[quote=Mr Minio]Good to know. Poland has changed the system lately. Right now it's like this: 

1. Pre-school - from the age of 3 to the age of 6. At the age of six the pre-school is called a kindergarten and it is compulsory as a one-year-long preparation for primary school.

2. Primary school from the age of 6 to the age of 14 (8 years).

3. High school from the age of 14 to the age of 18 (4 years). Possible to choose a plain high school, a technical high school, or vocational school.

4. From there if you passed the school leaving exams you can try applying to university (practically a must if you chose the plain, or technical kind of high school - unless you don't mind working in supermarket for minimal wage or are really talented/lucky/have a knack for something etc.). 

The recent changes include:
1. Kindergarten used to not be obligatory.
2. Primary school lasted only 6 years, then you had secondary school (called gymnasium) for 3 years, and then high school for 3 years.[/quote]

[quote=The Rodent][quote=Mr Minio]As a side note, I will never memorize American school system. I constantly confuse college with high school.[/quote]

The UK is almost the same.

England has Nursery, Pre-school, Reception, KS1, KS2, and the secondary school is KS3, KS4 and KS5.
Years are deemed as 1-12 across the two separate schools.

Scotland has a simple system. Primary School and Secondary School.
Primary 1-7, then secondary school is 1st year to 5th year, and a 6th year known as Prefect should the student wish to stay at secondary school for an extra year before going to either a college or a university.

Then there's the exam systems... GCSE and SGCSE, O-Level and A-Level, and then College and Uni with their own systems of exams... et al.[/quote]

[quote=Mr Minio]As a side note, I will never memorize American school system. I constantly confuse college with high school.[/quote]

[quote=Mr Minio]Interesting. There's no such thing in Poland. I think most people would perceive a gap year as wasting time as most of the time people who want to go to the university want to go there as fast as possible and file documents as soon as they graduate, so that they enter the labor market as early as possible. But that's only my impression based on my peers. 

Some people [i]do[/i] make a mistake as to what they want to do in life, and change their major or profession. Sometimes multiple times. I'm not sure a gap year is going to mitigate this.

Oh, and thank you, Yoda's mum.[/quote]

[quote=Austruck][quote=Mr Minio]Hey, what's the point in taking a gap year after college in America or elsewhere?[/quote]
Earn money for college. Figure out what to major in. Work a menial job so you'll appreciate college more. :)  Travel. Lots of reasons. Eighteen is pretty young to always know what you want to do with your life. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to jump into college just because it's what everyone else is doing right after high school. I say, figure out what you want to do with your life, and THEN ask yourself what the best way to get there is. Might not be college at all.[/quote]

[quote=Mr Minio]So this is a slack year or do people actually work during that time to earn money for university?[/quote]

[quote=The Rodent][quote=Mr Minio]Hey, what's the point in taking a gap year after college in America or elsewhere?[/quote]

Travel around and see the world outside of a lab before returning to the lab and becoming bored again.[/quote]

[quote=Mr Minio]Hey, what's the point in taking a gap year after college in America or elsewhere?[/quote]

[quote=gbgoodies][quote=The Rodent]Sorry, guys, I was playing with the username code to see if I could get people to join in banning the spambots :D[/quote]

That's okay.  I reported them before I even saw your post. :)[/quote]

[quote=The Rodent][img]https://i.imgur.com/fHSGLzt.jpg[/img][/quote]

[quote=The Rodent]Sorry, guys, I was playing with the username code to see if I could get people to join in banning the spambots :D[/quote]