Study in 6th year?

Tom1111

Just wondering all you who have just got your results, how many hours a day of study would you advise someone going into 6th year to do a day to get a very good leaving cert? Also, anyone going into 6th year now, how many hours do you plan to study a daythis year? Thanks in advance.

i'm a smiler

It's not really about hours, it's about using those hours....

I worked consistently since fifth year. I did on average 3.5 hours per night of study and homework from september.

I worked hard over easter hols and bank hols etc.

On weekends I did about 5 hours each day. If you get up early you can have the afternoon and evening free.

Breaks are also very important. I watched tv, went out, listened to music, played piano, went shopping with my friends, cinema etc. I def wasn't tied to the books!!

In the two weeks before the exams I did about 7 hours a day which was exhausting!

In the end I got 600 points so my hard work all paid off.:)

Best of luck!;)

Futurism

Tom1111 wrote: »

Just wondering all you who have just got your results, how many hours a day of study would you advise someone going into 6th year to do a day to get a very good leaving cert? Also, anyone going into 6th year now, how many hours do you plan to study a daythis year? Thanks in advance.

You probably won't do as much as you plan. I started 6th year with great study motivation but quickly got lazy. I did almost nothing, cramming once a month or so, and then just crammed the days before the exams and did reasonably well. If you think you could pull that off then go for it; but otherwise I would suggest just showing up every day and doing the homework properly every night. You'll be surprised how well you could do doing that. On weekends and holidays, just do something! You have plenty of time in the day to go out with your friends. Try waking up early and doing a couple of hours before going out. Remember that one person might study every night for 5 hours but in reality get nothing done. So it's important to test yourself and make sure you know the material.

Most importantly; find a routine for yourself and stick to it. Find what works for YOU. Hours of study in one session works well for me, but horribly for others.

Just enjoy the rest of your summer and don't think about 6th year now.

EDIT: Good post I'm a smiler, and well done on getting 600.

manutd4life

dont let procrastination get in the way.thats the one bit of advice i would give you.

i didnt study a tap after school in 6th year.it was only when we were let go that i started studying and even then i didnt do a lot of it.spent 6 hours the day before my business exam studying business,it paid of in the end with a b3.overall i got 400 points which is a bit lucky for the amount of study that i did

GA361

My advice would be to do concentrated intensive 'bursts' of study.It worked well for me any way,got545.For example-45 mins chemistry then take a 15 minute break,45 mins History then take a 15 minute break and then 45 mins English and your finished for the night.

Reilly616

Tom1111 wrote: »

Just wondering all you who have just got your results, how many hours a day of study would you advise someone going into 6th year to do a day to get a very good leaving cert? Also, anyone going into 6th year now, how many hours do you plan to study a daythis year? Thanks in advance.

Okay, so I studied intensively for about a week or two before the leaving cert. For pres and x-mas tests I just studied the nights before. I never did extra study, but did my homework as best I could. Never missed a day and PAID ATTENTION in class. For me that's the most important. Everyone told me I wasn't studying enough, but it was fine for me. I am not advising this though. I would advise as much study as you feel comfortable with. Don't overdo it. By the way, I needed 450 and got 505. Hope that helpes.

DancingQueen:)

I planned on studying a lot last year (5th year) but didnt .. I get bored easily!! But after supervising the leaving cert this year in my school it scared me into wanting to study more. I'm an all honours student and do well but i plan on studying a couple of hours every night and hopefully doing well.

Thanks for all of the advice here by the way! Hope it comes to good use And congrats on all of the great results.

IrishKnight

Tom1111 wrote: »

Just wondering all you who have just got your results, how many hours a day of study would you advise someone going into 6th year to do a day to get a very good leaving cert?

How long is a piece of string?

Walsh

Didn't do a day of study and got 255. It's a handy number the aul leaving cert

celtic723

As the guy who got 9A1's this year said:


Reporter: So what's the secret?
Guy: There is no secret. Study little bits regularly as opposed to huge chunks from time to time.

I'd say homework and study = 3 hours at least.

I can't remember what i did. I usually just done study in school and done the odd thing when i arrived home.

