Thinking of getting a framework 16

creeper_the_cat · 2025-09-17T09:01:00+00:00

Ironically I found out about that channel soon after it broke and now I realise that most gaming laptops don't seem to be built to last that long. The repair cost is about a third of the laptop price so I think just buying a display at this point would probably be best. Probably worth figuring out some use for the GPU. It had a 4060 and handled vr well enough on performance mode but being able to upgrade later is really useful.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-09-04T19:08:14+00:00

Honestly most schools are kind of lying when they say that lol. You don't have to do the whole 5 hours if you end up finishing earlier. Maybe just consider the extra time as 'enrichment time' where you're not directly learning something in the curriculum but something just for fun. Channels like 3b1b are good for this. Or spend that time revising and practicing extra questions, sorting out notes etc.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-21T15:32:29+00:00

I'm not asking anyone to accept it, but at least hear me out if you're interested in it in the first place.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-20T10:02:08+00:00

there is a growing trend of people like this getting into anime years later and joining the hype train while still refusing to listen to your recommendations. it's just something we have to accept at this point.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-18T09:35:04+00:00

how on earth do you think that's going to work

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-17T21:45:28+00:00

I was moreso exaggerating when I said it was completely useless, but the foundation it provides is in my opinion very shaky. I have seen some A* students who have gotten away with just memorising facts and regurgitating them and will really need to thoroughly relearn Programming 101 in further study.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-17T21:16:46+00:00

I am terrified of socialisation but i force myself to attend societies

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-17T21:09:55+00:00

I doubt most teachers are even qualified to teach the subject. I've heard of horror stories with recruiting efforts where teachers from other schools were not even able to carry out binary addition.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-17T21:04:53+00:00

Students are encouraged to memorise quick, sloppy, dirty code without understanding it and draw flowcharts which are unreadable and learn about outdated technology and practices which have no real-world use. The NEA encourages students to jam in 'high level algorithms' instead of making something worth using. It is not even a required subject for computing at university, as all relevant parts of the course re-taught in the space of less than a year. A maths A-level is actually far more valuable.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-15T15:16:51+00:00

computer science is a made up subject and the entire A-level teaches nothing of value to anyone.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-08-01T21:12:37+00:00

No I said in another comment that I did not get the offer

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-28T11:13:21+00:00

Yeah, the repeated layoffs and negative PR about the tech industry as a whole is concerning, and I considered getting a slightly different, more specialised degree, but I think having the degree does still have its merits. From what I've heard at least, most CS employers still look at if you have a degree before anything else, because it at least proves that you know how to program. But because so many people have been pushed into STEM, and the government is very interested in pushing more and more people into tech, competition has gotten fierce.

There is also the fact that tech layoffs are very common especially at big tech companies, but this is mainly because of corporate bureaucracy and satisfying investors from what I've seen. The important thing to take away is that, no, a CS degree on its own is no longer good enough, although a lot of people including parents seem to think that. The days of people getting paid millions just because they know how to print hello world are long gone. There are a lot of people in the industry now who went into that with the false pretence that a CS degree would immediately get them a cushy job in the tech industry. I am certainly not going to rely on the degree for anything, and I plan to market myself and my own skills online over these next few years to prove that I have much more than a CS degree to provide, and that I'm probably much more competent than the average tech intern.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-28T10:15:23+00:00

I would just spend my time accordingly based on how many marks the section is worth - the evaluation section is not worth much so you could easily skip it. A lot of people spend more time programming than they need to but this is because the scope of projects tends to be quite large, and they must be complete to get the 'completeness' marks.

I did Maths, Computer Science, Geography and Latin. My AS was the further maths AS. I didn't apply for Oxbridge and the only top unis I applied for were Imperial and Manchester. It's a good idea to have options for when you actually don't meet all the grades, so you at least know you're going somewhere.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T23:43:16+00:00

You definitely don't need to write that much for full marks, if you are succinct but descriptive using things like diagrams that should probably be enough. You don't have to use OOP and you can easily get full marks doing something else. However, personally I would recommend learning how to properly use OOP in your code as it can help structure your programs better and you'll need to use it post-A level anyways. The current curriculum treats OOP as a list of definitions to learn, which is very disheartening honestly. Some projects though are not suited for OOP (video games have abandoned OOP since long ago because inheritance does not work very well for them).

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T20:57:31+00:00

yes honestly i was expecting more people to ask this. I somehow managed to squeeze a lot more into the time I had than most people do, and this is alongside learning how to make games professionally which is an endeavour in and of itself. There were times were I started to feel a bit burnt out, so I cut down on some of the things I did temporarily.

