Matt and Robyn: Life, A-levels and Each Other

Back To School

2008-01-08T19:21:00.001Z

Hello Again

Well today was the 2nd day of being back in school after the glorious christmas break, and there is truth in the phrase, "no rest for the wicked" :P
We've got straight back into it and doing more work than ever.

In Biology we are doing coursework, Chemistry the work we are doing is just so complicated :(
Maths I'm enjoying though, we've just been given a book of "Statistical Tables" and I understand this work, I think ;p
Psyc. I've got a test 2moz, so I'm revising for that today, but, in general apart from Chem I think I'm doing quite well :)

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T21:08:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone :D

Its a new year starting today, a time to move on and put the bad things from last year behind us, and look forward to the good things of next year!

I have to admit, this year has been a Very good one.
I spent the NY eve with Matt and his family, we went up to his cottage in west wales, another family joined us and we lit fireworks and played games and it was very fun, but I liked spending NY's with my boyfriend :)

I thought I'd put what my NY resolutions are:

Stop bitting my finger nails
Take my Iron tablets
Keep my room tidy

See what fun resolutions I have ;D

So I'd like everyone who's reading this to leave a coment and tell everyone what they did with their new year, good or bad.
Or tell us about your NY resolutions!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T12:33:00.000Z

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope the best for all of you over the coming year, take it easy and make this year the best!

I'm helping my family make Christmas lunch today (We make it from scratch.. Tradition) so am just making a short post while things are in the oven.

Make sure today you relax! Put your feet up and let the world flow beneath them, don;t drink too much and you'll be feeling superb all day!

Last thing.. I hope Santa brought you everything you want/ed, for being good little boys and / or girls ;)

Christmas Eve, eve

2007-12-23T22:48:00.000Z

Hey, so for those of you who may not understand the title, today is the 23rd so its the day before christmas eve :)

Today, it really started to feel like christmas for me :)

I thought I'd take a break from school related topics and talk about the "life" section!
Well, I woke up today and pretty much lounged about for a couple hours until about 10:30 when i had some food and got ready for work.
I worked from 11 - 3 today :) it was quite fun today, I was helping rearange the shop and skicking price stickers onto the new sale items,
When i had finished I got picked up by my parents and as a family we all went to the cinema to see the film "Enchanted", the new disney one where the girl gets pushed into a well and falls from the cartoon world into the real world.
I'm not gonna give to much away, but if your like me and really like your disney, then I'd recomend you go and see this film (Matt you probz won't enjoy it as much as me, but we'll see when i sit you down to watch it ;P)
After that, to top off a smashing day, we all went ice-skating, as a family and with friends of the family as well, everyone seemed very impressed that I had my own skates, and thought that I wqas very good :D
So now I'm at home, just having finished wrapping Matt's christmas prezzie's and thought I'd post :D

Merry Christmas :D

A-level Computing

2007-12-22T20:59:00.001Z

Since I took computing for my A-levels, and plan to continue studying it next year, I'll explain what it contains.

Within your first few lessons you will be introduced to Microsoft Visual Basic (c). If you've had previous experience with the BASIC script language you will ahve an immense advantage here. I had previously taught myself AutoIt script, and could easily accomplish in one lesson what the others did in 3. There is nothing especially advanced here, you'll pretty much be learning:

Basic IF statements --> If, Then, Else (Remember to end your statement with an 'End If')
Types of loops --> Do loops, For loops, and While loops - Google can teach you well
Variables --> Never forget to declare your variables and always define before you call them! Tip: If you keep losing track of what's a variable and what's a command in your script, you can put a '_' (Underscore) before all variable names. eg. _counter would be the 'Counter' variable
You will learn techniques to sort a set of numbers, search a set of numbers and generate a random set of numbers (These are all very easy as most of the code is provided for you by your teacher (Google can help again))
Probably the most complex function you'll meet are Arrays, Arrays are used to hold data and You can only have ONE data type in an array. An array stores data under a number, The first number is ALWAYS 0 (Zero).
Remember to annotate your code, so when you come back later to change something and have forgotten what it all does, you don;t have to waste time re-figuring it out.

After you've covered the Visual Basic side of things, you'll move onto Microsoft Access (R). We (My class, and everyone else who took Computing) were given a book (I can find the name upon request) which explained everything step-by-step. Again, if you've had previous experience with Access, you'll definately have an advantage. You'll be working in-depth with:

Tables and relationships between tables (Can be a bit confusing at first, but once you've got your head around it, the rest will follow)
Forms --> You'll be creating them from qizards and 'from scratch'. You'll also be creating your own switchboard, and one using a wizard. Everything is explained, and if you don;t understand anything, comment here! I'll reply and try my best to help
Queries --> Append queries, Delete queries, and your general standard-issue query. Again, all explained and simple to do. You can always ask here for help
Reports --> Reports from wizard, about queries. You'll edit the reports in design view but not much to learn here
Macros --> You probably won't have touched these before, and it is best to back-up your database before you start (I managed to lock-down my database and spent about an hour tying to get into it). The statements are very easy to follow, and do pretty much exactly what they say on the tin. Tip: If / When you create a macro named 'AutoExec' save it as something else and test that it does Exactly what you want it to do. The AutoExec macro runs on startup of the database and (like me) could stop you accessing your database. Tip 2: If something does go wrong with databse startup, hold down the shift key when opening it to skip startup processes.
Remember, when you create buttons or labels, give them a name that makes sense!

