It's me, Kinkerz!

[Kinkerz]

Tomorrow, for me, marks the beginning of the end of my final A-level exam period. You could say that I'm happy about that...

BYA5 and BYA6 then. I know the material pretty damn well now, it's just articulating it into a nice, concise answer hitting the marking points on the mark scheme(s) that could pose a problem. I'm better at BYA6 than BYA5, even though I've already had one attempt at BYA5. BYA5 contains alot of dull stuff and the genetics involved in it is particularly dry; drawing punnett squares and writing about meiosis is boring!

[Kinkerz]

Well, neither went amazingly well...

BYA5
I'm not sure what to say about this, all the questions just seem to merge into one big one when trying to remember what was asked. There was a good respiration question and a couple of decent longer questions. However, there were quite a few 'data' questions that weren't the nicest!

BYA6
In some ways this was a really good paper, in some ways it wasn't. The longer questions were on haemoglobin and oxyhaemoglobin, and kidneys, which really did bode well for me! On the other hand, there were (similarly to BYA5) alot of 'data'/'interpretation' questions that were difficult.

Ultimately, I reckon high B or low A on both. It really depends on the grade boundaries. I wouldn't say I'm especially confident about either of them...

Anyway, moving on. Next is BYA8/w, which is the biology synoptic. Yuck!

[Kinkerz]

Found out something today that I'm really not happy about.

BYA8 = 120
-
BYA8/c = 60 UMS
BYA8/w = 60 UMS

In BYA8/c, i.e. my coursework, I've got, to the best of my knowledge, a full 60/60 UMS, which is good!

Now, usually, you get a raw mark that is scaled into a UMS mark. As the grade boundaries for biology are particularly low (on average 65%-75% for an A), this usually means that your mark is scaled up. E.g.:

* Raw mark = 55/75
* Grade boundary for an A = 51/75
* UMS would probably be about 76/90

So the mark has been scaled up from 73.3% to 84.4%. In the written part of BYA8, BYA8/w, there is no scaling. They just take your raw mark. The paper is out of 60, so whatever mark you get is infact the UMS you get for it. Then, to top it all off, they scale your total from both parts of BYA8 down! I'll show you the table to make it clearer, I feel as though I'm not making much sense:

http://store.aqa.org.uk/qual/pdf/AQA...-WRE-JUN05.PDF (page 46)

I hope you readers understand my anxiety. Advantageous scaling would've been incredibly helpful.

I will say, at this stage, getting AAB is looking somewhat grim.

[Kinkerz]

I've been looking at all the past BYA8 essay titles over the last 20 minutes or so. I've compiled a list and colour coded them as to how much I'd appreciate them re-surfacing for the June '09 paper.

As you may have guessed:
Green = nice!
Orange = meh.
Red = oh dear...

How nitrogen-containing compounds are made available to and are used by living organisms.
The importance of hydrogen bonds in living organisms.
Carbon dioxide in organisms and ecosystems.
Why offspring produced by the same parents are different in appearance.
Polymers have different structures. They also have different functions. Describe how the structures of different polymers are related to their functions.
Describe how nitrogen-containing substances are taken into, and metabolised in, animals and plants.
Inorganic ions include those of sodium, phosphorus and hydrogen. Describe how these and other inorganic ions are used in living organisms.
Bacteria affect the lives of humans and other organisms in many ways. Apart from causing disease, describe how bacteria may affect the lives of humans and other organisms.
Negative feedback and its importance in biology.
Condensation and hydrolysis and their importance in biology.
The transfer of energy between different organisms and between these organisms and their environment.
Ways in which organisms of different species differ from each other.
How carbon dioxide gets from a respiring cell to the lumen of an alveolus in the lungs.
How an amino acid gets from protein in a person’s food to becoming part of a protein in that person.
The structure and functions of carbohydrates.
Cycles in biology.
How bacteria affect human lives.
The biological importance of water.

