Potentially huge decision.

Ahoy there, fellow forumers!

In the past few days, I've begun my A Levels. Now, I'm not here to brag at all (I'm invariably going to fall apart come exam time), but instead have realised that FM may have limited my work-time by several hundred hours last year :o

So, I feel I'm faced with a huge decision here. Cut down on (or even eliminate) my FM playing, or continue and risk falling behind in the work?

Your thoughts? Anybody else had to make a similar decision?

As someone who was able to successfully combine loafing with exams I feel I am well placed to give advice.

What you really should do is cut out FM altogther due to your inevitably not being as bright as I am.

Once you have claimed those well-earned C grades for woodwork and home economics you can return to FM-geekery once more.

I managed it. Just be sure to do your work, even if you stay up until midnight (and/or that break-time panic essay), and you'll be OK

As someone who was able to successfully combine loafing with exams I feel I am well placed to give advice.

What you really should do is cut out FM altogther due to your inevitably not being as bright as I am.

Once you have claimed those well-earned C grades for woodwork and home economics you can return to FM-geekery once more.

Basically what he said. I knew I could sit back, do eff all work and I'd still get the grades I needed. If you don't feel that's possible, don't play FM.

Liking the suggestions though far, though I consider Cadijk's reply needlessly harsh haha. Would be a shame to have to give FM up as it's been a staple part of my life for over ten yearas (sad, I know) but it may have to be done! Then again, I could always just rush the work during free periods

Basically what he said. I knew I could sit back, do eff all work and I'd still get the grades I needed. If you don't feel that's possible, don't play FM.

Hmm I'm not sure at the moment. Got mostly A*s at GCSE (geeky, I know ) but they're a huge step up, apparently. Teachers have given me the ***** by going on about how difficult stuff is, tbh!

I could always just rush the work during free periods

Didn't work out so great for me, did 3/4 of my History c/w in a free, and got an E for it. Although 2 marks off an A overall = me

EDIT: If you got mostly A* you'll probably be fine, depends what you're aiming for in these though.

Or, cut down on Becks instead.

Seriously man, concentrate on your exams. It'll affect your chances in life.

FM will still be there whether you end up a binman or a brain-surgeon

(no offence meant to any binmen BTW)

Didn't work out so great for me, did 3/4 of my History c/w in a free, and got an E for it. Although 2 marks off an A overall = me

EDIT: If you got mostly A* you'll probably be fine, depends what you're aiming for in these though.

Haha there goes the free period plan, then ;-) Hmm true- I've taken really hard subjects, though. Wish I'd chosen a doss subject!

Seriously man, concentrate on your exams. It'll affect your chances in life.

FM will still be there whether you end up a binman or a brain-surgeon

(no offence meant to any binmen BTW)

Hmm that's the thing: I'm a bit of a worrier, so all I can think is how important these two years are. I always feel my finger itching to click on the FM link, though! Bit of a dilemma, haha

Or, cut down on Becks instead.

Haha seen my updated info box, then it's brilliant, my local newsagent will sell anything to me- went mad on it this summer! Haha :-)

You finish school at what, 3.30? Go to bed at 11.30 or something? (not that i'm stalking you

But thats about 8 hours in which you can comfortably fit a couple hours homework and a load of FM.

No problem.

You finish school at what, 3.30? Go to bed at 11.30 or something? (not that i'm stalking you

But thats about 8 hours in which you can comfortably fit a couple hours homework and a load of FM.

No problem.

Good point, actually! I might have to draw up a schedule of FM and work, bearing in mind I'm a complusive organiser, haha.

Actually so pissed at how much more work there is at A Level, though

Set the clock on your FM time and stick to it.

The answer here is pretty obvious. Video games should never have an effect on anything in real life.

A-Levels are really not as hard as teachers make them out to be, i did very little work for them

It's easier to play games all you want when you are sitting in a lovely big detached house your job you got because of your degree paid for.

Unfortunately you need to put the work in when you are your age to reap the rewards in later years

WHen millions of people are out of work, such as myself, this post makes me want to actually reach into the screen, pop out from your screen, and hit you in the head.

just totally get rid of FM all together and once you have done your exams, treat yourself to FM2012 as a reward

The answer here is simple, cut out your A-Levels all together and focus solely on FM. Nothing beats becoming a world champion, gold medals and trophies...