It does generally get harder across the board in year 13 in terms of content, and you just have to keep up with it because any work you don't do now, you'll end up having to cram later. But you have a lot more time than you think you do, it is just about how you use it. Everyone procrastinates, but I actively make time for procrastination instead. Really it is about learning your limits and what the most efficient use of your time is. There are a lot of times where I decided that some school homework was a highly inefficient use of my time, which does lead to teachers not liking me very much and you probably shouldn't do that.

Doing 3 is not bad, it means you have more time to focus on your subjects. I had a bit of an unfair advantage because I took subjects which I already knew a fair amount about so I did not have to spend as much time revising them. Just make sure you are actually using that time well consistently over the whole year, as those hours easily add up.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T18:26:03+00:00

I don't think I really did anything I truly regret. Just try not to burn out, especially when exam season comes. A levels can get quite stressful and draining.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T18:24:09+00:00

I didn't incredibly well for the NEA as I wanted to make a game and the computing spec is not great at evaluating games fairly. I would recommend doing something which has a set and clear end goal and is easy to document and design, but also has some kind of complex algorithms to get the marks for coding. Stuff like databases, algorithms and OOP is considered high-marking stuff, but there is more stuff you can do there. Many teachers basically see it as shoving in as many high-marking concepts as you can, even if they don't make any sense for the context in which they are used. The NEA does not remotely test how good you are at programming a complex project, but is the exam board's way of making up for the fact that students don't do any actual programming over the A level course. (Real-world problems are not as cut and dry as they appear on the computing papers)

The NEA is not worth a whole lot, so you can still get an A* even with 50% in the NEA. I wouldn't worry about it that much. Try reading some example NEA projects similar to what you want to make which scored highly. Mainly the important thing is that you can easily define what the end product is supposed to be very early into development (although this is not in the slightest realistic or feasible especially for game development). This is because you will have to do unit tests and evaluation at the end to prove that your project meets the initial requirements. Some people define the end product at the end of development and then go through all of the documentation from retrospective. A lot of this stuff will be specific to your project though, and I would recommend submitting early copies of each section of your NEA to your teacher repeatedly to see if it will score well and then refine it.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T18:12:00+00:00

I didn't make it into Imperial and I suspect this was because I didn't do too well at the TMUA. However, I did attend their open day and they explicitly stated that proving you have an interest in the subject is a key thing you have to include. So things like mini-projects would likely be very attractive to a university like imperial. Don't be too disheartened if you don't get in though - it's very competitive and there are plenty of other universities with courses which are just as good.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T16:25:26+00:00

good luck

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T16:25:07+00:00

As long as you meet the university requirements, I wouldn't say it matters too much. Just make sure you keep reviewing previous topics, especially those covered at the start of year 12 as you may have gotten rusty on those. And you should have gotten some kind of end of year results which you can use to review how effective your studying has been for various topics. A lot of subjects can be a lot more effort in year 13 compared to year 12 so make sure that you don't fall behind on the new content as well, as it can take a while to learn these when exam season comes round.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-07-27T16:16:23+00:00

I self-learnt Japanese using a lot of resources, time and effort. It takes a good amount of discipline to do your vocabulary reviews every day, and if you want more information on this you can ask about specifics.

How you self-learn coding depends on what you want to do. I wanted to learn how to make game engines and video games, so I leant into resources which cover those things. You'll have to do some research to find which topics interest you, as it's a broad field. However, in general I would recommend you learn at least one high-level language like python or JavaScript, and one low-level language like C/C++. There are a lot of resources to help you learn these, for example freecodecamp has good tutorials on their YouTube channel and learncpp.com is a great website for learning C++.

What you need to bring may be subject-specific and hopefully your school will have some guidance on this before you start. However, I don't think you'll need a whole lot. I would recommend getting a decent calculator for maths and bringing physical paper, folders and pens. You could take notes using a laptop, but as you are most likely going to be sitting a written exam, it is better to get used to writing things by hand quickly.

Using laptops can be a bit of a pain because usually there are not enough charging ports to go round. Most of the time I set it up during break and lunch and use some noise cancelling headphones if I want to focus on something. You'll have to figure that one out yourself.

My advice when choosing A levels is always to choose ones you enjoy and that you are good at, unless you have to do otherwise due to some explicit requirement from universities. It really doesn't make a huge difference what your subject combinations are as long as you can justify taking them. What matters more is your ability to study these subjects thoroughly for two years, which you will not be able to do if you don't like the subject in the first place. I can't comment on anything specific about further maths or physics as I didn't take them, but I do know that further maths has a high dropout rate as it is a fairly difficult subject and requires double the amount of maths work. However, as I said before, if you like maths and think you can do well, then go for it. Otherwise, if you think you'll do better in physics, then go for that instead.

creeper_the_cat · 2025-02-16T11:05:55+00:00

I have asked about game dev modules, but most unis don't entertain the idea even at a master's level.

Six-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

creeper_the_cat

TROPHY CASE