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So, back in February I took an exam to see if I was eligible to retake my English qualification, as I received a D grade in school and many jobs here require a C or higher. I sat down to take the first part of the exam, and upon finishing part 1 I received 77%. I showed it to the tutor and he mentioned, in a roundabout way, that high scorers cannot take the full examination for free. That I should try and tone it down in order to receive a grade which enables me to take the exam.
I started to speed-read, and finished the second part of the exam with 84%. Fuck. However, I thought part three would be better. Parts one and two focused on reading comprehension and basic grammar/spelling, whereas part three was a listening exam with multiple-choice questions. How did I take the listening exam? I didn't. I selected answers at random, without turning the headphones on once. I figured that would net me a low score, since most of them had at least four possible answers. A 25% chance of success seemed good enough to guess. Grade comes back. 90%. Double fuck.
My overall grade was 84% (technically 83.6666667 but this is English, not Math). The maximum grade to be eligible for a free examination is 70%. As a result, I was told I can only take the exam if I go with the company privately, not through the work program I'm in. To take it privately costs "around £400" which is £390 more than I have right now. >.>
Tomorrow (later today technically) I am retaking the exam with a different company. My personal advisor from the job centre has told me in no uncertain terms I NEED to get a low grade in order to get in. I'm not planning on holding back this time, or guessing random answers though. I'm not ashamed, nor should I be penalized, for being smart. Eight years ago when I took the original exam, I got a D grade purely because I wasn't very good at interpretation. My spelling, my grammar, my creative writing assignments all received bare minimum of A- grades, with the majority reaching the A+ margin. I understand the English language. I know how to use it, most likely far better than the examiners themselves.
And yet... I failed. I didn't fail because I screwed around, I didn't fail because I didn't understand questions. I failed because I received what would be a passing grade if this country wasn't full of shit. I did badly in school for many reasons. I was bullied, I was going through a rebellious stage, or I just didn't care for the subject/s at hand. Or in the case of technology, I wasn't allowed extra time for my handcraft project, despite having a broken hand at the time (caused by being attacked with a wooden bat on school grounds by a bully).
/ramble
In short... I'm too smart to be educated. They do not want me circulating in the school system for no reason other than I don't fit in with those who lack my skills. They want failures so they can show improvement through tutoring, to prove the system works.
Knowledge is power... and power is a terrible curse in this world.
I started to speed-read, and finished the second part of the exam with 84%. Fuck. However, I thought part three would be better. Parts one and two focused on reading comprehension and basic grammar/spelling, whereas part three was a listening exam with multiple-choice questions. How did I take the listening exam? I didn't. I selected answers at random, without turning the headphones on once. I figured that would net me a low score, since most of them had at least four possible answers. A 25% chance of success seemed good enough to guess. Grade comes back. 90%. Double fuck.
My overall grade was 84% (technically 83.6666667 but this is English, not Math). The maximum grade to be eligible for a free examination is 70%. As a result, I was told I can only take the exam if I go with the company privately, not through the work program I'm in. To take it privately costs "around £400" which is £390 more than I have right now. >.>
Tomorrow (later today technically) I am retaking the exam with a different company. My personal advisor from the job centre has told me in no uncertain terms I NEED to get a low grade in order to get in. I'm not planning on holding back this time, or guessing random answers though. I'm not ashamed, nor should I be penalized, for being smart. Eight years ago when I took the original exam, I got a D grade purely because I wasn't very good at interpretation. My spelling, my grammar, my creative writing assignments all received bare minimum of A- grades, with the majority reaching the A+ margin. I understand the English language. I know how to use it, most likely far better than the examiners themselves.
And yet... I failed. I didn't fail because I screwed around, I didn't fail because I didn't understand questions. I failed because I received what would be a passing grade if this country wasn't full of shit. I did badly in school for many reasons. I was bullied, I was going through a rebellious stage, or I just didn't care for the subject/s at hand. Or in the case of technology, I wasn't allowed extra time for my handcraft project, despite having a broken hand at the time (caused by being attacked with a wooden bat on school grounds by a bully).
/ramble
In short... I'm too smart to be educated. They do not want me circulating in the school system for no reason other than I don't fit in with those who lack my skills. They want failures so they can show improvement through tutoring, to prove the system works.
Knowledge is power... and power is a terrible curse in this world.
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