Ienzo

yeah ours usually start around June 16th and will end around August 31st. so about 2 and a half months.

O they exist, but they aren't very common. i think the last one i had was in 7th grade. about 6 years ago. they would prolly only be ten questions and was the answers from the notes on the day before. so not tragic. but yeah, your system is crazy. i dont even know what some of the acronyms mean... How long are your summer vacations? (Holidays)

Not at all, all you need to do is listen to the teachers, study for quizzes, and do the homework in order to really pass. the midterm and final only count as 10% of your grade for a class. so let's say you got B's in all quarters, but you fail Midterm and final. you will still pass, it will equal out to a C. if that makes sense to you. (A-100%-90%, B- 89%-80%, C- 79%-70%, D- 69%-60%, F- 59% or lower.) So if you do 7 classes (only about 35min. to 50min. each) you'll have more than enough credits:)

haha yeah it defiantly is confusing! i dunno if mine is... but to expand on that.

in high school, we have about 7 courses per year. the essentials are: English, Math, Social Studies, and Science. and Gym is too technically. (PE) then the other 2 slots are for whatever you want to take. (a foreign language, art, computer graphics, business courses, etc.) Usually they are about 1 credit for each course, so over all, 1 year you get 7 credits. In order to graduate from school, you need at least 24.75 credits. Plus a graduation paper. which is 5 pages long, then you need to make a quick power point, and present it in front of the class. and thats the end!

Hope that wasn't confusing...

hmm... that's interesting.
Hahaa i've always been curious as to how other countries do schooling. How does UK categorize years?

In the U.S., we have 4 years of highschool, Freshman year (ninth grade), Sophomore year (10th grade), Junior year (11th grade), and Senior year (12th grade) then we be done!!!

each year is broken up into two halves, called semesters. there's a fall semester, and a spring semester. In a semester, there are two quarters, about 2-3months for a quarter i think. in the middle there is a test called a mid-term. you are tested the knowledge you learned in each class thus far. then you have 2 more quarters. then its at the end of the year. the Test then is called the Final Exam. That is the things you learned in the last two quarters. but if you got all A's for each quarter, and for the Midterm for a class, you don't have to take the final exam for that class.

wow, i never heard of that way of categorizing. so thats the official terms, X half and Y half?

Haha, i win, i just graduated from high school so no more PE. Whoot!!

By the by, have you noticed adds at the top of your forums? or is it just me...

yeah, but it defiantly makes high school emotionally harder i suppose. Too much drama, hahaa! When you mean popular, do you mean the person with best grades, coolest stuff, prettiest lass, (haha i've always wanted to say that, but thats more Irish/Scotish...) and most muscular cricket player? (hahaa, a lot of people in the U.S. "worship" sports. Especially American Football, not your football, of soccer for us. I never got why they called it that, you don't even use your feet...) I'm not a sports person though. i don't mind a pickup game of Volleyball though:)

Well i haven't seen that show, but it's kinda like that in the U.S. I was kinda of the catagory of japanese lovers. But i further separate the catagory. there are the otaku who cant draw, watch and read it, (manga, anime) look like they dont wash their hair and clothes in a week, and have tons of trinkets. Then the other category is me and my friends. We read it, watch it, i draw it, some cant, we wear normal clothes and we arent socially awkward to others.

I don't know UK highschool operates. We kinda get an image of "proper" and everyone wears a school uniform. I dont know if that's how a majority of it is, but the U.S. we are allowed to wear casual clothes.

( it hit me that you are 5 hours ahead of me, so right now i reckon its about 10:25ish pm for you. i don't get out of work till now (5pm) so that's a major inconvenience.) Disclaimer: haven't been to the UK, but i'd love too. (I love your accents, not considered one to you, but let's put it this way: i like how the English "Properly" pronounce things:) hahaa!

So after that, i'll try to answer your question. I think it would be kinda like UK, modern, western world thinking, and all. we prolly have about same climate cause where i live (Pennsylvania) and England are close latitude wise. But most likely just tidbit things are different like customs, terms, and politics. But yeah, the U.S. is a nice place to live, i'll admit that.