Study Timetables and the sorts

K-Bowie

First time poster, big time worrier !

Well, I've just started 6th year and after doing sweet f all last year I've decided to put my head down and crack on with the study straight away and get the course I want (BESS in Trinity) just looking for people to give me an insight to there 6th year and how they operated with there timetables, how much per subject and how much did they push them selves from the start how did you split your time for oral and written/grammar work. I'm doing 7 subjects all higher Irish, English, Maths, Business, Economics, Physics and German. More than likely dropping Irish too ordinary to releave stress on myself
Also if anyone has an example of a timetable they used or are using it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

lilmizzme

Hey! Welcome!!

First of all, its september....now is not the time to be stressing out about work load etc! Most of your teachers will probably still be finishing up courses! If you start burying yourself in the books now you'll be burned out by Christmas!!

Having said that, start getting into good habits now in terms of class tests and homework. Do your homework every night! Don't fall behind! Personally, I didnt bother with timetables in 6th year. I dont think they work for everyone. I found them too restricting and put myself under more pressure trying to stick to it (i tried them in 5th year!) From now to Christmas, I'd concentrate on homework and revision for class tests. Homework (done properly) should take between 2-3 hours leaving an extra hour or so to study for a class test or go back over a chapter or two. Maximum 4 hours a night is what Id recommend, with maybe a couple over the weekend to revise weekly work.


Remember to still have a life. Dont cut yourself off from the world by staying in every weekend. Socially, 6th year was amazing for me! 18th parties almost every week!! Dont let the stress get to you! And dont panic. Even if u have done SFA till now, you still have time to get the points you need!!

Hope this little ramble has helped!!;)

PurpleFistMixer

I only really first started using study timetables coming up to my mocks, which were at the end of January.
I think I allocated 2 hours a night to study on top of homework, which I broke down into 3 40-minute sessions. In each one I'd study something different, and be specific about what I was doing, ie "Art History - Newgrange", "Physics - Definitions" or something. If you're too vague you'll end up spending half the time set aside trying to decide what to study. I used my phone as an alarm to tell me when the 40 minutes was up and so didn't really dwell too much on "oh 10 minutes left", as I didn't look at my phone.
I was pretty busy in January, probably doing another 2 hours of not-exactly-school-related work on top of that, which is why I only spent 2 hours a night on study. Other people might say do more, but of course it depends on how much you need to do, which you know yourself, and how well you study. No point spending 3 hours leisurely revising something you know you could get done in 40 minutes if you're focused about it.

Up until the mocks I was basically just doing my homework and making sure I was on top of things. After the mocks everything turned towards orals/practicals so things went a bit mad tbh.

For the last term I did supervised study after school each day, so that was 2 hours. In that time I didn't do any homework, only study. It meant I just had to do my homework when I went home, and tbh, I was more afraid of teachers killing me than not getting my study done, so I was motivated enough to do it. Though, on days when homework was light, I'd do a bit more study, just to even out the work.

For when I was doing supervised study, I made a general plan of "Monday - Irish and Maths, Tuesday - French and English, Wednesday..." etc., and then around Sunday of each week I'd plan out exactly what in those subjects I'd cover. That sounds pretty meticulous but tbh it didn't take long. For maths + applied maths I was just donig exam papers, and for other subjects I was well aware of what needed revising, so it was simply a case of dedicating days to do different things. Having it all planned like that made getting the work done a lot easier, I felt. Though not all would agree, that's just what worked for me.

Also, it might seem obvious, but don't forget about your school timetable when planning your study. For example, if I had Irish last class, I wouldn't plan on doing French any time soon afterwards. If I had maths last thing, I'd frequently feel like continuing whatever I was working on, so I'd plan to do maths study straight. Things like that. A bit of variety can be nice, too, if you get bored quickly. (So follow studying mathsy things with writey things, or whatever.) It's a small thing, but can make studying easier.

lilmizzme

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Also, it might seem obvious, but don't forget about your school timetable when planning your study. For example, if I had Irish last class, I wouldn't plan on doing French any time soon afterwards. If I had maths last thing, I'd frequently feel like continuing whatever I was working on, so I'd plan to do maths study straight. Things like that. A bit of variety can be nice, too, if you get bored quickly. (So follow studying mathsy things with writey things, or whatever.) It's a small thing, but can make studying easier.

Yeah good point....when i was studying say, maths for an hour, i always tried to do something totally different after like Irish or English afterwards and vice versa!

Though i would disagree about the timetable thing...I had a double irish class last thing on a thursday...the last thing i ever wanted to do that night was do more irish!:eek:

PrivateEye

If you start burying yourself in the books now you'll be burned out by Christmas!!

Found myself saying that a lot to people over the last few days. Seriously, don't get stressed out at the start of the year, you'll regret it at the end. You'll be fine*


*Me getting through is proof of this.

PurpleFistMixer

lilmizzme wrote: »

Though i would disagree about the timetable thing...I had a double irish class last thing on a thursday...the last thing i ever wanted to do that night was do more irish!:eek:

Well, what I was saying was to be aware of things like that. I know if I had double Irish I wouldn't want to do any more, so I wouldn't plan on it. For some subjects though, like maths, once I got on a roll as it were, I'd like to continue it. Different for everyone though, and for different subjects etc.!

liverpool lad

Well I suppose starting as early as you can is the best. even doing all your homework every night is a good start and when your told to learn something actually do learn it. It was at the start of december i started studying properally, doing a fair ammount everynight especially coming up to the christmas exams and did a little bit (not too much because you need a break) during the christmas holidays. The main thing is to work on the subjects your weakest at but still not forgetting the ones your best at because at the end of the day thats where the majority of your points will come from. Have the right balance between study but aim for a good bit during each day.

Also, it is important to keep up study once you start it because it really is easy to make a good start and fall back so really...start off with an easy ammount of hours and then increase it as the weeks go by..

If you have any problems about studying or the subjects that i did (eng irish maths biology business) you can private message me.

K4t

I spent three hours at homework tonight and that's after a grind at 5pm. It's ridiculous :rolleyes: My ordinary irish teacher is giving us an essay a night and it's completely unnecessary. FFS, it's ordinary irish. Give us a break! :mad:

Gavin "shels"

Jebus, 3 hours and a grind.

Since being back I've got from 1 hour to 3 hours a night written homework, then the odd 30 mins learning.

Try doing things over a few days if you can, example I got 5 past paper questions over the course of a week in Maths, so I tend to try and do one a night (tonight I do 2 because I didn't have a huge amount of homework), be careful though not to let homwork bulid up though.;)

KnifeWRENCH

I made out a study timetable - and did not stick to it! Unless you're extremely disciplined, you'll find yourself tending to stray from a study timetable.

It's only September, so the most important thing to do now is concentrate on doing all your written and learning homework. Don't start thinking about having to do the exams yet, it's too early to be worrying.

Just do your homework every night and if there's a night where you get little or no homework, then just pick a subject and revise stuff that you're not sure of. Perhaps get your exam papers and do a couple of questions. Little things like this can help a lot.

As for the Orals, your teachers will more than likely do a lot of work on them after Christmas. It helps to revise basic vocab and grammar but don't go straining yourself yet.

Throughout 6th Year, I didn't do a massive amount of study, I just did my homework and a bit of revision here and there. And that's all you need really.
For the 2 weeks before the exams, I crammed and crammed and crammed a lot more. Cramming doesn't work for everyone, but you can get an enormous amount done if you put your mind to it. However, there's no need to start cramming yet.

Put the exams out of your mind and instead take every week as it comes.