Once your access project is complete, you'll either

a) Learn a little more Visual Basic before you..

b) Start your first main project that counts toward your AS-level

I'll write about the first project in another post, probably my next one.

Christmas Hols

2007-12-22T19:41:00.000Z

Hey everyone,
Today was the first day of the 07 christmas holidays, we now have 2 weeks to chill and relax after all that hard studying we've been doing ;) (or not doing as the case may be)
I thought I'd point out how pointless the last few days in school are, you don't do anything! I've watched 3 films, made too many posters to count and have free periods coming out of my ears :P
So, if like me, you get bored of all this, my advice to you is to just not come in and do something more usful with your time!
I did come in, and the only thing that kept me in all day on the last day was my fear of my chemistry teacher ;P (lol and I'm not afraid to admit it, he scares me badly)

So thats what the last days are like in 6th form, pointless!

Hope you all have a very good christmas!

Chemistry Enthalpy Changes Practical Part II

2007-12-19T20:58:00.000Z

Nice one Robyn, thanks for typing it all up ;)

I'll just point out that if you (You being anyone not me and Robyn) are thinking about taking Chem for A-level, this is the kind of thing you will be doing.

Another thing --> When you do an experiment like this, make sure you have a good stopclock! When we added the HCl to the NaOH we were meant to set it going.. Robyn was meant to set the stop-clock going to record the temp @ 5-sec intervals.
Well by the time she got it started the reaction was already over (It was the stopwatch, she's not that bad ;) ) and our results looked something like this..

12.4
12.4
12.4
12.4
...
18.4
18.4.. Etc

We ended up having to make up some results off the top of our heads.. It's all fun!

Grats on your Maths result Wob, I'll egt mine back soon, I don;t think I did as well..
Your essay.. *Cough* Google *Cough* I'm sure something'll come up

My electronics today we did not much.. Basic D-type flip-flop up/down 4-bit counters (Comment if you wwant it explained!)
Maths.. More Calculus.. But we're taking it easy after the test
Computing --> I need to think about my project what I'm going to do.. Probably a database for a hotel, with room reservations, staff, customers etc.. Will be fun

We've finally got round to posting some! Hope we can keep it up

Chemistry Enthalpy Changes Practical

2007-12-19T18:03:00.000Z

So, today in Chemistry we were doing an experiment to determine Enthalpy Changes,
For those of you who don't know what this is (and there's probably alot of you), I'll define :

For a reaction, is approximately equal to the difference between the energy used to break bonds and the energy gained by the formation of new ones.

Basicly, were just learning it because we have to...

So as I did in the post below I'm going to give a method of what we did, so that you readers at home can also learn about Enthalpy Changes.

You need

1 tin can with polystyryine lid (must have a hole in it)
Cotten wool
Plastic Cup (one you can chuck out)
2 beakers
2 measuring cylinders
Stop Clock
50cm^3 of 1 Mol NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide)
50cm^3 of 1 Mol HCl (Hydrogen Chloride)
Thermometer

Method

Put your cup in your tin can and fill the rest of the tin can with cotten wool, until it is properly insulated,
Use the measuring cylinder to measure out 50cm^3 of NaOH and HCl
Add the NaOH to your plasic cup and put the lid on
Take a series of reading evert 5 seconds using your stop clock and your theremometer, until the solution reaches a constant temp.
Now add the HCl to the cup and continue to take the temperature - (now make sure you take the temp. as soon as you add the HCl, this temp. change occurs very fast)

So this is what we did in Chemistry.
After this we then plotted a graph to show the temp. change in an easy format.

That was our Chem. lesson,
I thought I'd now put a bit about my other lessons,
In Maths, on monday I did a maths test, today I got my results back, - 90% yay me, I was very pleased as you would imagine,
Biology, I have just been told I have to write a 1000 word essay titled "Arguments For and Against developing a genetic finger print profile for all members of society" - doesn't it sound so fun!
And last but not least... Psychology, well, I made a poster of some form, (was a pointless lesson) and it was a shame because I usually look forward to pysc.

DNA Sweets

2007-12-07T21:15:00.000Z

Well thought I'd start saying something actually about lessons today.

