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Advice to someone heading into the LC?
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08-08-2009 2:52am#1I know it's a few weeks away yet (thank God) but when September rolls around I'll be heading into 6th Year. I really don't want to leave everything after the mocks, I want to knuckle down from the start. I guess I'm looking for any advice any ex-LCer can throw out there. My points threshold is pretty high, I'm aiming for the 600 cos I want to do Medicine (and I do English, Irish, Maths, French, Geog, Chem and Biology, all HL, tho considering dropping to OL in Maths).
So any tips? I know ye're all anxiously waiting on results and stuff so I'm not expecting too much but anything would be great. How'd you study, e.g in an after school thing or at home? How much studying would you get in a day aside from homework? How much studying at weekends? Where were you left for chilling out time and how much? For someone who didn't work exceptionally hard (but pretty well) in 5th Year how obtainable is a good LC?
Maybe others will pitch in with their own questions and best of luck with the results lads!!!
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Well if I could give you 1 piece of advice on studying it would be not to waste free classes! You can get loads of extra study and homework done. Even ask can you go to a quiet room on your own or with a friend to study! But also don't over do it and take some free classes as break!
For French what really helped me for the essays were link words(ex. also, in my opinion, despite) and idioms (raining cats and dogs, making a mountain out of a mole hill). Then for the journal intime phrases such as "What a nightmare" or "I have just had the worst day of my life" really come in handy! For the oral know your tenses! During my french oral she asked me will i be going on holidays this summer and i said "i am going to spain" and then i forgot all of my other holiday phrases. At the end i mentioned that i forgot my phrases and she said "to be honest i was just checking your tenses anyway". Practice the oral by doing mock orals with a teacher(i must have done 10) and the actual oral exam will come to you as second nature! Keep practicing the aural too! Its the same for irish!
For maths its all about practice! keep doing your past papers and have your teacher correct them! When you finish the past papers...do them again! If you are not sure about a particular question make sure you ask the teacher to explain it! Even if you drop to ordinary you must still keep practicing!
Just don't over do it and stay up til late at night and all that you will just tire and stress! You need to relax too!
Good luck, hope you get 600points!
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I know it's a few weeks away yet (thank God) but when September rolls around I'll be heading into 6th Year. I really don't want to leave everything after the mocks, I want to knuckle down from the start. I guess I'm looking for any advice any ex-LCer can throw out there. My points threshold is pretty high, I'm aiming for the 600 cos I want to do Medicine (and I do English, Irish, Maths, French, Geog, Chem and Biology, all HL, tho considering dropping to OL in Maths).
So any tips? I know ye're all anxiously waiting on results and stuff so I'm not expecting too much but anything would be great. How'd you study, e.g in an after school thing or at home? How much studying would you get in a day aside from homework? How much studying at weekends? Where were you left for chilling out time and how much? For someone who didn't work exceptionally hard (but pretty well) in 5th Year how obtainable is a good LC?
Maybe others will pitch in with their own questions and best of luck with the results lads!!!
A good leaving cert. is very achieveable, a great leaving cert. requires work. What you need to do is pace yourself, it's where I made my biggest mistake. Right at the beginning I threw myself into the long hours, grinds, evening study and all the extra work I could fit in. Believe me it wasn't long before I totally crashed out exhausted! Evening study is a great way to work, it makes you focus and gets you into a regular pattern. Ease yourself into your work, I reccommend going maybe 2/3 a week a first and build it up. You should maybe go on a friday evening and get as much of your written work out of the way, that way you can take more time to rest and revise bits from your 5th year work.
For language courses, you should get the cd's for the aurals and work your way though them at home in a quiet surrounding. It won't be long before you notice your oral work improving also. This also goes for exam papers, regardless of what you do in class, I always made time to work through them myself, to read the comprehensions and time myself as according to the alloted times.
As for how long to study/relax, it is up to you, but you really don't want to push yourself too hard. I found myself doing 3 sometimes 4 hours a night which included eveing study and a listening or comprehension. On nights when I had little homework I wouldn't go to study and just go home and relax beofre doing work, you wiull need it. And as for weekends I did a half day on Saturday morning and take the rest off and then the opposite on the Sunday. I sadly gave up most of my hobbies this year and completely regret it. You need them to keep you sane, and relax your brain. I needed them towrads the end when the breaks were few and far between. The resting is just as important as the study in my opinion. I have a friend who got 700 points in her leaving and she didn't give up a single hobby, she even played a camogie match the night of her Maths 2 exam!
And finally as for the maths level, do what you feel comfortable. Maths was my only pass subject and it really was a nice break to go to after all my iother higher subjects. You can actually feel less pressure in that class, it was such a releif to have one subject not to stress about.