In all seriousness, A-Levels aren't as hard as some may say IMO, especially media studies aha. Spread your workloadthough and just make sure you finish an assignment before going into FM. You know full well that if your an organiser, prioritising is important and I think its clear what is most important here, A-Levels, even though I chose FM

Seriously man, concentrate on your exams. It'll affect your chances in life.

FM will still be there whether you end up a binman or a brain-surgeon

(no offence meant to any binmen BTW)

This, FM is far too addictive, quit it if you cannot control it.

Sack off work and FM it to death.

I feel well placed to say this: my grammar school education serves me well in warehousing...

The fact you did so well on the GCSEs means that you're in the perfect position to answer your own question. How much work went into them? It'll probably be the same this time round since, despite what teachers say, each year of further education isn't really harder, just different things to learn.

Personally, I'd say if anything don't over-study. Try to balance study and recreation, as this will help you stay relaxed. Say, for argument sake, you do 2-3 hours study and have an hour break (be that FM, going for a walk, watching TV) and stick to it. If you break the time limit, cut tomorrow down to 30 minutes or something as "punishment".

It's incredibly nerdy, but break out Excel and draw up a nightly study plan. If nothing else it means you'll always know (more or less) what you're doing. Most of the worrying around exams is lack of preparation.

The actual grades you acheive in your upcoming exams will have less bearing on your life than the experience gained by working hard for a result. Just as you would like your players to, you have to give yourself the best chance by putting in the effort. The satisfaction of acheiving goals will drive you forward. I recommend not cutting out FM but use it as a reward for good exam preparation work (I know it's hard). That way you could allocate an hour per evening or an entire afternoon once a week etc, dependant on satisfying your exam prep obligations (only you can set the standard for your performance so be honest). Good luck with exams and seize the opportunity to build some personal pride.

Play football manager as a profession

As a teacher, A-Levels are... not that important in the grand scheme of things. It's just a key for university. The university degree is your key to life, although somewhat ironically university is about as far removed from real life as is humanly possible.

Of course you can be very successful without A-Levels or university. The thing that will get you furthest in life is ultimately natural intelligence.

The thing that will get you furthest in life is ultimately natural intelligence.

Respectfully disagree. I believe by setting and acheiving goals your ambition increases incrementally and leads to some sort of modest 'success in life'. Natural intelligence is just one tool in the kit of a person - application and determination will help just as much. Succesfully acheiving goals ingrains an expectation of performance which then feeds back into application and determination etc.

Respectfully disagree. I believe by setting and acheiving goals your ambition increases incrementally and leads to some sort of modest 'success in life'. Natural intelligence is just one tool in the kit of a person - application and determination will help just as much. Succesfully acheiving goals ingrains an expectation of performance which then feeds back into application and determination etc.

I get what you're saying - i didn't mention qualities like application and determination as i said the thing that will get you the furthest is natural intelligence. Those would be close behind in my book but they would be nothing without the natural intelligence to utilise those qualities effectively. If you are determined but not overly intelligent you could potentially do ok, likewise if you were a trier. Natural intelligence is the key... the glue if you like that allows other qualities to flourish.

As someone who missed my dream University place due to not working hard enough for my A-levels, I'd say you absolutely have to concentrate on them. I'm not saying you can't play FM at all, but your work needs to be your first priority, especially around coursework/exam times. Although A-levels aren't particularly hard, they do require *some* work and your goals should reflect what you want to do at University. I'm probably slightly different in that I *had* to get 3 A's (3rd year medical student here), but even so, University admission is becoming more and more competitive so you need to do well (along with having an actual life beyond work so you have something to write about in your personal statement).

Personally... FM actually helps me work. I just run it in the background and use it to break up long spells of working.

You finish school at what, 3.30? Go to bed at 11.30 or something? (not that i'm stalking you

But thats about 8 hours in which you can comfortably fit a couple hours homework and a load of FM.

No problem.

Top advice. Home by 4pm, College work and tea takes you up to 7.30 - 8pm. Then you've got 3 to 4 hours to do whatever the hell you want. Also, plenty of time in between lectures on "free" periods to do work.

As a kicker, most colleges have sports on wednesday afternoon, so don't try out for any teams, but instead spend your 'sports' time playing FM!

Not to be anti-fm here, but is one year (8/9 months-ish really until exams) without FM really worth 50 without a job/lifestyle you'd love? There's always FM13/14/15/16 and so on, focus on your schoolwork!

Not to be anti-fm here, but is one year (8/9 months-ish really until exams) without FM really worth 50 without a job/lifestyle you'd love? There's always FM13/14/15/16 and so on, focus on your schoolwork!

