Guybrush Threepwood
Trainee Pirate
QUOTE=Vixen;14281322]My best subject at school was languages. After the first year, having come top in most subjects, in the second year I was placed in the top academic stream, which meant giving up Music and Art, both of which I was good at and enjoyed, but happy to drop the Domestic Science with its fire-breathing ogre of a teacher. This ‘academic’ stream pulled together all of the pupils who’d performed well in their particular first-year form (there were four first-year forms). The first year was pulled together from the 20% of pupils in the region who had passed the 11+ exam. So, I was in the top 25% of the top 20% from the second year on. Instead of doing two sciences or double science, we did Chemistry, Physics and Biology as three separate subjects, plus an extra language, German, in my case, added to the foreign language from the first year, which was French. Others did Latin.
For the next four years, twice a year, I usually came top in English and French and ranked 3rd in German, thanks to strong competition from kids in the class with German or Swiss parents. Chemistry, usually about 6th. Likewise, History and Geography. Physics and Maths, in the top half at least 15th, but nothing outstanding. Biology, I found difficult in terms of swotting time but ranked 3rd mostly, and was surprised to get a ‘Credit’ at O-Level, which was lucky, as it was mandatory to have Biology O-Level to get into Psychology, (back then, Distinctions were handed out far less freely than today.) I took up Economics as from the fifth form.
Back in the day, it was commonplace for teachers to have favourites. I was the teacher’s pet of two English teachers, one of them well-known in the theatre and I was also the pet of the Chemistry teacher and the Economics one. The English teachers liked me because I shared their passion for literature. I was the nerdy kid laughing hard in all of the right places. The Chemistry teacher told my parents I always knew the answer to his questions. He was old school, gown and mortarboard, and strict. He would rip in half, in front of the class, any test paper or homework that he thought was not up to standard. He was the only teacher who enquired after me when I was away for a prolonged period. He put us through the Chemistry O-Level one year early as the syllabus was about to change.
The places for Psychology – fast forward – were oversubscribed 20 to one so an entry selection test was applied. My tutor mentioned to me in passing some time later, that my score in this test was the highest they had ever had. During this course, I designed and completed fifteen laboratory reports, plus questionnaires, and applied statistical analyses to them. In addition, wrote up a 30,000-word dissertation. The statistics module was a chore, as were most of the professional accountancy exams. Thanks to the heavy statistics and laboratory emphasis of the degree, it was easy to gain exemptions into chartered accountancy, together with the NVQ4 I also had, also heavily technical. As my son succinctly puts it, ‘Just because I am good at it, doesn’t mean I like it!’
Footnote: Of the guys in my class that came top in Physics, one became a leading paediatrician surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, one of the most renowned in England, and another an eminent Physicist and Astrophysicist professor at Rutgers, with about 39 letters after his name. This guy showed his talent in inventiveness and understanding of Physics at the age of fourteen, when he brought into class his own homemade and self-designed periscope…for looking up girls’ skirts.
So, do I have a sufficient grounding in science to be able to grasp and discuss the concepts involved in the Luton Airport Fire and/or that of the Estonia shipwreck? <Shrug> Make of it what you will.[/QUOTE]
For the next four years, twice a year, I usually came top in English and French and ranked 3rd in German, thanks to strong competition from kids in the class with German or Swiss parents. Chemistry, usually about 6th. Likewise, History and Geography. Physics and Maths, in the top half at least 15th, but nothing outstanding. Biology, I found difficult in terms of swotting time but ranked 3rd mostly, and was surprised to get a ‘Credit’ at O-Level, which was lucky, as it was mandatory to have Biology O-Level to get into Psychology, (back then, Distinctions were handed out far less freely than today.) I took up Economics as from the fifth form.
Back in the day, it was commonplace for teachers to have favourites. I was the teacher’s pet of two English teachers, one of them well-known in the theatre and I was also the pet of the Chemistry teacher and the Economics one. The English teachers liked me because I shared their passion for literature. I was the nerdy kid laughing hard in all of the right places. The Chemistry teacher told my parents I always knew the answer to his questions. He was old school, gown and mortarboard, and strict. He would rip in half, in front of the class, any test paper or homework that he thought was not up to standard. He was the only teacher who enquired after me when I was away for a prolonged period. He put us through the Chemistry O-Level one year early as the syllabus was about to change.
The places for Psychology – fast forward – were oversubscribed 20 to one so an entry selection test was applied. My tutor mentioned to me in passing some time later, that my score in this test was the highest they had ever had. During this course, I designed and completed fifteen laboratory reports, plus questionnaires, and applied statistical analyses to them. In addition, wrote up a 30,000-word dissertation. The statistics module was a chore, as were most of the professional accountancy exams. Thanks to the heavy statistics and laboratory emphasis of the degree, it was easy to gain exemptions into chartered accountancy, together with the NVQ4 I also had, also heavily technical. As my son succinctly puts it, ‘Just because I am good at it, doesn’t mean I like it!’
Footnote: Of the guys in my class that came top in Physics, one became a leading paediatrician surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, one of the most renowned in England, and another an eminent Physicist and Astrophysicist professor at Rutgers, with about 39 letters after his name. This guy showed his talent in inventiveness and understanding of Physics at the age of fourteen, when he brought into class his own homemade and self-designed periscope…for looking up girls’ skirts.
So, do I have a sufficient grounding in science to be able to grasp and discuss the concepts involved in the Luton Airport Fire and/or that of the Estonia shipwreck? <Shrug> Make of it what you will.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't sure about this one, but you seem to have landed one with it, so fair play to you. You know what you're at.
