3 Public exams on 1 day? GCSEs + AS

[Guest55]

I remember that was a worm and all staff had to water their gardens to try and get enough as none as the firms had any ...

Of course we were all sworn to secrecy and had to use watering cans because of the hose-pipe bans.

[southbucks3]

Oh gosh...I hated dissecting the worm, felt like a murderer, hated pinning it out too. I couldn't kill the frog in the lesson either, our biology teacher had to do most of them, poor little chaps all lay there, hearts beating slower and slower with their skin pinned open, until he put them out of their misery. Ours was the last year you could not opt out and do flora, instead of fauna, if you were not taking a level.
Our biology lab was vile, we actually had human foetus at varying stages in bell jars, on very very high dusty shelves, they were taken away when I was about 13, too unethical even for the 80's!

Yeuch! thank you toad and guest for dragging that memory from the old grey matter! Pulling the wings off insects was another highlight...yeuchy yuk yuk!

I still cannot remember my biology grade though, I think it was a b, I know I did relatively well compared to my peers, but don't think it was an a? Gosh I really have lost the plot!

[ToadMum]

Come 1978, the Oxford Local board's subject for our dissection was the dogfish. Would have been a 'Yay!', but of course for the exam they were fresh(ish), as opposed to the tough old things from the vat of formaldehyde and therefore somewhat more friable.

I remember that several of the labels on my diagram were along the lines of, 'SITE of Innominate artery'

I still got a B, though, with which I was quite pleased, in the circumstances.

[Amber]

I think I may have posted on this forum before about the hot summer's day (anyone over 40 might remember what I am talking about) when the freezer in the labs at my school broke down and a whole Noah's Ark became available for 'use it or lose it' dissection opportunities. One bloodthirsty youth chose a grouse, which had maybe been put there originally for someone's dinner after a road accident, but anyway it was fully feathered with beak, eyes, the lot. It had also gone off, though this was not apparent until its intestines were opened for perusal.

Some time later, alerted possibly by the steady stream of students hastening to the toilets to be ill, the head entered the room to witness the scene of carnage. There were feathers everywhere, cut up rabbits and fish on the benches, and the teacher was vomiting into the sink.

See now, 'health and safety' would prevent such wonderful educational opportunities these days.

[southbucks3]

YEUCH!

How come none of you had to cut up live.."They honestly can't feel a thing" creatures and watch their innards pulsate..I feel aggrieved!

I do remember the butchers giving us all cows hearts he had been saving at the request of the teacher. 35 kids all walking to school with offal wrapped in newspaper....lovely!

[JamesDean]

I remember that our rats came shrink wrapped for freshness! And getting the dead frog's leg to kick by applying an electric current to the nerve being a highlight of A level biology!

JD

[Amber]

The highlight of my A Level Biology days was an experiment which involved etherising drosophila (fruit flies) in order to see if they had red eyes and vestigial wings. Our entire class under-etherised the flies and they all shot for the windows, darkening the room in seconds and causing our usually placid teacher to emit very colourful descriptive language. 'Not many vestigial wings' would have been a reasonable conclusion at this stage, as we had no choice but to open the windows and liberate them all.

Once the breeding cycle had been completed and lots more baby flies had hatched, for some reason they allowed us a second go at the experiment. Of course this time we were all prepared with the ether and made sure that they were etherised properly. Terminally, as it turned out. We were trying to blow on them to make them come round, but being so light of course they ended up just kind of going round in circles and then onto the floor, as the conclusion that we had killed them became inevitable. The teacher this time just said 'oh b loody h ell' and sent us back to the sixth form block so he could sweep them up. I think we ought to have done it ourselves really, but I can see in hindsight that perhaps he didn't want to spend any more time in our company.

If you're reading this, Mr B.: sorry.

[southbucks3]

Next time we have a rotten banana, fruit fly situation, I shall think of you Amber.

Our chemistry teacher is the one who was run ragged in our school ..but I will save that for a more appropriate thread!