Schols

ilovemybrick

To the rest of you going for them. Good luck.

Moorsy

You should be in Bed already! I saw how late you were posting last night, off to bed with ya!!!

ApeXaviour

I heartily second the OP's statement.

Yep, good luck to everyone.

Awayindahils

Hey to everyone else doing them atm, best of luck..avoid the postmortems, particularly with the sillily smart people...

And don't look up too often.

Crash

Hey guys, best of luck. You'll do spiffing.

Comhra....

Good luck, enjoy and have some fun when you are signing the big book. They ask what profession your Father is in. Mine was an astronaut!

Awayindahils

Comhra wrote:

Good luck, enjoy and have some fun when you are signing the big book. They ask what profession your Father is in. Mine was an astronaut!

I only got to sign a photocopy and they only wanted to know what his name was...:(

Far less fun than getting to tell them what he does.

Andrew 83

Good luck!

BrenC

Good Luck with the exams everyone!

xebec

Good luck from me too! Bad memories of this time two years ago, but make sure to have fun afterwards!

europerson

Good luck to all you would-be Scholars. Remember it's all a bit of fun, and you'll look back on it very fondly.

Tricity Bendix

Awayindahils wrote:

I only got to sign a photocopy and they only wanted to know what his name was...:(

An absolute travisty of a disaster! There's little point in doing schols if you don't get to see the Big Book.


On that note, best of luck, one and all.

Yep, best of luck!

ApeXaviour

europerson wrote:

and you'll look back on it very fondly.

Lies...

Sparks

europerson wrote:

Remember it's all a bit of fun, and you'll look back on it very fondly.

Damn lies!

Awayindahils

ApeXaviour wrote:

Lies...

Sparks wrote:

Damn lies!

Stop scaring the current schol students, who shouldn't be online right now and are.

Pet

Awayindahils wrote:

Stop scaring the current schol students, who shouldn't be online right now and are.

You need it though.

On another note, ****ing FLORA OF IRELAND. WHAT THE ****. just, WHAT.

Schols 1; Ronan 0.

ApeXaviour

Awayindahils wrote:

Stop scaring the current schol students, who shouldn't be online right now and are.

Awayindahils banned until schol exams are over.

europerson

Pet wrote:

FLORA OF IRELAND

Is that discussing (native) flowers and their distributions and stuff? I'm imagining questions like: "Discuss the pros and cons of rhododendron growing out of control in forests" and "Ranunculaceae in Ireland. Discuss their importance". I'm sure it could be argued, but it sounds difficult.

Crash

Yeah, heard Bio 1 wasn't a nice paper.

King.Penguin

that would have been a paul dowding question for bio2. I think it was paul anyway.

very answerable to be honest if you covered it but if you didn't....

roro can u keep a copy of your exam and either sohw it to me or scan it or something?

cheerz best of luck with the rest of the papers

shay_562

Maths = cackfest.

Depressingly, that line demonstrates more mathematical knowledge than I managed to show in the entire bloody paper yesterday. Ah well. Partial exemptions are a kind of exemptions...

Almost over for everyone I take it? Happy with how they went? Glad when they're over?

europerson

I think BESS doesn't finish till tomorrow, and most of our Schols babies seem to be BESS people this year.

shay_562

I think BESS doesn't finish till tomorrow, and most of our Schols babies seem to be BESS people this year.

50% are BESS (to the best of my knowledge, myslef, Hils, ilovemybrick and Pet are the only boardsies doing it this year, and ilovemybrick is Philosophy and Pet is something Science-y), but with Hils banned (hee!) we suddenly drop to just 1/3. Which is kinda irrelevant, but then, I'm mostly just avoiding putting the final touches to my Gen Paper essay right now, so I'm grateful for the distraction.

To answer the questions: Not especially happy with how they went, wish I had been able to put all my efforts into them, but then, I made my choice last year about what I wanted this year to be, and I got that, so I can't exactly complain. I'm glad I did them - even if I don't get a thing from them, it's good experience to have, and it motivated me to keep up with my work this year, which I probably wouldn't have done otherwise. Still, the whole "living on campus" thing would be nice if through some freak chance it happens...