Hope all this helps,
just remember RELAX AND TAKE BREAKS!!!!
TootyfluttY
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not to waste free classes
The fact is if the teacher knows their was going to be one they will have gone to the end of the earth to set you work and home work anyways.
Oh and ignoring my first comment
If a teacher sets you work especially after christmas when things start picking up unlike the rest of time you spent in school ..feel free to tell them you didnt have time to do it as projects start setting in and stepping up a gear they normaly (teacher dependant ) leave it at that
Its your leaving not theirs your going to hear that alot0 -
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I know it's a few weeks away yet (thank God) but when September rolls around I'll be heading into 6th Year. I really don't want to leave everything after the mocks, I want to knuckle down from the start. I guess I'm looking for any advice any ex-LCer can throw out there. My points threshold is pretty high, I'm aiming for the 600 cos I want to do Medicine (and I do English, Irish, Maths, French, Geog, Chem and Biology, all HL, tho considering dropping to OL in Maths).
So any tips? I know ye're all anxiously waiting on results and stuff so I'm not expecting too much but anything would be great. How'd you study, e.g in an after school thing or at home? How much studying would you get in a day aside from homework? How much studying at weekends? Where were you left for chilling out time and how much? For someone who didn't work exceptionally hard (but pretty well) in 5th Year how obtainable is a good LC?
Maybe others will pitch in with their own questions and best of luck with the results lads!!!
You do realise that if you're aiming for med, 600 is really only 10 points more than 550. I know it's only a small thing now, but don't fantasize about 600 and stress yourself out. The new system is there to help, not hinder.
As for subjects and study etc., you seem to have a decent mix.
Chem is a beautiful subject, especially orgchem. Just remember, chem is all about understanding and visualisation. If you can imagine the molecule's appearance, or what should happen in an experiment, chem becomes handy enough. The only real bit of rote learning in chem is the applied section, but that's usually pretty interesting stuff so it's fun knowledge, rather than boring stuff, as is usual with by-heart information.
<edit>Just remembered how nasty the marking in Q5 is. The effort required to know the definitions perfectly, for me, doesn't correlate with marks awarded, so I'd avoid that question.</edit>
Bio is simple. Again, diagrams and visualisation make it much shorter than what people make it out to be.
French is a bitch. If you're like me and are decent at the oral but miserable with the grammar, you won't enjoy it. I certainly don't.
Is teanga iontach í an Ghaeilge. Great subject. Poetry's a whore-in-an-alley but they give you the poem on the exam paper, so it isn't too bad. The oral and the aural pimpsy if you try to speak it at home. And apparently grammar is only worth like 15-20% of paper two so it's coolio in that regard. A decent grasp of grammar is, however, needed for paper one. Please don't learn an essay by heart, though. It defeats the purpose of learning the language.
I don't do geo or OL maths so I can't help you there, unfortunately.
Poop, next year won't be fun for me. :mad:0 -
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I know it's a few weeks away yet (thank God) but when September rolls around I'll be heading into 6th Year. I really don't want to leave everything after the mocks, I want to knuckle down from the start. I guess I'm looking for any advice any ex-LCer can throw out there. My points threshold is pretty high, I'm aiming for the 600 cos I want to do Medicine (and I do English, Irish, Maths, French, Geog, Chem and Biology, all HL, tho considering dropping to OL in Maths).
So any tips? I know ye're all anxiously waiting on results and stuff so I'm not expecting too much but anything would be great. How'd you study, e.g in an after school thing or at home? How much studying would you get in a day aside from homework? How much studying at weekends? Where were you left for chilling out time and how much? For someone who didn't work exceptionally hard (but pretty well) in 5th Year how obtainable is a good LC?
Maybe others will pitch in with their own questions and best of luck with the results lads!!!
Okay, since you want to do Medecine, and you are already looking for advice on the LC, I assume you're a fairly intelligent person who is willing to work hard.
So what I would reccommend is, from September to Christmas, do all your homework from every subject and do it is well as you possibly can. Tackle every question you are given as if you are doing it in the Leaving cert. Specific 'study' is not all that important up until Christmas. If you know what your learning, and doing the homework well, and understanding everything, then you will be surprise how much that helps when June comes around. I would also make sure that you attend all classes and pay attention in all classes. Make sure you know what's going on, and try to understand all the material that is being thought.
