Irish Independent/Times Exam Diaries (Should be ashamed!)

boobookitty · 07-06-2008 6:49pm

Haha, I want to go and get the paper just to read what she says. At least she will be unifying the LCerters! Just in anger.

looly · 07-06-2008 8:37pm

Was it just me reading it wonky after too many exams or did she decide she was "carrying over" her points from Chemistry and Maths from last year? Cause u cant do that! You can only count your points from a single sitting of the LC, not from two or three different years. If you choose to repeat one subject, you can only use it for entry requirements, lik a C3 in Irish for Primary Teaching, but it won't give you extra points. Lol, maybe she'll only end up wit 390 instead of 590........heh heh heh

Caoimhe89 · 07-06-2008 8:41pm

lizt wrote: »

I don't even know the girl but I'd actually love if she didn't get Medicine this year.

Except then we'd have to read her exam diary next year too.

Otherwise, if she didn't manage to get it yet again, I wonder if she'd get in next year, with the interviews and aptitude test and all...

Syferus · 07-06-2008 8:54pm

Caoimhe89 wrote: »

Except then we'd have to read her exam diary next year too.

Otherwise, if she didn't manage to get it yet again, I wonder if she'd get in next year, with the interviews and aptitude test and all...

I'd safely say entrance into the ''Insitute'' of Education relies more on your parents' bank account details than anything else.

there-there · 07-06-2008 8:55pm

This is very interesting as I have just written a letter of complaint to the IT today regarding their terrible Leaving Cert coverage and in particular the Leaving Cert diary. I doubt they'll print it but look out a letter from a guy from Ennis on Monday

muffinman · 07-06-2008 9:16pm

Syferus wrote: »

I'd safely say entrance into the ''Insitute'' of Education relies more on your parents' bank account details than anything else.

I think Caoimhe89 was talking about getting into medicine with the new graduate entry thing

Syferus · 07-06-2008 9:21pm

there-there wrote: »

This is very interesting as I have just written a letter of complaint to the IT today regarding their terrible Leaving Cert coverage and in particular the Leaving Cert diary. I doubt they'll print it but look out a letter from a guy from Ennis on Monday

What's so terrible about it besides her diary?
They've been proressive in keeping tabs on this board snd their paper dissections are all other papers - based on random teachers' opinions.

It not a new issue and it's been one that's been inherrant in the media at all levels for decedes now.

It's also featured bits on certain secondary school throughout the week, which is far more than others have done.

devinejay · 07-06-2008 9:24pm

ZorbaTehZ wrote: »

Those kinds of shenanigans really makes one wonder...

Shenanigans indeed.....

The Walsho · 07-06-2008 10:03pm

looly wrote: »

Was it just me reading it wonky after too many exams or did she decide she was "carrying over" her points from Chemistry and Maths from last year? Cause u cant do that! You can only count your points from a single sitting of the LC, not from two or three different years. If you choose to repeat one subject, you can only use it for entry requirements, lik a C3 in Irish for Primary Teaching, but it won't give you extra points. Lol, maybe she'll only end up wit 390 instead of 590........heh heh heh

I was wondering about that too, but I reckon after three times sitting the thing she'd have a fair idea what she's at. God, imagine if she had it all wrong.

jennyq · 07-06-2008 10:16pm

looly wrote: »

Was it just me reading it wonky after too many exams or did she decide she was "carrying over" her points from Chemistry and Maths from last year? Cause u cant do that! You can only count your points from a single sitting of the LC, not from two or three different years. If you choose to repeat one subject, you can only use it for entry requirements, lik a C3 in Irish for Primary Teaching, but it won't give you extra points. Lol, maybe she'll only end up wit 390 instead of 590........heh heh heh

I think it's the entry requirements she's taking forward.

anon3737 · 07-06-2008 11:06pm

its quite disheartening reading about how easy the leaving is when the vast majority of us are struggling throught it. reading about her doing 11 pages in english one and 26 in english two last year when it hasn't gone so well for yourself this year itsn't the greatest confidence boost! of course you're going to do well when it's your third stab at it. hopefully she'll get the points and we'll never have to hear from her again. who knows maybe she will repeat the six year medecine course a few times too...

