Suffering students reunite.

[dudclub55]

Eek.
I'm having my first International General Certificate of Secondary Education exam in a week and I'm taking 5 subs this May/June session. If I get anything below an A, my parents will probably disown me. I'm already scared as hell.

Are there any students suffering right now? Anyone also taking IGCSEs?

[I cucked Alex Jones]

I'm taking a few classes at a community college and working part time. What's up?

[Panz]

Taking the MCAT on May 22nd, and I have finals this week and basically no time to study for it. So I'm freaking out because it's the most intimidating test I've ever seen. I've already pushed off the date once, and if I push it off further, I'll have to wait a year to apply.

 

So frustrating.

[dudclub55]

Taking the MCAT on May 22nd, and I have finals this week and basically no time to study for it. So I'm freaking out because it's the most intimidating test I've ever seen. I've already pushed off the date once, and if I push it off further, I'll have to wait a year to apply.

 

So frustrating.

 

Tell me about it, worst part is knowing what'll happen if you get horrible grades. It's scary to think about.

[universetwisters]

I'm flunking my creative writing class, but then again, the only reason why I took that class was to perfect my public speaking skills, which ended up working.

 

So, does that still mean I'm flunking?

[bread]

Well, I'm doing my AP tests next week. Won't be too bad but hopefully I get a 3 or higher otherwise I'll be downright annoyed as f*ck.

[Panz]

Ahh, AP tests. I took five AP classes in high school and didn't end up taking a single test because they were all $100 each, and I was poor and disinterested.

 

Which AP tests? I'm sure you'll be alright if you crack down, unless it's AP Calc or something. That one tends to be the most brutal no matter how much you study, it seems.

[Frank Brown]

I'll just sit here taking by basic English class and religious philosophy while you all study to become doctorastrolawyernauts.

[dudclub55]

I'll just sit here taking by basic English class and religious philosophy while you all study to become doctorastrolawyernauts.

 

Oh, doctors. lol.

 

Being a doctor wasn't really my choice, I'm kind of forced because it's a tradition for Egyptians to become doctors, my mom even made me promise I'd be a doctor. but then again I haven't really decided what I'd like to do for my career and I love science, especially biology.. so.. what the hell.

[bread]

Ahh, AP tests. I took five AP classes in high school and didn't end up taking a single test because they were all $100 each, and I was poor and disinterested.

 

Which AP tests? I'm sure you'll be alright if you crack down, unless it's AP Calc or something. That one tends to be the most brutal no matter how much you study, it seems.

Dunno why I put 'tests' since I'm only taking one. But anyways it's the English 3 AP exam which a lot of students in my grade are stressing about. Our teacher, who's on the verge of retiring soon does not prepare us for the AP exam and hardly provides insight on how it should be. I have to self-study for that by using collegeboard since most of her curriculum is based around reading literary works in old English and testing us on them. I could have taken US Hist AP but I was afraid I'd get entangled into a morass since the AP teacher is brutal. So, I stuck with honors.

 

Next year, I'll be taking 3 AP classes. Bio, English, and Psychology.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Mockage

[dudclub55]

 

Ahh, AP tests. I took five AP classes in high school and didn't end up taking a single test because they were all $100 each, and I was poor and disinterested.

 

Which AP tests? I'm sure you'll be alright if you crack down, unless it's AP Calc or something. That one tends to be the most brutal no matter how much you study, it seems.

Dunno why I put 'tests' since I'm only taking one. But anyways it's the English 3 AP exam which a lot of students in my grade are stressing about. Our teacher, who's on the verge of retiring soon does not prepare us for the AP exam and hardly provides insight on how it should be. I have to self-study for that by using collegeboard since most of her curriculum is based around reading literary works in old English and testing us on them. I could have taken US Hist AP but I was afraid I'd get entangled into a morass since the AP teacher is brutal. So, I stuck with honors.

 

Next year, I'll be taking 3 AP classes. Bio, English, and Psychology. I wanna ask though, how was the English AP test for you?

