experience at a selective school (1 Viewer)

[Dimsimmer]

I currently go to a selective school and it is my first year there as a year 11 student. The thing is that i cant fit with the people in at my school since i am quiet and there is nothing much to talk to them about and probably of different interests. But, ive easily made friends at my previous school. Anyways, i reckon that there is something wrong with those people. I think they are stuffed in the head probably because of too much studying without a balanced life. When they get a decent mark like around 80%, they still think its a bad result whereas i think its good. I cant wait till my hsc is over. Still got about 1 year left. What should i do and what do you guys think about this.

 

[pLuvia]

I currently go to a selective school and it is my first year there as a year 11 student. The thing is that i cant fit with the people in at my school since i am quiet and there is nothing much to talk to them about and probably of different interests. But, ive easily made friends at my previous school. Anyways, i reckon that there is something wrong with those people. I think they are stuffed in the head probably because of too much studying without a balanced life. When they get a decent mark like around 80%, they still think its a bad result whereas i think its good. I cant wait till my hsc is over. Still got about 1 year left. What should i do and what do you guys think about this.

yeh selective school people are pretty ambitious and REALLY competitive no offense guys, btw i dont go to one lol. I sometimes listen to those selective people's conversations and they mostly talk about school, future ambitions, tests etc. Well since they made it into a selective i guess they dont want to waste the opportunity, and with asians lol ( dont worry im azn) they expect marks pro around the high 80s + lol

 

[Dreamerish*~]

Both of you have a somewhat stereotypical view of selective schools.

I attend a selective school - not a crazy (in the best way, of course ) one like James Ruse - but it's still reasonably ranked. There are all sorts of people in my school. You'd have the groups that worry about studying and talk of nothing except 4U maths, and you'd have bludgers that don't show up half of the time. What sets us apart from public schools is that we do not offer subjects which scale badly, and the textbooks we use (as far as I'm concerned - for maths, anyway) have slightly more challenging contents.

People in selective schools are still normal, for God's sake. The school sets higher standards and puts more pressure on them, but it doesn't turn them into another species.

I expect assessment marks in at least the high 80s not because I'm a "selective-school snob", but because that's the standard I set for myself. I can say that 99% depends on the individual - the 1% left for schools that push students harder than others, and school scaling.

 

[smiley_1001]

I know exactly what you mean, i went to a normal school until yr 10, then went to a selective...i stayed all of yr 11 and part of yr 12...there were a lot of good things, but yeah i noticed the ppl were a lot different though (not in a bad way). Anyway i decided to move schools because i really didnt think that the selective school was a lot better than my local highschool. Selective schools have a huge amount of competition and different people, and if u dont "fit in" its kinda normal, they can b very hard places to move into, and now, im almst finished yr 12 back at my local and doing fine, back with my friends and achieveing well. It doesne really matter where u r u can do well, just as long as ur happy

 

[glitterfairy]

I also came from a Selective (Hornsby Girls) and quite enjoyed it there.

I got frustrated a lot of the time in primary school because I wanted to be challenged more, and because I was constantly surrounded by people who didn't want to do well. Whilst the competitive nature within selective schools can be a bit iffy (heck, we even compete against other selective schools! lol), it's an ideal environment for those who genuinely want to do well. The teachers are good and go the extra mile, the students are good and go the extra mile... win win situation.

I still lead a pretty normal life in high school, although my school wasn't a die-hard academic school either (I guess James Ruse is the only one that is, even then I know normal people over there, so I guess it's just a cliquey thing). Possibly one of the drawbacks is getting depressed when all your friends get higher marks than you, because we do put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do well. But when it comes to the HSC, it's a good feeling - you know the teachers have prepared you well, and you can always talk to one of your classmates if you need to

 

[wanton-wonton]

I currently go to a selective school and it is my first year there as a year 11 student. The thing is that i cant fit with the people in at my school since i am quiet and there is nothing much to talk to them about and probably of different interests. But, ive easily made friends at my previous school. Anyways, i reckon that there is something wrong with those people. I think they are stuffed in the head probably because of too much studying without a balanced life. When they get a decent mark like around 80%, they still think its a bad result whereas i think its good. I cant wait till my hsc is over. Still got about 1 year left. What should i do and what do you guys think about this.

What school is that?

 

[Cab31]

im the opposite. I went to a selective school up until the end of year ten. When i went to a non selective school, i found the experience at a selective school to be really useful - but i much prefered being at a non selective school. Its personal choice. Remember that the people at a selective school are just normal people. Just because they are at a selective school doesnt mean they are geeks or weird or study all the time.

 

[Jago]

nah we're not study nerds. infact, we're huge procrastinators

 

[glitterfairy]

nah we're not study nerds. infact, we're huge procrastinators

*agrees*

There were only a couple of nerdy-nerd-nerds at my school. They all did abso-spifflingly-brilliantly well. I'm happy for them.