PurpleFistMixer · 07-06-2008 11:39pm

Yeah, that writing zillions of pages of English thing was quite offputting... then I remembered that I'm not repeating my LC (and hopefully will never have to).

I was wondering, what are the chances of whoever corrects her exams having read her exam diary and recognising it as her?

eoin2nc · 07-06-2008 11:42pm

I hope she doesnt get the points

Syferus · 07-06-2008 11:49pm

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Yeah, that writing zillions of pages of English thing was quite offputting... then I remembered that I'm not repeating my LC (and hopefully will never have to).

I was wondering, what are the chances of whoever corrects her exams having read her exam diary and recognising it as her?

Well, in my school The Irish Times is the de facto 'teacher' paper that they all picked up at the school office each morning.
It's not too far fetched to think the examiner for, say, English (who would also be an Enlgish teacher) had a look at the exam page at least on the day after the exam they thaught for.

Weather it would effect them as much as it has us is another thing.

Ciks · 08-06-2008 12:57am

The only exam diary I've read this year was Laura Brady's - and my God! Who on earth chose her to do the diary? What connections does she have? You can just see her now, can't you, sitting at her desk thinking how like Carrie Bradshaw she is.
And isn't the exam diary supposed to document the exam? Not some little bimbo's life?
I agree with you Eoin2nc - I hope she doesn't get the points. At least that way, if I ever end up in hospital my femur will be safe from her medical follies...

Syferus · 08-06-2008 10:25am

Ciks wrote: »

The only exam diary I've read this year was Laura Brady's - and my God! Who on earth chose her to do the diary? What connections does she have? You can just see her now, can't you, sitting at her desk thinking how like Carrie Bradshaw she is.
And isn't the exam diary supposed to document the exam? Not some little bimbo's life?
I agree with you Eoin2nc - I hope she doesn't get the points. At least that way, if I ever end up in hospital my femur will be safe from her medical follies...

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

She must really want the course to put herself through the ordeal of the Leavin Cert three times.
I'd wager she's actually as terrified as everyone else (if not more so), so it'd just be a huge improvement if she showed that in her articles.
I don't know why she'd attempting to hide her worries (how can you not worry if you need perfect scores on all your exams, let alone if you've already failed twice to do it?), but that's the part that really seems to be grating.

bitterstudent · 08-06-2008 8:24pm

PrivateEye wrote: »

Amen.

Going into your leaving cert, with the aspirations most of us carry (i.e to land a decent amount of points, to do something we're passionate about- or even settle for an option 2!) it's quite off putting to read about somebody whos done three paid terms in a well to do school in the hope of eventually getting into medicine. I'd rather pick up the Times tomorrow morning and find out what Joe Bloggs from AnyTown in Co. WhoGivesABalls thought about the papers to date, than read about somebody who at this rate is probably paying rent in the Institute.

third time lucky, maybe Joe Bloggs gets a say next year.

Also, the 'IRISH TIMES LUVS INSTITUTE' thing is undeniable, and they are taking the p!ss.It's a national newspaper, but sometimes you have to wonder how much of the nation can relate to it....we still buy it every morning, so don't mind me....typical Irish bloke, moaning while the hands in the pocket.

The leavingcert.net (i think i got that right?) blog is far far better, and good reading. cheers.

Ha, Thanks private eye, nice to see people are enjoying it. It's actually leaving-cert.net, the other domains refers you to skoool.ie Just to throw in that bit of an advert

Fad · 08-06-2008 8:41pm

i dont think id find anything more amusing, than if she repeated AGAIN and did the diary AGAIN, i hate that girl !

Ekels · 08-06-2008 8:50pm

In all fairness, if you can only muster up 545 after 4 years in the leaving cert cycle, medicine isn't made for you. I could be totally off by suggesting that she could hardly have the mental capacity to be a doctor if this is her situation. Ridiculous.

Ekels · 08-06-2008 8:53pm

anon3737 wrote: »

its quite disheartening reading about how easy the leaving is when the vast majority of us are struggling throught it. reading about her doing 11 pages in english one and 26 in english two last year when it hasn't gone so well for yourself this year itsn't the greatest confidence boost! of course you're going to do well when it's your third stab at it. hopefully she'll get the points and we'll never have to hear from her again. who knows maybe she will repeat the six year medecine course a few times too...

