i feel like its a waste

Juicebox

hey basically my issue is that i feel like the course im interested in is no reflection on my academic ability and it all seems like im wasting it.Im a bright enough girl got 8'as and 3b's in J.c all higher level. Im now in L.C doing chemistry,maths,biology,geography,french,eng and irish all higher level and im doin grand,not reached my potential but i will. There are no courses that i find particularly striking allthough i am interested in the environmental and earth systems course in ucc,thats about it.I only need 340 points..i feel disheartened that these are the points because if they were higher i really would work at my best,i could drop some subjects to ordinary level and still get the points,(fingers crossed) I feel confused because i dont know why im ptting myself through this torture and the heavy workload when all i need is 340, i could sit back and freewheel it..i feel like ive nothing to motivate me,anyone else got this issue?

rjt

Yeah, I'm in the same position. I'm looking at doing maths in TCD, which is 410 points. I know that I'm looking at 570ish points if I do the work, but these days I just amn't pushing myself to this. I'm doing seven honours (English, Maths, Applied Maths, Physics, Chem, French and History) and ordinary Irish. The only thing that's motivating me atm is pride - I feel that I'd be selling myself short if my grades drop. Still, I know that this time next year it won't matter at all, I'll be studying what I love and that's all that matters

I don't prescribe to the belief that if you can get 600, you should sacrifice everything else for this. I think it's important to perform well in the subjects that matter to you, and to hell with the rest. At least this gives you the time to enjoy the year, and further develop talents that will be relevant for later life. Maybe that's just me though

Naikon

That is exactly my situation in a nutshell:)
I feel the exact same about the whole LC.
What is the point killing myself, when i will forget all the "important" material.
I am doing maths,english,physics,business,history,geography all higher cept maths, but not doing honours wont stop me from getting into my courses.
The only subjects i "strive" to do well in are maths, physics and Business---These are the only remotely usefull subjects for me.
I actually find maths is probably my favorite subject, as i enjoy solving the equations.
I am just glad i wont need honours maths as it isnt required for most IT courses, contray to popular belief.
I was worried about that at the start, as i never got the chance to do honours. Too late now.


I dont regard to LC as a proper "education" it doesent leave you with many "skills" after you do the exam.
A-level students are better off with their specialised route, and i dont care what people say the LC is too damn general for my liking.
Its a joke that i have to study history, whereas an information technology course would be ideal(still no IT course, yet the likes of Classics is taught):mad:

I am in an a situation where my courses are nearly all 300 points or lower....for degrees!!(even less for the certs which lead to the exact same degree......in the exact same timeframe!!!)
I couldent really care, nor do i strive for really high grades eg 90%+.
I have a very good idea of what i am getting myself into as I am learning little bits of programming for my course.

I dont want any other course besides IT/Computing as i have a genuine interest in all areas of IT:cool:
Most people drop out of computing courses because they thought surfing the internet all day is applicable to a course.
No assembly langauge and networking,routers,programming are the order of the day!

I know people who were "pushed" into doing arts just for mammy and daddy:rolleyes:
You MUST go into an area you are interested as if you hate your course you will probably drop out.(regardless of points)
I am going to do as much as needed, as when i get my college course, thats when to really start putting effort into an area of interest, not all of it will be plain sailing im sure but it will benefit me more than what i have "learned" in the LC.

I also hate all the goddamn media attention.
I see the LC as a sort of barrier to my real potential, which i must overcome to get where i want to go.
I hate those reports claiming "500 point students get far more 1.1 degrees" ect. Its BULL**** in most cases.
I Know a guy who truthfully told me he got about 200 points in the LC but went on to do a masters in Business management.

The LC is a very poor way of assessing a persons aptitude/eligibility for a course----cept maybe Medecine, but even then i would question the use of subjects outside scientific ones.
Apparently the people who get high points in the LC have difficulty with analysis, as these people are used to being "spoonfed" info.
I cant speak for this on my own experiences however.
Sorry if I am annoying potential 600 pointers, but its how I fell about the Education system.
Too much emphises on rote learning in the leaving.
Not nearly enough skills training.


I have learnt more by working with computers/programming, like C++(love messing around with code to see its effect!!)/assembling pc components/ect.
I actually felt like I accomplished something, whereas even though i got on well in the JC i sort of said "meh" whatever, and still cant find the results sheet.;)
In conclusion, your points score is not directly proportional to your success at
third level and or other life ambitions-just do what is needed to get into your course comfortably.

Rozabeez

Wow, you guys really make someone who's struggling to get into a 350 course feel great Well, good luck with that...problem of yours.

Naikon

Sorry:p
however, i do feel sorry for people who need alot of points.
The whole design of the system can prevent people with genuine interest from getting into their courses.:mad:
Still you more than likely will get the 350 with a steady work ethic, blah blah you are probably sick of hearing that:)
The SEC really needs to go back to the drawing board on this one.
Still if worst comes to worst, there are the PLC courses.

Jonny Arson

Funny thing is guys, loads of people have their hearts set on a course and that course's relevant points target and then suddenly later on in the year their focus shifts towards another course but with higher points! Lesson = aim high no matter what, you wont regret it!

