Nephew doing junior cert...

Deliverance

Hi my nephew is doing the junior cert he is bright and clever and so on, maybe a bit to much so. He maintains that the junior cert doesn't matter and the leaving cert is the important one.

So he is studying very little and not taking it anyway seriously, I don't know where he is getting his info from but apart from the obvious laziness and lack of motivation he is showing, is he right in that the results of the junior cert do not academically effect him overall ie: College and so on if he decides to go that route?

PurpleFistMixer

Colleges don't care about your Junior Cert result (unless I think it's a senior college and you don't do your LC etc.). The only way they might be important (that I can think of) is
1) If your school streams/allows/disallows subjects due to JC results (so if you want to do honours maths you'd want to get a good grade in it for JC etc.)
2) If you drop out before you do your LC, then JC is the best qualification you have.

Deliverance

Cheers for that. In my day it was called the 'intercert' and I never gave it much value either. I do think that he needs a kick in the ass though, as I did, but never heeded. College is definately a better life than quick and easy money working in a factory. Hopefully he will realise this with my help.

brianthebard

No the Junior doesn't matter at all. Maybe he is better to not put much effort in, and realise that he could've done better. It might make him work harder for the leaving. I know that by the time I got to my leaving I was completely apathetic to the whole thing, so that's not a good place to be either.

Tails142

The trend is that you will drop a grade from junior cert to leaving cert.

I remember a teacher saying that but I didnt take much heed of it - didnt bother putting much work into my leaving cert.

Got something like 8 B's and a C in my junior cert

When the leaving cert came around my attitude to study hadnt really improved much and I came out with on B and the rest C1 to C3's.... after putting in very little work

her prediction came true!!

junior cert is pretty useless except for the obvious points made in previous posts, but fostering a good attitude to studying now will surely pay dividends for the rest of your life, both in the LC and through college...

MAKE HIM STUDY I SAY!!

Deliverance

I think you are right there I will bring him to college and show him some of the work done and the lifestyle. Then I will show him some factories and let him decide.

In my day I wanted to go to college but it cost a lot and I had to work to just survive. Today you can go to college as a choice, no fees and so on. I want to make him appreciate this and see how much better it is to go this route being as it is free today.

He is a smart kid and will enjoy and appreciate the college experience, profesionalism and contacts very well. But like I said a good kick in the ass is needed.

Thanks for the replies.

spurious

As an exam, the JC papers are designed to maximise the number of candidates passing - the LC papers are not. This can result in a literate child getting a number of high grades and having a false idea of how they will do in the LC.

It's also the first 'important' achievement a child achieves on their own, which can make it very frightening for some, though this probably doesn't apply in your nephew's case, though you never know.

Edwardius

Kick his ass, if he starts sailing through school exams with little or no study he'll have no idea how to study if he goes to college and will be completely screwed. You can't sail through college in the manner that you can in the state exams. I've seen it happen plenty of times and reckon it's one of the main reasons for people dropping out.

Trogdor

Deliverance wrote:

Hi my nephew is doing the junior cert he is bright and clever and so on, maybe a bit to much so. He maintains that the junior cert doesn't matter and the leaving cert is the important one.

So he is studying very little and not taking it anyway seriously, I don't know where he is getting his info from but apart from the obvious laziness and lack of motivation he is showing, is he right in that the results of the junior cert do not academically effect him overall ie: College and so on if he decides to go that route?

If his thinking is anything like mine, it's not just that he doesn't value the JC,s importance, it's just that he knows he can keep the study to a bare minimum and still get really good results

Corruptedmorals

If he gets all C's, they can't throw him out of honours classes for the LC. Since he is 'bright and clever', shouldn't be too hard to get that.

Piste

If he wants to go to college in the UK they'll consider his JC reults as well as his LC results as they correspond more or less to GCSEs.

ciano14

im doing the Jc and im not doing much studying nor am i worried about it but if i do , do bad don't you have the choice of doing whatever level you wish for the leaving? my school does stream but can you not choose?

PurpleFistMixer

They can't stop you from doing the level you want on the day, and it's not like you have no say in the matter. It depends heavily on the school, I think. They would put you in the class/level they think, based on your previous performance, not just JC but that'd come into it, that would suit you. So if you were a consistent D grader in say Honours Maths they would probably put you in a pass class for LC. But if you were a consistent A grader, then got a D or something bizarre in JC they might consider it differently.

I know for me anyway, at the end of fourth year (or third, for those who didn't do TY) we were given a sheet to put our subject options and chosen level for next year. So you could stick down whatever level you want, but if the teachers have a problem with it they'll probably.. talk to you about it etc., recommend dropping. But like, if you failed English for JC but it was your goal in life to do Higher level for LC and if you proved you could work, they'd probably let you in.

This post has been far longer than it really needed to be.

jb91

Deliverance wrote:

Hi my nephew is doing the junior cert he is bright and clever and so on, maybe a bit to much so. He maintains that the junior cert doesn't matter and the leaving cert is the important one.

So he is studying very little and not taking it anyway seriously, I don't know where he is getting his info from but apart from the obvious laziness and lack of motivation he is showing, is he right in that the results of the junior cert do not academically effect him overall ie: College and so on if he decides to go that route?

Where's the inspiration to study?

Leaving Cert : College places. Jobs. It'll affect you for years.

Junior Cert : You're definately going to TY or whatever you choose no matter what happens. No one I know even remembers what they got in theirs. And I got mostly Cs in my mocks despite hardly studying. So what's the point?

Deliverance

It sounds like the junior cert adminstators need the kick in the ass from what has been said. Students have a future based on what the teachers propose to give them as an incentive. So far the incentive is quite bad. This is not a good example to show to any student on how they should evenutually deal with their life based on reality at the end of the day.

Oh and I do not think this thread has gone on to long, I think that the folks that have been gracious enough to reply have exposed a real need for the junior cert exams to be somewhat upgraded and realised by continuous study in a more productive way to prevent the apathy created by meaninglessness 'get by' study as an example for the inevitable LC.

If this was done effectively then the LC wouldn't be so much of a pressure in my view. Then maybe more talented individuals would not be lost in the system which teaches them that laziness pays off at an 'impressionable age' ie: at the juniour level.

X-Ecuti0ner

Dead Ed wrote:

Kick his ass, if he starts sailing through school exams with little or no study he'll have no idea how to study if he goes to college and will be completely screwed. You can't sail through college in the manner that you can in the state exams. I've seen it happen plenty of times and reckon it's one of the main reasons for people dropping out.

. I think that making him study realy hard is bad. If your parents ask you to do work, it gets you stressed and then you end up a nervous wreck. That won't get you the best results in your exams. The guy is confidence. If he is confident in his ability just let him go for it, you only have one shot at life and he shouldn't have to spend it inside with his face in a book. And if hes so clever, he'll no to study for leaving. And there's always 4th year to catch up if he did bad in his leaving.

cailin_donn

If he wants to apply for any job in Europe, he'll need his JC results. So studying would be a good idea!!