That's absolutely outrageous! 8 pages per section and 2 for the unseen poetry. I did 6 in the Literary Genre, and that was the most I did on any one section.

Syferus · 09-06-2008 12:02am

Ekels wrote: »

In all fairness, if you can only muster up 545 after 4 years in the leaving cert cycle, medicine isn't made for you. I could be totally off by suggesting that she could hardly have the mental capacity to be a doctor if this is her situation. Ridiculous.

What you have to remember is that a 600 point requirement is based on demand, not the skill or talent required to complete that course.

There's courses under 300 points that are just as or even more challenging than a medicine course.

teckoda · 09-06-2008 12:18am

A friend of mine wrote about 47 pages for English paper 2. Which i was sort of gobsmacked by, i found it hard to write 12!

And yeah I'd agree, that girl doing the leaving cert for the third time, is a little sad if i may say so myself. If I were doing it for the time I wouldn't be happy about it, but she seems to be rather pleased with herself.

beautiation · 09-06-2008 4:25am

I know her from the institute a couple of years back (I moved on first time though, just hanging around the LC board for a bit of nostalgia), and she's really not that bad in real life. Not at all surprised she's still there though. People like her are just as happy in the Institute as they would be in medicine, as long as they're doing the most elite thing at the level they're at it's grand. The tute is crawling with her type, soon they'll be opening up a residential wing for the permanent residents. Places like the tute are rich people's defence agaisnt the fact that any old commoner can go to college now, so they cling and stagnate in it for years because it's the last point of exclusivity along the educational path (they do also offer a ****ing super education for those after one though tbf). Like **** she'd have picked medicine if it was a 400 point course. If she had to repeat the leaving cert at a normal school, she'd have taken her first score and run.
But she does have quite touching flashes of humanity at times, believe it or not. They just struggle to get through her perma-materialism.
Her columns however, are cringe-inducing drivel. I reflexively scrunched the paper up in embarrassment at her line about striding towards the day when the maitre d of the educational system would show her to the CAO's most elite table.
She tells us what movie star she looks like daily. Each piece of furniture in her house has more posh titles associated with it than the Sistine Chapel. She goes to the institute, and feels the need to mention it 3 times per article. We get it Laura, now write about the frigging exams!

And I can confirm she got the gig by high up connections at the times, it's a perk of being Ross O Carroll Kelly's twin.

Syferus · 09-06-2008 7:03am

beautiation wrote: »

I know her from the institute a couple of years back (I moved on first time though, just hanging around the LC board for a bit of nostalgia), and she's really not that bad in real life. Not at all surprised she's still there though. People like her are just as happy in the Institute as they would be in medicine, as long as they're doing the most elite thing at the level they're at it's grand. The tute is crawling with her type, soon they'll be opening up a residential wing for the permanent residents. Places like the tute are rich people's defence agaisnt the fact that any old commoner can go to college now, so they cling and stagnate in it for years because it's the last point of exclusivity along the educational path (they do also offer a ****ing super education for those after one though tbf). Like **** she'd have picked medicine if it was a 400 point course. If she had to repeat the leaving cert at a normal school, she'd have taken her first score and run.
But she does have quite touching flashes of humanity at times, believe it or not. They just struggle to get through her perma-materialism.
Her columns however, are cringe-inducing drivel. I reflexively scrunched the paper up in embarrassment at her line about striding towards the day when the maitre d of the educational system would show her to the CAO's most elite table.
She tells us what movie star she looks like daily. Each piece of furniture in her house has more posh titles associated with it than the Sistine Chapel. She goes to the institute, and feels the need to mention it 3 times per article. We get it Laura, now write about the frigging exams!

And I can confirm she got the gig by high up connections at the times, it's a perk of being Ross O Carroll Kelly's twin.

Exactly my thinking. Too many people just want to be able to say they got a 600 point course, with little worry what the course is as long as it's prestigious.

there-there · 09-06-2008 8:41am

Syferus wrote: »

What's so terrible about it besides her diary?
They've been proressive in keeping tabs on this board snd their paper dissections are all other papers - based on random teachers' opinions.