 

 

I can relate to the self-study part. I go to a 'budget' school (one of the cheapest private schools in my city, actually), and the teachers and staff there are horribly lazy. I had to study about 70% of the syllabus on my own because the teachers couldn't be bothered and the administration couldn't be bothered to make the teachers bother. You get 2 years to finish down your IGCSE syllabus and half the time in my school was wasted into pointless 'functions' where a bunch of idiots and do stupid stuff in public and terrible competitions, like a 'sports' competition where people run to chips and Pepsi and jog it down as fast as they can.

[Panz]

Next year, I'll be taking 3 AP classes. Bio, English, and Psychology. I wanna ask though, how was the English AP test for you?

I never ended up taking any of them. I was very academically driven in high school, but I took four out of five of my AP classes during my senior year, and by that point, I had given up on bothering with the actual exams because the college I was interested in/am a student at now didn't even take any of the test scores.

 

I've heard English isn't too bad, but that's obviously subjective. The teacher really does make a difference, so it is frustrating to hear that she/he is screwing you over like that. Taking the extra time to use collegeboard should help to prepare you fairly well, though, from what I've heard about the tests.

 

We didn't have US History AP, but we did have AP Euro, which I also avoided because of a brutal teacher. I think I ended up taking AP Enviro, two different AP English courses, AP Gov, and AP Stats. The only one I probably would have done well on was AP Stats because the teacher was fantastic, but I just didn't want to put the effort in. So, definitely try to make sure those credits get put to good use (if you do get a good score) when you look at schools. It'll be a bitch if they go to waste.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Panz

[bread]

It would also look less appealing to not show my AP test scores to a college when they know for I fact I took one. One of the schools I plan on applying to in senior is apparently requires you to submit AP test scores, which sucks because if I do bad it'll look bad to them. I'm also most likely gonna end up with a B for the final grade in English, which is okay I guess cause I'm pretty much an A/B student and this is also the first AP class I'm in.

 

"I think I ended up taking AP Enviro"

 

lmao, now this class. This class is considered a complete joke in my school. The weirdo who teaches it hardly does anything most of the year and everyone in his class passes with flying colors. A bunch of my friends are taking it to boost their GPA's.

 

btw, what are you studying in college?

[Panz]

Ahaha, yeah! AP Enviro was an absolute joke in my school, too. Every student who took the AP test didn't get higher than a 2, even the brilliant kids. The teacher was my friend's aunt, and she was such a pushover that we convinced her to let us bring in cookies and sh*t every Friday and have parties. And some of her major assignments that come to mind included writing poems about animals and designing an eco-friendly house. Really? Yeah. What a joke, but definitely a GPA-booster.

 

I'm a Junior Bio major in college, but I'm on the pre-med track, so I kind of mix it around. I do some marine biology research and get to have fun with that, but I also get to learn about the medical aspects of biology. So, I have all my pre-med classes done now, and I'm taking the MCAT this summer. If I somehow manage above a 30, I'll apply to med schools in June/July. But damn, this test is ridiculous. You can know all the material spot on, but it's such a time crunch, and they manipulate the questions and passages in such a way that it can really screw you over.

 

What do you (and whoever else) want to study, anyway?

[t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m]

I just want to get these next two weeks of class and finals out of the way so I can go full NEET and not have any responsibilities for three months.

[dudclub55]

 

 

What do you (and whoever else) want to study, anyway?

Medicine.

I love the human body and it'd be a joy to stick my hand inside one (in a totally professional way), but man, I am so not ready to devote the rest of my life saving people's lives, you know? Confusing.

[I<3GTAV]

I failed 4 out of my 7 classes last quarter and if I don't pass this quarter I'm going to flunk the year and have to start all over next year. And what am I doing? Sitting here.

[dudclub55]

I failed 4 out of my 7 classes last quarter and if I don't pass this quarter I'm going to flunk the year and have to start all over next year. And what am I doing? Sitting here.

 

My brother is taking telecommunication engineering and has failed 2 years out of 5.

My mom practically treated him like sh*t until he started showing improvement. I think he has a year left now.

[GN 92]

I have a test that could get me into an important job in my country, very well paid, it's in the end of the next month but I'm a bit nervous... I gotta study more.

[Panz]

Medicine.

I love the human body and it'd be a joy to stick my hand inside one (in a totally professional way), but man, I am so not ready to devote the rest of my life saving people's lives, you know? Confusing.

I'm not sure medicine is a "what the hell" type of profession. You have to be pretty enthusiastic in your interviews, and you'll be spending a good chunk of your life in school. I know you said there are pressures from your parents, but do you absolutely have to do this?

[Zoobz]

I've got a Uni exam coming up in 3 weeks in a subject which I've hardly attended lectures for. Need to get on learning it. Tomorrow hopefully. Oh and if I don't pass I could get kicked out of Uni.

[bread]

Ahaha, yeah! AP Enviro was an absolute joke in my school, too. Every student who took the AP test didn't get higher than a 2, even the brilliant kids. The teacher was my friend's aunt, and she was such a pushover that we convinced her to let us bring in cookies and sh*t every Friday and have parties. And some of her major assignments that come to mind included writing poems about animals and designing an eco-friendly house. Really? Yeah. What a joke, but definitely a GPA-booster.

 

I'm a Junior Bio major in college, but I'm on the pre-med track, so I kind of mix it around. I do some marine biology research and get to have fun with that, but I also get to learn about the medical aspects of biology. So, I have all my pre-med classes done now, and I'm taking the MCAT this summer. If I somehow manage above a 30, I'll apply to med schools in June/July. But damn, this test is ridiculous. You can know all the material spot on, but it's such a time crunch, and they manipulate the questions and passages in such a way that it can really screw you over.

 

What do you (and whoever else) want to study, anyway?

f*ck yes, a bio student. You have my full respect.

 

Since I'm taking AP Bio next year, I'm definitely gonna study biology in college. More specifically, something within microbiology. At the moment I'm thinking about becoming a medical microbiologist (completely going to focus on research only), but I'm not sure whether or not premed is required. That's what I'm worried about. I hear premed is pure cutthroat business.

 

What college would you recommend by the way for biology (general studies, really)? I'm leaning towards going to a liberal arts college as opposed to a university. I'd rather be in a small school. However, I am planning to apply to Rutgers University (for starters, it's the flagship university in my state and I know a TON of people who go there, if that means anything).

[dudclub55]

 

Medicine.

I love the human body and it'd be a joy to stick my hand inside one (in a totally professional way), but man, I am so not ready to devote the rest of my life saving people's lives, you know? Confusing.

I'm not sure medicine is a "what the hell" type of profession. You have to be pretty enthusiastic in your interviews, and you'll be spending a good chunk of your life in school. I know you said there are pressures from your parents, but do you absolutely have to do this?

 

 

It's a "what the hell" situation for me right now because I'm gonna have to wait a loooong time before I'm actually employed. I'm not even in university/college, mind you. I'm still taking the exams that will get me there; i.e. IGCSEs & A levels.

I'm still indecisive about what to do in my career, but isn't it too early for a proper decision?

 

Besides, I have no interest in other fields. Engineering? Bleeeh.

Edited April 28, 2014 by frankenstein107

[Audiophile]

I've been off since April 16th, finished my third year of uni. Just waiting for my final marks to come in on May 2nd. All I can do is hope now. It's no longer in my hands.

 

Waiting for mid-May to start working at a law firm.

[Panz]

@Mockage: Good for you! I always love finding other science nerds on this forum.

 

Most liberal arts schools tend to have a generalized biology major, but you can certainly take microbiology courses and tailor your course schedule to what you're most interested in. I couldn't tell you anything about the requirements for medical microbiology. If you think it will require you to go to medical school, count on doing pre-med requirements (General Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, some math and some other courses depending on the med school). You can always ask the advisor of the college you end up going to about that. Pre-med really isn't the worst thing in the world, but you can't expect to have much of a social life if you want a high GPA.

 

I go to a small liberal arts college (Gettysburg College). It's about 2,600 students and the Biology program is very well-respected (and very difficult, too). Some other small schools that I considered were Dickinson College (basically Gettysburg's brother, also with a fantastic science program), Ursinus (not as well-respected as Gettysburg, about 1500 students), Haverford (definitely more well-respected than Gettysburg, but it's pretty tiny and the students seemed miserable when I went), and that's about it. Those are all PA schools, by the way. I did look into Rutgers, but there are like 50,000 students, and it was way too big for me. Could be a nice school to go to if you want an advantage getting into their grad school, however.

