Welcome to Gaia! ::

XD I have lots of stories to tell! So many and so little time, such lazy fingers.

Anyways... uhmmm...

Yeah, I got like NO sleep the two nights we were there, so I'm just checking in to say hi, and then I'll give you guys a shout tomorrow.

And I'll give you a couple stories XDD

Wow. I'm not even through my first semester of 11th grade yet O_o

We had lots of fun X)
We got to beat people down with pool noodles =D

Okay, prepare for a rant. I'm sorry! I can't help it!!!

Well because our government is stupid, the states don't all have a common education system/exam. Here is what happens in WA.

We have the two years of kindy/pre-primary, then there's primary school (grades 1-7) then highschool (grades 8-12). School is compulsory for every kid until grade 10. At the end of the school year every grade 12 TEE student sits the same TEE (Tertiary Entrance Exams) and they'll take half of the school mark which we've built up this year with tests/assignments etc, and combine it to half of the mark from the TEE. This happens for every subject. There's some moderating and scaling so that they can compare stuff like discrete maths to stuff like calculus. You end up with a TES (Tertiary Entrance Score) for each subject. The curriculum council then takes the highest average made from four or more subjects and does some more stuff to that number until we are given a TER, (Tertiary Entrance Rank). This is the number that is the most important and can be viewed as comparable to a percentage. The university courses will have different cut-off scores, meaning that if you don't have a high enough TER then you don't get it. The cut-offs will depend on the competition to get into that course and also what type it is. (Eg: Med rarely takes anyone with a TER below 98 but a general Bachelor of Arts can be in the 60s, 70s or 80s - depending on which university. Med also compises a special exam and an interview)
As for applying, for school leavers this is all done through a thing called TISC which is a thingy for all the universities around here (all five of them, lol). We name six course preferences for university and then if we're accepted, w00t! (We submit the preferences before TEE, then when our results come out, we have about five days to change them if we want. Then they start the offers.)


Omg, that explaination is terrible! Even I don't understand it and I'm doing the damn thing! gonk rolleyes I wish I had the booklet that explains it all... sweatdrop

If there's any confusion, please ask!

Also: I think the US and Aus have different terms for things. You guys have 'college,' and 'university', which I always thought were the same thing - this is apparently not the case. (?) Also there's 'prep-school' which I have no idea about whatsoever. Is that like year 11/12? What age is that?

Soooo, to answer your question, Purple, we submit our uni applications before graduation, but they aren't submitted "for real" until way after that, when the TEE results come out. 3nodding

sweatdrop sweatdrop sweatdrop
I'm sorry for such a long, complicated, boring, pointless post! (Why was I talking about kindergarten up there???? confused )

I've scared everyone off sweatdrop

Well anyway I graduated from high school this evening. It was pretty cool. I'm both happy and sad at the same time. Afterward I cried like a loser. rolleyes

O_o;; I'm too lazy to read ANY of that rofl

I get it, though I don't really understand taking your major exams in year 11 ("junior", right?) and then having another whole year of school. What's the point? Here our last exams are kind of an accumulation of our whole school career. I wish I could re-do my TEE as many times as I want! sweatdrop I guess I would be concidered as going to a prep school. Here we have public and private schools. Public schools are funded mostly by the government, whereas private (ie, my school) are funded by the parents. Many private schools also have a boarding aspect. Though mine has both boarders and day-students. Private schools aren't really that different to public, though some would argue that they're better. I don't think they're too much better. I think we're way over rated. rolleyes

I just go to school, take tests, and hope for the best o_O

Well, tomorrow I'm off for the weekend to volunteer at a camp for mentally/developmentally disabled kids. Probably won't be on for a bit. heart