Studying

coconutmonkey

Has anyone started studying yet? I dont know when i should start. Cos some people started on the first day back to school! But some people say they'll start after Christmas.

optiplexgx270

You must be a girl...... thinking of this stuff now. Depends on what you want 1. To do really well start soon 2. to do well right after xmas 3. to do crap after mocks. I took option 2 and did well as far as i remember. Its important but not that important. It aint the L'cert. Its more to get you used to formal exams then the results you get. "The results are not worth the paper their on.... Its preperation for the leaving cert" as it was put to us.

PurpleFistMixer

optiplexgx270 wrote:

You must be a girl...... thinking of this stuff now.

Ahem, WTF?

coconutmonkey - I haven't started studying yet, as such. It depends on the person, really. I'm one of those lucky people (watch me eating my words this time next year) who is capable of absorbing information in school and remembering it with little to no study. Some people just can't do that and therefore have to memorise everything off, so setting yourself by other people's standards probably won't work for you.
If you're worried about a certain subject which you really need to pull the socks up in, then yeah, studying would be a good thing. But there's no need to get yourself worked up about it all, yet, I reckon.

I'm probably going to wait until after the mocks to start studying seriously (eg over 30 minutes). That way I'll know which subjects I'm not performing so spectacularly in. Like, what's the point in studying business for 2 hours a day if you discover that the bar is not set as high as you thought and you've been learning all this extra unnecessary information, or whatever?

Wow, that got long.

coconutmonkey

Its just my friends freaking me out thats got me thinking about it. One of my friends worked out that if we wanted to get all our history revised, we'd have to study one chapter every 2 days. And that was including the weeks of school we've had so far. That was not a helpful thing for her to tell me! Im just one of those people who hates felling like they've got loads to do, i like to feel on top of my school stuff.

Raphael

you can ignore chunks of the history book

PurpleFistMixer

I find a good way to chill out about the exam is to look at an exam paper and realise how bloody SHORT the thing is. I mean, the way everyone's getting so freaked out about it, and all the stuff ya gotta revise, you'd think the exam was going to be about 20 hours long. But they only ask some things. So you don't have to learn every single chapter absolutely perfectly. Usually the teacher knows which chapter is generally important, so you can concentrate on that more than other stuff.

I mean, what's more likely to come up - the 1916 Rising or... uh... the name of the place the Christians hid from the Romans during the Roman time? (first piece of random information to come to mind)

grimloch

my friend started studying at the start of 3rd year, he got ten A's however
but in my opinion a year spent studying = a wasted year, im not saying dont study, but you have to have time for socialising and the like

PurpleFistMixer

Depends how long you spend studying. You don't have to study for 5 hours a day like, it could just be a bit.

Didn't someone once say or other that you can only concentrate for about 20 minutes at a time? So 20 minutes study it is!

Mysteryfish

one of our teachers was like yes the jc does matter because you might not get into higher level unless you get an A, but I mean everyone is saying thats so not true. Who to believe? And if I started studying now I wouldn't remember it in june. You are very lucky purplefistmixer that you don't need to study too hard to be smart.

PurpleFistMixer

About the honours thing, I reckon it's supposed to be a strong guideline - if you fail the subject, don't do honours! Common sense, really. You know what you can do though, like if you know yuo did absolutely crap on the day, and you are actually capable, like you can work and all.

And yes, I do consider myself highly lucky. =D

Raphael

Raphael wrote:

you can ignore chunks of the history book

*expands on this*

'kay, the 2 things that will get youn through the last section WITHOUT fail, are WW2/cold war, and irish polotics. If you know those well, section 6 is a breeze

For sections 4 and 5, know an artist, a reformer, an explorer, and a revolutionary. A plantation is advisable as well

1,2,3 - These are essentialy just general knowledge, tend to be based on the aforementioned sections, and in the papers themselves


Oh, and I got an A in history

Rozabeez

im planning on starting once supervised study starts (which is next monday i think)
then i have to study at home too, then on tuesdays i have to do something, and on thursdays. that leaves no time for friends muahahhahahaha

PurpleFistMixer

Raphael wrote:

'kay, the 2 things that will get youn through the last section WITHOUT fail, are WW2/cold war, and irish polotics. If you know those well, section 6 is a breeze

You mean the majority of the 3rd year course?

*muttermutter*

Are names and dates important? Eg - first names, and dates in general. Stuff like "When was the Gaelic League founded?" and all that crap. (You can guess what we're doing in History right now!)

Raphael

Names - Yes. be able to id from a line up of names and jobs

Dates - Nah, they might make your essay look better, but knowing the chronological order and general period of events should get you through

Raphael

Oh, btw, this is based on my own research done on past papers for the last few years. It worked for me, as I got an A, but I accept no liabilty if you follow my advice and screw up

PurpleFistMixer

Stupid names... *muttermutter*

They should have given them better names, such as "Man Who Founded Such and Such." Because then people would remember, and do well, and all would be happy.

PurpleFistMixer

Raphael wrote:

Oh, btw, this is based on my own research done on past papers for the last few years. It worked for me, as I got an A, but I accept no liabilty if you follow my advice and screw up

Too late! Advice has already been taken with no guarantee at the time of taking!

