Deprecated: preg_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in /home/northeas/public_html/forums/inc/functions.php on line 5739
Examinations | North East Buses

Skip to main content

Site Administrator
RE: Examinations
(19 Jun 2014, 6:52 pm)Adam wrote The Greggs exam went alright yesterday. I know I haven't done spectacularly well but I don't think I'm completely fluffed it, but I am reasonably happy with it.

The Ethics exam today meanwhile was absolutely fantastic. The way it works is that you've got four questions, and you have to answer two of them (a quite long essay each). It so happened to be that my two strongest topics (Business Ethics and Conscience) were two of the questions on today's paper, so I was dead happy.

And with that, my exams, and my days as a school boy, are over. It's quite sad really. Only 56 days until results day!

Best of luck, Adam!

I remember you had a number of choices lined up for Uni but I can't remember if you decided which option was best for you?
RE: Examinations
(19 Jun 2014, 6:53 pm)Dan wrote Best of luck, Adam!

I remember you had a number of choices lined up for Uni but I can't remember if you decided which option was best for you?

Thank you Dan. Same to you.

I've opted for Business Leadership and Corporate Management at Northumbria. I've had a reduced offer from 3 As down to an A and two Bs in order to get in.

Another word of warning about A-Levels. It is perfectly normal to have at least 10 crises during Sixth Form (I'm not exaggerating), particularly in Year 13 when you have to deal with the dreaded UCAS system, so be prepared Tongue
RE: Examinations
(19 Jun 2014, 7:00 pm)Adam wrote Thank you Dan. Same to you.

I've opted for Business Leadership and Corporate Management at Northumbria. I've had a reduced offer from 3 As down to an A and two Bs in order to get in.

Another word of warning about A-Levels. It is perfectly normal to have at least 10 crises during Sixth Form (I'm not exaggerating), particularly in Year 13 when you have to deal with the dreaded UCAS system, so be prepared Tongue

Oh ye... the UCAS system... :p
Ooo Friend, Bus Friend.
Re: RE: Examinations
(19 Jun 2014, 7:16 pm)Michael wrote Oh ye... the UCAS system... :p
I never ever bothered with a UCAS application. you'd think college was son commission though the amount of arguments I had with them about it. My point was that I'd need vendor qualifications for my job, and they didn't accept based on UCAS points. 10 years later and it's never caused me any problems!
Forum Moderator | Find NEB on facebook
Marxista Fozzski
RE: Examinations
(10 Jan 2015, 12:32 pm)MrFozz wrote I was reminded earlier of one of my exams, i think it an R.E. exam

Wrote my name, the date, then went on to write I AM A FISH 50 times for a laugh 😀

Was my little tribute to Red Dwarf
RE: Examinations
(15 Apr 2017, 7:03 pm)R852 PRG wrote Been a good while since this thread was replied to, so seeing as I have my exams in May/June, I'll revive it. Anyone else doing their GCSEs this summer?
Just my final university exams in May/June. Can't wait till they are over and I can resume a normal sleeping pattern!  Big Grin
Jamie M
Unregistered
RE: Examinations
(15 Apr 2017, 7:28 pm)Simmy wrote Just my final university exams in May/June. Can't wait till they are over and I can resume a normal sleeping pattern!  Big Grin

Students and post-grads never sleep at sensible times anyway. I live with one, and they manage to crawl out of bed at around 4-5pm and then get back in at around 4am. I doubt you're going to break the trend haha.
RE: Examinations
(15 Apr 2017, 7:28 pm)Simmy wrote Just my final university exams in May/June. Can't wait till they are over and I can resume a normal sleeping pattern!  Big Grin

I sit 20 exams in total; 4 English (Edexcel); 3 Maths (Edexcel); 4 Science (AQA); 3 History (Edexcel); 2 Geography (AQA); 2 German (Edexcel); 2 Business & Economics (Edexcel). The only one I feel genuinely confident for at present is the 45-minute multiple choice Business exam that makes up 25% of the final grade. Tongue