It not a new issue and it's been one that's been inherrant in the media at all levels for decedes now.

It's also featured bits on certain secondary school throughout the week, which is far more than others have done.

Rosanna Davidson telling us the day before the LC started how she did 15 hours study each day for her exams was no help whatsoever

Syferus · 09-06-2008 12:50pm

there-there wrote: »

Rosanna Davidson telling us the day before the LC started how she did 15 hours study each day for her exams was no help whatsoever

In that case it was an op-ed article. The newspaper gives free reign to the person and lets them say what they will.
Anything else would be censorship.

In Laura Brady's case it was bad judgement to choose her even before she wrote anything as her situation is absurdly unique.

Bonzo-Reborn · 09-06-2008 1:08pm

So i know you don't want to know and you don't really care, and the critisicm i have recieved in this thread although small compared to the poor other girl i am taking it on board.

I've been a member of these boards a while but when i was told i was being discussed i said i'd make a return to satisfy my curiosity.
Regardless that i almost got banned because of some rule about not popularising events ran by a certain concert organiser.

Im glad people can relate to me, however i feel Laura is getting off quite hard, i have never done anything like this form of writing before, and i doubt she has either.

Also a couple of pages back a guy tried to say that i could have disagreed with the statement, the word 'duh' comes to mind but as the following person said, i was hoping on a character solely on Iago(intrigue).

Anyway i'll probably become more active on this soon enough but as of now ill just browse. Thanks for all the reassuring posts and even the critical ones are welcome.

Toto Wolfcastle · 09-06-2008 2:05pm

Bonzo-Reborn wrote: »

So i know you don't want to know and you don't really care, and the critisicm i have recieved in this thread although small compared to the poor other girl i am taking it on board.

I've been a member of these boards a while but when i was told i was being discussed i said i'd make a return to satisfy my curiosity.
Regardless that i almost got banned because of some rule about not popularising events ran by a certain concert organiser.

Im glad people can relate to me, however i feel Laura is getting off quite hard, i have never done anything like this form of writing before, and i doubt she has either.

Also a couple of pages back a guy tried to say that i could have disagreed with the statement, the word 'duh' comes to mind but as the following person said, i was hoping on a character solely on Iago(intrigue).

Anyway i'll probably become more active on this soon enough but as of now ill just browse. Thanks for all the reassuring posts and even the critical ones are welcome.

Which one are you again?

Syferus · 09-06-2008 2:11pm

Bonzo-Reborn wrote: »

So i know you don't want to know and you don't really care, and the critisicm i have recieved in this thread although small compared to the poor other girl i am taking it on board.

I've been a member of these boards a while but when i was told i was being discussed i said i'd make a return to satisfy my curiosity.
Regardless that i almost got banned because of some rule about not popularising events ran by a certain concert organiser.

Im glad people can relate to me, however i feel Laura is getting off quite hard, i have never done anything like this form of writing before, and i doubt she has either.

Also a couple of pages back a guy tried to say that i could have disagreed with the statement, the word 'duh' comes to mind but as the following person said, i was hoping on a character solely on Iago(intrigue).

Anyway i'll probably become more active on this soon enough but as of now ill just browse. Thanks for all the reassuring posts and even the critical ones are welcome.

Well, to be fair you've done a good job at giving an idea of he pressures and hopes of the exams.

I think the fact she has done little beyond wax lyrical about herself is what has been so off-putting and that's something your exam diary (as well as others') don't seem as concerned with so it is a problem with the persona she has developed (or has decided to present).

Syferus · 09-06-2008 2:12pm

janeybabe wrote: »

Which one are you again?

I'd safely wager he's Mark Roche, the guy who is doing the Irish Independent's exam diary.

Toto Wolfcastle · 09-06-2008 2:19pm

Syferus wrote: »

I'd safely wager he's Mark Roche, the guy who is doing the Irish Independent's exam diary.

I actually think he's doing a good job, as I'm sure others do too. He describes the build up outside the exam, the exam itself and after the exam, and he throws in a bit of humour.