Some of the ones I've put in orange are actually decent topics, just a tad restrictive in how much I could write.

[Kinkerz]

Well, I've looked through the essay lists and found a few areas that have not yet come up:
* Lipids (structure and function is a possibility, no?)
* How carbon-containing compounds are taken into and metabolised in living organisms (leaves a ludicrously wide scope for writing, and we've seen nitrogen-containing compounds come up before...twice)
* Something involving ATP (this would be nice and it hasn't really reared its head yet, so may come up)

I wouldn't mind any of those to come up really. I really don't want a biotechnology one to come up or an evil genetics-ey one either. I wouldn't mind ecology that much (at least there's a fare bit to write), especially relative to the two I mentioned in the previous sentence.

I'm not really sure what to do now. I've planned a couple of essays, wouldn't say I've written one per se, but I've filled out the plans. I'll write one or two before I go to bed, but I'm not sure how much it'll help.

[Kinkerz]

BYA8/w
'Oh dear', is just about the only phrase that I can summon up...

That exam was a bad one. Infact, you could say it was the worst exam I've ever sat.

Essay choices:
A Uses of water in living organisms
B Energy transfer within and between organisms

I chose A because I felt I could cover more modules and get a broader range of topics in. It ended up as a lump of text without any real conviction or answer to the question. Probably got between 10 and 15 out of 25 for it. Maybe even less. How could I forget about hydrolysis? It's as though my mind went walk about. Also forgot to mention the ventilation system in fish...

Here's what it should've looked something like:
http://www.biologylessons.net/files/...nceOfWater.doc

The questions before the essay weren't all that bad, but they weren't pleasant either, though I definitely gained more marks from them than the essay.


Overall, I'm feeling particularly disappointed and actually rather bitter! How can my future purely come down to a 1 hour and 45 minute exam paper? Was that exam a fair reflection on my general knowledge of biology? Was it buggery. Do I think it's fair that I'll most likely lose out on my place at Keele because of a shoddy choice of essays? Hell no.

Roll on chemistry, eh? Though I fail to see the point now. Well, actually, I guess it might give me more choice when trying to choose a degree and a university this coming UCAS cycle...

[Kinkerz]

CHM5
Oddly, the exam contained very little of my truly strong points (organic, transition metal complexes) and I still found it okay. There was an electrochemistry question that I totally flopped and a Kc calculation that I'm not at all confident about. I think it was generally a fairly average paper, so the grade boundaries will be pretty average (~90/120 for an A), and I reckon I've just made the cut.

CHM6/w
I thought this was pretty hard, despite organic being abundant throughout -- that said, it was pretty hard organic! I'm sure there was a question that couldn't actually be answered with the choices available, but I'll trust the guys at AQA over my chemistry.
Given how the other chemistry exams went (CHM1, CHM3/w and CHM5), I don't think I'd need a really high mark in this synoptic for an A overall.

This is all just my initial feelings, however. I could be wrong and have flopped both papers and end up with a B.

So...A-levels are over. A subdued conclusion with how yesterday went, I feel. Kind of odd that I no longer have to revise or prepare. It's almost as if I don't know what to do with myself (not quite though!).

I e-mailed Keele asking about their policy of applicants missing grades. They gave a reply of "each case is looked at individually by the dean of admissions", which I don't really know how to take...

Anyway. That's me done for today. Results day should be...interesting.
Perception(s):
Best case scenario: AABc
Worst case scenario: BBCc
Though they'll probably be somewhere in the middle.


EDIT-

It appears that some people on TSR also found question 36 physically impossible with the choices available! AQA may have made an error!

EDIT x 2 -

Here are the section B questions for those that are interested:
The Student Room
The Student Room

I reckon I got between 46 and 50 out of 60 in that section. Not bad!

[Kinkerz]

I keep coming home from things and feeling as though I should be doing a past paper or something equally studious. It's really odd now, after a few weeks of basically doing nothing but work, going straight into utter-chill-mode cold turkey.

