Fact Finder.

So, I've been reading a bunch about the English school system and I think I've got it figured out for the most part. However, I have one question: what subjects/courses do most students take their first year of secondary (I think that would be Year 7, if I'm not mistaken?) Wikipedia has a list of the foundation subjects, but I guess I'm wondering what the most common subjects are and if certain ones are more common. For example, in my area, the only science courses offered are usually physical science, biology, chemistry, and physics. Is it like that in the UK as well?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm writing a story and have to mention how two of the characters met. As of now they met in their first year of secondary, but I'd like to go a bit further and say they met in a certain class.

Thanks in advance!

kuzco.:

I have one question that I can't seem to find an answer to. What kind of transportation options were there in 1949 America? I know that railroads were available, but did they run to California? I just need to know what the best type of transportation would be for a family to take from New York to California in 1949.

Definitely; the first transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 and only got bigger over the next eighty years. The family might've driven, though. Wikipedia says there were 323 cars per 1000 people in the US in 1950, so I'd guess a family with enough money saved up to move / travel cross-country would own a car.

@ battalions
Thank you so much! Your answer was really helpful. :)

@ voracek
The English school system changes a lot, but currently year 7 students would do a generic science class in which they would study biology, chemistry and physics throughout the school year. England has a compulsory national curriculum so there are subjects that every student must study during year 7 (listed here under 'Key Stage 3') so they are more common, though some areas leave some room for less common subjects depending on the school (e.g. most schools provide French/Western European language classes, but some might offer something less popular like Arabic - it still counts as a modern foreign language, but may not be as common due to lack of resources). Students finish 'Key Stage 3' at the end of year 9 to start their school leaving qualification (GCSEs), so you might want to prepare yourself for more confusion if your story takes place past then.

@ dougie poynter;
Emergency rooms can't deny treatment to anyone, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Because of this, many poor people with no insurance will go to emergency rooms to be treated for basic things that are not emergencies. This causes emergency rooms to become overcrowded and is somewhat annoying if you are there for an emergency that can't be treated elsewhere. Many people with insurance will go to urgent care instead if their problem isn't super serious to avoid the long waits and awfulness of emergency waiting rooms.

If someone doesn't have insurance, the hospital will bill them for the treatment, but usually the hospital will give them a discounted price and will work out a monthly payment plan. I once had a roommate without insurance who had an ovarian cyst burst and that is what they did for her, had her on a monthly payment plan to pay back a discounted total amount.

@ voracek
The first year of secondary is Year 7, yes. Basically, students in that year do English, Maths and Science (there's no differentiation between physics/chemistry/biology yet), Physical Education, one/sometimes two language(s) (commonly French, Spanish, or German, but other languages are taught). Some would do, depending on the school: Art, Drama, Religious Studies, ICT, Business Studies or PSHE (which is like a personal development class). They'd very rarely do more than ten/eleven subjects at this age.

If you need any more help with the English school system, feel free to PM me! I've just left school in England so I should be able to answer any questions you might have.

@ fangirl1999
Ah, so it's kind of like a phone bill (ridiculous thing to compare medicine to, I know), where they are given a set amount to pay back each month? That definitely makes sense, I didn't know that. Thanks!

@ dziekuje
@ Zachary Merrick.

Thank you both very much! Definitely helpful.

I have a few questions since I realized that I made a mistake in my question earlier.

I am writing a story set in California in 1849, during the Gold Rush. I have been looking online and have found that the railroads were scarce before the Gold Rush, so my question is, what would be the best way a family could travel from one place to the other? Would it be by a horse-drawn carriage or something else?

My other question is does it seem likely for a family to live in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, while a few others live in Sierra Nevada, coming to visit a few times? I looked to see how far away they are, and they are kind of far away from each other. I just need to make sure that it is, well, reasonable to do, if that makes any sense.

aubs:

I have a few questions since I realized that I made a mistake in my question earlier.

