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Well, I just got my A-level results, and they're nowhere near good. I passed, of course, but the pass is virtually guaranteed, unless you have the intelligence of Darkstar. What counts is the quality of the pass.

Why do I say this? Well, that's because the competition for admission into the local universities is so fierce that staright As are practically required for entrance (the number of S-papers and co-curricular activities are what separates the cream from the crop). Hell, I have a friend who has two As, a B and a C and he considers that bad.

And we are only allowed to repeat the exams as school candidates provided we attain fewer than two A-level or AO-level passes. And very few people are THAT stupid.

So the major problem is that most of us A-level students pass, but only a small fraction of these passes are good enough for university entrance. The Chinese have a saying for this - "ban tian diao" , which literally means "hanging in the middle of the sky". Or, as I once said to my friends, "Either pass your A levels with flying colours, or fuck them up so badly you can repeat. Otherwise, you're screwed."

Guess I'm eating my own words now.

Sorry to hear that, buddy. Don't know anything about the education system in your part of the world so I can't offer any kind of advice.

What about applying to universities abroad? There some places where you can do that without having to pay astronomical semester fees. Finland might be one possibility, but this place is a long way from over there.

Do the unis in Singapore have separate entry exams, or are people accepted based only on the A-level papers? Because here you have to pass a separate exam to get into the uni, and often that exam is harder than anything you will face in your actual studies. You also won't be booted out, though might be they'll set a limit of how many years you can stay at the uni before either graduating or being kicked out.

Edi

come to germany. you dont have to pay semester fees and for a lot of stuff is without numerus clausus.

Edi wrote:What about applying to universities abroad? There some places where you can do that without having to pay astronomical semester fees. Finland might be one possibility, but this place is a long way from over there.

Go to Finland? And meet someone like you? Might be fun. Still, the money, the money... Would probably be dun, though. I have considered Australia, but I'd like to keep studies abroad as a last resort.

Do the unis in Singapore have separate entry exams, or are people accepted based only on the A-level papers? Because here you have to pass a separate exam to get into the uni, and often that exam is harder than anything you will face in your actual studies. You also won't be booted out, though might be they'll set a limit of how many years you can stay at the uni before either graduating or being kicked out.

Edi

A-levels only, though there are secific entrance exams for speciific courses.

Sorry to hear about that, ESB. I especially find it sadistic from students' point of view that they are not allowed to repeat the exams unless they do it really badly. The second phase of my matriculation exams begin in two weeks, but here it's possible to try them three times (next autumn, for example), and even with just good grades it would be nearly impossible to get into a university because you'll have to do the entrance exam.

Edi said pretty everything else I was planning to say.

You might want to look into different colleges to do resits at. I know I could have resat mine if I'd fallen slightly short.

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:

Edi wrote:What about applying to universities abroad? There some places where you can do that without having to pay astronomical semester fees. Finland might be one possibility, but this place is a long way from over there.

Go to Finland? And meet someone like you? Might be fun. Still, the money, the money... Would probably be dun, though. I have considered Australia, but I'd like to keep studies abroad as a last resort.

Dude, come and study in Tasmania, we'll accept anyone who can smash two braincells together, it has a REALLY low cost of living and great breweries!

Wherever you go, just don't go to the US. American colleges largely suck, and those that don't are VERY expensive.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin