What were the circumstances of both events?
And can you pin-point the preparation you made to have this stroke of good fortune fall into your lap?
( JeffTheDogFucker Can you dig it?, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:39, 1 reply, 15 years ago)

an aptitude for maths and physics
choosing to do civil engineering at Cardiff
getting the required grades
I consider all that to be mainly luck

I only managed to piece together the circumstances surrounding winning the money after the fact, because I had no recollection of entering the competition. I can be fairly sure that it wasn't much more than a lottery because if I had had to do more than fill in a short form then I wouldn't have bothered.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:41, Reply)

good grades are only luck to a certain point
i am lucky that i have a photographic memory, but i still had to read the boring shite to memorise it and regurgitate it in exams from the ages of 7 to 25 to get to where i am today.

of course i could have been a damn sight luckier and gotten a damn sight further if i'd been born looking like angelina jolie. humph.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:43, Reply)

I didn't go down the regurgitation route
found it easier and less time consuming to actually learn the principles. Enough to get by anyway.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:45, Reply)

this lack of common sense is a hallmark of my life
i have never done an exam in my life (and we're talking scholarship, school entrance exams, oxford entrance, GCSE's, A-levels, first degree, law degree, LPC, financial accounting for solicitors and now my masters) that i didn't ignore all year and then frantically cram for at the last minute. i'm lucky that i am good at exams, so it nearly always results in an A or a first, but do i remember a word of it afterwards?

just don't ask me to balance a spreadsheet for chists sake.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:49, Reply)

That's me.
I always fared better in exams than with essays or coursework, yet for the exams I'd just read bullet points over and over for a few hours and with essays I'd be studying and researching for weeks. Makes no sense.
I'm good at bullshitting, evidently.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:51, Reply)

i look with bemused envy
at people who have pages of beautifully colour-coded notes. makes no sense to me. memorise, regurgitate, forget. that's how it works!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:52, Reply)

I'm familiar with those people
they just have a fancier method of memorising.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)

I used to envy them.
But meh, I was having egg and cress sandwiches and a glass of red wine with my mum when they were having nervous breakdowns over the causes of World War One.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)

hehe
I tended to stop revising at 6pm while in Cardiff, then go and smoke bongs until midnight. Then sit an exam at 9am.

Others would be revising all night.

Could never understand that. It still annoys the mrs slightly I think.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:57, Reply)

I can still remember many of the concepts that I learned at school, a level and university
I couldn't do the equations without references, but they are pretty stuck in there.

Conveniently I was also good at exams, I just never pushed myself that hard, hence a BCD at A level and a 2:1 at university. Got me where I wanted to be though, so that's what matters.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:52, Reply)

i'm ridiculously competitive at pointless academic shite
that B for latin a-level haunts me every time i have to do a cv, i hate it. A, A, A.... skanky B. what a make-up wearing moronic teenager i was!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:53, Reply)

I was disappointed with my D at A level maths
until I started university and discovered that I was significantly more adept at maths than many on my course who had got As and A*s

I never felt the need to compete with that stuff, even with myself or the system.

Path of least resistance was my motto
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:55, Reply)

I only paid attention in the subjects I enjoyed
And in sixth form ended up bunking off school a lot to play games, sleep and masturbate. Hence i ended up with the lovely grades of AAEU.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:58, Reply)

You did better than I did!
I stopped giving a shit at 6th form, I left with only 1 A Level.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)

I was actually relieved when I got to university and was no longer the highest-achieving kid there.
I went to a cack school, and my three lazy Bs at A-level were the best grades in my year. To suddenly not be despised, seen as a target or get all that "Ooh she did the best in her year!" shit from my mum was like a weight lifting off.
Hi, I'm Roota, I'm average.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)

that must have been a relief
I can still remember the look on my bro's face when he realised I wasn't stupid, academically.

I don't profess to be a genius, particularly since being a regular on here, but I'm certainly not a dumb ass
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:02, Reply)

Don't put your A-levels on your cv
you've got higher qualifications, so no-one gives a shit, surely?
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)

my recruitment agent drafted mine, i just did as i was told
the thing is, everyone in law has a 2:1 or a 1 and commendations or distinctions in the GDL/LPC. so they look for something to make you stand out. as you get more senior of course you're right, they get bumped off for big cases/deals and nobody cares about a-levels. but i've been here quite happily since i was a baby of 18 months PQE, so therefore my a-levels went on there and it hasn't been re-drafted since!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:26, Reply)

Fair enough..
I never know what's really best. I was told the rule is unless it is actually relevant to your field, then you list your last qualification only. Even I don't list my A levels and academics would usually claim their 11+ was relevant given half a chance...
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:45, Reply)

I tended down this route too
And sadly after nearly seven years have passed since I finished my degree, I can barely remember anything specific about it at all, just vague notions and arguments.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:55, Reply)

Same
except I only graduated 2 and a bit years ago. It worries me sometimes, how much I've forgotten.
(berk, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)

I understood for the necessary period of time and also did the regurgitation thing
But years later, only the cpncepts I found interesting are the ones I could still vaguely explain to you.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:49, Reply)

regurgitation would be useless in your field anyway.
it's only suitable for certain disciplines - humanities, social sciences, some aspects of biological and chemical science. maths and physical sciences are things you have to understand from principles to be any good at past A level.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:12, Reply)

you'd be surprised at how succesful it was for exams at university level
they didn't tend to deviate much when coming up with questions.

left some of the highest achievers on our course a bit fucked when they got into industry.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:17, Reply)

OK, rephrase
it "shouldn't" work for those disciplines. As people rapidly and brutally discover.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:33, Reply)

you are indeed right
your previous post was as well in fact, because it certainly wasn't suitable.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:35, Reply)

i was never any good at them past the age of 6, frankly
my mind just does not work that way.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 12:28, Reply)

+not

( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 26 Jan 2011, 11:58, Reply)