 

[Cab31]

A lot of my friends that stayed at the selective school didnt do as well as what i thought they would. I think they got discouraged by how good everyone else was.

 

[phemale_souljah]

oh come on!!! as if we are THAT strange??!!
Going to a selective school...I have to admit is quite challenging and nevertheless, a great experience.
I must say that the people I associate with outside of school, are probably the absolute antithesis to those within school, in culture, aspirations and so forth.
Competition is like...the common thread amongst all selective schools I think... And yes...gotta say...it can get pretty fierce, but I guess it brings up the saying 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going '...and plus...over-competitive people are just lame and need to make some friends..

I guess everyone's experiences will be different, but all in all, I love my school...and it doesn't feel like a nerd bootcamp, so I haven't felt the need to leave

 

[Cab31]

oh come on!!! as if we are THAT strange??!!
Going to a selective school...I have to admit is quite challenging and nevertheless, a great experience.
I must say that the people I associate with outside of school, are probably the absolute antithesis to those within school, in culture, aspirations and so forth.
Competition is like...the common thread amongst all selective schools I think... And yes...gotta say...it can get pretty fierce, but I guess it brings up the saying 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going '...and plus...over-competitive people are just lame and need to make some friends..

I guess everyone's experiences will be different, but all in all, I love my school...and it doesn't feel like a nerd bootcamp, so I haven't felt the need to leave

See competition is excellent, but its hard for a lot of people to work hard and only be rewarded with mediocre marks or ranks.

 

[Jago]

A lot of my friends that stayed at the selective school didnt do as well as what i thought they would. I think they got discouraged by how good everyone else was.

it's not as bad if you started selective in year 7. you get use to all the people getting fantastic marks and you learnto beat them

 

[glitterfairy]

I think there are some scary people out there - more than one person in my grade last year absolutely glued themselves to their studies for pretty much the entire year. They did well, but we worried what the side-effects of no life did :S

But anyway. Each individual deals with the selective school environment and the HSC itself in their own individual way. If it makes one happiest to study 24/7, then so be it... but please remember not everyone is like that I sure as heck wasn't!

 

[phemale_souljah]

hmmm, true to a certain extent...doing my hsc now, i don't feel the slightest bit content with an 80...but still...

did you know...that teachers feed you this idea that, even if you're going shizzles within your school (being selective), you'll still ace everything if you were in the 'normal' world lol

somehow, I dont feel too confident about that
I have many an asian friend who say that competition is in their veins...so maybe its just them...lol just kidding

 

[Jago]

80%...depends on the subject

english - godsend hahaha
others - not so fun

 

[Cab31]

it's not as bad if you started selective in year 7. you get use to all the people getting fantastic marks and you learnto beat them

i sooooo wasnt prepared for it in year 7. I got there and there were all these people that cared about school...and i didnt!
You do get used to it though

 

[Emma-Jayde]

Yeah, I went to a selective school until the end of year 9.
I hated it. There was so much pressure to do well, people had no lives except for school, and I was "weird" because I thought that there were more important thing in life than years 7, 8 and 9, and also because I put my music above anything.
Needless to say, I got pretty annoyed with the lack of anything artsy at the school, and left.

I'm now still at a selective high, but a perf. arts selective, not an academic selevtive, and I enjoy it soooo much more.
The people are so much more fun, and I get along with them a lot better. Some of the people I went to my first high school with I'd know since year 5. And by the end of year 10 I felt like I knew the people at my P.A high better.
Plus, If I'd stayed at my original high school the only subject that I'd be doing the same as what i'm doing now would be english advanced, because I'd have had no choice.

I went through the first 3 years of high school getting 20 and 30% in all my maths exams. The grade averave was usually around the 30% mark.
Year 10 I was worried because they'd put me in the 2nd top advanced maths class and I thought I'd do really badly.
First exam, 95%. I learnt nothing new in maths in year 10 or for half of year 11. It was all revision.


Then again, the school I was at had a pretty bad reputation for pushing it's students waaaay too hard, and teaching stuff years before it was required for us to know it according to the syllabus.

The academic selective high near my school now is great, apparently. I only really hear good reports from ht epeople who go there.
So I think the school I was at put a bad light on selective schools for me....

 

[ishq]

I've been to both - selective and non-selective.
Honestly - whoever said that people who go to selective will 'ace' normal schools - not true. There is sooo much talent out there.

Selective/Non Selective = no difference, in my opinion. Both have, as Dreamerish said, the nerdy people, the bludgy people, and the bit-of-both people... just the ratios change a bit

 

[hikari]

yeah ishq is absolutely right. i reeeally don't think selective schools are full geeky. i remember in year7 there was a community girl who asked me if i ever watched television. like WTF?! i'm not a hermit who spends all their time studying............

even the fully smart ones don't do that -_-