In the news

I was just illustrating the only scenario where working hard doesn't pay off. Milestone exams SATs, GCSEs and A-levels aren't so easy as to make hard work pointless. The harder you work the better you will do. However, if you do cram and do well then you performed well, are not a 'chancer' and deserve a good grade just as much as someone who spent four times as long revising for it.

E: I've realised I'm trying to pat myself 15 year old self on the head for getting C's and U's in my GCSE mocks.

and similarly - I'm trying to justify my diligent 15 year old self as not being "dumb"...

Exactly this. “Chancer” is unfair. They removed course work from GCSEs for this A level cohort, indicating that only exams matter. They teach kids to pass exams and many play to their strengths by cramming. It’s been encouraged and now many are being penalised.

I can say this safe in the knowledge this morning that my son got the grades needed for his offer, but many are not so lucky.

Congrats!

Nice one

As someone who's the opposite to a "chancer" I find it highly annoying that I always struggled in exams but did alright through the rest of the year and coursework etc. (There's no way of saying "near top of the class" without sounding like a dick). I'd watch people who didn't understand shit be able to churn out better scores than me because they could cram more facts in 24 hours beforehand which are totally forgotten a minute after the exam.

Unless you're at a fee paying school, and get to take the international GCSE with coursework

True enough

@villa-ru @neu thanks, two down one to go in a couple of years. GCSE results next week...

I can say this safe in the knowledge this morning that my son got the grades needed for his offer

Congrats, must be a weight off your mind.

It's been a bit of a horrible morning helping the students who missed out on their grades without ever taking external A level exams to prove themselves.

They're either pissed off or upset with us, because they don't like the grades we gave them, or they're directing it at Ofqual, who have changed the grades we gave.

Either way, we were really scrupulous with how we formulated the grades, made sure they were roughly the same proportions as last year, ensuring our overall value added score was the same, to try to make our centre grades watertight - and yet Ofqual have downgraded students in nearly all subjects, giving us the worst set of grades for years without any justification.

I can say this safe in the knowledge this morning that my son got the grades needed for his offer

Strong. Congrats to Markyboyboy

Lots of low grades in NI as well atm :(
They used a different system but many kids are getting lower grades than what teachers would assign.

Exams, cha, I hate many cos they are bull where you just repeat the question types that always come up / they are crammy multiple choice nonsense.

Barely survived maths, managed to pass it at undergrad OU level due to sheer stubborness, but 5.5/10 and 6/7 out of 10 aren't spectacular. I am not smart. I always envied the extra courses, high grades types with a choice of anything they want, that's just not me.

I don't envy any teachers today. I know it was really hard having to rank all kids to start with and now to have to deal with so much turmoil must be really tough.

That's where having integrity gets you.

Local to me, just got some closer up pictures as I passed by.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bomb-squad-chorlton-police-seal-18761024

2 Attachments

Just passed on a jog! They've done quite a job on it. I know a guy who lives across the road, heard it thinking it was thunder.

Cramming is also cheating. I got a phone call walking me up about 15 minutes before my maths AS level, not because I was up all night cheating either. The teacher who put me down a set didn't seem impressed when I blagged a B with zero effort or revision on that and they thought I'd get an D or E. A lot of tests are relatively easy to pass without knowing all the things if you understand how the tests work, bit of multiple choice and covering all the bases on the other bits and you're sorted to a degree of sorted for a slacker. You'd probably have to be actually smart or try hard or both to get top marks though. I'm pretty sure my "methods" would've failed me if I'd bothered to try further education, but education never seemed as interesting as learning to me, or getting wreaked.

All of that is no help however to all the kids currently getting fucked over though.

This happens in Germany all the time, although usually at rural cash machines with few people living near them. I haven't heard of gangs using bombs on machines in cities. Frightening.

A classic slacker technique is just reading through to see if any later questions have answers/hints for the earlier ones.

So Cho graffiti.

Oh yeah, always give the whole thing a read through first, finish early and change a few if other stuff comes up, and mostly they'll be marking non multiple choice stuff on certain points if it's English or something, so answer from a few points of view and you'll get something right and it'll all add up. Multiple choice is ignore the stupid one, ignore the less stupid one, pick between the other two based on knowledge, guesswork, other questions or weather.

The ATM is likely to have been subject of a gas explosion. Pipe gas into it and ignite - it does work.

Agreed, although clearly they haven't tried to go to Burton Rd coop on a Sunday early evening only to find it closed, but been saved by Hardy Lane's more generous opening hours. #10pmisplentylate

Crazy. The reason I got these pics today was to send to my boss at the bank many years ago who was something of an expert on atm theft techniques, she had a set of slides of pictures of various attempts over the years. JCB was one technique. I don't think she had a bomb slide back then.