Raphael

That was just a precaution, I'm almost positive about this stuff

PurpleFistMixer

Well, your story checks out with the one our teacher has been feeding us, so I'm inclined to believe you.

angeldelight

All I'd say is start doing a little bit of revision every night. Even though everyone says "It's only the JC", most ppl will start getting stressed as it comes up to the mocks and then up to the JC if u haven't revised much. It's just easier on urself, means when friends etc are staying up late cramming you can relax. It's just not a nice feeling going into an exam knowing you haven't given urself a great chance. And in a lot of schools JC results are used to stream u for LC. Highest grades in subjects like irish, maths, french etc tend to get best teachers.

Raphael

1st year = useless
2nd year = handy
3rd year = invaluable

PurpleFistMixer

Is that in relation to History course or what?

Raphael

History.

*Might give study advice in his other good subjects later*

Corruptedmorals

You can skip massive chunks of the history book when revising, y'know. I studied nothing of irish history or world war one and I got myself an A in Higher Level.

Sweet.

Raphael

You ignored Ireland?

What 2nd option did you take for Q6?

Big Ears

Im not studying until after Christmas(major studying that is , I will study some for the october and Christmas tests) .

Raphael is dead right about history too , our teacher has been saying what he's been saying .But I shouldn't have many problems anyway as ive read the history book twice already . (not studying I just.........admittadly like history )

Some people here must have no social lifes if they are studying in excess of 3 hours already , someone should tell those people a huge amount of that studying is useless as the JC is 8 or 9 months away and you will need to re-study that information anyway .

Is it just me or are girls more inclined to study earlier ? .

Rozabeez

Raphael wrote:

You ignored Ireland?

What 2nd option did you take for Q6?

you intimidate me.
no offence.

PurpleFistMixer

Wow, that was pretty random.

Rozabeez

yeah, it was.

Raphael

Distinctly so

Rozabeez

Very sorry about that.

knifey_spoonie

So homework isnt study (this concept sounds strange to me) *my head hurts*

PurpleFistMixer

Homework is a form of study. They are both subsets of each other, really. In doing your homework you are studying, but generally when I think of study I think of memorisation/revising things you did yonks ago.

knifey_spoonie

That would be my view of it.

So whats the average time spent on homework(just wondering).

PurpleFistMixer

knife_fighter wrote:

So whats the average time spent on homework(just wondering).

Now that's a highly variable one.

My friend who goes to Loreto seems to get exorbitant amounts of homework, whereas in my case, take today for example, all the homework I have is stuff left over from 2 weeks ago and even then it'll only take max half an hour, I'd say.

Depends on the teacher, the school, the subject, the student.

I notice only a slight increase in the amounts of homework from last year, and last year wasn't a lot either. Although I am of the firm opinion if homework takes over an hour it is wrong and should be outlawed.

Rozabeez

i notice a huge increase in work...i also notice alot of kids going crazy because teachers put so much pressure on us.

grimloch

Rozabeez wrote:

i notice a huge increase in work...i also notice alot of kids going crazy because teachers put so much pressure on us.

alot of teachers dont seem to realize we actually have other work to do and give us stupid amounts of homework that take over an hour for that subject alone...madness

Rozabeez

absolute madness...i just dyed my hair purple in a crazy fit of needing changes

PurpleFistMixer

Won't your school have a problem with that?

Also, I don't really get how dying your hair is a change. I mean, unless you have your hair infront of your eyes, you don't notice it. It's only when you walk past reflective surfaces that you remember "Oh, my hair is <insert random colour>, hmm." It's more of a change for people who have to look at you.
(It's just like that thing - don't pity ugly people, pity the people who have to look at them.)

Getting off topic. Uhm, JC... just got exam papers. History looks evil, damnit. Alright, documents look easy. But short questions and the rest of it are kinda evil. Especially the Revolutionary section. Dayamn!

Raphael

Shorts are a doss, IMHO its just general knowledge. it looks daunting, but remember. 10 out of 20 is all you need

Oh, and by about christmas, all ye wee 3rd yeares will start getting cut down homework. By about easter, you should be getting almost none. Your supposed to be STUDYING y'see

Than come 5th year, your fscked....

*can't cope*

hSquid

i don't like to think that far ahead. we were told today that the junior cert is forgotten by 4/5th year and that it is relatively unimportant and just a practice for the leaving. but that isn't really a lot of help and i'm still going to be crazily nervous when it comes to june

Rozabeez

i love history, i started a debate today with a guy in my class and my techer told my i was doing uni style debates (bullsh!!t).

knifey_spoonie

We cant have that now can we?

Rozabeez

knife_fighter wrote:

We cant have that now can we?

Well, why cant i be better than my teacher?
My irish teacher is also an idiot...I'm constantly correcting her (for some reason she doesnt like me)
But back to studying, i had my first supervised on thursday and it was great how much you learn in 2 hours costs a damn €90 though.

knifey_spoonie

I had the same problem with my buss teacher i corrected her 6 times by the end of the class she shouted at me"If you dont stop shouting at me i will get very very mad"

Rozabeez

I dont actually hate my history teacher, but he loves me its so funny! if i give him cheek or anything he doesnt care, and i never do the homework and he knows damn well but he pretends i do it.
But seriously the irish teacher! she's so stupid, im her "last resort" for answering questions if everyone else got it wrong.