HSC tests

[JP Dogberry]

Well, I'm well into them, a third of the way in fact. That doesn't make me hate them any less.

English paper one was ok...pretty much what I was expecting, even including the fact that I wouldn't understand the second text they gave us. (The second text never makes sense) Part 2 was a short story, obviously put there just to spite me, since I despise having to try and develop a short story in 40 minutes. It just doesn't happen. I feel I did poorly on section 2, yet the last two times I felt that, it was my best section.  Part 3 was exactly as I expected, so I did pretty well with a mostly memorised essay that just needed a bit of tweaking to fit the question. Except of course the question made it difficult to use visual texts, of which my best text (Evangelion) was. I figured out a way around it (By saying it inlcuded a script or somthing) but afterwards people were feeling horrible.

English 2, which I did this morning, was also better than I expected. I did fairly well, but at the beginning I was stressing unbelievably.  Part 1, on Brave New World and Blade Runner was terrible, because the question was the one thing they could ask that I wasn't good at. (Context). King Lear was better, I liked the question, and found I was quoting very freely, so i must have done something right. Part 3,. Ted Hughes, was pretty good as well.

Tomorrow is Information Processes and Technology. I have done absolutely no work this year, and still topped the class,  so I should Blitz it, despite learning the course in a week. I'm not looking forward to it though. It's long and tedious, you have to write a lot for simple questions to get full marks. Besides, it's a two hour test that takes three hours, meaning you get to wait an extra hour at the end of it.  Not kidding, I did a practice test at home, and finished in time, despite watching a TV show and eating a meal halfway through.

Everyone is now celebrating no more English ever. Except me. I have an exam for English Extension still, as well as a future career as an English teacher.

[JP Dogberry]

Yay! They're over! I'm a free man, for the rest of my life! Now I just hope I did well enough to get into the Uni course I want.

No point to thi post, I'm just ranting since I finished my exam a few minutes ago, and I'm seeing the Matrix in a few hours. I'm Excited.

[Xaio]

I wouldn't say u're a man dude.... maybe a manchild, but not a man...

[JP Dogberry]

The 13 year old doing a Uni course has the audacity to call *me* a manchild?

[EUOL]

So, are these things like the tests they have in Asia?  Some of my friends in Korea say that their high school tests pretty much determine which university and major they're allowed into.  In the US, the SAT/ACT tests influence you getting into a school, but they are hardly the only determiner--and they don't really have anything at all to do with the majors you can choose.  

In Korea, your test scores will pretty much tell you the exact schools you can choose from, since all of the universities are stratified.  And, since you apply to programs (not universities) there, you might be able to go to a very good school if you decide to become a chemistry major, but a poor school if you want to go into English.  (And yes, more of them major in English than major in Korean Lit.)

[JP Dogberry]

Every course at every univeristy has a certain number of places. The uni will always take in as many people as they can who want to do the course, starting from the highest UAI. Therefore, to get into a course, you generally need a high enough UAI, based on these tests. There are other ways around it (like getting into a different course for a year, and transferring via mature-aged entry) but this is the simplest way. Luckily, I got an 88.75, plenty high enough for the course I wanted.

[EUOL]

What do you mean by 'course?'  Is that a particular academic program?

[JP Dogberry]

Yeah, that's basically it. I, for example, am doing the Course "EB90 Bachelor of Education (Secondary)" at Queensland University of Technology. A course I considered for a while was at the same uni, "Bachelor of Information Technology". If I chose to do that, I would have had the same fir4st year no matter what, then have been able to chose to major in one of about six areas. With this course, I needed to choose two topic areas, of which I chose English and Computing. I then needed to choose from a whole bunch of units in the English one, of which I chose Studies of Language, Teachign Adolecent Litertaure, and something Shakespeare oriented I can't remember the name of.

[EUOL]

Man.  The rest of the world is strange.  I can't believe they expect a person to pick their career when they're in high school.

Of course, they generally make you choose a major in the US.  However, since you apply to a university, and not a program, once you're in you can change as many times as you want.  In fact, about half the people I know changed their majors at least once.  

I went from biochemistry to English.  My brother, Sprig, went from computer science, to Japanese, to...well, we're not sure what he's going to do next.

So, what do you do if you decide your course isn't right for you, and want to do something else?  And, do you have electives?  What if you decide you want to take a creative writing class while you're an engineering major?

[JP Dogberry]

Oh, its very possible to transfer between courses and things, but I don't no a lot about how, probably through beaurocracy and mismanagement and forms. I also don't now about taking a class not to do with your course, but I think its possible, but once again, I'm not sure how.

[fuzzyoctopus]

EUOL, would you believe I entered BYU as an electrical engineering major?

I'm glad our system is the way it is, even if it's not perfect.  What would life be if you didn't change your major at least once?

[EUOL]

Yeah.  I'm glad Australia has provisions for major changing.  In Korea, if you want to switch, you have to go through the whole application process again and start over at a new school.  And, since it's so difficult to get into college in the first place, few people switch.  Apparently, it's expected that you'll just go into whatever your tests say you're best at.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

they have, after all, already determined everything you'll ever be good at.

I had a room mate who changed majors, literally, 5 times in one SEMESTER. He did finally graduate, thankfully.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Really I'd think it'd be less of an issue to do it five times in the same semester, instead of five times, 3 years apart.

[stacer]

I began as an animal science pre-vet major, and ended up in marriage, family, and human development, with photography an official major in the middle there, and English and family history majors/minors that I considered but ended up just taking a few classes in instead of actually changing.