BMW POWER 2 Report post Posted January 18, 2008 Haha we don't live in the real world yet though Andrew. Yeah, I took a Cambridge exam this year, was f**king ace, its such a mint as system. I'm going to try get it introduced into the Public system when I work for MoE Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) School grades are worth dick in the real world. That is very true but thats all that matters when getting into university. Then again, university degree are worth dick in the real world? I know the game sucks but you just have to play the game in order to survive! Edited January 18, 2008 by international Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) International - I think you put it pretty well. I agree, the Cambridge system seems (from my reading on this) to be the best all round system. I just stuggle to understand the NCEA system "rewarding" (I know this is probably not the best word) underachievers with an Achievement when quite frankly they have not achieved. I guess this is just a sign of the world we live in today. Unfortunately this does not work in the real world once you are in the cold hard working environment. Well done to those anyway who got M's and E's, I'm glad that they take some work to get, and you can therefore feel proud. Cheers Grant One of the worst aspect of NCEA in my humble opinion is how inaccurately students recieve their grades. How can students be judged by 4 words? Fail / Achieved / Merit /Excellence? When back in the days students were given a score in percentages, I just dont understand how NCEA can show the difference between a student who gets 80% and gets an Excellence and a student who gets 100% and still only gets a Excellence? You can also pass NCEA by picking up rubbish which has uttly nuts to do with the actual subjects. What made me really angry with NCEA is the lack to detail in some of the units of work. In NCEA Level 1 English, students were required to produce a poster of a book they have read. I actually failed? I aint going to be up about myself but the internal assesments which the school produce themselves vast widely therefore internal credits are just a joke because there is no unified standard. IB the system which I took had the student marks ranked in percentages then through the processing results of all students, a bell curve is produced to rank the students mark per subject out of a 1 to 7 scale, 1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest. This may actually sound simliar to NCEA however, keep in mind that the 1 to 7 score you recieve is for your final grade out of that subject, whilst all other marks are given through percentages. IB requires student to under take 6 subjects, of the 6 subject, one must include Maths, Science, Arts, Techology, First Language, Second Language. Of those 6 subjects, 3 must of be a "higher level" which should meet the level of University. Full marks should be 6 X 7 = 42 however there are 3 bonus marks which are awared through the massive essay which is compulsory requirement. Thus, this makes up the overall 45 marks in an IB's final score of a student. Now, all that from IB is just a total crock of crap straight up. A very painful two years, IB drainned the energy out of my life. Not regretted, but a painful memory. Cambridge as far as I know is also a elite system over NCEA due to its contents, and still "pratical" over IB by the main focus of preparing students for the work they will face in university. I havent done Cambridge myself, but several friends of mine who attended Westlake Boys which does offer the full Cambridge system where as their sister school Westlake Girls only offer partial. The latest I have heard was that NCEA are just lets everyone pass so everyone can be happy, but with the winners, there are sure to be some losers right? Edited January 18, 2008 by international Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antony 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) Note necessarily you can't understand it Grant... Excellence = 90-100% Merit = 70-80% Acheived / Pass = 50-60% N = Fail Although I must agree with you the actual NCEA is a pile of sh*t.... you can know nothing and still pass. Like a teacher quoted "The ones who don't work... acheive. The ones who work hard acheive." What happens from 60%-70% and 80%-90%? You chew bubble gum and play in the sand pit? Earlier in this thread I said I regret screwing around and scrapping thru. I definitely don't regret it at all, in fact I recommend it. What I regret is screwing around at uni, and failing papers (need to work on scrapping thru this year lol). Edited January 18, 2008 by antony Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3series 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2008 I did ok, got 120creds same as last year. Did anyone else find the geography paper impossible to finish in time? $ papers in 3 hours..siff..they take at least an hour each!yeah, back in the day it was the same. 3 hours was not nearly enough, im sure we had sort of 5 - 7 case studies or papers to choose and could pick 5.. pretty much 1 hour, and 2 really really rushed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bmw.maniac 1 Report post Posted January 20, 2008 Am totally pissed off after my results. 2 of my 6 subjects are U/S subjects (Architecture and Engineering), which don't offer A/M/E credits. As a result I had a huge disadvantage when in May they decided to introduce the A/M/E certificates, because of course it would have been harder for me to get 50 Excellence credits across 4 subjects instead of 6, like many others had. So, I worked my butt off all year, got named top boy scholar in my year and studied countless hours. My results: (Yes, only 3 of my subjects had exams. P.E. doesn't have externals) Maths: E,E,E,E,E,M English: E,M,M,M Science:E,E,M,M,A (I really don't know how I got Merit in Physics, I should have got Excellence) And I have Level 1 Achieved with Merit but, with 47 Excellence credits!!!!!! So if I can get 47 credits over 4 subjects, does this mean I would have done better if NCEA decided to introduce A/M/E certificates before the school year started, so we could make a better decision in regard to our subjects? NCEA sucks, big time. Now I can get put on the same level with a kid wiuth 54 Merit credits, and no Excellences. How fair is that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike 1 Report post Posted January 20, 2008 (edited) dont worry bout it dude, you've already set yourself up for a decent uni career if you got the ability to work your arse off at school. I've always been academic and cruised through school passing well without much effort. Uni was the first time I had to seriously work and took a while for me to learn decent study habits. Edited January 20, 2008 by Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nobimmer 694 Report post Posted January 20, 2008 I got out what I put in.. f**k all really.Damn what a waste of a year,really wish I had put in more... I "passed" level three with 48 credits (needed 40) but not happy really. Meh,bring on 20! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew 30 Report post Posted January 20, 2008 That is very true but thats all that matters when getting into university. Then again, university degree are worth dick in the real world? I know the game sucks but you just have to play the game in order to survive! Last time I checked if you wanted to do anything at uni here (aside from law, med and a few others) you could get in with 1 C bursary. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike 1 Report post Posted January 20, 2008 Last time I checked if you wanted to do anything at uni here (aside from law, med and a few others) you could get in with 1 C bursary. a lot of those degrees will have a pretty much open first year (provided you got UE). Its the 2nd year thats competitive. Worst case for the first year maybe that you have to do a few courses over summer. ie health science year for med, (otago) laws101 paper for entry to law school (canterbury) engineering intermediate year (1st year) for entry to professional years (canterbury) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 21, 2008 Last time I checked if you wanted to do anything at uni here (aside from law, med and a few others) you could get in with 1 C bursary. I havent really got myself too well in the mix of NCEA requirements into university, however, more and more of the programs in university are not Open Entry. For example in the case of IB, to pass IB you need 24 points whilst full marks is 45 points. Arts is Open Entry which means entry is granted if you have 24. Town Planning which am doing, requires at least 26 IB points and the ranked system with an entrence number of 40. So they basically only take in the top 40 application. I aint too sure how the university get their numbers for ranking but if I recall correctly, they take in all the marks and award 1 point for Achievement, 2 points for Merit and 3 points for Excellence I think, thus allows the university to get a numeral figure for rankings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 21, 2008 a lot of those degrees will have a pretty much open first year (provided you got UE). Its the 2nd year thats competitive. Worst case for the first year maybe that you have to do a few courses over summer. ie health science year for med, (otago) laws101 paper for entry to law school (canterbury) engineering intermediate year (1st year) for entry to professional years (canterbury) Victoria University in Wellington is Open Entry for all of their programs as they "dont believe high school qualification reflect the true protential of the students" I was told my the Victoria University rep. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mikal 4 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 I havn't posted a comment on bimmersport in so long, it feels like im a newby again. Well i managed to pass another year (level 2) with 107 credits and got my uni entrance english so im happy... Also last year i managed to get 7 level 3 credits and 7 level 2 credits for driving around in some suzuki SUV thing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matwithe30 0 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 i finished school top of my class 5th form and like top 3% in 6th form. bummed hard and failed 7th and then took up an apprentaship. i learnt nothing practical at school. except for maths. i have never written an essay outside of school. i think experience is much better than smarts. its the old argument steet vs book. who knows. im a 20 y o fully qualified butcher who now works in an it firm. i have absolutley no idea what to do with my life and school just confused me!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BMW POWER 2 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) Confusing probably because if you're going to Uni, effectiviely you have to decide your life in 6th form.... subjects that lead onto Uni courses etc. But guys don't put school down its a great place you do learn heaps and if you're working part time, socialising and getting involved with clubs etc you learn other stuff than just numbers and letters. A good Education is ranked #1 on list of importance during teenage years, for me anyway. Westlake B/GHS is public yeah? Damn how do they have Cambridge and we don't? My brother is going to an intergrated school soon, James do you think when the time comes he should do IB or NCEA? He's quite intelligent. To quote an IB student : "My life... well i go to X College... and I do IB. Oh, that means I don't have a life?" Edited January 22, 2008 by BMW Power Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 Confusing probably because if you're going to Uni, effectiviely you have to decide your life in 6th form.... subjects that lead onto Uni courses etc. But guys don't put school down its a great place you do learn heaps and if you're working part time, socialising and getting involved with clubs etc you learn other stuff than just numbers and letters. A good Education is ranked #1 on list of importance during teenage years, for me anyway. Westlake B/GHS is public yeah? Damn how do they have Cambridge and we don't? My brother is going to an intergrated school soon, James do you think when the time comes he should do IB or NCEA? He's quite intelligent. To quote an IB student : "My life... well i go to X College... and I do IB. Oh, that means I don't have a life?" To answer that? I do not know, Rangitoto only has NCEA so dont get too upz about it. As for your brother, I do believe the selectors in university will bound to pay more attention to a IB student over a NCEA. IB is commitment, you can be smart but dont have the willingness to continue your dedication. IB is easy if you have good time allocation, I just happend to have bad planning skills, considering I am doing a degree in Town Planning haha, how ironic, however, my point is that IB is not impossible, but it does put more load than a high school student should have. I still firmly believe that your parents should considering opting your bother out of the NCEA system and consider Cambridge over IB. Of cause, once again, dont let your brother feel as if he was tricked into IB only to realise it only brought the the same things as doing NCEA. I feel like that right now, purely because I didnt get what I wanted for my IB scores. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tire 10 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 IB = ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 IB = ? International Baccalaureate Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tire 10 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 International Baccalaureate What you just said = ? lol jokes. But seriously.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
international 0 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 What you just said = ? lol jokes. But seriously.. Come on, theres more people doing IB than NCEA in the world mate... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tire 10 Report post Posted January 22, 2008 Come on, theres more people doing IB than NCEA in the world mate... Clearly not very important people if I don't know about it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Five Star 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2008 NCEA doesn't mean anything, even if you're going for uni. Hell, they'll let you in even if you didn't get UE (which is easy as, I got it in 6th form). Although apparently some uni courses have specific entry requirements. Although I've seen none. As long as you pass, uni results don't really matter either. Well, unless you're going for law, health science or something equally as horrible. Hell, usually they will only look at your 3rd year marks if you're going for post-grad. I was going for cambridge, but the school refused to let us sit it because one person was going for the cambridge scholarship. If they got bad marks compared to NCEA it was going to look bad so nobody sat them. I didn't really get on with my school... If you were only 6th form how is it you were organising BS meetings in a bar huh emma? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