And for the majority, who don't even get to take these exams?!

And for the majority, who don't even get to take these exams?!

I don't quite understand what you mean.. I am responding to a specific situation in which TimHardy has asked for advice. Everyone (within the UK at least) has the opportunity to take exams, as long as you are here legally - I can't quite understand how you could be obstructed from taking them (Unless you don't live in the UK, in which case my reply doesn't include you).

I don't quite understand what you mean.. I am responding to a specific situation in which TimHardy has asked for advice. Everyone (within the UK at least) has the opportunity to take exams, as long as you are here legally - I can't quite understand how you could be obstructed from taking them (Unless you don't live in the UK, in which case my reply doesn't include you).

I was referring to your alternative to failing to gain A levels, "50 (years) without a job/lifestyle you'd love?"

A-levels are useless and don't get you anywhere. The same goes for degrees.

Screw revision, and be a real champion.

Just use your juggling of study and FM as an important practical in the art of Time Management. I'm pretty sure that 50% of getting on at Uni and in the workplace is just time management essentially.

Ahoy there, fellow forumer!

Firstly, FM comes first. Always. Just ask Richard from Pointless, he'll tell you that nearly missed the chance to show the bbc his idea for the show due to oversleeping after a hard night of getting Braintree Town into the Champions League! He managed to do both, and is now one of the most beautiful, wonderful, orgasmic and intelligent people in the world.

A-levels are important, but we all know that despite panicking and crying all year you will actually do exceptionally well, again like Richard did. Relax and enjoy the new FM, PES, etc. The time to stop FM is the time to give up on life.

A levels should be fine. It's only like 3 or 4 subjects. I barely did any work for 2 years and got my IB diploma no sweat. Only did badly in one subject, but it doesn't really matter.

A-Levels are overrated, as are degrees. I know a lot of people who have gone on and got great qualifications in fields like Psychology and Geography and ended up unable to find a job and working as an office junior, respectively.

Besides, if you do go on to get fantastic qualifications and an extremely well paid job, you will work so hard and so many hours that you won't even have time for FM!

I myself have done some further education, but this was once I already had a job and did some evening courses to fit in with my work. Now have a pretty healthy salary but with no responsibility that makes me work above my contracted hours (except a little at year-end), so I have plenty of free time for FM and disposable income for takeaways to get me through all-nighters!

You just have to find the balance that works for you.

Ahoy there, fellow forumers!

In the past few days, I've begun my A Levels. Now, I'm not here to brag at all (I'm invariably going to fall apart come exam time), but instead have realised that FM may have limited my work-time by several hundred hours last year :o

So, I feel I'm faced with a huge decision here. Cut down on (or even eliminate) my FM playing, or continue and risk falling behind in the work?

Your thoughts? Anybody else had to make a similar decision?

Well, it's hard to believe that an A-level student would even think about this subject. A-level students usually concentrate on obtaining knowledge, even to take pride in the process. The more knowledge you obtain the more you want because once you pass a certain point you start to crave it - and it's not always about getting a good job afterwards. The reason for this is that if you have too high expectations you could put yourself in a situation where you might fail and cause self-inflicting pain.

Of course, in this day and age you need to have tools and knowledge as there is more competition than any other time in our history. The more people come to this earth is not going to make things any easier and you can bank on that. I know that there are cases where people are just at the right place at the right time or just born with a gold spoon in their mouths, but it is unrealistic to say that we all actually have the potential to have this luck. I do admit that to have success isn't always dependent on the education you have, being honest and loyal can bring you quite far if you want to climb the ladder of opportunity.

I'd say get knowledge while you can, I know that some feel that the schools today are of very low standard. The whole teaching method is way too ancient and the process is very slow, it's boring and it doesn't emphasize enough on the things that actually lift/expand our capacity of knowledge - like training our memories so that we can actually remember what it was we learned would be a good start.

I game for fun, not for life...

Well, it's hard to believe that an A-level student would even think about this subject. A-level students usually concentrate on obtaining knowledge, even to take pride in the process.

:lol: :lol:

When the hell did you do yours?

:lol:

When the hell did you do yours?