I am writing a story set in California in 1849, during the Gold Rush. I have been looking online and have found that the railroads were scarce before the Gold Rush, so my question is, what would be the best way a family could travel from one place to the other? Would it be by a horse-drawn carriage or something else?

My other question is does it seem likely for a family to live in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, while a few others live in Sierra Nevada, coming to visit a few times? I looked to see how far away they are, and they are kind of far away from each other. I just need to make sure that it is, well, reasonable to do, if that makes any sense.

Transportation then would've been a wagon drawn by horses or oxen, I believe. There might've been a few trains and a few people going around on horseback, but that'd be about it. Most likely to be a wagon drawn by horses or oxen.

As to where families could live, I imagine they could live anywhere. Visiting wasn't a simple matter, but it was doable, even with the transportation of the time. So I don't think your last scenario is out of line.

@ aubs
So my first thought was "Oregon Trail!" which led to me finding this on Wikipedia. Sounds like covered wagons were the way to go. If they had the money, they could've also sailed down around South America and up to California, which I believe would've been somewhat safer (no getting attacked by wild animals / outlaws / the Native Americans whose land you're tromping through, dying of dehydration in the desert, or having to abandon a bunch of your stuff 'cause you're animals get weak and/or die), if longer. TBH that's primarily based on what I remember from Cameron Diaz's plan to move West in Gangs of New York (which took place 10-15 years later, I think? during the Civil War).

Does anyone know what the statistic is for how long the police realistically have before a kidnap victim is killed? I vaguely remember it being like 72 hours or something but I can't remember exactly how long it is and it's a vital part of a drabble that I'm going to be writing later on in the week.

@ Arwen;

IIRC, it's 48 hours.

@ Aightball
Ah, I thought it was something like that. Thanks!

I'm having a hard time understanding how postal addresses work in Dublin. I looked it up on wikipedia but I didn't really understand. Plus, some of the streets I looked up on google maps didn't have street names, so I couldn't figure out what the address would be for it.

I'm specifically looking for how an address for a cottage in Slievethoul, South Dublin would be written.

@ mercuryskullbunny
I'm not from Ireland and I'm not familiar with Slievethoul, so I imagine you'll want to wait for someone who is, but I do have loads of family in Ireland so I'm familiar with the addresses. In the countryside, a lot of the streets don't have names (in my experience locals just refer to them as "the lane to so-and-so's house" and "the road to town" and such), so when you're writing the address you just write:
Person's name
Townland
County
Ireland (if it's international)
and you just assume the mail carrier will know where specifically the person lives. (Which to me is bananas but people do get their mail, so I guess it works.)

The thing is, I'm not sure if you'd write "Dublin" or "South Dublin" – I know technically Dublin was split up, but people still just refer to it as "County Dublin", so I'm not sure which you'd use when writing address.

@ battalions
Thanks so much! I wasn't sure if there was some kind of postal code included on the address list too (apparently Dublin might have some, and I didn't understand how it worked).

I can't believe that's how addresses work though. It's a miracle people get their mail. It must be hard to be a mail carrier over there. And with no street names, it's a miracle people don't get lost. I'd get lost everyday.

Thanks again for the info!

I have a question for my NaNo novel. I'm writing a thriller novel, and the protagonist is being stalked. I've heard briefly that pay-as-you-go phones, or TracPhones, are untraceable. Does anyone know if this is true? Also, can you block your I.D./phone number from showing up on someone's phone when you text them?

@ SlimesAndSnails
My understanding is that what makes pay-as-you-go phones untraceable is that you can buy one with cash and buy minutes for it with cash, so there's nothing that links you to the phone number. So they could be tracked by GPS by the police (although apparently there are some ways of blocking that?), but they wouldn't know who they were tracking.

I'm almost certain there's a way to block your phone number from showing up when you text someone, but I don't know how. I do know you can "spoof" text someone where you send a message and it looks like it's coming from another number. (There are websites that let you do that.)

@ battalions
Thank you! :D