The Adventures, Mishaps and Musings of Me

I got my final A2 grades this morning.  I got an A in Business Studies, an A in Law and a B in ICT al of which I'm dead chuffed with :D 

Now, I'm buggering off to America (and visiting Spain for 3 hours).  Talk to you all in two weeks.

Toodles

I've finished my very last day of school EVER.  

After the leavers assembly, practically the whole year (plus teachers!) went to the pub to get pissed.  And believe me - mission accomplished!  Yes, embaressing photos will be appearing of me on Facebook very shortly (not that there aren't enough of those already!).

It really hasn't sunk in yet that I have finally finished my 13 years of schooling and that I am never going back there (except for my summer exams).  

Life goes on.

Dylan Moran (star of adjasent icon, not to mention the awesome comedy "Black Books" and "Sean of the Dead") is touring the UK with his stand up act and me and my sister (rabid fans of his) are booking tickets to go see him in November!  Woot!

In another news, the weekend in Italy has transformed into a day in Italy cos there are, literally, no rooms left in Milan on April the 17th.  So plan B is having to come into force:  Wake up at 3:00am to dirve to London with Mum and Dad (who is flying back from Israel to come with me to Bocconi), catch flight to Italy, catch bus to Milan, eat ice cream and pizza, test, bus, flight, drive back from London to be home again by midnight.  It is going to be... insane.

I just hope that I'm not gonna be so spaced out from tierdness that I can't focus on the questions...

On the ICT coursework front - I've now finished a first draft of the specification, implementation and the testing.  That's 2 out of 3 of the huge sections on the coursework done.  Just the design (huge), user guide (petite) and evaluation (grande petite) to go.  I'm hoping to get the design finished by today - tomorrow at the latest.  I just wished I could have done more on the coursework over last term with the January exams out the way...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111

I've just got my results! 

*Takes a deep breath in order to stop self hyper ventilating*

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111

*Slaps self*

O.K, O.K, I'm calm.  Ahem.  I got an A on all 3 of the Business papers and 100% on two of them - including the infamously tricky economics and external influences paper!  And on the 3 Law papers I got 2 A's (one 100% XDDDDDDD) and a B on the paper I thought I'd failed horrifically on!

Just to put this in perspective, I've done so well in the January exams in Business all I need to get is a low B on the 3 summer papers and I'll get an A grade for my business overall!  On the law side, I can drop seven marks below the A grade on one of the summer papers and still get an A! Awesomeness :3

And to put my results into even more perspective, considering only 11% of the people who took the January Business exams this year got an A, I must be in the top 1% or 2% out of all the business candidates with my two 100% papers XD 

Why yes, you are in the presence of academic greatness :P

I'm recieveing my retake results from the January exams tomorrow.  I'm gonna predict the following results and probably be nastily suprised by the actual results:

Business - A, A, A

Law - A/B, B/C, E

I'd be saving myself so much trouble if I wanted a career in the subject I actually excelled at...  

Just come back from my law mock exam - totally aced it!  I had only crammed revised two topics in depth :  Police Law and Homicide.  And what were the two questions on?  Police Law and Homicide!

If I was Cid Highwind, I would be totally thanking lady luck right now XP

Next week is half term and the plan for my week of relaxation goes as follows:  ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework, ICT Coursework and my driving theory test.

Seriously, I'm dedicating the entire week to finishing (or rather starting and finishing!) my ICT coursework.  I've been procrastinating on it for months now and I really need to get it out the way fast, so I can focus on learning the theory ready for the exam.  

And 20th Feb is my driving theory exam - piss easy.  It's in two parts, the first is a 35 question multiple choice paper that a six year old child could pass:

The traffic lights have changed to green, but an elderly women is still crossing the road.  Do you A. Wait patiently for her to cross or B.  Run over the silly old cow .

That is actually a quite accurate representation of the questions!  The second part is called the "Hazard perception" test and involves watching 15 video clips and then clicking the mouse when you spot a substatial hazard.  Boring as hell, but easy.

Oh, I've got hellz-a-popin fun lined up this half term!