I´m almost 40 years old, so how the hell would I remember that?....

im bout to start 2nd year of A levels , just play as a rubbish team and get angry and dont play it for a while and then forget about it

what i did last year though rediscovered now so grades could suffer

There are a few things to consider:

• What subjects you have taken
  
• Where you wish to go for university
  
• How easily you seal stuff into your memory
  

If you took subjects that are mostly coursework based (i.e. humanities, English Lang/Lit, ICT, BTECs, probably some of the arts), you're going to need to put hours in, no matter how good you are. If you have put hours in earlier and are consequently of above-average intelligence, then you won't need to work quite as hard now, but you'll still need to work on those essays or projects or whatever.

If you took subjects that are mostly knowledge based (sciences and Maths), you're still going to need to put time in, but it depends how easily you commit things to memory. Just go over your notes or work from class when you get home, and complete any homework tasks set. If you don't understand something, find the best teacher in that department, preferably one that knows you but that doesn't matter, and get them to explain it to you until you understand.

Finally, your goals for university, or any other course after 6th form. If you really want to go to Oxbridge, then you're going to have to knuckle down because you need at least three As (I think you need two A*s to do maths at Oxford now). If you know the course you want to apply for is in demand, again, knuckle down. Also try and show that you are a rounded individual... you've been told all this. If you want to go to the University of West London, then someone who did as well at GCSE as you seem to have done could probably cruise.

With that all in mind, you should be able to get a few hours of FM in a week at least.

focus on your grades not fm...

The thing that will get you furthest in life is ultimately natural intelligence.

Outdated thinking. IQ accounts for between 20%-60% of job performance (depending on what type of work it is) - natural intelligence is simply "just another factor".

Goleman suggested EI (Emotional Intelligence) as being most important - he found 85% of success was dependent on EI. Like all psychology, of course, these concepts are very hard to measure - but I think you can get the point here.

I'd wager that a lot of CEOs are absolute idiots in intelligence, actually - where they are successful is purely down to human interaction. Leadership, public speaking, vision, negotiating, management - all important.

For the OP - focus on your studies. That way, you won't need to ask your Mum and Dad to buy you FM2021 and you can buy it out of your own money.

Outdated thinking. IQ accounts for between 20%-60% of job performance (depending on what type of work it is) - natural intelligence is simply "just another factor".

Goleman suggested EI (Emotional Intelligence) as being most important - he found 85% of success was dependent on EI. Like all psychology, of course, these concepts are very hard to measure - but I think you can get the point here.

I'd wager that a lot of CEOs are absolute idiots in intelligence, actually - where they are successful is purely down to human interaction. Leadership, public speaking, vision, negotiating, management - all important.

For the OP - focus on your studies. That way, you won't need to ask your Mum and Dad to buy you FM2021 and you can buy it out of your own money.

You missed ego, lack of empathy and greed.

The whole teaching method is way too ancient and the process is very slow, it's boring and it doesn't emphasize enough on the things that actually lift/expand our capacity of knowledge - like training our memories so that we can actually remember what it was we learned would be a good start.

That's because teachers are underpaid and increasingly under-appreciated as years go by. Trust me, I'm a teacher and I know the feeling when you put so much effort (you're not required to put, btw.) and no one cares.

As for the OP, it's ridiculous. FM is just a PC game for crying out loud. You play when you have free time, it doesn't matter if you're a student or a working man (or both).

That's because teachers are underpaid and increasingly under-appreciated as years go by. Trust me, I'm a teacher and I know the feeling when you put so much effort (you're not required to put, btw.) and no one cares...

...which is a crying shame. Having a good teacher is like having a good mentor, one who shows you the ropes in life (like my 5th grade teacher that gave a lesson on how memory works standing on his head). Role models are important to any upbringing since we are all born with a 'clean sheet' and have no experience to start with. It's hard to blame someone who simply doesn't know better. All the input that comes in has a huge influence on how we turn out as human beings, so the lack of respect for teachers is an outcome of the total misconception of what learning actually does for us, a lot of kids I went to school with thought that reading was some form of punishment!

...which is a crying shame. Having a good teacher is like having a good mentor, one who shows you the ropes in life (like my 5th grade teacher that gave a lesson on how memory works standing on his head). Role models are important to any upbringing since we are all born with a 'clean sheet' and have no experience to start with. It's hard to blame someone who simply doesn't know better. All the input that comes in has a huge influence on how we turn out as human beings, so the lack of respect for teachers is an outcome of the total misconception of what learning actually does for us, a lot of kids I went to school with thought that reading was some form of punishment!

There are very few people who understand what you wrote above. It's a result of modern "values" children and young people seem to have.