago?

*pats Tybaltus on the back as he withdraws something long and shiny from a back pocket* There. There. Awww.

Tybaltus · Post by **Tybaltus** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:07 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon

*pats Tybaltus on the back as he withdraws something long and shiny from a back pocket* There. There. Awww.

Ooo....Shiny!

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:08 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
Well, we can't all be right all the time...maybe they should have asked, but...

Whaddya mean, "planning"?? Did you ever wonder what happened to frogus' girlfriend he was so besotted with a month or so ago?

Had they asked, I am sure you would have confirmed that you indeed plan not only to go on a killing spree, but also destroy the city's historic buildings and dig up all their flowerbeds

Sorry, I didn't know you had already started on that particular career...Frogus girlfriend? I thought he was still with her - how cruel of you to start with her, why didn't take Frogus instead?

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:12 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans
Had they asked, I am sure you would have confirmed that you indeed plan not only to go on a killing spree, but also destroy the city's historic buildings and dig up all their flowerbeds

Sorry, I didn't know you had already started on that particular career...Frogus girlfriend? I thought he was still with her - how cruel of you to start with her, why didn't take Frogus instead?

LOL...don't forget going into the art gallery and drawing 'taches on all the nudes...

Ah, well, she was the first...of none.

OK, I admit it, I was going to, but I was scared away by frogus' girly shriek

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:15 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
LOL...don't forget going into the art gallery and drawing 'taches on all the nudes...

Ah, well, she was the first...of none. OK, I admit it, I was going to, but I was scared away by frogus' girly shriek

That would be so creative and tasteful Kammy, precisely what a university would dream of in a student of classic arts...

LOL

Poor Frogus...I think you should continue with random victims instead

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:19 pm

Originally posted by Tybaltus
Ooo....Shiny!

Ooo....Bloody!

@CE, thanks for the encouragement - I'll point them in your direction when I get arrested. I do know your name, you know, and you might have posted the name of that professor friend of yours too somewhere...I could get you in a lot of trouble

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 3:22 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon
@CE, thanks for the encouragement - I'll point them in your direction when I get arrested. I do know your name, you know, and you might have posted the name of that professor friend of yours too somewhere...I could get you in a lot of trouble

Bah, everybody in the profession knows that a psychologist initially needs to play along with extremly disturbed and paranoid patients initially, in order to get information about the whole picture and possible confessions of violent deeds!