Is the one from the Times in the paper today? I was going to buy it to see what the fuss is about.

scholes19 · 09-06-2008 2:26pm

here here hes doing a great job!!:D

Bonzo-Reborn · 09-06-2008 3:01pm

Thanks guys, and yes, it is Mark Roche!

teckoda · 09-06-2008 3:26pm

Just out of Irish, a little early. Decided to come downtown and blog about it

I need to sleep so badly =.=

PrivateEye · 09-06-2008 5:53pm

beautiation wrote: »

I know her from the institute a couple of years back (I moved on first time though, just hanging around the LC board for a bit of nostalgia), and she's really not that bad in real life. Not at all surprised she's still there though. People like her are just as happy in the Institute as they would be in medicine, as long as they're doing the most elite thing at the level they're at it's grand. The tute is crawling with her type, soon they'll be opening up a residential wing for the permanent residents. Places like the tute are rich people's defence agaisnt the fact that any old commoner can go to college now, so they cling and stagnate in it for years because it's the last point of exclusivity along the educational path (they do also offer a ****ing super education for those after one though tbf). Like **** she'd have picked medicine if it was a 400 point course. If she had to repeat the leaving cert at a normal school, she'd have taken her first score and run.
But she does have quite touching flashes of humanity at times, believe it or not. They just struggle to get through her perma-materialism.
Her columns however, are cringe-inducing drivel. I reflexively scrunched the paper up in embarrassment at her line about striding towards the day when the maitre d of the educational system would show her to the CAO's most elite table.
She tells us what movie star she looks like daily. Each piece of furniture in her house has more posh titles associated with it than the Sistine Chapel. She goes to the institute, and feels the need to mention it 3 times per article. We get it Laura, now write about the frigging exams!

And I can confirm she got the gig by high up connections at the times, it's a perk of being Ross O Carroll Kelly's twin.

The above post made me laugh, and made me think, and is the best thing I've seen on the internet in a long long time.

It's a wonder she's still writing the diary. We wont be picking up the Irish Times this week. Between her, and Dr. Garret Fitzgerald they can go and get ****ed this week.

I still can not believe they gave her the diary in the first place. Madame Editor, whats the story?

Bonzo-Reborn · 09-06-2008 6:03pm

whats ironic is that the editor of the times is originally from where i live and is also friends with my parents.

Livo · 09-06-2008 6:14pm

laura brady has to be the most annoying person on the face of the planet....not all of us can afford to go out and see sex and the city and "trip through the streets of donnybrook" at 2am before english paper two!! seriously, get someone who's more on a level with the standard leaving cert student...

The Walsho · 09-06-2008 6:23pm

No diary entry today?

Bonzo-Reborn · 09-06-2008 6:24pm

i think the times runs from tuesday to saturday aswell!

Syferus · 09-06-2008 6:25pm

Livo wrote: »

laura brady has to be the most annoying person on the face of the planet....not all of us can afford to go out and see sex and the city and "trip through the streets of donnybrook" at 2am before english paper two!! seriously, get someone who's more on a level with the standard leaving cert student...

Seeing as this is her third attempt and and fifth year doing the Leaving Cert course I don't think her fantasy seems from her superior abilities.

Fad · 09-06-2008 7:36pm

The Walsho wrote: »

No diary entry today?

well seeing as the covered the exam from friday on saturday no, they dont have anything to print. i made the mistake myself looking for it in the paper, and was sadly dissapointed

The Walsho · 09-06-2008 7:47pm

Tomorrow's education section will be a good one, you mark my words :cool:

Syferus · 10-06-2008 2:44am

I hope she doesn't change.
It's too much of a brilliant and absurd joke joke now.

bitterstudent · 10-06-2008 8:06am

Marko, just read today's, it's the exact same as any other day?
No exception to any other day's education today.
The institutes of education call all the exams easy, the Irish exam being "the easiest in 20 years"... what else is here...

