General Discussion Thread

[Nimphy]

Oh, like forms! Yes, we have that. Kind of. Only we don't get an hour, we get about 15 minutes and we're meant to work during it. .-.
As for study hall, is that like a free period only you have to study? I'm too British to understand.

...Meanwhile, I still understand nothing. Studying here is only done at home.

[daItrick]

Heeeyyyy, your annoying neighbour Red is here!
And, story time before xe goes to bed!
Well, today is my last day with my uncle and grandfathers because of my mom's job. My aunt is ok but he's in the hospital and still getting better from the epileptic attacks he had two days ago. And nothing much happened, only I had nightmares since that day and now I'm scared. I'm going to miss them a lot...
And that's it, nothing much happened. Now to bed. Bye!

[Piney]

Heeeyyyy, your annoying neighbour Red is here!
And, story time before xe goes to bed!
Well, today is my last day with my aunt and grandfathers because of my mom's job. My aunt is ok but he's in the hospital and still getting better from the epileptic attacks he had two days ago. And nothing much happened, only I had nightmares since that day and now I'm scared. I'm going to miss them a lot...
And that's it, nothing much happened. Now to bed. Bye!

_{Hey, don't mean to be rude, but "aunt" is female and "uncle" is male; you're talking about your uncle, not your aunt. The words aren't interchangeable. Good to hear he's alright though.}

[Mélusine]

1h40AM. Telling the two still chatting I want to sleep, not telling the two still chatting I want to sleep... At 8AM they'll be awake and speaking more loudly. But it doesn't happen often to have more persons sleeping here. But I'm tired. But it's not friendly. But I'm tired. But they're speaking with lower voices, but I'm still hearing them and unable to sleep when people are speaking/making noise around. Haaaaaaa, decisions, decisions...

[Trinka]

It's just a free period where you can do whatever you want. It's supposed to be for studying (hence the name), but a lot of times, people don't do any work there.

YOU ARE SO LUCKY

I did IB AND took some AP classes, and I only got one semester of study hall, total.

Oh, like forms! Yes, we have that. Kind of. Only we don't get an hour, we get about 15 minutes and we're meant to work during it. .-.
As for study hall, is that like a free period only you have to study? I'm too British to understand.

...Meanwhile, I still understand nothing. Studying here is only done at home.

WHAT IS THIS BEAUTIFUL THING YOU SPEAK OF??!??

I thought homeroom was only for cool Japanese people, like in animes? It exists here in The US? I feel so jipped! I would have loved to have time dedicated to studying in school, especially with my AP courses, all my time had to be spent at home :[

And are you guys in college right now? Because you keep referring to semesters and having classes on different days, which is only what we do in uni here in Cali.

[Curry]

WHAT IS THIS BEAUTIFUL THING YOU SPEAK OF??!??

I thought homeroom was only for cool Japanese people, like in animes? It exists here in The US? I feel so jipped! I would have loved to have time dedicated to studying in school, especially with my AP courses, all my time had to be spent at home :[

And are you guys in college right now? Because you keep referring to semesters and having classes on different days, which is only what we do in uni here in Cali.

IT'S FANTASTIC

And alas, I am not ;__; I'm just in this special school program (that Ana also went through) that has block scheduling (A day and B day or day 1 and day 2) so I get the benefit of an extra day to slack off ehehe

[viola]

WHAT IS THIS BEAUTIFUL THING YOU SPEAK OF??!??

I thought homeroom was only for cool Japanese people, like in animes? It exists here in The US? I feel so jipped! I would have loved to have time dedicated to studying in school, especially with my AP courses, all my time had to be spent at home :[

And are you guys in college right now? Because you keep referring to semesters and having classes on different days, which is only what we do in uni here in Cali.

No, Nimphy, Curry, and Para are all still in high school (or their country's equivalent of). In some schools, especially in europe it's done a bit more like the american college style. There are lots of schools with semesters. Even in the US there are schools with semesters and where only certain classes are had on certain days. When I was in california I went to a school where we had 3 classes on wednesday, and 4 different classes on thrusday. We also had study halls and homerooms, mid terms, and finals.

[DB (f.k.a. DaveBro)]

1h40AM. Telling the two still chatting I want to sleep, not telling the two still chatting I want to sleep... At 8AM they'll be awake and speaking more loudly. But it doesn't happen often to have more persons sleeping here. But I'm tired. But it's not friendly. But I'm tired. But they're speaking with lower voices, but I'm still hearing them and unable to sleep when people are speaking/making noise around. Haaaaaaa, decisions, decisions...

Soft earplugs are your friend!  They are made of foam, and should be available at an apothecary or a safety equipment business--or the airport. 