Quality over quantity and btw don't mind people who say they studied 5 hours last night. It's complete nonsense. My mate was a prime example: I'd ask him if he studied last night and he'd say ye i done about 3 hours. So one day his ma walked in and he was looking at the front of the physics book with his phone out. That is not study and does not count!

JW91

A very tough question to answer. It all depends on yourself. A lot of it bascily comes down to how intelligent you are. If you are very intelligent then you'll be fine doing about an hour and a half every night (that's in total between homework and study) however if things don't come particularily easy to you then you may need to do a lot more.

Personally I just did about an hour and a half every night and i got 550 yesterday. It just depends on yourself.

Nihilist21

I only started studying in March (I think), and even then I only did about 2 hours a day. However before the mocks and in the month before the leaving I upped that to about 3 or 4, and that wasn't every day. In the end I got 510 - paying attention in class is the most important thing I think. Also if you feign interest in the topics covered in class (by that I mean pretend to yourself your interested), that also helped me as I get bored and frustrated rather quickly.

Dante

As like manutd4life did, i did absolutely fúck all in 5th and 6th year studywise until the two weeks before when we were let off. I crammed like a mad man in those two weeks, actually making use of the time and ended up getting 445! Its all about putting what ever time you allocate to good use!

almostover

My biggest tip would be do do all your homework evary night. This is vital for subjects like maths and sciences. Study by doing exam questions and correcting them using the marking schemes on www.examination.ie. Then you will find out what you need to study. Trust me this works. Got me 570 in the LC.

KombuchaMshroom

almostover wrote: »

My biggest tip would be do do all your homework evary night. This is vital for subjects like maths and sciences. Study by doing exam questions and correcting them using the marking schemes on www.examination.ie. Then you will find out what you need to study. Trust me this works. Got me 570 in the LC.

Would definitely agree with this!
For me in 5th year maths teacher never checked if we did homework or not so i never bothered, had a huge amount to catch up with then in 6th year.

In 5th year as long as you do the homework and put effort into studying when you have a test that is more then enough i think.

In the first week of 6th year try and get into a habit of studying an hour or 2 for 1/2 nights a week and a few hours at the weekend and gradually build that up so your doing enough by christmas, makes it a lot easier then pilling it all on at once.

thomond2006

Whatever about the amount of time you use studying, make sure you leave time for relaxation/socialising.

Never make the excuse of having no time, make time.

cantona56

You have a tough, exciting, horrible, stressful, brilliant, life changing year ahead of you!!!.....i know that sounds ridiculous but it really is a rollercoaster of a year!!!

Organise yourself. Plan your study and what you want to cover in the long term, say untill x-mas, etc and stick it on your wall. then get a notebook and write down ur goals for the week. each day you sit down to study, plan your day from this notebook. as you complete each goal, tick it off your list!

i know all this planning and stuff sounds tedious but it prevents worrying, reassures you that you are working, and ticking off goals is a great feeling!

also a yearly planner with all important dates is a good help!1 I also found those yellow post it stickers very handy....youll be amazed how random things that need to be done niggle away at you even when your not studying!!write it down, stick it on your wall and forget about it!!!.

as for the study, my theory is write, write, write!!!...always have a pen in your hand and jot down important facts neatly, file away ur notes and plan to review them in a day, a week and then 3 weeks!in the last month i was using hand written notes only with only brief references to text books...highlighters are way over rated and are a lazy option in alot of cases!!!

make sure you take your breaks and dont think about study during them!!! if you feel ur getting burnt out take a full day/ weekend off!! dont get burnt out!!!

at the end of the day, its ur exam and only you know what works best for you!! i followed this, disiplined myself but didnt torture myself and got 7A1's!! The very best of luck to you!! hope that helps!!!:D

celtic723

cantona56 wrote: »

You have a tough, exciting, horrible, stressful, brilliant, life changing year ahead of you!!!.....i know that sounds ridiculous but it really is a rollercoaster of a year!!!

