#a-level — Public Fediverse posts

More exam stress at 15 linked to higher risk of depression as young adult – study

https://piefed.social/c/education/p/1796848/more-exam-stress-at-15-linked-to-higher-risk-of-depression-as-young-adult-study

The main issue I have with the Irish School #LeavingCertificate is that it doesn't have as much potential for smutty innuendo as the British #ALevel (or the old #OLevel)

#today waiting for my daughter to get back home after receiving her #ALevel #results, and catching up on the #NewScientist article splurge...

Will also have to go and buy a new rucksack as the current one is disintegrating rapidly...

I posted this on LinkedIn a year ago, but with #ALevel results due and people discovering that they need to go through #Clearing, there may be more folks here who need to read it:

There have been lots of articles in the news over the last few days about people missing their expected (or hoped-for) A-level grades, so I thought I'd share my experiences. My A levels were now more than half of my lifetime ago, so I am in a position to think about them with a bit more perspective than I was at the time.

When I was 17, I applied to four universities: Cambridge, Manchester, Warwick, and Southampton. My interview at Cambridge did not go well at all. They started by asking me an easy question but I knew that Cambridge interview questions were hard and so I assumed there was a trick. I didn't want to give the obvious answer because that would show that I hadn't seen the trick. After 5-10 minutes of evasion they told me the answer and moved on. Sure enough, the answer was the one I'd seen immediately. The question was intended to relax me by giving me something easy to start with but had done the opposite. The interview went downhill from there and I did not get an offer.

The other universities that I applied to did not do interviews. The open day at Manchester did a spectacularly bad job of conveying the excellence that I am now aware the department exemplifies, so I put Warwick as my first choice and Southampton as my second.

I remember going into school and opening my results in something of a state of shock. The offer from Southampton had been low, so I'd assumed that it was a safe backup. In spite of that, my grades were not good enough. When I called them, they did have some spaces free but needed my first choice to release me before they could make an offer. Warwick took most of a day to officially reject me, by which time Southampton had filled up the course. They could put me on a different course but not one I was interested in.

I then had some frantic time looking at the league tables for universities with clearing places left. Swansea was top of the list and I was fortunate that my parents were willing and able to drive me to an open day for clearing applicants. I was offered a place and, two weeks before the start of term, also a place in student accommodation.

In hindsight, going to Swansea was a great outcome for me (and not just because it is the university campus closest to the beach of all UK universities). One of the most important things that I discovered about a university education was that it isn't there to teach you things: You can do that yourself and will need to throughout your career. It's there to give you a guided tour of your ignorance.

I'd looked at courses with a lot of practical content because I knew that I didn't know the things that they were teaching me. The Swansea degree course was very mathematical. They acknowledged that, yes, there were physical machines that could approximate universal models of computation, but using them was a bit dirty. Proper computer science was done with mathematical formalisms, not with anything as mundane as a computer. The things I learned about on the degree course were things I didn't even know existed when I applied, yet have used repeatedly throughout my career.

At the same time, the course was not as challenging as somewhere like Imperial or Cambridge would have been. This meant that I had lots of time both for extracurricular activities (I ended up running a few student societies) and for learning about the things that I knew I didn't know. The university computer society (unfortunately named SUCS) had a number of members who were early contributors to Linux, for example, and gave a lot more useful mentorship in practical system development than is available at most universities.

For anyone suffering from poor A Level results, I have a few pieces of advice. Lots of people have probably told you that no one will care about your A Level results in a few years but that doesn't help you now. If you manage to get a clearing place, remember that this is just giving you a different set of opportunities. Someone at a second tier university who takes all of the opportunities that are provided to them will get a lot more out of it than a top-tier university who coasts along.

Getting a First from Swansea enabled me to do a PhD. Having a lot of free time enabled me to contribute to the growing F/OSS ecosystem and get a lot of practical experience. The latter of these gave me a number of consulting opportunities (from people that didn't care that I had a degree, let alone a PhD). This broad experience and the PhD allowed me to return to academia at Cambridge, where I remain a Visiting Researcher. Each new role has built on things that I've done before but not always in ways that I expected.

When I was a PhD student, someone drew my attention to a study of people who described themselves as 'lucky'. The common thread that they found was that these people were willing to identify and take opportunities that they were presented. I think this needs to be caveated with the fact that being able to fail at something and it not completely destroy your life is one of the key indicators of privilege but if you are able to move on from your A-Level results and find a place somewhere else, keep yourself open to opportunities.

With the benefit of hindsight and emotional distance, I think I can honestly say that my life has been far more interesting and my impact on the world much greater than if I'd been able to follow the plan that I had aged 17.

