First Year: Is it generally a doss?

Pugwash

Well? Is it?

Chucky the tree

i hope so

Agent Smith

hmmm what do you think?

seanie04

It's a total doss if that's what you want it to be.

1st year was a doss for me, but I now have to repeat it, having failed the summer exams and the autmumn repeats purely because i hardly went to a lecture after christmas. :eek:

If I were in your shoes, i.e. doing it for the first time, I'd go to all (well ok, most of) my lectures, practicals, tutorials, seminars etc. and cram all the fun into my free time.

But its 100% up to yourself of course

Sleipnir

depends on what course you're doing really. e.g, if it's Arts, the whole lot is a doss.
If it's Medicine or Marine Engineering, it ain't.

seanie04

Anything is a doss if you just don't go to lectures. I had 30 contact hours a wk in 1st Science at UCD.

And if you want to start the whole "meds do more work than anyone else" argument, they only had 11 hours a wk.

Sleipnir

yeah, well that's lectures. There's a whole lot more to medicine than sitting in a lecture hall.

seanie04

30 hrs. broken down into 9 hrs of pracs., 2 tutorials and 19 hrs of lectures, plus an hour stuck in the library for every hour "sitting in a lecture hall".

Draíochta

Sleipnir's right about what type of course it is, I done Elec Eng, and I though
'Hmm, all my other friends in collage (other courses) are dossing, should I?'
Didn't fail first year, but when I went into second year I hadn't a clue, so I failed that.
Some courses you just have to know the basics!

Pugwash what course are you doin' anyway?

Sleipnir

Well my cousin is the youngest anesthesiologist in the country, scored 8 A1's in the leaving cert by studying up to 18 hours a day, was allowed skip first year med because he knew it all anyway and he found getting the workload through medicine in college difficult.
Maybe 1st year ain't so bad, but you'll pay for dossing during the rest of it.

Now, who knows better, someone who has actually achieved it or some guy who can look up schedules on the internet?

Oh, you of course.

seamus

It's a doss in comparison to school. You suddenly the ability, desire, and pressure to do things like go to the pub, go to sports clubs, etc after lectures, and it's very easy to find yourself playing pool, or having a liquid lunch, when you should be in a lecture. The layout of colleges doesn't help this. It practically encourages it.

The good thing about college is that you'll get out what you put in. I have yet to hear of any course where it's possible to just take the notes and pass the exams. Go to your lectures and your practicals, and you'll pass your exams. Don't go and you won't pass. It's that simple.

bandraoi

This depends on what subjects you have for leaving cert. and what you're planning to do in college
If for instance you've done (and done well in) physics, chemistry, applied maths, technical drawing and honours maths then a first year engineering course will be a doddle.

Sleipnir

exactly. It depends on the course and how well you know the stuff that's going to come up in 1st year.
It's not a doddle across the board.

seanie04

SLEIPNIR

ye.

i did the f.cking course, so I didn't have to look anything up on the internet ahole.

i got 575 points in the leaving cert, but chose to do science.

and since i'll be repeating 1st yr and attending EVERYTHING this time round, I'll know plenty going into 2nd yr.

congrats to your cousin btw. sounds like a hoot.

Pugwash

Pugwash what course are you doin' anyway?

Im starting BESS in Trinity this year. We have roughly 16hrs a week, i think.

I really needed to ask, it's just that you get such mixed reports about the "doss factor" in third level. Still not too sure what to make of it though.

henbane

Pugwash wrote:

Im starting BESS in Trinity this year.

It's a doss!

ixoy

Pugwash wrote:

Im starting BESS in Trinity this year. We have roughly 16hrs a week, i think.

From what my flat mate tells me, you'll do nothing. Complete doss. Plenty of time to polish the required D4 accent

Pugwash

Spiffing, i mean, er, great

Anyone know of any good/outstanding societies in trinity. Is it considered "wierd" to join the soc of another subject/faculty eg: phil, hist or lawsoc?