Laura Brady apologises in a way for her confidence (Must have been reading the boards). She then goes on to shop in Brown Thomas, order $900 (€575) shoes and dress eloquently all during the leaving cert exams- keeping in mind that this might be okay for the well off students but not for those looking to study medicine. wow. no study? Couldn't actually bring myself to read the rest of it, I have study to do. :P

Yadi yadi yeah...
Anyway,Once again, Mark Walsh and I are featured in the Blog watch, yet another editorial error as in fact the piece credited to me was written by fellow blogger Kevin Holler.
Boards.ie once again feature along side our blog material.

mikemac · 10-06-2008 8:17am

Wow bitterstudent, you got your writing into a national newspaper?
Respect! :cool:

bitterstudent · 10-06-2008 8:22am

micmclo wrote: »

Wow bitterstudent, you got your writing into a national newspaper?
Respect! :cool:

http://www.leaving-cert.net <- Promo

or http://www.walsho.net for Walsho

The Walsho · 10-06-2008 1:11pm

bitterstudent wrote: »

Marko, just read today's, it's the exact same as any other day?
No exception to any other day's education today.

Yadi yadi yeah...
Anyway,Once again, Mark Walsh and I are featured in the Blog watch, yet another editorial error as in fact the piece credited to me was written by fellow blogger Kevin Holler.
Boards.ie once again feature along side our blog material.

I said today's would be good as a bit of a joke as I knew I'd be in it today! Those errors are irritating alright, they credited a piece of mine to Colin from your blog last week. Ah well!

The diary today was pretty ridiculous too. Obviously if her parents are paying for her to repeat in the 'Tute they're fairly loaded, but what's she playing at rubbing it in our faces by telling us about the $900 shoes she bought? On ebay on the morning before the exam?! The morning before the exam I'm cramming and the only finance-related thing on my mind is having enough lunch money!
Honestly, is this girl for real? Surely she can't be foolish enough to think we're enjoying reading her pieces? I want to know how the exams went, not how your shoe shopping went. You're a leaving cert diarist, not a fashion columnist.
I shouldn't buy it anymore, but I love seeing my name in there in the Blogwatch.

PurpleFistMixer · 10-06-2008 1:43pm

Filled with rage/despair/frustration on reading the column (more of a row to be honest) today. It was the first time I properly read it and it'll be the last. Dressing up for an Irish exam? Does she really have nothing better to be doing than showing off the fact that she owns fancy clothes? They really couldn't have found someone farther from the average student if they tried. Thanks Irish Times, we feel so great now, knowing this spoilt girl is spending her days swanning around Brown Thomas, safe in the thoughts that they wouldn't let riff-raff like Peig in, while we're studying away for, you know, the Leaving Cert.

Anyway, I find it amusingly ironic that she wrote her Irish essay on what I assume for 99% of those who did it was a condemnation of the excessive materialism of today's Ireland.

I hope desperately she's putting it all on for the sake of getting a rise out of us, and that she's actually a normal person who doesn't think spending 900 dollars on a pair of shoes is a legitimate way to alleviate stress.

Of course, there's always the upside:
She's doing her leaving cert for the third time. Hate. That.
And if I ever get sick I'll probably go to a public hospital, and there's no way she'd let herself lower herself to such a very proletarian standard. So I'm not likely to ever meet her.

Caoimhe89 · 10-06-2008 1:49pm

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

And if I ever get sick I'll probably go to a public hospital, and there's no way she'd let herself lower herself to such a very proletarian standard. So I'm not likely to ever meet her.

Ha! I Lol'd, I'll admit it!

I'm not even going to get started on her. I honestly wouldn't know where to stop.

Toto Wolfcastle · 10-06-2008 1:56pm

Bought the Times today as I was curious about what she was writing. Honestly, I kind of thought people were exaggerating about how bad it was. They weren't.

Who actually cares whether she got her $900 shoes or not? Who cares what she wore to the exam?

The worst bit was when she said that she can't let herself get an A2 in Irish again, like it's a bad thing. What about those who struggle through Irish? Anyway, she's been in school so long she must have fluent Irish at this stage.

I'm an Irish teacher and I really like reading about the exams from the point of view of those sitting it. I have no idea, from reading her piece, whether it was a 'fair' paper or not. All I know is that she spent more on one pair of shoes than I've spent on shoes in about 6 years.

Oh, and by the way, while you were all studying last night, she was checking out the Junior Cert. CSPE paper.

I'm off to read the Independent's LC diary.

Irish Independent/Times Exam Diaries (Should be ashamed!)

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