PeterMC

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Funny thing is guys, loads of people have their hearts set on a course and that course's relevant points target and then suddenly later on in the year their focus shifts towards another course but with higher points! Lesson = aim high no matter what, you wont regret it!

That's me in a Nutshell!!! All last year I was dead set on getting my points for Speech Therapy/Ocuppational Therapy in UCC.... then disaster struck! I decided I wanted something higher :eek: And It was simply too late to put in the work that would have been needed to get the points wanted - so here I am repeating...after getting my original pts target, the depression

smemon

Juicebox wrote:

I feel confused because i dont know why im ptting myself through this torture and the heavy workload when all i need is 340, i could sit back and freewheel it..i feel like ive nothing to motivate me,anyone else got this issue?

was the exact same last year. i only needed 80 points :rolleyes: yet i was capable of 500 imo. Got 445 in the end which wasn't bad.

how did i motivate myself? simple, i aimed to beat everyone around me. I don't like losing in anything or to anyone, so i viewed the LC as a long game. Highest score wins.

So even though i could have done nothing, i ended up doing a good bit. Didn't kill myself though, still kept working part-time.. going to footy matches during the week and taking the next morning off etc...

nando

Naikon wrote:

That is exactly my situation in a nutshell:)
I dont regard to LC as a proper "education" it doesent leave you with many "skills" after you do the exam.
.......................................................................................................

I hate those reports claiming "500 point students get far more 1.1 degrees" ect. Its BULL**** in most cases.
I Know a guy who truthfully told me he got about 200 points in the LC but went on to do a masters in Business management.
........................................................................................................
Apparently the people who get high points in the LC have difficulty with analysis, as these people are used to being "spoonfed" info.
I cant speak for this on my own experiences however.

I agree with a lot of your points and you seem very clued in about what you want, what you need to do to get there and what will be required of you when you get there, but I have to say sweeping generalisations will get you nowhere!

What are you going to say to those people on your course who just happen to have gotten high points? "Sorry but you'll probably have difficulty with analysis so you're screwed in college now cos you were spoonfed in school"??

I have to say as somebody who did a course that required high points, I don't remember being surrounded by a bunch of idiot schoolkids waiting for the answers to be spelled out to them - which is really what you've implied. I wonder how all those people ever finish any course if they can't come to their own conclusions in study/research or whatever.

I agree with lots of your points about the LC and lack of choice available etc., but I really think that alot of the subjects I had to take taught me a lot I thought I would never need. I feel LC English develops skills of argument construction, for example, and is essential to writing essays in lots of subject areas. Maybe I didn't really see the point of LC Paper 1 when I was going to do a science based course - but I do now.

Also - nice how you rubbish these reports as Bull**** without much evidence but take the situation of one guy as basis for fact. I'm not saying I believe these report either- I haven't read them, but I'm not on here supporting/rubbishing them either way.

To the OP I'd agree with Zane from MTV2 that you need to aim high because your interests could change later on. Don't kill yourself if you don't need to, but motivate yourself to do as well can, within reason, for yourself.

Naikon

Ok, I see what you mean.
I am being a too general with regards to your criticism and for that I apologise.
I wasnt implying idiots get into the courses, but pointing out that you have to learn differently than how you were taught in the LC.
Still it aint an excuse to generalise.
I dont want to insult people aiming for high points, Hell the dedication is worth a pat on the back initself.
The "reports" I found on unison reading through articles.
I can give you the url if you want.
Also Zane did make a decent point about motivation, even if i dont need 500+ points.
I will keep that in mind.

Rozabeez

Naikon wrote:

Sorry:p
however, i do feel sorry for people who need alot of points.
The whole design of the system can prevent people with genuine interest from getting into their courses.:mad:
Still you more than likely will get the 350 with a steady work ethic, blah blah you are probably sick of hearing that:)
The SEC really needs to go back to the drawing board on this one.
Still if worst comes to worst, there are the PLC courses.

ah I'm sure I will...there's always second round for LIT!

ZorbaTehZ

Im in the same situation as the OP where I only need like 400 points for my course but im aiming for max points, cause I know i'll just regret it later in life if I don't put in the effort now.

I think that the central issue here is the Education System as a whole, where the focus is on "learning off" pre-written essays, french letters, experiments - trying to develop a photographic memory of these things so that you can vomit them out in an exam - and the stupid thing is this is what will get you the points - little attempt is made at developing a students individuality or allowing the student to develop and express there own opinions in an exam. I suppose such an education system would be very difficult to implement - even if such a concept is as clear-cut and defined.

Like someone said above - what percentage of this sh1t are we actually going to remember for the rest of our life? Look at the JC - we used to joke about how we couldnt remember simple theorems in maths from the junior cert, in class, and it was only 2 years ago.

Originally posted by Smemon:
was the exact same last year. i only needed 80 points

80?!

smemon

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

80?!

yip. well that was the minimum requirement

80 points and a pass in 5 subjects or something.

in the end i got almost 5 and a half times that

oRlyYaRly

smemon wrote:

yip. well that was the minimum requirement

80 points and a pass in 5 subjects or something.

in the end i got almost 5 and a half times that

Actually you got more than 5 and a half times that.