What exam results did you get at school/uni?

[Mw Roofline]

I drink with quite a few builders, one of which lives in a house where his garage block is virtually as big as my house.

The thing is, he's thick as anything, didn't get good grades but worked his way through life to where he is now. I only got 1 "C" at school because all I wanted to do was kiss the girls and daydream but I feel I have also 'done well' (so far)

Is it fair to say most construction professions such as builders, roofers, sparkys, plumbers don't really need any decent grades? But some of them earn megabucks?

Perhaps in a nutshell if you want to be self-employed you don't need any good grades at all?

 

[ladylola]

My own experience-
I have 2 cse's in French and English literature both grade 1 (I think they were graded numerically )and 6 "O" levels, English , maths, physics, biology and geography at grade B and chemistry at grade A.
I didn't at the time continue to A level and beyond and sometimes think "what if?". answer is probably I would have continued with my strongest subject ,which also I found very interesting too, and would probably have ended up in a lab somewhere testing long chain polymers for a living, but would I have been any happier than now?
I did give up history and woodwork at school and ironically I'm now in a situation where I re-enact the late fifteenth century and also make furnature for that period
However, I've done fine on the education I've got house paid for , second house all but paid for and no other debts at all and still some money in the bank.
Interestingly enough there was an article on the BBC about the lifespan of qualifications and the conclusion was that anything earned 20 years ago is pretty much obsolete now and most computer qualifications are out of date in five years or so.
We recently had a health and safety form to fill in at work and one question said to list ALL qualifications earned. A bit pedantic I know but I did just that, from swimming badges, cycling proficentcy, driving license and anything else I could drag up. The H&S head said that he only really needed academic qualifications but when I questioned how knowing how to do simultainious equations or being able to write a profile of a Shakespear character was more important H&S wise than a silver personal survival award at swiming he quickly moved on

 

[HERTS P&D]

What results did I get at skool..........................not enough.

That's why I now clean sh1t for a living.


Andy

 

[jarvis2]

I got an F.E.P.

 

[masona]

IMO it's all about luck and being in the right place at the time, normally I find people without qualifications got nothing to lose and can have a very successful business. I also have a friend who cannot read and write which I used to help him yet he's a good thinker which earn him a good living.

Even Alan Sugar and Richard Branson done well without any qualifications and Sir John Mayor ended up running the country left school with no qualifications!!

Are degrees worth the paper they're printed on? Sometime they are but some of them tend to think once they got the degrees they are above everybody else and think the world owes them a living

 

[LastMagicBean]

Ultimately it doesn't really matter.

You can be an academic genius, or a road sweeper with no qualification to his name.
It can only take one divorce or bad business decision and you could both end up in the same boat with f*ck all, sobbing over a pint in the local pub, after a lifetime of working hard for what you once had.

 

[joinerjohn]

I got 5 CSE grade 1's and one grade 2. Went on to 6th form and got O level English language grade C, A level Engineering Drawing and Woodwork, both grade B and a grade C in Art. From there I went on to Loughborough College of Education to do a 4 yr B,Ed course, but became disillusioned with the teaching profession and dropped out after 2 yrs ( I was offered an apprenticeship in joinery when I was 16. Wish I could go back and change things now)
Careers teacher at school told me, if you leave school without quals then there's only a handful of jobs available.. Pass CSE / O levels, more jobs are available. Take A levels and even more jobs are available,.Get a degree and the worlds your oyster.
I went back after a year at college and told him, After A levels there's only one route and that is Uni or college. There are no more jobs . At 18 I was too old for an apprenticeship and most companies want 16 yr old school leavers.
Some years later I did an NVQ 2 in joinery, then financed NVQ 3 myself. Haven't really looked back since (although the building trade has really suffered in the recession. I now work part time in a care home doing maintenance and have plenty of time to do jobs for other customers.

 

[Alarm]

What is a GCSE then

O Levels here.
English,French,Latin,Physics,Tech Drawing,Art,Mathmatics are all I took.
Grades in order

B,C,F,B,A,A,C

You can see Latin was not my strong point, nor a subject I wanted to take.

Tried to enter Navy as an officer and was told to resit maths. Clever B@@l@cks decided to go out to work instead!

Such is life.

PS Design and Tech (Woodwork and Metal work) B

 

[seco services]

Metalwork - O level
Physics - O level
English - Got chucked out of
History - Didn't turn up for

 

[^woody^]

I've got one Spirit Level in bricklaying

Paper qualifications are just really for a potential employer to grade potential employees, and 'open doors' in PAYE employment

If you look at all the really successful entrepreneurs then you find that self motivation is the only qualification they have. Take the likes of Branson and Sugar - IIRC they have no significant qualifications between them.

Also consider that dyslexics can be typically poor performers academically but that does not mean that they can not be successful

When I was at uni, although some subjects required demonstration of specific knowledge, many others were not judged on what you knew, but rather what you had read and how you interpreted the works and theories of others.

I particularly remember instances of one student getting regular low marks and criticism by the lecturers on "academic" grounds, and yet that student was also running a business in the same subject that he was being marked down on .... and making a lot of money

 

[John506]

C in art, D's in english and maths, and the rest E's.

I remember getting stoned before my science exam and spelt my name wrong on the front of my paper, had to scribble it out and write it outside of the box, the rest of the exam ended up pretty much the same!

I think I'm doing well, I'm only young and earning more than most people I know, and I'm still only an apprentice!

 

[Shutpa]

Worked hard to get A's across the board in Scottish Highers but did not work so hard at University resulting in a lower 2nd degree (2/2).
Taught for what now seems a lifetime and the poor degree,( there were too many other attractions), didn't hold me back. I have absolutely no regrets

 

[Big Tone]

There's so much emphasis on getting to Uni and a degree no-seems to have stopped for a minute to realise we live in a world where there aren't a million jobs for technicrats.

The degree often isn't worth the paper it's written on either, so it proves nothing. My friend plagiarised most of his 'work' from the Net. I helped him with basic maths he was required to do.

So basically, he's a trained nurse injecting Nutters at a mental health ward without really knowing anything. I mean think about it for a minute.. They say a GCSE is an equivalent to an O Level. If it was they wouldn't have to have changed the Damn name, would they?

I know my O level maths well. It covered basic Calculus which is completely absent from the GCSE. So stop saying It's equivalent when It's not FFS!

This 'dumbing down' is making students think they are better than they are. I know because they pass through my place on work experience and these empty-headed guys have all the confidence in the world but precious little else.

I'll take someone who has been to 'the University of Life, (as John Major once put it), any day.

 

[joe-90]

Just been reading about John Major a few minutes ago. He did a 2 year correspondence course in banking - and got a job as a banking executive. Those were the days.

 

[Alarm]

My ex had no quals, shes just done a "entry level" course and is starting as a trainee nurse in september.
Seriously hope I do not get sent to her hospital for the next op!!!