How were your grades when you were going to school? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:26:20 pm
content: Well, title says it all.How are your grades if you are still going to school, or for older players how good or not so good they were eons ago?Were you a student who had all A++?Or student that was just good?Or student who learned only what interested him at given time?Or decent student who belived/belives he knows better than his teachers?Or student who finds lessons being told on the all wrong ways and always is arguing with teachers about lesson or that their subject is waste of time?Or you were just lazy but curious?And did your grades from school play a role in getting a job?Would be lovely to see with older generations how it went in their time compared to our.As it goes for me, it is combination of all these things i mentioned... except all A++

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:37:25 pm
content: Quote from: Electric flower on May 27, 2014, 08:26:20 pmIn an international context, you could clarify what you mean by "school" in this question.For instance in Britain "school" ends at 16-18 years old, and children attending school are generally known as "pupils" rather than "students". After school comes college or university, and school pupils become college students.In America it is common to refer to college/university as "school". So it can be confusing.

author: FrankenPC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:38:39 pm
content: First off, I'm 45. I nearly walked away from my high school education. F's across the board.I have a learning disability. But, I survived. Now I'm a skilled programmer. No on has ever looked into my HS grades. They've asked about college. Even then, they weren't really interested in that being any kind of deciding factor. I find it's your reputation that precedes you. Be an upstanding, honest person and always do your best. That's really all that's required.Then again, I wasn't applying for a prep school. I would have been screwed.

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:46:25 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on May 27, 2014, 08:37:25 pmI was thinking on all sorts of education that are related to field of electronics, programing, electrical stuff...

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:49:24 pm
content: Student who only retained what he was interested in or could link a purpose to, and i knew more than my physics teacher when it came to electronics at the time, so that was a fun rideIn the end (my country uses an ATAR system, with 60ish being considered a fail for uni, and 100 being near impossible)my courses where- Physics- Engineering- Advanced Math- Information Technology- English Standard (i sucked at this)- Electro Technology (Cert 2 Sparky Course through TAFE)Now here is the kicker, even though i managed very highly in everything but english, it being mandatory meant it had to be used in the final calculation, and me doing so poorly in it dragged my down to a humbling 72 in the end, when if they had used my tafe course instead i would be cruising up at 85ish which was at the time the entry requirement for the course i wanted :/I'm now 21, and due to be shunted from uni, became an instrumentation tradie and it has so far worked out all right, with less than 10 people entering the trade each year and course prices about to skyrocket i am now in a very secure job for my foreseeable future

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 08:54:06 pm
content: Passable to crap in unrelated social sciencesExcellent in hands-on lab based coursesMeh in theoretical

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 09:00:11 pm
content: I didn't do all that great anywhere during my formal education (call it school or college or uni or whatever).I was interested in certain things (mostly electronics, and then computers) and tolerated everything else just to get through.I never had much success with learning pure theory. In most any area of study.Show me the practical example, and then I can learn the theory behind it. But not vice-versa.That made higher math rather a problem as few practical examples were offered.AmEnglish: "math" vs. BrEnglish: "maths".There are still many of those Am/Br singular/plural differences I just don't "get".The collective plural makes a bit more sense...AmEnglish: the company HAS done that vs. BrEnglish: the company HAVE done that

author: FrankenPC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 09:11:55 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 27, 2014, 09:00:11 pmI didn't know that's where "maths" came from. Hunh..

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 09:23:55 pm
content: I am okay student... not the best but i shure think that i know more than those who have better grades...I Croatia we ger rated from 1 to 5. im stuck in middle of 4 and 51 fail2 enough3 good4 very good5 amazingAs it goes for classes we have:croatian3math4 could be better but im no lover of mathenglish4 well, i need it and i like itphysics4analog circuits5 mostly theory with schematics and graphs, it is interesting, we learn about electonic ampifliers, power ampifliers, analog flip flops, oscilators, transistorsdigital circuits4 also mostly theory with schematics about registers, counters, adders, analog undersating of NAND, NOR and other logical functions, 3rd state high impedance circuit, and ICs in generalelectrical machinery and appliances4 blunt theorycpu science5 theory, not so interesting but it is easyelectronic measurments5 theory, block diagrams: of analog and digital voltmeters, oscilosopes, oscilatorsinformations and comunication5 theory, modulations, radar, speakers, microphones, radioworkshop practice5 ah the special one, NO theory, you design your circuit, you design it, acid eatch boards, drill boards, solder, trobuleshoot, write documentationAndinformations and comunication,electronic measurments,analog circuits,digital circuitshave lab hours, it is 2 hours when we work in a lab, and it is pityfull shit, we just draw cirucits on computer in program called electronics work bench and do simulations, it is boring and buggy.We also use Uni Train which is even bigger fail, you do it on live cirucit that is connected with module to PC, on pc you just follow everything, connect as said, set scope as said... you can't learn anything, on boards you cant even see traces and always on one board you have few cirucits.90% teachers have 0 enthusiasm and classes filled with theory fell like trying to get an erection on a dead cow.If i kept my passion just in school i would hate electronics, working in my little lab with soldering iron, PSU, few multimeters... have tought me more in one month than school in one year.Dave and EEV forum >> school

