This Test Paper
Our GCSE’s were probably one of the hardest things we had to do back then, and how we hated them. I don’t know about you, but I was 90% sure that I’d fail maths and science. When we ha to sit down to actually take the exams, I nearly had a heart attack – it was the worst. Remember how they gave us practice ones to take home… “Yeah, thanks Sir, I really wanted to spend my weekend doing this!”
Reading this Anthology
Remember having to memorise lines from random old poems? Yeah, because knowing what Simon Artmitage wrote was really going to help you in the real world. Whenever the teacher got these out, we groaned. It was no fun having to learn about these things, and yet the teacher seemed to be positively gleeful about the whole thing.
BBC Bitesize
Did you ever go on this? Playing the ‘games’ was about as fun as pulling teeth. There was nothing less enjoyable than having to spend hours revising on this site. Still, there was a little silver lining to the whole thing. We all had MSN open in the background and spent most of the time chatting on there. When our parents came in the room, it was a quick scramble to get this page back up.
These Old Desks
When you sat at one of these ancient desks, you knew stuff was about to get serious. There was no more sitting next to your mates and chatting, you were in the REAL world now. Everyone used to draw on the desks just to take their mind off the fact that they were about to fail all their exams. What was more sad was seeing the graffiti of those who came before you. Had they survived? Where were they now?
This Damn Study Guide
Just seeing that kid on the front gives us the shivers! Science was the worst of all the lessons, and you know it. No one ever needed to know about that stuff. What was most annoying was how they tried to make it look like it was fun. It was so NOT fun! There was absolutely nothing fun about science – it was a form of torture and we all knew it.
These Equations
Okay, so we thought that IT was going to be fun, right? Oh, how very wrong we were. Learning to use Excel was one of the worst things we ever had to do. Leaning how to add up in a spreadsheet…. HOW was that going to help us in the real world, eh? (Note: We’ve since learnt that this was actually one of the most useful things to know ever.)
The Periodic Table
Remember trying to memorise this one, eh? It was one of the hardest things any of us had to do, and it really has turned out to be utterly useless now. Literally, NO ONE cares what the symbol is for iron. This information was completely useless, and yet they kept trying to ram it well down our throats when we were in school. Cheers for that one.
Bleep Test
When the teacher got out that old tape player, you knew exactly what was coming your way, and it was one of the worst days of your entire life (as a teenager). Once this was over, you have to admit, you were pretty damn proud of yourself. I remember getting to level five back then, which I think was a pretty big deal… Or, the rest of my class were really unfit.
Killing Your Computer for Free Music
When you saw that you’d given your computer a virus, it was one of the scariest moments ever. You just knew that your parents were going to kill you for it. The best thing to do was walk away and pretend it had NOTHING to do with you at all. Luckily, your parents hadn’t got a clue when it came to technology, so you could kind of get away with it.