Just released: Biology A level - Cloning and Biotechnology Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-cloning-and-biotechnology/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This is based on the OCR A Gateway spec for A level biology, Chapter 22 from module 6.
Specification reference: 6.2.1

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #science #biology #alevel #genetics #ocr #stem

Just released: Biology A level - Classification and Evolution Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-classification-and-evolution/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This is a cheat sheet based on the OCR A Gateway Biology A level spec, Chapter 10 module 4.
Specification reference: 4.2.2

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #science #biology #alevel #exam

Just released: Biology A level - Patterns of Inheritance Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-patterns-of-inheritance/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This is an OCR A Gateway spec A level Biology cheat sheet for Chapter 20 module 6.
Specification reference: 6.1.2

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #science #biology #alevel #genetics #ocr #stem

Just released: Biology A level - Communicable Diseases Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-communicable-diseases/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This is a cheat sheet for A level OCR Gateway biology, Chapter 12 from Module 4.
Specification reference: 4.1.1

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #science #biology #alevel #stem #ocrgateway

Just released: Biology A level - Manipulating genomes Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-manipulating-genomes/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This is an A level OCR A Gateway biology cheat sheet for Chapter 21 of Module 6.
Specification reference - 6.1.3

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #science #biology #alevel #ocr #genome #stem

Just released: Biology A level - Genetics of Living Systems Cheat Sheet by Anais_Pe

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/anais-pe/cheat-sheets/biology-a-level-genetics-of-living-systems/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: This cheat sheet is based on the OCR A Gateway spec, Chapter 19 of module 6. This will be part of paper 2.
Specification reference - 6.1.1

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #biology #alevel #genetics

What would you recommend for an A-level student of mathematics and physics that is starting to play with computational math, a Sage container or Mathematica in a Raspberry Pi?

#ALevel #math #mathematics #sage #mathematica

Just released: Alvl P2: Magnetic Fields (ch16) Cheat Sheet by MostAncientDream

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/mostancientdream/cheat-sheets/alvl-p2-magnetic-fields-ch16/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: aqa A-level physics year 2 (yr13) Magnetic Fields : chapter 16

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #physics #alevel #aqa #fields

Just released: Alvl P1: Particles (ch1/2) Cheat Sheet by MostAncientDream

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/mostancientdream/cheat-sheets/alvl-p1-particles-ch1-2/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: aqqa A-level physics year 1 (yr12) particles and nuclides/fundamental particles : chapter 1/2

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #physics #particles #alevel #aqa

Hi everyone! I'm Detha, a new member of Beige Party-goers with #AuDHD from #Indonesia, #TootSEA.

I'm currently in my late-20s and a #polyglot — I speak three languages fluently: #Indonesian, #Javanese, and #English. I've also been learning #Japanese, currently trying to memorise Hiragana and Katakana letters.

I work in #education as a high school #teacher, teaching #ALevel #mediastudies. I'm married to a fellow teacher, but he teaches primary English.

I love playing #videogames, despite me being quite bad at it lol. Some of my all-time favourites include #ResidentEvil, #DevilMayCry, and #TheSims. I play #GenshinImpact and #HonkaiStarRail as well. I also like being a backseat #gamer and watch other people play games (mostly my husband and YouTubers). My favourite video game genres are #RPG, #simulation, and #casual.

Other than that, I love reading #manga a lot. Currently I'm making it my mission to read older mangas from my childhood, like #DetectiveConan and #Hellsing. I like reading in general, just not "actual books" haha — my attention span can't handle it.

The music that I listen to are mostly the loud stuff, but my favourite genres are #Hyperpop, #Metalcore, and #Hardstyle EDMs like #Trap and #Dubstep. I actually have a #tattoo of #AvengedSevenfold on my left forearm!

I guess that's what I can think of for my #introduction for now. I have a lot more scattered interests though, so you'll be seeing more of it on my account.

Thank you to @theropologist for accepting my request to join this instance, and nice to meet you all! Beige-bless :bb:

Just released: Alvl P1: work, energy and power (ch6) Cheat Sheet by MostAncientDream

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/mostancientdream/cheat-sheets/alvl-p1-work-energy-and-power-ch6/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: aqa A-level physics Year 1(yr12) work, energy and power: chapter 6

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #physics #alevel #aqa #mechanics #energy #power

Just released: Alvl P2: capacitance (ch6) Cheat Sheet by MostAncientDream

Download it free at http://www.cheatography.com/mostancientdream/cheat-sheets/alvl-p2-capacitance-ch6/?utm_source=mastodon

Here's their description of it: aqa A-level physics Year 2 (yr13) capacitance: chapter 6

@cheatsheets #CheatSheet #CheatSheets #physics #alevel #aqa

A-level results: Chaos as Ucas clearing website crashes after top grades plunge by biggest drop on record | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-level-results-grades-ucas-covid-clearing-boundaries-b2394555.html

#ALevel
#ALevelGrades
#UCAS
#Clearing

A ‘glide path’ to pre-Covid: why A-level grades are lower in England this year
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/17/a-glide-path-to-pre-covid-why-a-level-grades-are-lower-in-england-this-year?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#ALevel

A-level results reflect inequalities across UK after challenging years
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/17/a-level-results-reflect-inequalities-across-uk-after-challenging-years?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#ALevel

Disappointing that none of the news programmes have explained how the “comparable outcomes” exam grading works. Exams in the UK are a sorting hat not a rating against an absolute standard. Clearly unfair to score this year’s cohort who lost GCSE to pandemic against pre-covid cohorts #ukeducation #ukedchat #alevel