Schol Exams

allsaintssue

Hey Guys,

I'm just wondering if anyone is considering doing the Schol exams? Or if anybody has done them and has any (much needed!) advice?! I'm in General nursing so any advice about that particular discipline would be amazing but all advice and comments are totally welcome!

Thanks a million!

Sue:)

allsaintssue

Senior fresh

allsaintssue

Actually they warned us that since we aren't really doing Biology, Sociology and Psychology this year, in the same format as were doing them last year, there is a strong chance we may still have to do our summer exams!:(

But onwards and upwards, the Schol exams seem hugely beneficial and the money would really come in handy!

Randomness

I second this query.

However before I ask all BESS related type questions (I think I'll wait till after we have a talk about schols) I'd like to throw in some general ones that the previous poster may also like answers too (or not, I dunno).

1) When do the "this is schols" talks generally take place?
2) When should you start studying (if this time has past, can you realistically catch up by now?).
3) How much extra study on top of normal course work per week would be required?
4) Are they really rock hard or actually quite doable once you put in a bit of effort between here and there?
5) If you thought that there were loads of people far smarter / exam types in your class going for schols should you even bother trying?

I realise alot depends on course and stuff but if anybody has any thoughts that would be great. Also ignore the negative-ness of my questions, I am just curious of what the real deal is.

Finally can any post in plain english all that you actually get (and the alternatives e.g money) when you get schols. I tried looking it up but what I want to know are the details. Also if you go away on Erasmus/Exchange for JS how does it all pan out?

allsaintssue

I do have some answers to some of those questions:)

The exams take place in March.
The breakdown of money is all available on the tcd website, search schols on tcd, and you will find the official schol page.
I know people who have got it after 3 months studying, so we should have plenty of time!
Em, there are a lot of people who i would consider to be more intelligent than me but I figure its worth a try, we can always do it again next year.
Hope this helps!

See some of the links down the page here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054901993

mathew

Im pretty sure Im gonna give them a bash..

The engineering society organised a talk for us from an engineer who got schols last year.

He said he spent about 3-4 hours studying pretty much every day from Christams on.
Its hard to say for definite tho, firstly because everyone is different and secondly because all courses differ. With engineering, most second year stuff is an advancement of first year stuff, where as in other courses some topics may be completely new..

Money wise, you can take accommodation or 2500e per year. The scholarship is 5 years long.. you can pick and chose year on year what you want
You can opt for commons dinner, or 200e per year in place of that.

All college fees, including registration fees are paid for. So you only have to pay for sports centre membership and USI membership.. ~86e

Then there is the the sch. after you name... no summer exams, so effectively summer from the 11th of May and of course the joy of getting it..

Its a lot of work but I think is definitely worth it.

AFAIK the official talk from college is after we get back from the Christmas Holidays... some time in week one of HT..

tolosenc

I'm goin for it. Hasn't been a CSLL schol for 5 years or so, time to buck that trend, methinks. My major obstacle will be the French Department. *sigh*

Brian

You DON'T HAVE TO DO EXAMS!?

Kwekubo

Baza210 wrote: »

You DON'T HAVE TO DO EXAMS!?

SF Schols candidates in (almost) any course who get a 2:1 or better in the Schols exams are exempt from the summer examinations in their course for that year only.

Another bonus that goes with Schols: if you do exceptionally well (on a College-wide basis), you may be elected as one of the 70 Scholars "on the Foundation", meaning you are technically a part owner of Trinity and have extra voting rights.

Podge_irl

I think this is the last year that you there will be exemptions from the summer exams as they are moving the exams to Christmas once modularisation/semesterisation/whatever its called comes in.

2) When should you start studying (if this time has past, can you realistically catch up by now?).
3) How much extra study on top of normal course work per week would be required?
4) Are they really rock hard or actually quite doable once you put in a bit of effort between here and there?
5) If you thought that there were loads of people far smarter / exam types in your class going for schols should you even bother trying?

I don't know the answer to 1)
2)It entirely depends on the person, and this is not a question I've ever understood people asking so much. You need to study enough so that you are capable of answering past papers to the appropriate level (this is the most important thing you can study for schols imo) and ensure you know the material enough that you can answer whatever comes up. The amount of time that takes varies - some people do it in a week, some people take 5 months.
3) Similar answer. However, it is definitely worth looking into the schol exams for your subject. Some subjects tend to involved no work outside the course, some expect you to have more indepth knowledge of the course and some require material outside that covered up until the exams. As an example, I did TP schols and the exams were fairly similar to the standard of the summer exams - some of the summer exams were in fact harder.
4) Very doable, though again it depends on the subject. It is definitely an advantage to be in the science end of things I think, but by and large I would be of the opinion that the schol exams have earned a reputation they don't quite deserve and that puts many people off. They are by no means impossible, and if you think you would be capable of getting a first in your summer exams you should have a good shot at getting schols.
5) Schols is not competitive in that regard - you will recieve a scholarship if you reach the appropriate level, what others do has no effect on that. The only difference is the Foundation Scholarships, but they are essentially different in name only.

HoboJesus

Randomness wrote: »

3) How much extra study on top of normal course work per week would be required?
4) Are they really rock hard or actually quite doable once you put in a bit of effort between here and there?
5) If you thought that there were loads of people far smarter / exam types in your class going for schols should you even bother trying?

Most questions are answered but I'd just like to point out that getting the scholarship is in no way a competitive process. If you get a first average, you get schols, regardless of how everyone else did. This is for science subjects anyway, not sure how they treat artsy types.

Also, again for science, or even more specifically maths/physics, the scholarship exam was on first and second term of second year only. This is mainly because second year is based on first year, but no niggling little equations or the like from first year were really expected to be known at all. Also nothing outside the lecture series was even broached except for the "general physics" question of the physics paper, but that was more based on physical intuition than knowledge.

Any more questions on maths/physics specifically I'd be glad to help. Also as a general note, it is totally totally worth it, once you put a bit of effort in. It's just unecessary guilt and stress otherwise.

CJTobin

Linkees:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054872190

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=207496

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=240382

I'd just like to point out that AFAIK registration/tuition fees are paid for EU scholars only, and non-EU scholars have their tuition fees reduced to match those of an EU student.

Also, 60% or more gets you exemptions, but only from the exams that you take schols in. This may vary from one department to the next though.

Good luck if you do decide to take them!

allsaintssue

Hey,
Thanks everyone for all your feedback, I'm much obliged!
I think I'm definitely going to give the Schol exams ago now!

pisslips

Holy god, why doesn't someone inform incoming undergrads of the schols.
I just found out about them as a postgrad, if I'd known........jesus, why don't they advertise it?!

PurpleFistMixer

pisslips wrote: »

Holy god, why doesn't someone inform incoming undergrads of the schols.
I just found out about them as a postgrad, if I'd known........jesus, why don't they advertise it?!

You serious? The utter crapness of TCD's entrance scholarship is made acceptable by the amazingness of the proper Schols.

pisslips

What?
How was I supposed to know about this?
I mean I was in school, how was I to know?
Dammit, really dropped the ball on that one.

PurpleFistMixer

*shrugs* Career guidance counsellor? Word of mouth? Research into universities? (Yes, I did look into which universities gave the best scholarships. God, if I was in any other one I could have multiples of 1000 euro.)

tolosenc

There's an SU talk at 6 in the Ed Burke next Weds (26th), just saw a poster there.

\o/