When I was in DC, I had a 2nd-floor apartment in a 10-story building.  The only things that blocked the flowing water sounds from the pipes were earplugs. 

Alternatively, an electric fan by your bed can drown them in white noise.

Good luck, and sleep well. 

[DB (f.k.a. DaveBro)]

OT, but I can't find the thread I need.  Where does one go to post parody lyrics?  I have The Overflowing Cat-Tank Blues all buffered up with nowhere to paste. 

[Piney]

WHAT IS THIS BEAUTIFUL THING YOU SPEAK OF??!??

I thought homeroom was only for cool Japanese people, like in animes? It exists here in The US? I feel so jipped! I would have loved to have time dedicated to studying in school, especially with my AP courses, all my time had to be spent at home :[

And are you guys in college right now? Because you keep referring to semesters and having classes on different days, which is only what we do in uni here in Cali.

IT'S FANTASTIC

And alas, I am not ;__; I'm just in this special school program (that Ana also went through) that has block scheduling (A day and B day or day 1 and day 2) so I get the benefit of an extra day to slack off ehehe

Oh yeah, I had that too(except for semesters - we had four terms instead of two) - I declined to say anything because I'm not in high school anymore.  I wasn't even in the IB program; I think most of the schools in my district had different blocks for each day. At my school, we didn't have homeroom unless we had to pick up our class schedules or something. And study hall was unfortunately an elective and not mandatory - I took it senior year when I had a free elective, and it saved my butt (what with all the work I had to do that year with four AP classes).

[viola]

OT, but I can't find the thread I need.  Where does one go to post parody lyrics?  I have The Overflowing Cat-Tank Blues all buffered up with nowhere to paste. 

That would be here

[DB (f.k.a. DaveBro)]

That would be here

   Thank you!!   

[starfallz]

What is the IB program? I don't think I've heard of it.

When I was in school, the only time we had homeroom was when there was something weird going on like testing or something. I never had study hall either, although I probably could have chosen to take it but I took art and science classes instead.

[Keeper]

At my high school we have homeroom, quiet study, and free periods, which are three different things.

Homeroom is just where we report in the mornings for attendance and announcements before classes actually start.
Quiet studies are essentially study halls, except most students do in fact use them to study, and some teachers won't really let you talk during them so you kinda have to do whatever work you have.
Free periods are only for seniors, where you don't have to report to a classroom (I think) and you can go anywhere in the school building to get some work done or hang out with classmates that also have a free that period. These are especially useful for art students.

I'm from New York, if that explains anything.

[viola]

What is the IB program? I don't think I've heard of it.

When I was in school, the only time we had homeroom was when there was something weird going on like testing or something. I never had study hall either, although I probably could have chosen to take it but I took art and science classes instead.

IB is an international school program. It's similar to the American AP system in that someone taking AP history in California takes the same curriculum and test as someone taking it in Oklahoma. IB is just more international, so a kid in England can be taking the same IB Psychology course as a kid in France, as a kid in Saudi Arabia, as Canada.

The difference is that in your IB class you are not just assesed by writing an exam at the end of the year. You also had to do things called "internal assessments" such as writing a research paper. These are then graded by your teacher, and a random sample from your class is selected, and those research papers are then sent to say Japan to be graded by IB psychology teachers there. Your exams are also graded by teachers from around the world.

IB diploma candidates are usually in their last two years of high school (or the equivalent in their country). The courses are equivalent to university course level. Unlike AP, you chose 6 courses to complete over 2 years. 3 at the standard level, 3 at the higher level. The difference is that the higher level courses last two years and cover more content. You must chose one course from each of the 6 catagories: Your native language, a second language, a social studies course, a math course, a science course, and an art course. Some students can take a second science course instead of an art course. In addition to completing these 6 courses, IB diploma candidates must also take TOK (theory of knowledge) which is a philosophy course  that explores where knowledge comes from. You do projects in that class and are also required to write an Extended Essay (a 4,000 word essay on a topic of your choice). The last component is CAS (creativity, action, service) which are volunteer projects outside of school. You must log a certain amount of volunteer hours in each activity.

To clarify, I will give an example of what I did. My courses were: HL English, HL Psychology (instead of history), HL French, SL Environmental Science, SL Math, SL Music. My extended essay was written on traditional Icelandic music and its influences on modern day Icelandic music, and my CAS activities were: creative-community orchestra, active-marching band(or being part of a sports team), service-tutoring french. At the end of your second year all your material (exams, internal assessments, extended essay, volunteer work) is sent away to different countries and assessed and if you receive more than a certain amount of points (24 I think) you receive your IB diploma.

More information can be found here