I had my last skiing lesson last night and so have completed my Bronze Duke of Edinbourgh Award!  Wohoo!  In my "assesors report" they actually put down that I had superb ski skills *blushes with pride*.  Kinda sad though, I'm gonna miss my weekly skiing hour.  But, onwards and upwards...

I just need to complete 3 months (12 hours, once a week) of physical to get my silver award, this time I'm gonna be going for horse riding.  Something I've always wanted to learn how to do and now seems like the perfect time to get started.  A friend recommended a (kinda) close stable, so I'm gonna give them a ring tonight to try and get a quote.  Also, I need to get my butt in gear to start a pysical for my Gold for six months, so, preferablly, something dead cheap.  But, you have to have some kind of instructor and they're not in the way of coming dead cheap.

On the Gold DofE front, our team has to have our 4 day route for our expedition completely finished, by Wednesday next week.  So far, we've been pretty organised about it and have got all the route cards done, it's just the labourious process of the tracings.  Little to say, it's busy, busy, busy at lunch time at school!  

Not to mention the fact that Ive got to have my application for Bocconi sent off by the 30th March - I've got a while, but the earlier I send it off the better.  I've done my online application and I've faxed the details to take the April entrance test.  I've just got to prepare the "dossier" to send off, which includes a CV, school reports (yes, my mum suggested I should alter certain words via photoshop XD), a motivation letter, references, ICT and extra curicullar certificates.  Lot's of stuff to compile in otherwords!  

I was under this strange impression that, after the exams, I would have the time to write and make videos again.  How wrong I was... I think I used to find time by not doing school work, but lately I've fallen into this bad habit of doing homework!

And the cherry on the cake is ICT coursework that will soon need to be in.

And why am I wasting time posting on LJ again? 

The Mike Dirnt icon was created by pan8dand you can find the origional post here:  http://pan8d.livejournal.com/15688.html 

So... I had my law exams a few days ago and if I was going to give you a one word of summary of each, it would be:  Brillinat, crap and craptacular.  Oh, I can't resist.  Blow by blow account of each here we come!

Paper 1:  You have 45 minutes to do 1 question (3 parts) of a choice of two.  This paper, I think I aced!  I had a great, straight up question on the advantages and disadvantages of "ADR" followed by another simple, impossible to misinterpret question on the effects of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 on the Civil Justice system.  That paper went brilliantly... and totally lulled me into a false sense of security!

Paper 2:   You have 1 hour 30 minutes to answer two questions from a choice of six.  *engaging rant mode*

Every single, damn question on that paper was either on a really, narrow a topic that was practically impossible to stretch a full 15 marks out of or was drowning in legalese so you could barely understand the question.  None of my favourite topics were on there: Bail, magistrates, statutory interpretation, Woolf reforms or the jury.  Pretty unlucky - probably makes up for paper 1.

In the end, I had to wade through a dodgey 10 mark question on equity to get to a straight forward advantages/disadvantages question on precedent.  With the dodgey 10 mark question, I just wrote reams - going for quantity over quality.  And then tackled a (comparitively) OK question on the Crown Prosecution service, but I wouldn't say it was one of my best areas... I don't think I put in enough detail.  In heinseit, I could have done the questions on EU law, but the questions were on quite narrow sections of the syllabus - not much scope for picking up a whole 15 marks.

Ugh.  But things got worse on paper 3:  45 minutes to answer 1 question - no choice.  At first glance, it's on statutory interpretation - Woo!  Actually looking at the questions:  WTF?  The questions were joined with the Human Rights Act 1998 and just worded so crazily, I think I got the complete wrong end of the stick on the first one, 5 marks down the drain already.  Which means I could only possibly get a low B if I got perfect marks on the other three questions.  

And I think it's safe to say that's not gonna happen.  My arguement had no flow, whatsoever in any of the questions on that paper.  It didn't help that I was kinda gutted over Paper 2, so I wasn't thinking particulaly clearly.  If I had to guess at what I got on the papers, it would be: A, B/A, D/E.  And that's not the only thing that's bringing me down right now.

