The Official ‘O Levels’ Thread

Tultras said:

Well, as for my preparation for the cie, there is none, i haven't started, nor attended school for the past 2 years ( not joking ), so i am guessing i should start?

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No. Keep sleeping. Study 20 minutes before going into the hall.

Pass honay kay iraday hain?

Tultras said:

I wasn't sleeping all this time, i do Hifz too, School along with hifz isn't easy =/, as for my irada, A*s, Insha'allah.

though i did study a month before the cie's for my o levels first year, had difficulty in answering a 14 mark question in history ( managed it though ), and pretty sure i got some questions wrong in Geography, ended up with an A*

Islamiat, i got an A, don't know how, it comes to me naturally, shoud've gotten an A* =/,

Urdu, i hated it, still do, suck at it, ended up with a B.

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Was kidding mate. Chill.

Anyway. The thing is, you gotta put a hell lot of effort now. It's going to be tough, but it's easily achievable. PM me your subjects and I'll help you out with it there.

But yeah, you'll have to study a lot.

Xerolt9 said:

What exactly is percentile...?

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P/100 * n/2 -____-

The percentile marking system refers to a pretty shitty system by CIE if you ask me. I had stated somewhere on this forum that they instated Raw Marks Obtained system again, the percentages, but I rechecked around 2 months ago and it's percentile, which is why I ask everyone appearing to go through the marking schemes.

Percentile, ideally, pertains to the top 10% of the mark obtained getting A. This means THERE ABSOLUTELY WILL BE people who get Es and THERE WILL ABSOLUTELY be people who get A's regardless of the marks scored. You A is not on a certain mark, but rather, a relative mark.

Say there's a shit hard exam of 120 marks, and the highest in your zone, 21 22 etc, obtains 87 marks, and the lowest 22, these are your A grade ending and E grade starting boundaries. The person(s) who score 87 get the distinctions, 10% below them get A*s, 20% A and so on. The negative effect of this is that the class intervals are shortened, meaning, that there need not be a bracket of 10 marks for you to drop a grade.

Get it?

This is a much, much simpler explanantion of what actually happens in weighted percentiles, since CIE's exams of more than 1 paper are almost always unevenly weighted (20%, 30% 50%) (30% 70%) etc.

Xerolt9 said:

[MENTION=25983]AbbY[/MENTION]: So... Basically, if a guy gets 80/100, those become the starting boundaries for A*? i.e: 80-72 is A*, 72-64 is A etc?
I think that's a pretty stupid system. Then again, it can help if the paper is extremely hard. But it may be a hindrance too...

Anyway, thanks for the info. I'm appearing for Pak Studies and Islamiat and I'm shit scared. Appearing for my Mocks from Friday onwards and I've been studying like crazy, yet I still haven't finished History and 30% of Geography :\

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Mostly, it helps you more than it rapes you.

I had Q1a Q2a in Pakstudies mostly wrong. Technically that's atleast 6 marks, and up to 8 marks lost. Q3c was messed up, lost around at-least 5 in that. Even then, I had an A* in History. Lost 6-7 marks in Geog, had a B in that shit.

And if 80/100 is the top mark, then yes. It's the starting boundaries. The class interval depends on the lowest mark obtained.


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Pak Studies and Islamiyat are pretty easy to score in. Expect an easy Pak Studies p1 this time around, most probably that there will be 2 questions from Section 1, 2 from Section 2 and 1 from Section 3. If I were you, I'd leave section 3 and focus on 1 and 2, which is exactly what I did. What I, however, DID NOT do was read through the Farooq Bajwa book. We use the Nigel Kelly book, I used the Nigel Smith book too, and read a few chaps from Bajwa. The Bajwa book contains some outdated stuff, that is not mentioned in the syllabus, but CAN be asked, as in my case with q1 a and q2a. Everyone I know screwed them up, and it's possible that the percentile saved our asses.

Xerolt9 said:

How can you which questions will be from which sections?

And I'm really hoping it's easy... I'll be kicked out of the house if I get a B ._.

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Because that's the way the paper is made. At-least 1 question from each section, and a maximum of 2 from one section. So, even if there are TWO questions on section 3, like in my case, you can still leave it on choice and nail the exam. If you are a good debater, you'll make up for any lost marks by great marks in Qx c.

GrunT said:

hadn't the percentile system been replaced with percentage ?

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I too did hear about it earlier, but nay. It's percentile.

GrunT said:

^My school's been saying that the percentile system has been replaced from the last 2 years :/

I only studied section 1(till 1947) for Pak Studies and luckily there were 4 questions from it last year

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That's till section 2 my dear.

And nay. Percentile is still there, very much active. Go through the syllabus.

EnergyDan said:

Mocks in a week!!! 8 O levels. Panicking! Anyone take economics ? What textbooks do you recommend

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11 and calm. Why're you guys taking so much 'tension'

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It's not purely an O levels book, but the Nelson Thornes book for IGCSE is possibly the best in terms of explanatory sense.
You might want to use Imran Latifs notes. Heck, it's the only book I revise with. I'm not sure if they're available there. If they aren't hit me up with a PM or any relative of yours in Lahore, and I'll or they'll send em. Very, very useful.

---------- Post added at 07:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:21 PM ----------

Xerolt9 said:

My Mocks start tomorrow :\ Islamiat I + Chemistry IV

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I have Bio I Bio II EM I all one after another. I'm not sure if I'm going to come out alive. :/

---------- Post added at 07:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 PM ----------

GrunT said:

if till 1947 is section 2 then what is section 3 ? After 1947 or Relations ?
Have forgotten all about Pak Studies.

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1947-2008 + International Relations.