I've been trying to go back to college yet again, but I have to sit a level 2 maths exam and pass it to get in. I failed it last time, so I took a maths computer class and only just passed on my second try with a result of 23 out of 40, and the pass mark being 21. However, I learnt that the level 2 pass mark for college is 27, so therefore, what was considered a pass on my online course, isn't really a pass, is it, if it doesn't get me to college?
I got EXTREMELY lucky in my online maths exam as half the stuff I found too difficult to learn wasn't even in the exam. I knew barely half of what I had been learning, yet still passed because I got lucky and they only had 2 questions on the stuff I didn't know so even though I failed them, and loads of other questions, it didn't matter because the pass mark was set WAY too low. The maths course was FAR too big to be summed up into 40 questions. As a result, a lot of important things weren't tested, so I passed on pure chance and luck, not knowledge of what I'd learnt.
To make it worse, there's some stupid rule here in England that says that if you pass level 2 maths you can't retake the classes or exam to achieve a better mark because they say that the grade doesn't matter so long as it's a pass.
So, what that means for me is that the stuff I couldn't learn, I can't go back and try to learn it now because no level 2 maths class will accept me because I already have a level 2 certificate and I'm not allowed to retake it. I've tried explaining this but it makes no difference to them because I "still passed".
This means I won't know enough to to pass my entry exam for college as the last time I took that test, they had the harder stuff and didn't just stick to the easy stuff like my qualification exam did, so, even though I have a level 2 qualification in maths, I don't actually know level 2 maths. I passed on complete luck, and with the standards set way too low. I'd rather have failed it 20 times in a row and been allowed to resit it/relearn, than passing by chance and being told it's good enough to help me get an education when it clearly is NOT good enough.
So now I'm going crazy wondering what the hell I'm gonna do if I fail this exam again. I'm stuck.
I just wish I could go and take a maths class to learn the stuff I don't know. Why can't I do that? What is so bad about letting a person have a second attempt at something?
Does anyone have any advice for me about learning maths? I've tried online things but I can't learn that way (hence why I couldn't learn most of the stuff on the computer based course). I need someone to sit down with me and teach me where I'm going wrong. Explain it to me in a way I understand. Online courses or websites don't do this, or at least not thoroughly enough for me.
I'm just so sick of this country. It's let me down in every way possible. I nearly died at birth, as did my mother, due to the fault of the student nurse, then education failed me because I was bullied constantly for 7 years and my mum did everything she could to stop it, including going to the teachers, head master and even the board of education TWICE, and STILL nothing was done. Then I went to the doctors about my AS and they refused to even acknowledge the possibility that I might have it. After that I went back to the NHS to try and get CBT for my social phobia, but they refused to give me that because it was too expensive for them, and now I find that even when I try to give my self the education I deserved in school, that even that is ridiculously flawed because they've set the pass mark so low that it's possible to pass it without actually KNOWING it and then you're not even allowed to retake it.
Ugh. I hate this place.
07 Mar 2009, 10:37 am
