James Robson's Blog

Okay, so I'm going to go through the rest of my subjects like a did last time, and produce predictions for them.

Maths:
-Yeah, I did this last time; however, I have since done my calculator paper. Which was easy. This subject's pretty much an A* now, I'm fairly certain.

So, A* is my overrall prediction, if I also consider my prediction last time. This is exactly on target.

English Language
-First exam went okay- wrote quite a lot, and I think it was enough to get me the A*. Exam was fairly easy, just a bit of comprehension and then an explaining piece- went a bit OTT again, but it was okay. A* for this section, I think- maybe A.
-Second exam went slightly worse, not too much though- was a little unsure of my creative writing for this part as I feel I didn't perhaps focus properly. Did go fairly well though- prediction, A or A*- probably A.
-Coursework I think is an easy A* here- I got an A* in all of my coursework for language, I think. Almost definitely an A*.

So, rounding down, it's an A, rounding up, it's an A*- in total therefore, it's an A*/A, and that's my prediction.

History
-First exam went quite well- however I rushed teh last question and accordingly I feel I may have slipped marks here. Unfortunately, the mark scheme is brutal- ergo, this is pretty definitely an A.
-Second exam went better, but not all the way better, and I think I may have skipped in some of the facts todo with the Roaring Twenties. Accordingly, this is also probably an A.
-Coursework was an A.

It's fairly clear, therefore, that have gained an A in GCSE History. That's my prediction.

Chemistry
-In C1a and 1b, I got an A*. So, that's an A* for the first third of this. I know this already.
-In my ISA, I got an A* as well.
-The first of the two chemistry exams was hard- pretty tricky calculations and think I may have slipped up explaining some things. Still, the marks are normally pretty leniant- this could be an A, could be an A*- not sure.
-In C3, I'm fairly sure I got an A*- leniant exams coupled with a confidence in most of my answers mean I reckon I've done well.

Overall, therefore, probably an A*, maybe, MAYBE, an A. But probably an A*.

Physics
-Got full marks in P1a and P1b. SO an A* there.
-ISA I got an A- pretty good,certainly something to "bank".
-P3 I got an A, just below an A*- coupled with my excellent performane in P1 and I'm averaging A* for my exams.
-P2 went great- ansered all the questions fully and I think, well- EXCEPT< the last one, where I forgot to turn the page and missed half the question,I found out later. As I say, the amrkscheme is leniant- but I reckon I'll have got an A instead of an A* here.

Conclusion is reverse of Chemistry- A, maybe MAYBE and A*, depends how much else I got wrong on the Physics paper- but an A* is possible.

Round-up of predictions (from both posts):
Latin: A/A*
RE: A*/A
Maths: A*
English Literature: A
Biology: A*/A
English Language: A*/A
History: A
Chemistry: A*/A
Physics: A/A*

Now, that'd certainly be a nice lot of GCSE results indeed. Very much so. I'll have to wait and see!

Labels: biology, chemistry, english, english language, english literature, estimate, exams, grades, history, latin, literature, Maths, physics, RE, results, science

Posted by James Robson at 09:28 | Permalink | Comments

So: my exams are now halfway over, some of the biggest ones in terms of revision are out of the way, so I'm going to do a breakdown of how I think I'm doing so far in each subject.

Latin:
-Translation went okay- not brilliant by any means, totally flubbed some bits-but I did that in my trial and got an A in that section, so who knows? I reckon I've got either a high B or low A here.
-Poetry comprehension went wonderfully- the bit that came up I knew tip-top pretty much perfect: as a result, this, which I was very worried about failing completely, has been one of my best exams so far. I got a few bits a tiny bit wrong, but that's a few marks out of 60- not a worry. Prediction here- A*, maybe A if I've done much worse than I think, but that's unlikely.
-Prose comprehension didn't go quite as well as the poetry, but it went better than the translation and there's a lot of easy marks to mop up here. Pretty much a good, solid A.
-Coursework is A*, I reckon- I know it's at least 80% and it's very likely to be more.

So: final prediction for Latin? My reckoning is: A, a high-ish A, maybe an A* if I'm lucky.

RE:
-This went pretty well; I felt I answered erery question fully, logically, and effectively. However, the mark scheme here is brutal thanks to a combination of paired marking and a 90% grade boundary. Still, it did go well- A* but that's not a definite, maybe A.

RE there's only the one exam, so final prediction is an A*, possibly an A if I've flubbed some questions, but I thought I managed to do okay on this regard.