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 09:49:54 pm
content: I got a mix of good and not-so-good grades. Very common to hear teachers telling my parents: "He's very smart, but he's missing several assignments..." We got a computer and I couldn't be bothered to do homework anymore. Taught myself BASIC, and when we went on car trips, I would take along Computer Shopper, the OS/2 manuals, and a book on serial communications.I think there's just a different mentality to those suited to engineering fields. I was at a family get-together this last weekend. After everyone settled into groups (various conversations, watching basketball, cooking), I found myself a spot on the couch and starting brushing up on the USB spec. It's a compulsion I can't turn off, and a lot of other things fall by the wayside. E.g., it's been beautiful out for about a month now, and I've yet to change the fluids in my bike. That's pretty much what my school years were like.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 10:07:08 pm
content: Truth is that any answer to this question is practically irrelevant because world wide there is no true common denominator between a country's educational philosophy and social opportunity at the time that one is in the system.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 10:49:31 pm
content: As and a few Bs in my major (EE), mostly Cs outside. (On a 0-to-4 GPA scale, that's C ~= 3.0 and A-to-B ~= 3.8 or so. Convert linearly to compare with your country's scale.) Specifically, I feel I only learned about 20% of the curriculum [in my major]; the rest I already knew, but they wouldn't let me test out of it.Which, I'm told, they would've allowed, "back in the day" (the previous generation, say '70s to '80s), but because there are so few of us (amateurs who actually know stuff), we're simply piped in with the rest of the huddled masses.Tim

author: AG6QR
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2014, 11:08:25 pm
content: I graduated from the university right about at the 50th percentile of my class. My average was unremarkable, but my standard deviation in grades was quite high. I had excellent grades in the classes that were interesting to me, and poor grades in those that weren't. Interesting subjects were physics, computer programming, chemistry, the kinematics and dynamics portion of mechanical engineering, analytic geometry, discrete mathematics, electrical engineering, and a few others. Not interesting were calculus, differential equations and thermodynamics, plus a few others. Sometimes it was the teacher whom I found interesting or boring, more so than the subject matter. Another factor is how grades were determined. I did very well on examinations, but I had a poor record of turning in homework exercises. Shame on me.I do wish I had applied myself a bit better to those subjects which were less than exciting. I'm starting to see my own children repeat my pattern in their schoolwork, even though they're now only in elementary school. I fully understand their wild enthusiasm for and obsession with some subjects, combined with total disdain for others, but nevertheless I would like to see them put a little more effort into the not-so-wonderful subjects.Grades were important in getting my first job. Not so important when moving to later jobs. Of course I've followed my passions, taking jobs that were interesting to me, and avoiding things that were boring to me, which has helped me do well in my career. But my main regret was in allowing a few lousy teachers to dampen my enthusiasm for certain subjects that otherwise should have held my interest, and could have proven useful. Calculus is a particular example.

author: silent
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2014, 01:06:44 am
content: In high school I always had a crappy grades in non-science subjects and good grades in subjects that were interesting for me. Same on the uni - I am on the last, 5th year of computer science.I was close to get kicked out on my 1st semester and close to repeating the year because of math - I have passed those exams mostly in last-chance resit exams. I never enjoyed analytically solving the differential equations or quantum informatics theory (hard math, that was a f**ng pain in the ass!).On the other hand, I had a very good grades in programming/EE related classes - one of the highest on the year. Last year we had mostly "useful" classes (like microcontrollers, digital design, assembly languages, etc), so my average increased dramatically. Plodders/grinds (not sure which is the word in English) on my year had a really bad time then ;-).Now I am considering the doctoral studies, but it has some disadvantages too.

author: Tinkerer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2014, 01:12:17 am
content: Good to see I am not the only one who was just mediocre; I didnt do terrible, my grades were ok. Although my mediocreness was due more to being lazy than anything else; if only they could have spiced things up some. I managed to get my degree well beyond just eeking past so I did something right.Yea, technical people are known for ignoring that which isnt interesting or really all that relevant to them beyond the basics.

author: echen1024
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2014, 02:20:13 am
content: I'm in high school now. In my school district, a PreAP course is worth 6 points while a regular course is worth 5 points. With 7 classes, my GPA stands at a 5.85 now due to being in the first year of HS and having all A's. Also the threat of no internet from Asian parents is enough to get me off of my ass.

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2014, 05:09:47 pm
content: I think when the dust settled on highschool i had a grand GPA of 2.3 or something like that. Just barley enough to scrape by where I went. (Needed at least a C to advance ahead in many cases) I had no interest in it. My education came in other places. Family electronics manufacturing business. Also the schools I went to were of the type that if you were not exceptional, you were just moved along like cattle. I also had the ultimate loafer schedule whenever possible. Our local JC actually had a really good electronics program and I recall having a 3.5 average there and had the option to take career centric courses. They had an electronic Technician accreditation. Its not an actual degree but since I was already in a family business and was not planning on leaving anytime soon i just wanted the educational part. I also took electrical contracting and industrial control electronics courses in case we ever sold the business and I needed a backup plan. I am glad i did. Both have served me well in various practical life situations. I am a big believer in technical and trade schools. Especially for those who do not have the grades for University.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2014, 01:04:14 am
content: Quote from: FrankenPC on May 27, 2014, 09:11:55 pmPresumably, it is the BrEnglish contraction of "mathematics". But there are many oddities between AmEnglish and BrEnglish.AmEnglish says "in school" and "in the hospital".But BrEnglish says "in hospital", no definite article ("the").This page has a good explanation about English from the British Council:https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/determiners-and-quantifiers/definite-articleBut nowhere does it mention the Am/Br oddity we see with words like "hospital" et.al.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2014, 04:27:52 am
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 29, 2014, 01:04:14 amI'm British, and I have never thought of that before.I think we omit the definite article with institutions:- going into hospital- going to university- going to school- going to courtWe include the definite article with places:- going to the park- going to the beach- going to the theatre- going into the mountainsThat said, I'm sure there are exceptions...

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2014, 06:20:59 am
content: Quote from: IanB on May 29, 2014, 04:27:52 amIf there's one thing you can be sure of in English (or American dialects), it's that there are exceptions. Including to the exceptions. ?!Tim