As there is no coursework element to the two English GCSEs anymore, the final grade is entirely dependent on exam performance. I have to admit, for Literature especially, I wish there was coursework. Yes, it feels like a pain at the time you do it, but it takes some weight off your shoulders for other subjects (in my case, my four option subjects and to an extent, my two Sciences) in the lead-up to the exams. For Literature, I've studied Lord of The Flies by William Golding, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, and then 15 poems focused on Conflict. That's two novels, one play, and fifteen poems, all for which a thorough understanding is needed. It's no longer open-book, so all quotes need to be memorised. We don't know what we'll be hit with exactly, so you sort of have to draw up a shortlist of ideas for each one then collect quotes. It's pretty painful, I have to admit. That said, I do enjoy the analytical element of Literature so I intend to continue with it at A-Level. For English Language, there are two exams, one worth 96 marks, and the other worth 64 marks; the 96 mark exam is two hours in length, where you have 1 hour and 15 minutes in Section A (worth 56 marks), spent tearing two unseen non-fictional extracts apart (two 15 mark questions, one 14 mark question, one 6 mark question, then the remaining 6 marks are made up of smaller questions), topped off with a transactional writing piece in Section B worth 40 marks. The second Language exam is 1 hour and 45 minutes, with a similar set-up to the other, but only one fictional extract to analyse in Section A, worth 24 marks in total, followed by a 40 mark question on imaginative writing in Section B. To be honest, the only real issue I tend to have is the time management; we did two mocks in March using sample papers supplied by the exam board, and I ran out of time in the big one, completely missing the 14 mark question. Still somehow managed to get 69/96, which was a provisional grade 7 (roughly an old A). Fingers crossed I can pull it off. 

Maths - ugh. Where do I start... My predicted grade for this is a grade 8 (old A* pretty much). However, through no fault of my own (other than, of my own admission, not being very gifted at Maths), I am only taught as high as grade 5/6 due to my set being a mixture of students who have been entered for the higher paper and the foundation higher. That target is simply out of reach at this stage in the game, so I'm just having to grit my teeth and hope I can achieve a grade 6 (apparently a high B). In general, I find Maths is pretty poorly taught. I'm seemingly not the only one to hold that view at our place. There is an effectively unanimous opinion in my class that the Maths department is incompetent. I mean, entering some candidates for the higher paper and only teaching them about 50% of the stuff on the paper? Then having a foundation student in set one when they receive absolutely no benefit whatsoever from that higher teaching, as it isn't going to be on their exams... 

I've been entered for Core and Additional Science, so I'll receive two GCSEs. I admit that Science has never come naturally to me. I find most of the content to be pretty boring, and I have no intentions of continuing with it at A-Level. Biology is quite well taught, but then the exams confuse me as so much of the question focuses on the context of something; you kind of need to work out for yourself what is being asked of you. Chemistry, however, seems to be mostly factual recall. 50% I believe my teacher said, so if you learn the facts, you can be within reach of a B. With the 25% coursework element, as I am presumably on two A/A*s as I didn't have to redo either of mine, I think it is about 66% across the two exams for each one to achieve an A, roughly. Physics is mostly equations from what I have observed over the years, but that doesn't save it from the fact that it is mindnumblingly boring. If it was all about planets and stuff, I'd be very interested in it. But no, it's all just forces and electricity.

Onto my options subjects now. I love History, it's always been something that has fascinated me. However, my class (33 of us I think) is full of people who chose the subject because they had nothing else to choose. As a consequence, only 6 of us achieve an A or higher in the assessments we do to gauge progress. In Year 10, we had a different History teacher and did our coursework with him. We were sent in blind to be honest - no guidance on how to structure our answers in order to best answer the questions, we were just given the facts and told to apply them. My coursework is maybe on a C, if I am lucky. That said, I do enjoy the content in History. I do the American West, Impact of War on Britain, and Medicine Through Time modules. All of them interest me, but I would say Medicine the least so. Less than a month until the first exam, and we've not finished the Medicine content. It's our first History exam too - Monday 5th June. Got a week off prior to that, which should hopefully give me the time to thoroughly revise the content. At present, I'm alright with American West and Impact of War. In order to continue with History at A-Level, I need at least a B, but I would like an A. With the coursework factor in mind, I'm striving for three A*s in the exams in order to maximise my chances of securing an A. 

The three languages on offer at the end of Year 9 were German, Spanish and French. I had done French since Year 2 and was pretty fed up with it, so ruled that one out. We'd been introduced to German in Year 7, and I didn't mind it, but then it was replaced with Spanish in Year 9 to allow potential candidates to see whether or not it was for them at GCSE. I didn't have anything against it, but proceeded to choose German as I felt it would be the most valuable one to have out of the trio. Our controlled assessments are out of the way now; four in total, each worth 15% of the final grade. I managed to get 3 A*s and 1 A. In order to achieve an A, which I'm aiming for, I need roughly 60% in the two listening and reading exams. They're mostly multiple choice, so I am not too stressed for German, but staying on top of it nonetheless.