Maths:
-The first Unit, the coursework, I got an A* in, way back in Y9. Can't remember too much more details right now though.
-The first exam, which I retook recently, I got a solid A* in- it probably won't compensate for a lower A, but it certainly won't pull my average down.
-Stat. coursework- my only A, a high A, and this is only 10% of the course.
-Stat. exam- got a A*, eesay, which provides an average of an A* in Stat. overall- but it's all modular, and the Y11 exams are 50% of the course.
-Non-Calc. went amazingly. Surgically, which is when you are so sure of the answers that you could get any mark you want just by surgically answering the answers. I am 99% sure that's an A*, and possibly full marks if it went as well as I think.

So, for Maths, I still have the Calc. paper to do. However, I really only need a high B to still get an A* here. If I do even close to as well as I think Non.Calc went, definite A*. So, that's my prediction for that.

English Literature:
-Not sure about coursework here, as I'm not sure which ones were English and which ones were English Literature. I got mostly A*, but I got an A in Under Milk Wood which will be literature, so I'll say an A for coursework.
-The exam went solid, not super amazing style but pretty damn good all the same. I hate these interpretation questions because there are no answers, really, but I did my best and used my extra time to my full advantage. I'll say an A, though, to err on the side of caution.

That means a solid A for English Literature, which reflects well my interest in the subject. Fingers crossed an A*, but I doubt it.

Biology:
-B1a/B1b were both nearly full mark A*'s. Not sure what it is in UMS but it won't be too low. This is an A* here, and a high-ish one at that.

-B3 I know exactly, 92 UMS marks, A*, but a low one. I can't count on this pulling up my mark much but it's there and done, which is the main thing.

-B2 I did today. It went... alright, I guess. I think I may have gotten my plant minerals confused and I had no time to go back and check any of it- however, ultimately, the grade boundaries are very nice here- I need to lose 12 marks to get an A, which I'm fairly sure I haven't done. So, I'll say A*, but I'm not absolutely sure of this.

Overall then, in Biology, an A*, I'm fairly certain, a low one, maybe a high A if I did very bad today, but I reckon I did alright. So, A*.

Round-up of estimates:
Latin: A/A*
RE: A*/A
Maths: A*
English Literature: A
Biology: A*/A

Which is pretty much on target so far. These are just estimates- no way of telling till August. I may cry then, I may laugh- I'll certainly compare this post to my actual results.

Labels: biology, english, english literature, estimate, exams, grades, latin, literature, Maths, RE, results, science

Posted by James Robson at 20:07 | Permalink | Comments

Well, this seems as a good a place as any to start of my bloggin': with a generic question! Yay!

Well now; what good things HAVE happened to me lately...

I'll do this in reverse chronological order.

Firstly, today, I ACED my Latin Verse exam. For those not in the know, I was shitting bricks about this, to turn a phrase. (DAMN YOU, 4Chan!) This is due to my inability to learn things by rote, being more of an organic learner. HOWEVER: the two sections of Book 4 of Virgil's Aeniad that came up in the exam were, by chance, the two bits which I absolutely knew SOLID. So I coudl do every question EASY AS FIDDLE. Which made me very very happy.

RE, two days ago. Also quite an easy exam. The combination of that and Latin has made me feel very confident about the exam season ahead, though I still have some doubts.

Last Saturday, I purchased an excellent book on Philosophy, which is sort of disguised as a children's adventure novel. As befits a book on philosophy, the main plot twist is so bloody weird it makes a twisted kind of sense. :P

Now now now... what else good has been happening. I can now use the climbing wall at Virgin Active, meaning with that and roller-skating I probably won't survive past my 21st birthday, if that. He he he. Helmets are /optional/. I did have to sign a waiver form though...

On the subject of the gym, I've now started going regularly every Thursday. Need to build the muscles what what, and much more importantly make sure I can run more than a few meters without dying. I'm exaggerating, of course, but I would like to get more aerobic fitness and what not. Ooh, look at me with the posh words. Translation: out of breath less.

Now... not much else really good has happened. I mean, things have been dandy, don't get me wrong, but nothing stellar...

Ah! Yes, I suppose. About... a month ago now, I suppose, more or less, I came out to my parents. Wasn't a big dealio of any kind, they were fine with it, blah blah blah, but it's just nice to have done it. Bit of a weight off my chest and all that. On a related note I've started going to a youth group called Fruit Bowl on Fridays: this is quite fun, and having always complained that I do too little socialising this is an excuse to do just that. I sometimes wonder if it's weird that I'm not more bothered about being gay, but I suppose that it's not, mostly.

Generally, things have been looking up. Which is good. I'm excited about moving to Silverdale,of course, but that's out of the scope of the question, so it'll have to wait. Doing a lot more philosophic thinking recently, enough that people have been telling me to shut up about it, so that's always a good sign.

How do you end these things, anyway? Ah well. Peace out? I guess... maybe?

Labels: climbing, coming out, exams, gay, gym, latin, philosophy, RE, Silvedale, virgin, xanga

Posted by James Robson at 19:42 | Permalink | Comments