I've caught up on the OC (I'm nearly finished with it...coming to the end), which initially I thought I'd hate, but it turns out I really quite like it. I mean, it's not up there with House, but it's pretty good.
Been to a couple of barbeques, where my truly excellent steak grilling skills have been useful. I will say though, consecutive barbeques aren't that great. It's much better when they're spaced out and it isn't just two days of nothing but too much protein, beer and that terrible smoke smell that seems to become embedded in clothes, skin and hair.

I'm trying to build up a 'to-do' list for this summer/year, but alot of it depends on whether I'll be doing a gap year. I don't know whether to totally assume that gapage will be inevitable and incorporate it into the 'to-do' list, or take into account that the 1% possibility of me making my grades/Keele taking me anyway. I guess time is on my side though, eh?

[Kinkerz]

I have to say, this doing nothing malarkey and just going with the flow is actually awesome. I've done pretty much bugger all and I've loved every minute. The weather, on the whole, has been pretty good too.

On Monday (at about 01:00), I fly to Zante with 12 mates for a week. Yes, it could well be the chav central of the world, but it was pretty cheap and should be a good laugh. Infact, the whole thing will be hilarious. A bunch of idiot teenage lads trying to survive for a week on a Greek island. Negotiating Zakynthos airport could be a challenge. Though I hear it's pretty small, so shouldn't be that difficult. Hopefully we'll all make it back alive. It is one person's 18th while we're out there. Should be interesting!

Anyway, given that it's 04:30, I should probably head to bed. Farewell.

[Kinkerz]

So I've now returned from my week in Zante. It was actually better than what I thought it would be. I'm not all that into the club scene and subsequently I wasn't all that optimistic about that aspect of the week, but it turned out to be pretty good. At least it was to begin with. Towards the end of the week it started to get a bit repetitive and dull. I spent more of my time in bars though; half the group was similar to me, the other half very much into the clubbing malarkey. If you're going to Zante this year, or if you're not, I'll give some opinions:

Best bar - Chevy's
Set out like an American diner. Drinks are fairly cheap (there's a deal that most places adopt: 2 cocktails plus 2 shots for 5 Euros). They do an amazing skittles vodka, better than any I've ever tasted before. There are a couple of half decent pool tables and also they have some of the hottest waitresses we saw throughout the whole week.

Best club - Rescue
I've chosen this purely because of the layout. It makes the whole dancing crap more bearable (of course ethanol does that too...). The dance floor's set out like a three tier wedding cake, which I thought was way cooler than just one flat floor. There's also an area upstairs where you can stand/sit and look out across the club. A balcony-esque thing that's difficult to describe.

I stayed at Plaza II and it was a bit of a dump. Mind, the whole island is a bit of a dump. It feels just like a tropical version of Butlins. Anyway, whether it was a hotel or apartments, I'm not sure. The travel agent said they were apartments, but the place had a restaurant type thing. The pool area was quite nice, but the rooms weren't great.
Here's a decent picture of the complex:

My room was the circled one.
The good thing about it was the location. It was pretty much in the middle of everything. Less than a minute walk to the beach and a good shop, and less than five minutes walk to the 'strip'. The 'strip' is the road with all the bars and clubs on.

The place is quite literally mad. Things don't really kick off until comfortably after midnight and on the average night, don't start to die down until five-ish. On Fridays, I think the 'strip' remains busy until something stupid like 7am.


Moving on from Zante, anyone follow the first test of the 2009 Ashes? I thought it was quite an interesting result. The scorecard in no way reflects the outcome. England actually came out with a solid 1st innings total, and I actually think Ponting made a boo-boo by declaring so late in Australia's innings. If he'd have declared 70 or so runs earlier, they'd probably have won instead of drawn. Anyway, it worked out well for England considering the enormous total accumulated by the Aussies. If England can find some swing in the next few tests, we've got a chance of doing well.

Anyway, I thought I'd give an update...