Aspies For Freedom

I just read this on Teletext.  Today is the day when 18 year-olds in the UK receive their A-Level results, which determine whether they will be able to go to their chosen university or college.

I still have clear memories of the day 5 years ago when I received my own A-Level results.  My Mum and Dad drove me to the college first thing in the morning, where all the results were displayed in big lists on the walls of one of the classrooms (students were identified by their student ID number rather than their name, so there was no problem with privacy).  My results weren't as good as I hoped they'd be, and I still remember looking at my results on the wall and thinking "Is this it? Am I looking at the correct line? Will I still get into the university?"

As I was worried my results might not be good enough to get into university (I only wanted to attend the one in my hometown), I burst into tears, and we had to leave the room quickly.  Straight after that, Mum and Dad took me to the coast, and on the way there I calculated my grade points, and I realised my grades were high enough after all, so I was happier then.  Then a couple of days later I received confirmation of my place, so I was really happy then, even though I still think my grades weren't as high as they could have been, as I chose to study my A Levels in subjects I enjoyed, rather than subjects I knew I was good at.

Congratulations to both Jos and you!  It's always nice to hear of people getting to do something they wanted to.

11 A-Levels?

OHSHI-

wow.

What is that, in US terms? Is it like getting a 34 on your ACT or something?

Oh, Okay. I've checked it out.

A-Levels are like college placement tests. Most students take three or four. Getting an A-grade on one means to be in the top 10% of students who take that subject.

Taking 11 A-levels, and passing them all, means you have knowledge in a lot of different fields, and are very competent in them. Very few people can take that many and pass them.

I wonder which subjects they were?

bear in mind,that the (correct me if i am wrong) US College is the UK University.

Aha, answered my own question.
[url="http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=61914&in_page_id=34"]Link[/url]

Maths, Biology, English, History, Chemistry, Econonomics, Further Maths, Additional Maths, Physics, Philosphy and General Studies.

Who wants to bet he's got a special interest in maths?

Maybe enterprising neuroscience can find a way to give the average person Savant skills, so that the pseudo-savants out there right now (Jos would be one) no longer have anything special.

I believe they are looking at this very concept by studying Daniel Tammet.. his Savantism was triggered by some kind of subtle structural change in his brain after suffering a severe epileptic seizure.

I wonder what might happen if "they" find such a trigger could be induced in an average person!  I'd be the first one in line.

Could someone explain this level exam system to me?

A-levels are what UK students use to get into university. Each grade is worth a certain amount of points as follows:

A: 120 points
B: 100 points
C: 80 points
D: 60 points
E: 40 points

The higher the grades you get, the better. If you get 3 A's, you can apply to pretty much anywhere. Even if you don't, there are plenty of good universities that will accept you if you get AAB-BBB.

I'm starting university myself. I'm studying History at Goldsmiths, University of London. I have spent 2 years at another university doing another subject but have decided to move on to something that better reflects my interests.

I wish this guy all the best.

From what I've read, they are somewhat like the AP exams in the US, which, like the A-levels, are given in different subjects and are used for college admissions. On my own AP exams, I scored very strangely. Despite doing intermediate to advanced college-level math such as in number theory, topology, modern algebra, and taking AP Calculus with a B grade (it would have been higher if I had done my homework, as I aced the tests, despite not having had precalculus), I got a 1 (which is the lowest score you can get and is equivalent to failing), but I got a 4 on the AP European History despite not understanding most questions and being unable to complete my essays due to time limit (it is very slow for me to write by hand).

Probably the main difference (besides the fact that I liked the room I took for AP European History exam better than the one for Chemistry and Calculus) was that I only ommitted 6 questions on AP European History, whereas on Calculus the exam I only got to answer about 20% of the questions. (My eyes have gotten much worse in the last year, and my handwriting even slower, but the College Board didn't approve any accomodation of being given a computer or to have extended time, despite going through the proper channels in months advance the deadline.)

Oh well. I took classes I wanted, and I enjoyed them, so I don't regret about that. Besides, the school I'm applying for accepts about 97% of the applicants, so even though my school record is a mix of polar opposites (for instance, despite testing out of precalculus and regular physics to advance to AP Calculus and AP Physics, I failed literature and history, primarily because I was chronically ill that year and the school staff responsible for arranging me to make up my exams screwed up and told my teachers I had been uncooperative. I repeatedly asked if I had any more make-up exams I had forgotten about - every morning for about two months, as I was absent on-and-off very often - and she said I had only a phsyics one and a chemistry one, and I took those, and then found out the last day of the semester that I had several hundred points worth of exams that I hadn't taken, and I took as many as I could that day, but only got to take two exams).

It's not so much that I score badly, but I score weirdly. I score very high in reading comprehension exams, but when asked what I read thirty seconds after I've finished, I most often say I don't know and just remember odd little details about it.

Yeah. I always wanted to take about 9 AP exams (I'm still looking forward to AP Economics and AP Japanese - entirely on computer, the latter! ). Now I'm not so sure I'd be cut out for it. I probably could, but then I'd have to drop some of my college courses I'm taking on the side (I'm going to be in the fall semester taking 12 - 14 courses, both college and high school level). And I'm really looking forward to Essentials of Argumentation.