Business & Economics is fine. The content isn't too difficult. My coursework (worth 25%) received a provisional grade of an A*, so that stands me in good stead. The only real issue is the timings in the Economics exam (worth 50% of final grade), which should hopefully be rectified with a few practice past papers. Geography was my fourth option. It isn't particularly difficult, I just find a lot of it quite boring. Rivers and coastlines in particular, then tourism and population change, although the Human side of it isn't that bad. I quite enjoy the volcanoes. One dislike is the need to know fourteen case studies inside-out, but then only actually using a few of them in the exams.
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 5:20 pm)Tom wrote Exams tomorrow... Biology first. Teachers are all saying it will be a hard paper like last year with questions on topics like carbon cycle, control in plants and a lot of graph interpretation.

Anyone who has got it tomorrow it might be worth going through this paper and practicing things like graphs. http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-paper...-JUN16.PDF

My first exam tomorrow as well; Unit 1 Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Feeling alright for Biology as I did a mock two weeks ago and got 80%, for Physics I have mixed emotions as I generally end of up making an educated guess, last time it paid off as I came out with 67%, but then on the Chemistry I only got 30%... We'll have to see how it goes. Not a great lover of Science, so I see it as 25% of the way to not having to do it again. Tongue

Best of luck.
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 8:07 pm)R852 PRG wrote My first exam tomorrow as well; Unit 1 Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Feeling alright for Biology as I did a mock two weeks ago and got 80%, for Physics I have mixed emotions as I generally end of up making an educated guess, last time it paid off as I came out with 67%, but then on the Chemistry I only got 30%... We'll have to see how it goes. Not a great lover of Science, so I see it as 25% of the way to not having to do it again. Tongue

Best of luck.

Ah I get all the papers separate so 6 in total - not sure which way I would prefer it though maybe combined though as you only get 2 exams (granted they all total up to the same time - 3 hours). Physics is definitely my worst.

Thanks, you too.

(15 May 2017, 8:16 pm)Michael wrote Good luck everyone so glad i don't have to do anymore Tongue

Thanks Smile
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 8:18 pm)Tom wrote Ah I get all the papers separate so 6 in total - not sure which way I would prefer it though maybe combined though as you only get 2 exams (granted they all total up to the same time - 3 hours). Physics is definitely my worst.

Thanks, you too.

Which exam board are you with? I do mine with AQA. I think I would prefer that format in all honesty as I have to revise all three for one paper (admittedly only half of each unit per exam) which is a bit of a pain.
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 8:23 pm)R852 PRG wrote Which exam board are you with? I do mine with AQA. I think I would prefer that format in all honesty as I have to revise all three for one paper (admittedly only half of each unit per exam) which is a bit of a pain.

Good - we use OCR for science and the wording of the questions are atrocious.
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 8:23 pm)R852 PRG wrote Which exam board are you with? I do mine with AQA. I think I would prefer that format in all honesty as I have to revise all three for one paper (admittedly only half of each unit per exam) which is a bit of a pain.

AQA too - I guess but the reason why I would rather have 2 papers is because you get more time between them, we have Chemistry on Thursday too so not a massive gap.
RE: Examinations
Good luck everyone who has exams starting this week.

I remeber doing my GCSE's 2 years ago. The hardest part for me was the first exam and getting used to the pressure but once you get started it does get easier. It always helped me once done to think I will never need to know that again and to count down the number of exams.

Im doing my final A levels next month with 2 AS resits before half term so plenty of exams still to come my way!
My Flickr Account - Photos from the North East and Beyond.
RE: Examinations
(15 May 2017, 9:38 pm)Pulsar wrote Good luck everyone who has exams starting this week.

I remeber doing my GCSE's 2 years ago. The hardest part for me was the first exam and getting used to the pressure but once you get started it does get easier. It always helped me once done to think I will never need to know that again and to count down the number of exams.

Im doing my final A levels next month with 2 AS resits before half term so plenty of exams still to come my way!

Thank you Smile
Good luck in your A Levels too!
RE: Examinations
This afternoon's exam was okay. The only 6 mark question was one on drug trials for Biology and it threw me a bit because it was such a brief topic and I hadn't really studied it in depth, but things came back to me and it went alright I suppose. A few Chemistry and Physics questions were a bit confusing.
RE: Examinations
My Biology was quite easy actually - though nothing on drugs or the menstrual cycle like I was expecting. Was a 6 mark on the nervous system, 4 mark on carbon cycle, and 4 mark on control so not bad going at all.

And also a question on Charles Darwin memes haha - totally irrelevant can't remember the exact wording though.
RE: Examinations
(16 May 2017, 5:38 pm)Tom wrote My Biology was quite easy actually - though nothing on drugs or the menstrual cycle like I was expecting.  Was a 6 mark on the nervous system,  4 mark on carbon cycle, and 4 mark on control  so not bad going at all.

And also a question on Charles Darwin memes haha - totally irrelevant can't remember the exact wording though.