I would go and wallow in self pity, but I did that Tuesday and, frankly, it's over rated. 

BOO - YA!  I kicked serious butt in my Business exam!  It went brilliantly!  My timing and exam technique was spot on - on each paper I actually had enough time to read through all of my essay answers and ask myself "should I or should I not change that comma to a semi colon?" 

On paper 3 one of the essays was on "How EU law effected businesses in the UK?" and I practically did an internal back flip of joy.  That topic had been hardly covered on the syllabus, but because I do Law I knew all about the EU to the point that I could actually quote the Acts of Parliament on EU legislation - oh, it was essay bliss!  

In conclusion (apparently, I'm still in exam mode) I think I've got that subject in the bag!  Next up are my law exams Monday afternoon.  Alternate dispute resolution revision here I come...

  

 OK.  Moral was a little low sunday.  But, being the resouceful monkey person I am, I acted on the whiny angst to do some timed practice papers and my sentiments have totally turned around!  School started again Monday, I had double Business Studies first and... wow.  I mean, I do tend to rule supreme in Business class, but this lesson I was just oozing subject knowledge!

If I was someone else in the class, I would have totally made a "Someone's swallowed the text book" crack  XP  

So now, the night before the exam, I'm feeling totally confident about the examination onslought tommorow morning.  Where as Sunday, it felt like I was fighting an uphill battle that I couldn't win, now... I think I can do what I set out to do.  Get my A.

It feels good. 

I've had a growth spurt over christmas!!  I've grown about an inch, so now I'm taller then my little sister again!  Tallest and oldest never felt so good.  Thanks to the growing power of mince pies and salted peanuts I now come in at 5 foot 10 inches XP

Although, I've now disproved my own theory that younger siblings (of the same sex) always out grow their older siblings.  Damn those growth inducing peanuts!!

In other much less consequential news of my life, I have my business studies exam this Wednesday morning.  Apprehensive?  A little...  The results from these exams kinda dictate what I'll be doing with my life for the next few years...

I've done so much work this time around: practice questions up the wazoo, putting the entire syllabus to memory and eating the case study for afternoon tea.  In the summer exams, revision went like so: "pfft, I know it all."  So, logically speaking, considering I got a B last time around with no revision, I should be able to get an A and top marks with all the work I've done, right?

I may have to send a strongly worded formal letter to God if this is not the case.

Also, last time around my examine technique was a little shaky.  Usually, I'm a master of exam strategy, so where I fall down in IQ, I pick up in "how to go about getting marks".  But, it really hit me, last year, of just how intense the A Level exams were.  

In business studies you have 3 papers (one after the other, with literally 10 seconds break) all 1 hour.  And geezus, it's a sprint to the finsih!  In each paper, you have 1 hour to answer two big essay questions, and three mini essays.  You. literally, cannot waste time thinking about what your gonna write!

Law is again 3 papers (two 45 minute papers and one 1 and 1/2 papers.  The first gives you a choice of two essay questions.  The second paper you have a choice of six qustions and you have to answer two.  The third paper you don't have a choice, but you know it is going to be either on precedent or statutory interpretation.  Law is less of a speed race and you have a choice of questions, but it's still pretty gruelling.  Who would of thought sitting on a chair for three hours could be tiring XP

Ah, I can't wait to the other side of January 14th.

School's out for Christmas and I've finished revising the entire syllabus for law and business!  BOO YA!

And by finished, I mean I'm gonna be spending the upcoming two weeks going through practice papers and re-cramming facts and details just to make sure I know the lot.  Methinks Christmas is going to be served with a large side helping of statutory interpretation  >_>

 I was walking along the corrider at school, talking to this bouncy first year who seemed to think she knew me and instead of pushing her into a nearby locker I decided to be a mature sixth former and humour her, asking her about her lessons and recycling old jokes about teachers that she wouldn't of heard before.  When, suddenly...

The old (and very senile) head of lower school called me over, thinking I was a lower year and not wearing the proper uniform (sixth formers don't have a "uniform" as such, but have to wear a suit).  She asked me what year I was in and I responded "upper sixth".  