The other thing to focus on from September-December is projects etc. Make sure you have as much work done as possible for all your projects. I didn't Geo, Bio or Chem, but I'm pretty sure you need some sort of report or project for at least one of them. If possible, have that as close to 100% completed. You do not want any extra pressure hanging over you after Christmas. I would also include Irish and French oral material in 'projects'. It's a set % of the exam that you can obtain before sitting the written exam. Get your story together for the oral, learn your verbs, learn 'connecting' words and practice getting a conversation to flow.
The reason I would not encourage serious study up until Christmas is simply because it's too hard, it's not that beneficial, and you run the risk of burning yourself out. 6th year is a hard year. By the end of the exams, you will be absolutely shattered. There's no need to go at the study full throttle from the start. If you insist on doing some 'study', I would reccommend something simple. Revise just one chapter from one subject a night. Something simple. Read a chapter in the Chemistry. Re-familiarise yourself with the material. All these little things will help when June rolls around.
After Christmas, you'll be coming to the end of the course in most of your subjects. This now gives you a chance to step back, and look at the course as a whole. I remember looking at the Physics course at the start of 5th year. I was thinking to myself, "holy ****, how the f*ck am I supposed have all this stuff in my head". When we finished the course in 6th year, I was able to look at the course as a whole. I was able to see all the sub-divisions within sections, and I was able to see that the course was actually manageable. Looking at the course when you're finished is a big help and it really does make it easier to study.
As for the actual, hard core, no messing, LC study, the trick is exam papers, exam papers, practice, practice, exam papers. Make sure you are familiar with all parts of the course in all your subjects. Make sure you have the books studied. If you have not done this (and trust me, if you've been doing all your homework, paying attention in class, and understand the material, you will have an excellent grasp on the material, despite not doing that much 'study'), then do it. Make sure you are familiar with the course to at least make an attempt to answer any question that could come up. If you are familiar with the material, bate into exam questions.
First, practice answering the questions as best you can. This means if it takes 2hrs to write an English essay, you write it. Once you have familiarised yourself with the types of questions asked, and the techniques to obtaining maximum marks in the questions, you then must practice timing. In most exams in the LC, timing is huge. You have to be able to produce a quality answer in a set amount of time. There's no point writing 7 pages of high quality English if it's taking you 2hrs to write those pages. Practice under time constraints and you before long you will be writing quality answers in the given time.
If you do all this, you should be well able for the pres. The mocks give you a chance to practice for the leaving cert. Do not pass up this oppurtunity. Whatever you do, do not cheat (ie, look up the exam papers on the internet, trust me, it's really easy to do). If you are ready, then you shouldn't have to cheat. If you aren't ready, well maybe failing a few mocks is the kick up the ass you need to get you going again. The mocks are a golden oppurtunity to practice timing and exam technique.
If you are not ready for the mocks, don't worry. In the week before, try to know as much information as you can going into the exam, and try to put together some answers. If you can manage 50% answers (ie, there are 80 marks for a Question, and you get 40 marks) in a pre, those answers can easily be brought up to around 80% by June.
After the mocks, you're usually going to be concerned with orals. Be as familiar as you can with spoken French/Irish and just do your best in the oral. The oral is probably the thing people are most nervous about, but it's way easier than you'd think. Just be confident and you'll be fine. The week before the oral, French or Irish will really be the only thing on your mind. You will be spending a disproportionate amount of time on your languages but that's okay. You're other subjects may suffer a little for a week or two but that's a sacrifice that can be made. Be confident and you'll be fine in the oral. It's definitely one of the easiest places to pick up marks in. And if you're really not good at it, remember, it's very hard to fail the oral part of the test. Even if you're dire, you'll more than likely get over 50% of the marks available for the oral.
Once the orals are over, you're heading into the home stretch. Believe it or not, if you've done f*uck all up to this point, it's still very achievable to get really good results. The last few weeks is where it all comes together. If you've done nothing up to this point, then you will have to work like hell for the last few weeks. Crash courses of familiaring yourself with a full course in three nights, and then practicing exam questions on the fourth and fifth nights. It's not easy, but it can be done.
Assuming you have been working up to this point however, the last weeks is all about making it come together and tieing up loose ends. Go over anything you're not quite sure of. Make sure you know all parts of all the courses. Look deep into the syllabus and see what kinda trick questions they could throw up. Keep doing exam papers. At this stage your exam technique should be getting quite good. You should be able to do nearly all questions in the given amount of time. Go through marking schemes and make sure you know how to go about getting maximum marks in each question. Polish any areas you're not quite comfortable with. Be confident in your technique, your timing and your knoweledge.