Organise yourself. Plan your study and what you want to cover in the long term, say untill x-mas, etc and stick it on your wall. then get a notebook and write down ur goals for the week. each day you sit down to study, plan your day from this notebook. as you complete each goal, tick it off your list!

i know all this planning and stuff sounds tedious but it prevents worrying, reassures you that you are working, and ticking off goals is a great feeling!

also a yearly planner with all important dates is a good help!1 I also found those yellow post it stickers very handy....youll be amazed how random things that need to be done niggle away at you even when your not studying!!write it down, stick it on your wall and forget about it!!!.

as for the study, my theory is write, write, write!!!...always have a pen in your hand and jot down important facts neatly, file away ur notes and plan to review them in a day, a week and then 3 weeks!in the last month i was using hand written notes only with only brief references to text books...highlighters are way over rated and are a lazy option in alot of cases!!!

make sure you take your breaks and dont think about study during them!!! if you feel ur getting burnt out take a full day/ weekend off!! dont get burnt out!!!

at the end of the day, its ur exam and only you know what works best for you!! i followed this, disiplined myself but didnt torture myself and got 7A1's!! The very best of luck to you!! hope that helps!!!:D

Great advice and well done on your achievement!

TanG411

The library is your friend. If you're studying at home and it's too loud or there's something happening outside, then go to your local library. It's very peaceful, you won't have any distractions :pac:

I can't really give you any advice as I only studied for 2 weeks and got 380. So I'm not very responsible. But the library for those 2 weeks really saved me.

snazzy

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Whatever about extra study, if you do your homework well, it's more than half the battle.

Mr.Helpful

The best advice I can give to someone in 6th year, is dont over do it (unless you want 600 points) you will run yourself into the ground. 400 points extremely manageable provided you keep up with homework and assignments. Work hard over the holidays eg holloween and feb. mid-term and you'll do fine. Push yourself a bit in the run up to the mocks it will pay diviedents! If I was to do 6th year again, I would write out more notes for some of the harder subjects which have a lot of writing in them!

Other than that, keep working and smiling its not that bad!

Tom1111

Thanks for all the advice everyone.:)

Blur

I didn't study until after the mocks so it's probably not the best idea to listen to my advice.

But in May and June I would literally get up at 7am and study until about 3am. I ended up getting 590 points


Everybody works differently, the most important thing to do is find out what type of brain you have and fabricate your personal study plan to that.

Mallox

number one is do your homework properly every night and not half arsed .. that to me is the best kind of study .. if you can manage that for the whole year then your really going in prepared for these exams

Anthony16

Tom1111 wrote: »

Just wondering all you who have just got your results, how many hours a day of study would you advise someone going into 6th year to do a day to get a very good leaving cert? Also, anyone going into 6th year now, how many hours do you plan to study a daythis year? Thanks in advance.

Personally,i did 3 hours of study every weeknight (friday included) and 8 hours in total at the weekends.It worked well for me and i got my points but make sure to take notes while u study and prepare a timetable for it.Also, dont over do it.In the 2 weeks b4 the exams started,the most i did per day wz 4 hours.After dat period of time,i dont think you retain as much info.

ChiefBrody

Hey, last year I just did the hw every night, only studied for every test, kicked into top gear about 3 months to go. I was pretty lazy for most of the year, but ended up getting 490.

I'm repeating, and my plan is to really push as hard as possible with the study. I know the whole prospect of getting burnt out is there, but it's only like 9 months, should make the most of it.

JSK 252

Tom, timetables work for some but not for others. I fall into the latter category. If you cant stick rigidly to a timetable then dont bother at all,its kamakazee stuff if you try to force yourself to do something your brain doesnt want to do!, you kinda have to use your own intuition which may be difficult but if you get down to your own study habits you kinda have your own timetable/routine made out in your head which isnt on paper.:pac:

With regards the number of hours I did id say I spent 3-4 hours at homework but this significantly reduced as mocks approached and we were let to our own devices in terms of our own directed study and subject concerns. During the february mid term week before the pres I would be spending 6 hours a day with breaks ( fairly long ones at that! ) starting at say 11 and finishing at 8 or 9.

After the mocks you need to completely forget about your yays and nays in terms of how performed in them as the orals will be looming. In fact there was 3 weeks to them after I finished my last pre exam. I only started working for the orals after the mocks as chopping and changing between oral and written work I felt was tedious and increased stress levels and created negative energy and worry.