"Hmmmm..." she replied and then, with no further warning, grabbed the top of my leg and started rubbing her hand up and down it!

!!!!

Seeing the shock on my face, she tried to validate herself by saying "those trousers looked like jeans to me."  They're black, smart trousers, how the hell could someone mistake them for jeans?!?  

"They're not jeans!" I said, understandably ruffled and then, before she could utter any more pervyness, I power walked into the caferteria for safety.  Greasy sasuges never smelt so good...

Ugh... reading this through, it sounds like the kinda thing that would happen in a particulaly bad slash fic.  I'm sure it was just an horrendous error on her part.  Older people don't know when they're being weird...

I guess I can tick "be molested by a teacher" off my list of things to do at secondary school!

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Good news, I've mangaed to succesfully bribe/persuade my Business Studies teacher to boost my predicted grade up to an A!  I was planning to talk to my ICT teacher about upping my predicted grade too, but the trick is to put the idea forward after a lesson where you've been particulaly brilliant in subject knowledge and behaviour, so it looks like the only reason you got a B in the exams was because of nasty examiners mistreating your paper.

Unfortunately, today's double ICT lesson was not fitting the criteria for "behaviour".  To give you a directly quoted extract of my lesson:

"Anna, stop talking and do the coursework!"

"Mr [insert teacher's name], you clearly don't understand the process of me doing coursework.  How it works is this:  I do very little of it untill one day before the deadline, where I stay up all night till 4:00am doing it, hand it on time and get good marks.  It's unconventional, but it works for me."

Apparently, I was being rude.

All I knew was that I couldn't follow up with:  "Oh, yes, could you change my predicted grade from a B to an A.  Kthanx."

I may have to try and get my grade raised in Law instead...

Dinosaur Website:  15% complete

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Yesterday, I had to catch the bus to get to school for a lesson in ICT.  I have to attend school, on a Thursday, for one lesson right in the middle of the day!  Oh, the struggles and woes of my life...

So anyway, I caught the bus and for some reason I didn't feel like sitting on the top deck like I always, always do and, instead, sat at the back of the bottom deck.  Major mistake.

Two stops later and the whole of the bottom deck was swarming with pensioners!  I was the only person under 50 on that bottom deck - I felt like a freak because I didn't have a cane, glasses and a shopping bag full of hair dye!  

What's worse, they wouldn't leave me alone to get on with my  teenage brooding, but kept giving me patronising smiles!  I returned the smiles with a glare that should of said "Don't make me graffiti your bald spot" but that had the complete opposite effect.  They started talking to me, asking me about school, the disgrace that I didn't knit, where I lived and other things that "reminded them of the good old days".

And then the bus got delayed by traffic. 

It was a nightmare!  A nightmare, I tell you!  A nightmare involving zombies that didn't care about your brains, they just wanted to rip out your hip bone and teach you how to knit socks!

Finally, my stop arrived and I escaped only to turn up to school half an hour late.  In other words, I missed half of my total lesson time that day.  But, hey.  It was only ICT :P

Well , I'm back from the most amazing two week holiday ever!  Long live America!  God, the patroism rubbed off on me...

First day back to school was an administartion nightmare!  Spent an hour at reception facing off beraucacy (forms, forms and more forms); met every teacher I wanted to avoid and got myself sent to Miss Needs office by period 3.  Charming.

Won the lunch time poker game (Boo Ya!) and, for the first time, acted as a mature year 13 by directing a tearful first year to the music rooms!  The most exciting thing that happened at school, while I was away, was that the fourth and fith floor toilets were painted green.  Seriously, I had people asking me all day if I'd been in them!  You'd think they'd have microchips in the seats the way the (now green) toilets were such a hot conversation topic!

On my first day I had double business studies, free and then double ICT.  According to a friend, my new ICT teacher had been telling the class how they were too quiet - not any more!  So yes, in short, I had a awesome first day back.  And, what's even better, I have Tuesday off every week!  

For you guys, that means I'll probably have "Tseng's Day Off" uploaded!  I've finished the script, just the modding to go.