Pet

I'm not finished until tomorrow.

I'm not entirely happy with how they went; I have mixed feelings. Let me explain:

-On one hand, I only started working in the second week of February, and a lot of my time was spent catching up on and making up for bad attendance and laziness in Michaelmas term. So for how well I've done with that in mind, I really can't complain. Also, it got me to STUDY, something that's genuinely never happened before in my LIFE. I look at some of my reading lists, and I've done all the suggested reading. The people who know me are amazed. So, I guess it was quite a learning and character-building experience. Or so I attempt to convince myself..

-However...7 weeks or no, I worked my ass off during that period, and my only motivation was the idea of getting a scholarship. I wasn't in it for bronze or silver. I just don't work that way. It was an unrealistic expectation, however, and my exam performance was sadly lacking, so it's completely out of the question now. There's also the gaping void where my social life/hobbies for the past 2 months should have been, and my currently dangerous proximity to academic burnout.

I'll have to come back to this thread in a few weeks to decide if it was all worth it. Common sense says yes, brain/heart says NO FUCKING WAY, at least at this point and time. But that's exhaustion, moodiness, overcaffeination and apathy speaking.

Bottom line: Schols requires work. There's no way around it. I woulda-shoulda-coulda, if only if only if only, but that's it. Hindsight's a bitch.

Tacitha

Would you think about going for it again in third year, then, if it doesn't work out? I know a few people who got it that way.

shay_562

Not a chance. The main thing that made it worth it this year was the fact that it was work I'd have needed to do one way or another; while I have respect for their work ethic, I can't understand how people motivate themselves to re-learn all this stuff again having already moved on, while simultaneously avoiding failing 3rd year.

ApeXaviour

shay_562 wrote:

while simultaneously avoiding failing 3rd year.

While you make an analytical sort of sense, I really can't agree. It's easier the second time round. Plus it puts you in an absolutely crazy study mindset for the JS exams. Your study and exam method is in top game and you just tend to keep up the momentum, because you have to. It's very doable (the JS exams are, that is).

shay_562

While you make an analytical sort of sense, I really can't agree. It's easier the second time round. Plus it puts you in an absolutely crazy study mindset for the JS exams. Your study and exam method is in top game and you just tend to keep up the momentum, because you have to. It's very doable (the JS exams are, that is).

I'd be skeptical, but given that you've done it and I haven't, I might just take your word for it...this time!

Oh, and also? I'M FREE! FREEEEEEE!!! Whee hee hee hee hee!!

(Someone might wanna unban Hils at some stage, but really, there's no rush. Although one of the first things she said in the Pav today was "I get to post again!"...)

Time Magazine

Congrats all.

Keep that chin high, no matter how you did you've done it now and you can focus on the future with a hell of a lot of hard study done.

Pet

FREEDOM IS MINE.
and you know how I feel.
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me; and I'm feeling..




..well, tired. but okay. sleep now. dissect later.

Well done! Many people wish they had bothered going for Schols by the time they ended college (myself included in that), so whatever the result, congrats on pushing yourself to an incredible level.

europerson

Congratulations to all! You've achieved an awful lot over the last while, and the work you've done will really pay off. Well done!

Pet

..one more thing before the X Files ends and I shuffle off:

Many people wish they had bothered going for Schols by the time they ended college

These people are fucking insane.

In the membrane.

I'm willing to imagine that there are people out there who just revel in spending the best part of a term alternately panicking, tearing their hair out, wanting to give up on academia forever, and becoming ever more socially withdrawn; as they cling to some vague glimmer of hope, only to have it dashed callously without so much as a by-your-leave. These people would do well to sit the schols exams.

But for anyone else with merely misguided romantic notions; let me fill you in.

It's not all that hot. So don't feel too bad. You didn't miss much.

Edit: that sounds mighty bitter. I'm honestly not bitter about it though (maybe a little regretful); I didn't get hard done by in any fashion; there are many who fared much worse than I did, and I will direct you to them if you wish. I just think it's important to be realistic, is all.

