I can haz general discussion? 2!!

Bobsammy wrote: »

It'll give you a pretty good idea, my sister started science six years after I did and our first year timetables were practically identical.

so would you have a day off or is that for labs?

lisar816 wrote: »

so would you have a day off or is that for labs?

If you pick your labs a certain way you could have a day off but not everyone can and it depends on your subject combination.

For a day off you need one of the Physics(can't remember which one, maybe MP?) as a subject, that way the other two labs can be slotted on a thursday. Monday-Wednesday was 9-5, Monday have 1 hour gaps after every lecture. Tuesday with just one hour break and Wednesday was like a half day(not for me, stupid Chemistry tutorial >_> ). Some courses may also help in having a day off, Bio-Med for example. Several of my friends had Thursday off, but for GScience, don't get your hopes up.



On a different note, repeating is not fun. I felt awful sleeping past 9 this morning. I've so much to do, but I am making progress.

I did Biology, Chemistry, Experimental Physics and Maths in first year and had Friday off. I had Physics labs on a Tuesday afternoon, Chemistry labs on Thursday morning and Biology labs on Thursday afternoon. As you can imagine, Thursdays weren't the nicest of days.

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

I had triple constitutional and admin law on Fridays in first year! I had felt sorry for you but not anymore!

*grumble* Kids these days don't know how well they have it. Back in my day... *grumble*

EDIT: I must correct myself. It was a double but time went by so slowly it could feel like a quadruple sometimes! The BBLs however did have a triple business before having to suffer the double. ALL on a Fri morning!

Okay thats way worse than admin at 10 law tutorial at 11 and eu at 1 on friday..

I never had days off in 1st year, but instead had ****ty days of maybe 2-3 hours. So I took a lot of unscheduled days off for days I hated my modules in

(# because i'm worth it)

^I agree.
I think I said it before somewhere, but I really love the start of the year, seeing everyone filled with optimism and all the first years so excited about this new adventure. Everyone's catching up with old friends and making new ones. Brilliant.

As opposed to halfway through second semester when it's a lot of pressure and there's exams and assignments AAAARGH!

biggest tips for a first year then?

Just on the essay thing....no matter what the question is, the first 1/3 or 1/2 of your essay should be used to explain the main concept of the essay.

For example last year we got an essay question asking 'Can modern Ireland be considered a Tax Haven?'....cue people writing 2500 words directly arguing for or against this without outlining what a tax haven is and wondering why they dropped marks.

It seems pointless to have to do it when words couuld be used elsewhere but they want to see if you understand the concept.

Do your bibliography before starting an essay.

It is a great idea to start early but some people are just last minute and this isn't always a bad thing....there is little more productive than a man with a looming deadline.

My sociology tutor gave me a great advice in first year. It works well for me since then but I know people that would find it very difficult to do it this way so I guess it depends on the individual. I do my introduction at the very end. At the very start some of my paragraphs are just mixed around. When I have the main part done I try to move them around so that they will fit together. It gives me more control over the entire essay. Then I do my conclusion and at the very end I do my introduction as I know what concepts I talked about, in which order are they etc. Dunno if it will be any help to yous.

I'll do a little bit on 1st year English, although I hated it and dropped it, it was the one I found hardest to know how to prepare for, so I hope this will help a little.

You do 4 modules in 1st year if you're doing it through MH101 or a separate degree, (such as myself and MH106 Psychology where I took English as a second subject).

In Semester 1, you take 2 modules:

1. EN150 (Criticism, Research & Writing)
This module is delivered in the form of 2 small seminar classes a week where you complete a number of small assignments in class and get assignments to have completed for the following week. This module is 100% continuous assessment, so you have no big examination to do after the Christmas holidays, which is excellent. For assessment you do a 2,000 word essay worth 50% due around the end of November and a number of smaller assignments (6) worth an additional 50%. My advice for this module, is to make sure you do all the assignments. It can be easy to decide not to bother doing one seeing as they're only worth less than 10 marks each, but those marks add up quickly. Oh and finally, go to each seminar, you lose a large amount of marks for every seminar you miss, which can result in you doing poorly in this class, even if you do each assignment excellently!

2. EN152 (Poetry)
In this module, you will attend 2 lectures a week and discuss a wide range of poetic techniques and poems in order to build upon your knowledge from school. This is a 100% exam based module, but is very easy to pass. Once you attend your lectures and take your notes well in class, you should have no problem in passing at all!

Semester 2:

3. EN153 (Fiction)
In this module, you have 2 lectures a week and you will have 5 novels to study in class. This module is grand, because in reality, you only need to read and study 1 book to be able to sit the exam, as they only ask you to discuss one novel. The exam is worth 50% and you will have an essay to do which is worth 50%. In reality, you will find at least 1-2 novels which will interest you and once you read the novel thoroughly you should have no problem doing very well in his class.

4. EN154 (Drama)
This is a 2 lecture a week module and is a 100% exam based 2 hour examination module. You will study 5 plays, 4 in textual form and you will get to see the final one performed live some time in April. You will study 2 premodern plays, usually by Shakespeare and another "older" playwright and the final 3 will be modern plays. In the exam you must discuss one older play and a new play (or 2 new plays in a comparative form). Also this exam is fine and not that difficult if you keep up with your work.

That's English for 1st year anyway, I'd be more than happy to do a post on Psychology or Sociology if anyone is interested! Hope it helps!

degausserxo wrote: »

I have no idea how the grant system works, but I just submitted my application - does anyone know how long it'll be before I find out if I'm eligible?

It'll probably be a while, SUSI were notoriously slow last year. However if your income was under the levels on the website, you're pretty safe to be eligible to be getting the grant!

Unforgettable _ Fire wrote: »

Understatement. There's 500 students yet to receive a grant.

Feel sick with the thoughts of having to wait for the grant again this year