Seraphina

its a doss if you dont mind failing, plain and simple.

simu

It's not a horrible slog like the LC but that doesn't mean you shouldn't bother making an effort. You need to do some work and read a few books if you want to pass. This also applies for Arts, I'm sick of people slagging off my degree subject.

You should also look at it this way: when doing a degree, you get to spend 3/4 years being exposed to complex, possibly off-the-wall new ideas - it's a great buzz getting to grips with this sort of stuff and, it's rare that people get the same sort of opportunity afterwards.

ixoy

Pugwash wrote:

Is it considered "wierd" to join the soc of another subject/faculty eg: phil, hist or lawsoc?

Those three socities are often seeing as being a bit snobby and slightly more associated with the Arts/Business end than the Science end. You'll never find the same active member in both the Phil and the Hist as they're arch rivals. Having said that they have lots of free booze, big members, and some cracking debates so noone will bat an eyelid at you joining. In fact the same goes for any society probably, with the possible exception of maybe the political parties.

snorlax

BESS isn't a hard course but saying that you do have to put some work in or you will fail. its nothing compared to the leaving cert and is generally quite a relaxing year.there's also quite a bit of maths in your course and you have to like business type subjects.

iv just finished first year and compared to the leaving cert college is heaven cos your actually studying subjects youv an intrest in and so are likely to find them easier to study and do well in them !

Raskolnikov

It can be, I went to about half my CS lectures, with about two weeks cramming before exams got a 2.1.

Second year, went to nearly all my lectures, studied consistantly, barely scrapped the 2.1.

So yea, first year CS is ok at least.

StickyMcGinty

thats the thing about college, so many groups of friends your gonna have! class mates, soccer mates, pub mates, and the lokie you'll always find people in to what your in to. all you have to do is PASS 1st year. doesnt matter what you get, just pass.

Stark

Depends on your aptitude for the course really. Some may find it a piece of piss, some may sink quickly. I found personally that unlike the Leaving Cert where you're constantly drowning under a sea of work, in college you can do ample work for your course while still maintaining a hectic social life.

Lafortezza

Raskolnikov wrote:

It can be, I went to about half my CS lectures, with about two weeks cramming before exams got a 2.1.
Second year, went to nearly all my lectures, studied consistantly, barely scrapped the 2.1.
So yea, first year CS is ok at least.

They do lectures in Counter-Strike now?? :eek:

Repli

In my course (CS also) 1st year was unbelievably easy, everyone got through - I got average 80-90% in all 7 subjects.. Then 2nd year suddenly gets very very hard (11 subjects) - I think over half the class failed at least 1..

Jorinn

Sleipnir wrote:

Well my cousin is the youngest anesthesiologist in the country, scored 8 A1's in the leaving cert by studying up to 18 hours a day, was allowed skip first year med because he knew it all anyway and he found getting the workload through medicine in college difficult.
Maybe 1st year ain't so bad, but you'll pay for dossing during the rest of it.

Now, who knows better, someone who has actually achieved it or some guy who can look up schedules on the internet?

Oh, you of course.

I'd rather have a life than do that to be honest.

Agent Smith

Pugwash wrote:

Well? Is it?

well, on paper it looks as if i have it nice and handy....


(18 hour week)

BUT...

i have to learn a new language from scratch, study subjects that will require a lot of study and geton with my lecture who wont understand what i'm saying because he's deaf.....



again i say.....

what do you think?

simu

You'll probably be ok.

Give it a go for the first few weeks and then post up here again if you have more specific problems.

Nala

I dossed in 1st Year and failed two of my exams. Worked my ass off all summer and passed! So I sure as hell won't be dossing this year. According to my maths lecturer, a lot of people who doss in First year fail Second year because they decide they don't need to put the work in.

tribble

Yeah - I was doing Chemistry/Comp. Sci (with maths, french and managment thrown in).
Passed first year barely but 2nd year was A LOT tougher and a good knowledge of 1st year material was essential - that's why i'm now doing arts ucd (which is 17 hours + a lot of library time, not exhausting but no doddle either)

tribble