ApeXaviour

shay_562 wrote:

(Someone might wanna unban Hils at some stage, but really, there's no rush. Although one of the first things she said in the Pav today was "I get to post again!"...)

Done

and well done all for getting through it

Tricity Bendix

Pet wrote:

These people are fucking insane.

In the membrane.

I'm willing to imagine that there are people out there who just revel in spending the best part of a term alternately panicking, tearing their hair out, wanting to give up on academia forever, and becoming ever more socially withdrawn; as they cling to some vague glimmer of hope, only to have it dashed callously without so much as a by-your-leave. These people would do well to sit the schols exams.

But for anyone else with merely misguided romantic notions; let me fill you in.

It's not all that hot. So don't feel too bad. You didn't miss much.

Edit: that sounds mighty bitter. I'm honestly not bitter about it though (maybe a little regretful); I didn't get hard done by in any fashion; there are many who fared much worse than I did, and I will direct you to them if you wish. I just think it's important to be realistic, is all.

obviously we had very different experiences of doing schols. I suppose it very much depends on the disposition of the individual. I know I wouldn't have done a lick of work in second year if it weren't for schols.

Awayindahils

[QUOTE=PetThese people are fucking insane.

In the membrane.

I'm willing to imagine that there are people out there who just revel in spending the best part of a term alternately panicking, tearing their hair out, wanting to give up on academia forever, and becoming ever more socially withdrawn; as they cling to some vague glimmer of hope, only to have it dashed callously without so much as a by-your-leave. These people would do well to sit the schols exams.

But for anyone else with merely misguided romantic notions; let me fill you in.

It's not all that hot. So don't feel too bad. You didn't miss much.

Edit: that sounds mighty bitter. I'm honestly not bitter about it though (maybe a little regretful); I didn't get hard done by in any fashion; there are many who fared much worse than I did, and I will direct you to them if you wish. I just think it's important to be realistic, is all.[/QUOTE]

I'm really glad that i did schols.

sully-gormo

how do you think you did. Im considering doing them(in bess) next year, but id only do it if I thought id could be getting them. Itd be such a terrible feeling not getting them IMO, itd be all or nothing if i went for them

Well, apart from the exemption from summer exams?

sully-gormo

Myth wrote:

Well, apart from the exemption from summer exams?

Well youve worked your arse off for at least 9/10 weeks in HT and you would be keeping much more abreast of things in MT than you normally would; for 6 weeks off college. In some courses(engineering) they dont even tell you if you got exemptiuons until Trinity Monday! I already know I can apply myself and work hard and all that; i just ponder to myself if i stand a chance after putting in all the work.
In Fairness, the least they could do is give you exemptions after taking up a gauntlet like this, and putting in such a volume of work.

For me the most daunting thing about it is the statistics. On average 20% of SF go for them, and 20% of those succeed(5%). Id be worried that they have a kind of quota, that theyll only give a certain amount of I grades out, no matter how good you are.

sully-gormo

sully-gormo wrote:

For me the most daunting thing about it is the statistics. On average 20% of SF go for them, and 20% of those succeed(5%). Id be worried that they have a kind of quota, that theyll only give a certain amount of I grades out, no matter how good you are.

You talking about engineering? Perhaps have a looksee at how many people actually complete them! An awful lot of people go for it, but after one bad exam just give up.

sully-gormo

no thats college wide over the last three years,see this, page 6(appears i was slightly off with the stats, oops). ill be in BESS probably.
Ill probably be doing:
Int.Econ / Econ of irl / Maths-stats / WEuropean Pol / HistPolThought / Law

I think id go for a I on the Essay Paper,maths, law, and Int.Econ ; a II1 on EcIrl and the easier of the two politcs subjects; and id pass the other Politics subj. AFAIK you dont need all I grades, just an average. I think in BESS you need 4xI and 2xII1; or 3xI and 3xII1 with the arithmetic avg. for you to be elected scholar

ApeXaviour

sully-gormo wrote:

In some courses(engineering) they dont even tell you if you got exemptiuons until Trinity Monday!

