• Question: DID YOU DO WELL AT SCHOOL?

    Asked by anon-233564 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca, Anna, Alin, Adam on 15 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 15 Nov 2019: last edited 15 Nov 2019 8:23 pm

      Wow, I really like this question mate!

      Thats because even though I loved to read and learn science, I would still get bad grades in some of he tests and exams! sometimes I would make the silliest mistakes like writing 2+3 is 6.. and I was really sad and confused and I thought I was horrible a science.

      But do you know what? we all have bad days, we all make silly mistakes.. even today, my boss who has been a scientist for 25 years, makes some very silly maths mistakes in his calculations.. it happens to everyone, and so that does NOT mean you are bad at that subject.

      AND don’t worry! We are all human- we fall, get hurt and learn to get up and not trip over again.. so you will learn from your mistakes and automatically not do them again 🙂 So just remember to read science because you enjoy it, dont let your grades or silly mistakes ruin the fun you have with science.. and you will see that your grades will always be good that way! 🙂

    • Photo: Anna Kalorkoti

      Anna Kalorkoti answered on 16 Nov 2019:

      I did pretty well at exams in school, less well at anything practical. I hated PE, never managed to finish any of my Textiles projects, and completely messed up an important experiment during A Level Chemistry! I’ve got better at the practical side of science via lots of practice, and that sort of persistence & willingness to keep going is far more important for a scientist than good grades.

      There’s also a big difference between taking science exams and doing science as a job, so if you’re not good at or don’t enjoy exams, please don’t assume that means science isn’t for you. Exams are mostly about knowing facts, and if you’re stuck, you can’t ask anyone else for help. Science jobs are more about investigating and being able to work things out, and if you’re not sure of something, you can always look it up or ask a colleague.

    • Photo: Samantha Firth

      Samantha Firth answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      There were lots of ups and downs! I did well at my GCSE’s but I found my A Levels quite hard – it was a big jump! A level Chemistry was difficult and I had to work SO hard to understand the maths side of things. It’s quite funny – i think everyone expects scientists to be super smart across their whole subject (be that physics or ecology or chemistry) when really, there are parts of their areas of study that they find really difficult or don’t like!

    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      I think I did alright at school. In my first years of high school, I think I did find things a bit harder so I did have to study a lot more. I did standard grades (GCSE equivalent) and I got As and Bs.
      After that I found there was a big jump so had to study even harder. When I got my prelim results I found I had failed some and barely passed the rest so I knew I had to work harder to get the grades I needed to go to uni. I managed to come out with As and Bs again after the real exams though. In my final year of school I decided to take Advanced Higher Biology and got a D … and then went on to study Biology in Uni so it didn’t really matter too much!
      I did end up struggling quite a bit during my higher (A Level) exams and found that they were the hardest exams I have ever taken! Like Varun and Anna said everyone makes mistakes – I make them everydaay, and school is stressful. If you enjoy a subject and want to make a career in that area, but aren’t getting the best grades it doesn’t really matter. As long as you enjoy it go with it!

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