After the orals ( which are nothing to be worried about if you do any ounce of oral work for Irish and your continental language ), your teachers will come out with, lads/lassies there is only 9 weeks to the leaving cert! Panick stations! ahhhhhhhh. Only kiding. This is when the real work begins and ends in june. You will have probably covered most courses by now so you should be able to look at the jig saw puzzle as a completed entity, and now get down to what needs to be done before June. We were lucky in this regard as the easter holidays were BEFORE the orals so after the orals, you can go back to your other subjects which you have probably neglected prior to the orals. There is nothing wrong with this. Priorities have to be made and thats the name of the game really.

Also the week or two off before the leaving cert begins ( depending when your principal kicks you out and you have your graduation mass ) can be invalubale and priceless in terms of the amount of last minute revision which can be persued.

Hope that helps anyway and let us how you got on this time next year on this exact thread for the craic.

I got 580 by the way so what I said isnt bolloxology!:pac:

Pygmalion

I won't pretend I did much study, hardly ever even did homework in 5th or 6th year, and got away with 425.
Hardly impressive by Boards standards I'lll admit, but I was aiming for a course that needed just 300 points so I wasn't exactly going to aim for 600 :P.

I attribute this to paying attention in class and actually trying to make sense of what was being said.
If you actually understand it fully the first time you go through it in class you'll never find yourself spending hours studying it in the future, you'll just need a quick glance from time to time and it'll all come back.
It can mean the difference between trying to cram the entire course into a few weeks and just glancing over some proofs/formulae/quotes the night before and being happy with it.

cork*girl

going into 6th year.. if i hadnt stayed back a year in primary school it would all be over.. ugh dreading the work/study and STRESS Roll on Summer '10!

JW91

cork*girl wrote: »

going into 6th year.. if i hadnt stayed back a year in primary school it would all be over.. ugh dreading the work/study and STRESS Roll on Summer '10!

The leaving cert is only as stressful as you make it. As long as you don't hit the panic button and lose the run of yourself you'll be fine. Don't worry about it at all.

Some people go way over the top and end up losing all perspective. It's only the leaving cert at the end of the day like.

ChiefBrody

cork*girl wrote: »

going into 6th year.. if i hadnt stayed back a year in primary school it would all be over.. ugh dreading the work/study and STRESS Roll on Summer '10!

Summer '10. That has such a weird ring to it...

melissavm

I paid for after-school study (2hrs) last yr and being the lazy bum that i am, i didn't go. I ended up getting 400 points regardless of lack of study and i'm kicking myself for not going because I would love to see how many points I would've been capable of if I put my mind to it.

One thing that I did at the beginning of the year however is went into the library and did some work on a Sat morning from 10 - 2 and i think it really helped. Not only does it obviously help towards your results but you can enjoy your weekend more knowing that you've already put 4 hours of study in.

9wetfckx43j5rg

I can honestly say I sat down to "study for the leaving cert" once and once only last year. I found I cannot spend time studying material for an exam months away.

Go to classes, do all your homework and after you homework see if you can remember everything. I learned by doing, and revising for class tests. With that and grinds in one subject I got 395 points

Mallox

cork*girl wrote: »

going into 6th year.. if i hadnt stayed back a year in primary school it would all be over.. ugh dreading the work/study and STRESS Roll on Summer '10!

really dont be stressing i went into 6th year expecting the same but it was one of the best years of my life. your at that age now where you can go out alot more and stuff, personally i think 5th year is when most of the work is done

the day you finish the leaving tho is a brilliant day, a natural high :L
look forward to it ..
woo summer '09 is brill best summer yet
roll on college

Fince

just one piece of advise re studying, start with your favourite subject to get you into the swing of things. a warm up for your mind. i always started with maths cause you can just get stuck into it and i enjoy it (got an A1 and hoping to do maths in college)

mufc4lfe

Did a bit of study the last 2 weeks!
I got 275.

ALincoln

To be honest, there's no objective advice you can give regarding study - it is one of the most subjective exercises a person undertakes.

A few things though:

A lot of people advise the completion of homework without fail. I'm not so sure - in certain subjects, like Maths, it is probably vital. In others however, like History and English, the time might possibly be better spent studying, and getting to know topics through reading and watching films etc. Plucking answers from texts to answer short questions and therefore complete homework is of very little long term utility in my opinion.