I heard about the Darwin question on the separates paper, something to do with him being represented as a monkey? 

Haven't got any more exams until Monday, then six exams next week. English Literature and Geography Physical on Monday, then Business Unit 1 and Science on Wednesday, Maths Non-Calc on Thursday (kill me) and then the other Literature paper on Friday morning. To be honest, once Literature is out of the way, I think I will be able to relax a bit; after half-term, I only have English Language, History, Economics, German, more Geography, Science and Maths, then I am finished.  Big Grin
RE: Examinations
(16 May 2017, 6:28 pm)R852 PRG wrote I heard about the Darwin question on the separates paper, something to do with him being represented as a monkey? 

Haven't got any more exams until Monday, then six exams next week. English Literature and Geography Physical on Monday, then Business Unit 1 and Science on Wednesday, Maths Non-Calc on Thursday (kill me) and then the other Literature paper on Friday morning. To be honest, once Literature is out of the way, I think I will be able to relax a bit; after half-term, I only have English Language, History, Economics, German, more Geography, Science and Maths, then I am finished.  Big Grin

Aye it was something along those lines.

I have Chemistry on Thursday and then I think the same as you for the next week. English Literature is a nightmare for me with remembering quotes and stuff.
RE: Examinations
(16 May 2017, 7:04 pm)Tom wrote Aye it was something along those lines.

I have Chemistry on Thursday and then I think the same as you for the next week. English Literature is a nightmare for me with remembering quotes and stuff.

Remembering the quotes for English Literature isn't so much a problem for me, it is just the sheer volume of stuff you need to know. The one I am struggling to remember stuff for is Geography with the case studies. What do you study for Literature?
RE: Examinations
(16 May 2017, 7:27 pm)R852 PRG wrote Remembering the quotes for English Literature isn't so much a problem for me, it is just the sheer volume of stuff you need to know. The one I am struggling to remember stuff for is Geography with the case studies. What do you study for Literature?

Completely different stuff to you going off your post on the last page. Macbeth, Christmas Carol on Paper 1 and Inspector Calls plus the poetry on Paper 2
RE: Examinations
(16 May 2017, 9:09 pm)Tom wrote Completely different stuff to you going off your post on the last page. Macbeth, Christmas Carol on Paper 1 and Inspector Calls plus the poetry on Paper 2

I remember doing Macbeth in Year 8, I didn't mind it. Admittedly it was a lot less in-depth, but The Tempest just isn't my cup of tea. It's literally just a narcissistic old wizard trying to make amends with the people who turned their backs on him. I like Jekyll & Hyde and Lord of The Flies, though. They have a fair bit in common with each other, both focus on the dark side of human nature. Dreading Maths next Thursday.
RE: Examinations
(17 May 2017, 4:45 pm)R852 PRG wrote I remember doing Macbeth in Year 8, I didn't mind it. Admittedly it was a lot less in-depth, but The Tempest just isn't my cup of tea. It's literally just a narcissistic old wizard trying to make amends with the people who turned their backs on him. I like Jekyll & Hyde and Lord of The Flies, though. They have a fair bit in common with each other, both focus on the dark side of human nature. Dreading Maths next Thursday.

I normally find the Maths ok, but English is my worst lesson. The novels bore me and I can't remember the poems no matter how much I try.

Chemistry tomorrow will hopefully be a easy paper like Biology as I struggle with Chemistry too but I can't see it happening
RE: Examinations
(17 May 2017, 7:05 pm)Tom wrote I normally find the Maths ok, but English is my worst lesson. The novels bore me and I can't remember the poems no matter how much I try.

Chemistry tomorrow will hopefully be a easy paper like Biology as I struggle with Chemistry too but I can't see it happening

Are you on Edexcel or AQA for English? I don't mind some of the poems for Edexcel, and some I actually really enjoy, but then others such as 'Catrin' and 'Half-caste' aren't my cup of tea. 

Chemistry is the one science I really struggle to see the light with these days. I didn't mind it at one point, but now, I just find it pretty irrelevant and confusing. 

Do you have any ideas for Sixth Form etc yet?
RE: Examinations
(17 May 2017, 7:05 pm)Tom wrote I normally find the Maths ok, but English is my worst lesson. The novels bore me and I can't remember the poems no matter how much I try.

Chemistry tomorrow will hopefully be a easy paper like Biology as I struggle with Chemistry too but I can't see it happening

What novel did you do?, I did Of Mice and Men, and i thought it was great. 



Can i say, i got all bad GCSEs expect for in 2 GCSEs (ICT, Graphics)... and i still went to uni and came out with a BA Hons 2:1, so if you fail, it's not end of the world.
Ooo Friend, Bus Friend.