My biology lesson was probably the best because we had a student teacher and she thought she'd start with something fun for once :)

We are studying DNA at the moment, so she decided to let us make our own DNA double helix shape, - OUT OF SWEETS
I thought I'd write out the instructions for any of you with time on your hands
You need

2 different coloured pieces of thick licorice
8 miget jems (4 different colours - 2 of each)
4 cocktail sticks
needle and thread

Method

Cut both the pieces of licorice into 8 pieces
Use the needle and thread to sew 2 strings of 8 alternating coloured pieces of licorice together
Seperate the miget gems into 4 sets of 2 colours (e.g 2x red and blue and 2x yellow and green)
Use the cocktail sticks to spike each pair of miget gems - one at each end
Now spike each end of the cocktail stick into each pair of ONE of the coloured licorice pieces
Tie your thread at each end and twist gentaly to make a double helix shape

Congratulations You've Made DNA!

So this was a good lesson, the point of it was showing us that the miget gems, reprensting bases of the DNA only ever paired together, i.e Red only ever paired with Blue and Yellow only ever paired with Green (A-T and C-G)
Also that the bases only attached to the sugar (represented by what ever colour licorice you used to attach the cocktail sticks to)

Pictures will be incuded at a later date hopefully :)

Robyn's Introduction

2007-12-04T21:18:00.000Z

Hey = D

I’m Robyn, and this is my part of our joint blog introduction!

So ok I’m not really sure what to put here so I’m just gonna be completely honest with all you lovely people who read this

So I thought I’d start with telling you all a little bit about what I’ve taken for A-levels, why I’ve taken them and so on and so forth.

Right, I took:
Chemistry (only class I share with Matt)
Biology
Maths (Statistics)
Psychology

These subjects I’m happy to inform you all, fit together quite nicely!

I would eventually like to be a doctor or a psychologist so my options pretty much were limited when making my choices, as Uni’s really need you to have an A-level in Biology and Chemistry to be a doctor, and if wanna be a psychologist then I should take that.
Maths was the one I struggled with on whether or not I should take it, I was going to take R.E instead but as you lovely people can see… I didn’t.

Now what’s the next part, O yea life…
Well life could be worse, I’m not complaining,
I have a paper round (I’ve had this for about 2 years).
I work at the moment in the Peacocks in whitchurch village.
I turned 17 just less than a month ago that was cool.
The most annoying thing in my life at the moment is my sister and the fact that I have to share a room.

Well that’s my life so the last thing I think I need to include in my intro is a little bit about Matt, since it does say “and each other”
Well what can I say about Matt, not to much since you can read his intro, but we have been friends for about 2 years (since GCSE’s) and started going out offically about a month ago.

Matt's Introduction

2007-12-03T22:01:00.000Z

Well, I'm Matt and this is My part of our joint introduction.. Hardly joint if it's in two parts.

First I'd like to point out that I'm not in favor of robyn calling the general public "Lovely people" And don;t think the public appreciate it either, because a lot of you aren't lovely at all. So take no notice of her.

I'm definately the most cynical of the two of us, I'm pretty much always up for anything and don't like to waste time.. Or repeat myself

A levels..

Chemistry
Computing
Electronics
Maths (Mechanics)

My subjects.. They don't fit, chemistry is an exile, as it should be. I took it because it was the only sbject in the 4th column I felt I could stand doing.. I was wrong

After school I plan to go to Uni, then I have no idea where.. But I'll only take a job that I enjoy, and preferably pays well. I'd like to do something complex, maybe long-term project work.. Something to do with computing (I'm a fan of technology). I'm not scared of numbers and enjoy the challenge of learning new things @ maths. I've always enjoyed seeing how things work / making them work, and the general power of electricity, so I took electronics.

Life.. Lifey-lifey-life.
As always, could be worse.. I could lose a limb, maybe two.. My identity could get thefted, I could lose my memory.. The possibilities are endless, and probably never going to happen.
I work in a bar pulling pints but can;t keep my head on task while feeling terrible (I have recently) so tie myself in knots and make it worse.. Not good
Will turn 17 in April, and maybe get a car --> But would have to pay over £1200 insurance.. no thanks
Most annoying thing in my life.. Myself - I constantly annoy myself.. Oh and everyone else is annoying too (Except Robyn ), c'est la vie

GCSEs I took were
CiDA (Double IT - 100% coursework, A new course which has since ben made 2* easier.. Thats what you get for being a guinea pig for them)
Double science (It's the 3 standars sciences, Physics, Chem and Biology, exam results get added and average grade taken and doubled --> AA or CC. Although I got to take the triple exams along with my class, the top of the top sets)
French (Oh don't get me started, used to like it.. Not anymore. Period.)
Electronics (If you want an easy GCSE, Nothing beats it. Almost no written-work, tonnes of practical, fun stuff.. Easy A*)
And of course RE, Short-course welsh (Everyone in wales taking GCSEs has to take at least short-course welsh), English, Maths.. The base-subjects

Think that's everything, Don't be afraid to leave comments. I'm the admin and moderator (Don;t trust Robyn to keep things in shape) so you can probably get away with saying pretty much whatever.
We're planning to do regular posts, just the starting up that's hard.. We'll get pics up, videos.. We'll give plenty of inside information about the A-levels we take, ask us any question about A-levels and we'll answer well.. So you can know what the teachers don;t tell you before you make any bad decisions.