I don't know, but I'd be very skeptical if that's the case.

sully-gormo wrote:

In Fairness, the least they could do is give you exemptions after taking up a gauntlet like this, and putting in such a volume of work.

This argument fails to convince me. I know people who've sat the exams to motivate themselves to study, so they'd do better in the annuals. They've failed or gotten III's and II-2's. It's good practice. It's not really a gauntlet unless you make it one; they're exams like, ipso facto -> you're a student. Personally I found JS exams a lot more stressful (wasn't nearly as well prepared and so had to fanatically cram).

sully-gormo wrote:

For me the most daunting thing about it is the statistics. On average 20% of SF go for them, and 20% of those succeed(5%). Id be worried that they have a kind of quota, that theyll only give a certain amount of I grades out, no matter how good you are.

In Science it's less than 2% (that's the course as opposed to the faculty. People doing Theoretical Physics, human genetics etc. throw those stats off). There is no quota though. If you get the grade, you get the scholarship. They're damn hard exams though.

Comhra....

I have to say that i did schols in second year and didn't get exemptions. I was 2 marks off and found out in a personal e-mail from my head of department. I thought that they did the exemptions by individual subjects, but nope, that wasn't the case. But not getting exemptions is not the end of the world, I came fourth in my class in the summer exams and I had all my photocopying done and didn't have to fight my classmates for books.

College don't have to give you squat just because you signed up for extra exams. They aren't forcing you to do it, you sign the piece of paper, you know what you are doing. Exemptions would have been nice but because of my subject choices I haven't had exams since those second year drama exams and I have none this summer either.

Tacitha

There really aren't quotas - I am very willing to suspect this sort of thing, but there's not much incentive to apply quotas on schol, and it would be very hard to do in practice.

No incentive because your school or cluster - whatever pays the bills - can have any number of scholars but pays the same amount towards the system as the next.

Applying a quota would be difficult because of the way examiners' meetings work - people turn up knowing only your grade in their paper, and the meeting looks at how it lines up with the other papers. Majority firsts/average first (I think there are faculty differences here) and you're in. So they know the criteria going in, find out what mark you've got once they're inside, and could only disqualify you from schol by changing your grade on one of the papers with full consent of everyone in the room - impossible to justify and I hope not likely to get past any group of staff.

Numbers getting schol tend to bear that out - the numbers have been increasing I think at a more than the rate of student population, though they're proportionately lower than they were historically. And the numbers and proportions from different sections of college aren't at all consistent year on year.

Might be worth mentioning that tomorrow (Monday) is the last day to send a comment in on the scholarship review - among other things, exemptions, timing and separate examination are up for discussion.

http://www.tcd.ie/local/scholreview/index.php

Comhra

Comhra wrote:

I haven't had exams since those second year drama exams and I have none this summer either.

Damn you vile woman!

james80000

sully-gormo wrote:

no thats college wide over the last three years,see this, page 6(appears i was slightly off with the stats, oops). ill be in BESS probably.
Ill probably be doing:
Int.Econ / Econ of irl / Maths-stats / WEuropean Pol / HistPolThought / Law

I think id go for a I on the Essay Paper,maths, law, and Int.Econ ; a II1 on EcIrl and the easier of the two politcs subjects; and id pass the other Politics subj. AFAIK you dont need all I grades, just an average. I think in BESS you need 4xI and 2xII1; or 3xI and 3xII1 with the arithmetic avg. for you to be elected scholar

I did them this year in BESS, I did pretty much what you are doing and tried to predict the grades, hoping for a I in maths and economics, and then those exams went crap.I think its prob better to just aim for a I in 6 six subjects and let your 7th subject slide a bit. Just in case some exams go badly and then ur screwed.... Its a lot of work in BESS as in the other courses, but probably a little more crammable because the lecturers are sound in the sense that they tell you exactly what you have to cover. Plus you dont have to cover any material from first year. I think if you are thinkin bout schols BESS is one of the *easier* subjects to do it, but still lots of extra work....

Pet

Question about exemptions: Should they be on one's online student record by now? Mine is still blank, and I'm feeling a little uneasy..

I thought they'd go up on the noticeboard first?