Over here in the UK, it’s results day for nervous A-level students.
Is anyone here getting theirs today? If so, good luck if you don’t already know.
My girlfriend checked the application website this morning and found that she’d been accepted into the university I’m already going to. Woohoo!
We’ll be celebrating tonight with a huge chinese takeaway! Mmmmmmm.
When do you take the A-level tests? Is it after high school (grade 12) and before applying to college/university?
And what kind of test is it? Multiple choice, essay, short answer, or a mix depending on subject?
I got a C in photography C in Media, D in Music Tech and a D in Computing. Which is what I expected really not too bad, that said, I thought I’d get a C in Music Tech. Oh well, I’ve been accpeted into Uni, so all is good =]
They’re taken between the ages of 16 - 18. Depending on the exam board/course, they’re usually Essay based questions, but sometimes short answer, I’ve never come across a multiple choice exam.
You take them at college, and then go on to University.
A “takeaway” is something you’ve learned from some particular experience or in business a particular project.
“Takeout” is food you take home from a restaurant.
Why can’t you Brits speak English?
Congrats to you both.
SO MUCH CONFUSION
Good luck!! My little sister is getting hers too, so she’s starting to panic now.
We can. We ‘take away’ the food from the restaurant, so we call it takeaway. If I hadn’t had put chinese, then there might have been some confusion, but there wasn’t. So all good 
Why are you confused dudewithasock?
Because I’m a dirty American pigdog.
ha damn right, sorry i was only kidding but yeh not living in england an all i got my exam results awhile ago though annoyingly im having to wait to find out about uni placements as stoopid london wont tell me till a levels are out.
not that it matters as two C’s this year mixed with a history of poorish grades is hardly uni standard.
ha i think ill just leave the country
good luck to people tho
I’m a little confused by what you call college. Over here, college and universities are one and the same.
What do you mean when you say you take them at college? Is college what we call the junior and senior year of high school?
Our education system typically goes:
Kindergarten at age 5-6
Elementary school grades 1 through 5
-First grade is usually at age 6-7
Middle school (or Junior High) grades 6 - 8
-6th grade is usually at age 11-12
High school grades 9 - 12
-Freshman year of high school is usually at age 14-15
-Sophomore year is usually at age 15-16
-Junior year is usually at age 16-17
-Senior year is usually at age 17-18
Then comes 4+ years of college/university
The words college and university are used interchangeably
We’ll say “I’m going to college”
We don’t say “I’m going to university” that sounds strange
We might say “I’m going to the university”
Just like we’ll say “I’m going to the hospital” instead of “I’m going to hospital”
During the senior year of high school you’ll take the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) which is the main metric for college applications and acceptance. It’s mostly multiple choice (fill in the bubble kind that’s computer graded). They added an essay or writing section recently. I’m not sure if they still have the essay section in the SAT now.
There’s still an essay in it, JC.
So your college is our junior and senior years of high school. At the end of college you take a standardized set of tests (A-level tests) for your grades. Then it’s off to 4+ years of university (what we call college).
It’s always entertaining when the UK and the US use the same words for different things.
Not when I took it. 
got my AS Level results today BBBC very happy! but 1 mark off an A in Art dam examiners why couldn’t they have just given me the extra one more mark!
JC- just to add to teh confusion
While in some area you go to a college for any 16+ education (As, A, NVQ HnD etc) in others you can stay at school to age 18/19 for A or AS levels. Also post 18 education may take place in a college or a university, depending on the course. the more vocational training tends to be college the more academic university.
For example, I was a a student at one school between ages 12-18 ( GCSe and A level), then I went to college and did a two year full time vocational training course, since then I have done more vocational training part time at various colleges including the one I think Amanda will be going to for her post 16 education.
Thats new. People who took it in 2005 and later have to write the essay. My SATs and John’s SATs and everyone else betweem had no essay, with a maximum possible score of 1600 (which onewheelwizzard actually got) instead of the new 2400. I snuck by in '04 before they started the essays.
Unfortunately not so simple:
1: you can take A levels at school or college, while some schools stop at 16 many continue to 18 (two years known as sixth form) to accomodate this.
A levels comprise of two years of exams, As level and A2 level, your grade in both is combined to make your A level, although you may only study a subject for the first year and just get an As in it.
University courses are 3 years as standard (bachelors), another 1 for a masters degree (totalling 4, mandatory for many course such as mine that can only be taken at masters level), another 3 for a phd or DPhil, exceptions being vetenary, law, medecine, (plus others) which are 6 or 7 years total
Fixed it.
Um…thanks.
Well, my girlfriend picked up her results from college and found out what grades she actually got. She took two A-level subjects, and one As level subject (though the university ignored the As level). The university wanted a C grade in both the A-levels for her to be accepted, but she just missed them and got two D grades. No matter, they let her in anyway. This university is known for letting people in even if they don’t quite get the grades. I needed a C grade in chemistry when I applied, and got an E, but still, I’ve just completed my first year of BSc chemistry there. She did pretty damn well to get those D grades. As said above, you have two years for A-levels, but she only had one year to do them. So she had to pack two years worth of study into a single year. I’d never be able to do that, so I’m incredibly proud of her
In about 3 weeks time I move into my student house with her, which is going to be so cool. (I talked to my landlady yesterday and they’ve put in a new kitchen and bathroom, and not even raised the rent!) Then I can start teaching my girlfriend to ride a unicycle as we have a tiny garden perfect for budding noob unicyclists