 

The benefits of small liberal arts schools is that you really get to work one-on-one with your professors, and you get to know them well, which means you get stellar letters of recommendation. You also get to do a lot more individualized lab work, and everything just feels way more personal than at a big university. I'd definitely recommend it if you're into that type of atmosphere. Liberal arts schools are going to be pricey, though. Gettysburg is almost $60k a year, but I get a huge amount of financial aid (only pay ~5-6 grand), so you can always count on that... if you're not a rich kid, anyway.

 

@frankenstein: Ah, I see what you mean now. Yeah, it seems way too early to tell. You have a right to be confused, then!

Edited April 28, 2014 by Panz

[bread]

I've heard of Dickinson and Gettysburg before. Seems like great schools, but what throws me off are the prices, location and the social environment. The location of the college especially means a lot to me. Pennsylvania isn't my cup of tea (no offense). I'd prefer to stay within a location that's a bit more closer to home and NYC. Also regarding prices, I'm going to apply for scholarships to keep that ugly fee down and of course, apply for financial aid too which, a lot of people complain about, including some of my friends and family who are in college.

 

It sucks but hey, that's America for you. Thanks for the reply btw, always good to get advice from a nerd.

[Panz]

No problem. Yeah, the town is pretty dull. The most entertaining aspect is probably the tourism. You get confederates driving their pickup trucks, waving confederate flags all over the place. Aside from that, there's nothing.

 

So yeah, if you want a city, don't come here. We are close to DC and Baltimore, and fairly close to Philly, and the school does trips there, but it's obviously not the same as living near NYC. Most liberal arts schools are going to be pricey unless you get a nice in-state deal (although most of them don't do this), so definitely look into that if that's what's most important to you.

[WTFThisIsntWii]

 

 

 

 

What do you (and whoever else) want to study, anyway?

Medicine.

I love the human body and it'd be a joy to stick my hand inside one (in a totally professional way), but man, I am so not ready to devote the rest of my life saving people's lives, you know? Confusing.

Freakiest feeling ever is all I can say. Had to put my hand inside a man's chest cavity and pull out shrapnel once otherwise they can cause more damage and infection. I was trying to feel for little bits of metal without touching anything and the blokes sitting there talking to me, bro I'm wrist deep in your chest stop talking. It's really warm and there's sh*t moving everywhere. And the blood stained my hands for days.

 

He ended up surviving and returning back to work a few months later perfectly fine we joke about it all the time now.

[RoadRunner71]

I'm f*cking stressed not just with exams but with my situation as whole. I've suffering from sleepness as consequence for a few weeks now.

 

I f*cked it up as I haven't assisted for months to a couple subjects and I have less than a month to approve them. Also, I'm not sure what to do after this grade.

[dudclub55]

 

 

 

 

What do you (and whoever else) want to study, anyway?

Medicine.

I love the human body and it'd be a joy to stick my hand inside one (in a totally professional way), but man, I am so not ready to devote the rest of my life saving people's lives, you know? Confusing.

Freakiest feeling ever is all I can say. Had to put my hand inside a man's chest cavity and pull out shrapnel once otherwise they can cause more damage and infection. I was trying to feel for little bits of metal without touching anything and the blokes sitting there talking to me, bro I'm wrist deep in your chest stop talking. It's really warm and there's sh*t moving everywhere. And the blood stained my hands for days.

 

He ended up surviving and returning back to work a few months later perfectly fine we joke about it all the time now.

 

 

Woah.. what scares me the most is messing up. What if I failed vat an operation and I have the patient's blood on my hands? (Literally and metaphorically speaking). Luckily my biggest interest in the human anatomy is the muscoskeletal system so I want to become an orthopedic.

 

I'm f*cking stressed not just with exams but with my situation as whole. I've suffering from sleepness as consequence for a few weeks now.

 

I f*cked it up as I haven't assisted for months to a couple subjects and I have less than a month to approve them. Also, I'm not sure what to do after this grade.

 

Man, I know how you feel.

Exams right up in your neck is sometimes the last thing you need when you're already having your personal life going to sh*t, as in my case.