The last two weeks of school are usually a bit of a break. The focus switches from Leaving Cert to 'end of school'. If you've done your work up this point, take a bit a of a break here (you'll need it!). If you haven't done the work, you still need to struggle and do lots of study in these 'doss' weeks. Enjoy you're last week or two and enjoy the graduation night. The week before the exams start, and the exams themselves will take a lot out of you. You need a bit of a break here. A break doesn't mean doing nothing, it just means not doing as much. Still do a bit of work at night, but theres no need for the 6hr study sessions or whatever. So basically, enjoy you'll few days in school. You've worked really hard up to this point. Now you need to take a break, recharge the batteries, and get ready for the month-long grind that is the Leaving Cert.
During the few days before the exams starts, just go over everything. Nothing too intense, you're probably familiar with everything by now, but just give a check to make sure you are. If you want, practice a few more exam questions if you feel you need to. Focus on quotes and formulae and make sure you are 100% confident in all of the quotes/forumulae/dates/stats you need.
The nights before each exam, take it easy. Go through the exam paper layout and make sure you're ready for each section. Glance through you're sample answers and make sure you know your timing for each question. Other than that, relax and chill out. Get a good night sleep and be confident in yourself. Wake up the next morning and do the exam. I wouldn't really reccommend going over the stuff the morning of, or the hours before an exam. Maybe go over quotes or formulae, but there's no point trying to learn off a whole section in an hour or two, it's much too hard.
This is pretty much my reccommended crash course to 6th year. It's a long post but I hope most of it is readable and my grammar/spellling/coherency is okay. I'm sure there is also some stuff I left out. There's probably some stuff I would reccommend to do, but it seems so second nature to me that I forgot to put it in. Anyway, hope this helps and hopefully at least one person reads it.0 -
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I found Honors Maths very difficult in 5th Year (only got a pass in my summer exam) and I've been unfortunate to have brutal teachers from 1st Year in Maths.. should I stick at it, get grinds and work like crazy? Or save myself time and drop to pass? I'm just wart of jeopardising my other subjects for Maths, it wouldn't be unusual in 5th Year to have spent 2 hours doing homework (and often getting it wrong) and leaving myself kinda straddled with other subjects and stuff.
Have a read over this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055595700 ....which i've just noticed you started, but if you ask here again you're gunna get the same answers back anywayAnd going back over the material from 5th Year... most people seem to say work steadily til Xmas and dive in after. Did you try and go over some 5th Year material from the start of the year? How'd it go for you, whatever way you did it?
Ya, i'd advise to be going over 5th year stuff from september. You don't have to do mad hours of studying every night, but if you think of it, after christmas you've only got a few weeks until the mocks. The year really really flies and you don't want to find that you've forgotten all the 5th year stuff in march. What alot of my teachers did, once we went back, was give us one topic to revise ourselves over a week, along with new material. Even just a small bit of study over things you did in 5th year will leave it alot easier to revise later on in the year when the pressures on 0 -
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I know it's a few weeks away yet (thank God) but when September rolls around I'll be heading into 6th Year. I really don't want to leave everything after the mocks, I want to knuckle down from the start. I guess I'm looking for any advice any ex-LCer can throw out there. My points threshold is pretty high, I'm aiming for the 600 cos I want to do Medicine (and I do English, Irish, Maths, French, Geog, Chem and Biology, all HL, tho considering dropping to OL in Maths).
So any tips? I know ye're all anxiously waiting on results and stuff so I'm not expecting too much but anything would be great. How'd you study, e.g in an after school thing or at home? How much studying would you get in a day aside from homework? How much studying at weekends? Where were you left for chilling out time and how much? For someone who didn't work exceptionally hard (but pretty well) in 5th Year how obtainable is a good LC?
Maybe others will pitch in with their own questions and best of luck with the results lads!!!
first of all, good luck to you in your exams,
secondly, (im not irish didnt do irish for LC) but i heard irish is one of the harder subjects, and then math
i suggest if your expecting 100 points in irish then drop down by all means in math
otherwise just drop down in irish and get stuck in for math and get grinds etc
biology - learn section 1 and 2 of the book off by heart, and then do main topics such as human + plant reproduction from section 3, this is a guaranteed A1 in biology trust me
chemistry, know all the experiments (dont try to predict whats gona come up, just know them all, and be better at ones that might come up, some say its predictable whats comming up, but SEC are a.holes when they make the paper sometimes for chemistry), work on organic,
geography, i dont know i didnt do it
french - i did german so no comment (but as in irish and german, the aural can make or break you, same with the tape exam)
english, i did ordinary im afraid so no comment
and if you dont get medicine, try to do like science or chemical engineering or something and apply for the amazing med schools in like carrabien or something, they offer guranteed residency match programmes in america and prepare you well for USMLEs0 -
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