Resetting the Curve

An article in the Washington Post today:

Fairfax To Ease Grading Policy

The Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously late last night to abandon a strict grading policy it has long upheld as a hallmark of high standards, after a year of intense pressure from parents who have argued that the policy hurts students' chances for college admission or scholarships.

Kind of interesting. We commplained about our grading system when I was in high school (and earlier too of course) and I do feel that needing a 94 for an A is a bit extreme. Somewhere at the end of the article it says they'll change how they see honors and college-level courses:

After the report was released, Dale proposed giving students a half-point boost for taking honors classes and one extra point for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes. Students currently earn no extra credit for honors classes and a half-point for college-level courses. Student transcripts note the more difficult courses.

If that was in place during my high school career I would have had a GPA more like a 4.5 than a 4.0. Which sounds completely unrealistic. I don't know if other schools use the same scheme, but this grade inflation is going to get way out of hand.

Paper

I think I've already mentioned this, but the standard paper size is called A4, and measures 21 cm by 30 cm, or 8.3" by 11.7". The hole-punched variety have two holes, roughly 1/3 of the way down the page. I've gotten used to it, but during my revision I brought out some notes on US Letter and I forgot that many people had never seen it. It was "so short!" and had "too many holes!" Hah.

I learned that the equivalent of the "nuclear family" is known as the "A4 family".

"So.. if you don't have A4 paper, then what do you call the A4 family?"
"The what?"

Wintertime

This morning I walked down to KB for the first time since classes finished (so, in about two weeks). Things actually got more treacherous than the last time I came down. Sometime, possibly last night, the temperatures finally fell below freezing, so the perpetually-wet sidewalks actually froze. The temperatures are back above freezing now, but of course not everything has melted yet. Luckily, my walk to KB is mostly south, and so most of the sidewalks were melted. The problem was with the east-west sidestreets, because the sun doesn't get high enough to extend over the buildings, and the ice was just thin enough to not be visible and just thick enough to still be slippery.

I'm starting to believe it doesn't get much colder than this in Edinburgh, although the wind chill makes it quite cold at times.

Luckily it's almost the solstice, and the days will start to get longer again. On December 20th (the furthest weather.com will let me see) the sun will be up from 8:40 AM - 3:40 PM. Oh good, a full seven hours of sun!
Of course where I'm staying over Christmas is even more north, near Ullapool (latitude: 57 N; Edinburgh is at 55 N; Washington DC is at 37 N, and currently getting 9.5 hours of day). By the time I'm there it will get about six hours of daylight. Oh good.
Flora: "It's really too bad you'll be visiting when it's at its absolute worst."

Anyway. I had my first exam yesterday, in Musical Acoustics, which took place in the same room (a basketball court!) as a medic exam. The medics papers were in the front half, so I spent a good two minutes not being able to find my name and flipping out. The acoustics exams were in the back corner. Why we couldn't take the exam in our usual room is beyond me, but the court has a balcony area that one or two of the proctors used to watch us from above. I felt like I was in a prison exercise yard.
Especially because I was seated at the front of a row, and if I need to cheat off of the medic in front of me for a different exam, then clearly I deserve to fail.

Down at KB this morning to turn in two hand-in assignments, which are actually due Thursday and Friday, but my last exam (Archaeology) is Thursday, so might as well turn them in now. So Thursday at noon, when Archaeology is over, I will be a free woman. (Sort of. I need to make study guides for my other two exams, in May. Another point I don't understand: why are my exams for Term 1 physics courses sat in May? Don't ask.)

interchangable

"Reckon" is used so commonly here it no longer sounds like a Southern word to me. Although, my friend has picked up on my habit of saying "I guess" instead. Apparently that's an identifying phrase of mine.

Tomorrow, well, today really, is the last day of classes for the term. Kind of exciting! Only, after this we're meant to be revising ("studying") and I suppose I ought to, too.

-In school (high school) the teachers are teachers. At uni, "teachers" no longer seems to apply. They become "lecturers", and I think "professors" is an accepted, but unused, word.
-The set up is quite a bit like in Harry Potter, for those of you familiar with Hogwarts. I think school lasts for six years. The first four are the Standard Levels, with an exam at the end, like OWLs.
-After that you choose the A-Levels to take over the next two years, also culminating in a final exam, like NEWTs. Most people take about five.


Today I accomplished several important things with my life completely unrelated to exams.
1. I walked my passport and other identifying items to the far end of Princes St, the commercial area, about 45 minutes' worth of fast walking. There they got photocopied and soon enough I will be an official volunteer at CHSS!
2. Train tickets for my winter travels.


We've been learning in Archaeology of Scotland about a Bronze Age settlement in the Hebrides in which bog-mummified bodies were excavated from the foundations of the houses. It's some pretty crazy stuff, check it out.