While my boyfriend’s mum was choosing her dress for her younger son’s A-Level-celebretion (how ever you call in english “Abiball” ^^ It’s like the Prom night but with the hole family), I was thinking about where to put my pump…
My boyfriend’s dad tried to snapshot me, and afterwards he said I should go advertising for Mini Med 
These are the funny moments in a life with diabetes, and I felt fine wearing my pump hidden under my dress all evening.
It was already a few month ago but now I got the Photo!
When we complete a course of education in the US, we usually have a “graduation” ceremony in which we receive our diplomas (or at university level, our degrees). Our families and friends are usually there to watch us graduate, and afterwards, many of us celebrate with dinner at a fancy restaurant.
I should probably note that most high schools in the United States are not part of the International Baccalaureate Program. If I recall correctly, “A-Level” is roughly equivalent to a US high school diploma where all your senior year classes (and some of your junior year classes) are AP/CLEP (college/university) level classes, and you have to pass comprehensive exams (similar to AP/CLEP exams) on all of them. (Not sure if Canada’s “13th Grade” is similar to this or not.)
Okay, no problem… We just learned A-Level in our English Lessons in School and I guess it’s the UK graduation!^^
Most countries I know of subscribe to the International Baccalaureate program for their high school (secondary school) curriculum and proficiency levels. The standard/general course of study ends with a set of exams known as “O Levels”, and the more rigorous, academic course ends with a set of exams known as “A Levels”.
If I recall correctly (this is going back about 30 years!), one of my uni housemates said his A-levels required native-level proficiency in both English and French (he was a French national growing up in Singapore, where the lingua franca is English – plus he may have had to demonstrate basic proficiency in a third language), AP-level proficiency in Chemistry and Physics (don’t recall if biology and/or earth science as well), Mathematics through Introductory Calculus, World History, and a couple of other disciplines. I remember the A-level requirements being much more rigorous than the New York State “Regents’ Diploma” (special diploma from New York State – requires comprehensive exams and slightly more rigorous curriculum than the standard high school diploma) I received.
Sounds complicated! In Germany, we have 4 subjects to chose for an exam and then you can go the university, if taken all together the mark is at least D (okay, we have 1-6) Weird stuff
The International Bac program is, in my opinion, the bar which most national-level secondary educational systems should meet or exceed (sadly, the US is well behind here). If I recall correctly, O-levels are a lot less complicated (as well as being less advanced) than A-levels.
In New York state, we had four core subjects – English, Social Studies, Math, and Science – for which our Board of Regents mandated a minimum level of study (4 years English, 3 years Social Studies, 1-2 years Math – through Elementary Algebra – and 2 years Science), plus a three-year sequence in one of the following: Math, Science, Modern Language (choose one and stay with it for three years), Home Economics, Art, Industrial Arts, or Music, plus four years of Physical Education. Some high schools had higher requirements – mine required 4 years of Social Studies. The only mandated exams for a local high school diploma are the school’s own exams plus the state’s “minimum competency” exams.
Most colleges and universities require certain other standardized exams for candidates for admission. The standards are the SAT (School Admissions Test, I think?), ACT (don’t remember what that one stands for), and Achievement Tests (administered by the same group that administers the SAT).