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Originally posted by skip to the end...:
But that does mean you have more choices open to you...

If someone decided when they were 15 here that they wanted to be a writer and they took lots of writing type and artistic subjects, they would be scr*wed if they changed their mind at 18 and wanted to be a doctor... cos they wouldn't have enough sciences.

Plus I assume then that you only have one year with exams?

We have 3 years of exams.

we have exams every year from age 9. in every subject. so we basically have about one exam a week. and yeah there is a wider variety but it just sucks that if i can't pass maths i won't be able to graduate, i can't go to university until i have passed in a subject i am really bad at!

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Do Austrains do the Abitur Jen? Yours sounds a lot like the French bac, where they have to get at least a pass level in everything to pass overall. (Plus no coursework, but don't get them started on the threat of introducing it soon.... Mad)

no what we do is called the Matura and it's a little different to the german and the french system but more similar to those than the english system. i have talked about the course work they do in england in english schools with my friends and they'd all love it if it were introduced here... i think it must be great and much easier to pass. it just makes much mroe sense!

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Just for my two penny's worth, it's scandalous how few people do languages, I can't believe it's no longer compulsory for GCSE!!! I hate the English attitude that we don't need to make the effort to speak another language, and it's really embarassing to think of all those Dutch/Scandinavian, etc. people who speak it practically fluently from childhood. Now, loades of (really able) students aren't picking it because they don't have to;everyone thinks it's really hard, but it can be lots of fun!! And in my opinion, it's certainly easier than something like physics.... Roll Eyes

lol yeah i agree. fi and i had a discussion about this. i agree that learning languages is so important. i am in an international bilingual school which has allowed me to learn languages and understand different cultures in a unique way. pretty much all of our lessons are taught in english, a part from history this year which was taught in french and we learn english, german, french and either spanish or latin. i am also really impressed by the dutch/scandinavian countries which speak such good english! it is important!