With study, learning in blocks works for some, but not the majority. It has been scientifically proven; your brain has a capacity and time limit for operating successfully, and once you pass this threshold, there is no more activity and study is futile.

Finally - a lot of people focus on note taking. On this, be warned; making out a set of notes does not equate to study. You have to take the extra step and actually learn the notes. This is a trap which so many, including myself, one far more than one occasion, have fallen into.

fearanpost

almostover wrote: »

My biggest tip would be do do all your homework evary night. This is vital for subjects like maths and sciences. Study by doing exam questions and correcting them using the marking schemes on www.examination.ie. Then you will find out what you need to study. Trust me this works. Got me 570 in the LC.

thats what i done and i got great results...:D

sdanseo

Walsh wrote: »

Didn't do a day of study and got 255. It's a handy number the aul leaving cert

The same, except I got 330 by some miracle.

Well, I did a little study. But not a huge amount, and certainly not reguarly - my History teacher always reffered to me as a sponge in that I remembered piles but not through effort :P .

cork*girl

thanks for the advice and tips. I plan to start in September with after school study + homework and listening in class and gradually build up!

malteasermia

up till christmas, i just did my homework (except for maths, which i love and studied all the time!)

i made a list for every subject of what i needed to do, and then set myself a certain amount of things to do each week. that way, i wasnt sitting pointlessly staring at a book, just cos it said i had to do it on a timetable! i did what i had to do, and then i was free to relax or go out!

for maths and applied maths, it was papers, papers, papers! dont just stop when you've done the past exam ones, try get old mocks ones too, as sometimes (especially in applied maths) they recycle the questions. Questions from the old maths course and the matric also can come up in maths...

for physics and chem, i had flash cards for definitions and formulas, and i did all the exam papers and old mocks ones over ad over!

english, i just did LOADS of questions and essays, and my teacher would correct them for me and tell me where i was going wrong or needed to work!

irish and french.... just do your bit for the orals, learn some sample answers/phrases, and practise the papers!

DCG was awful, noone had a clue WHAT was coming up, so i just kept doing sample papers and questions from the old course.

got 580, so it worked for me!

yellowbutterfly

Havn't done leaving yet but from what I've read here and been told seems like homework is the most important thing I guess, and then whatever study I can get done on top of that will have to do! Best of luck and well done to all the fab results.

liamygunner29

fact is if you bust your hole for 2 weeks and your going for anything under 380 you'll get it. I mean like bust your hole every day all day..don't study ****e thats not going come up and take a few chances..worked for me but then again I'm only doing arts in ucd!!

liamygunner29

malteasermia wrote: »

up till christmas, i just did my homework (except for maths, which i love and studied all the time!)

i made a list for every subject of what i needed to do, and then set myself a certain amount of things to do each week. that way, i wasnt sitting pointlessly staring at a book, just cos it said i had to do it on a timetable! i did what i had to do, and then i was free to relax or go out!

for maths and applied maths, it was papers, papers, papers! dont just stop when you've done the past exam ones, try get old mocks ones too, as sometimes (especially in applied maths) they recycle the questions. Questions from the old maths course and the matric also can come up in maths...

for physics and chem, i had flash cards for definitions and formulas, and i did all the exam papers and old mocks ones over ad over!

english, i just did LOADS of questions and essays, and my teacher would correct them for me and tell me where i was going wrong or needed to work!

irish and french.... just do your bit for the orals, learn some sample answers/phrases, and practise the papers!

DCG was awful, noone had a clue WHAT was coming up, so i just kept doing sample papers and questions from the old course.

got 580, so it worked for me!

applied maths is easy I can't believe you had to study for it.

malteasermia

liamygunner29 wrote: »

applied maths is easy I can't believe you had to study for it.

yeah, but i got my a1 in honours though so....

and anyway, it doesnt matter how easy a subject might be, if you dont study, you wont get the results.

dog_pig

I left absolutely everything to about 2 weeks prior to the leaving. Didn't do homework for pretty much any class thoughout 5th and 6th year so I knew when it come close I'd to make some sort of effort. For those two weeks I probably did about 8 hours a day on physics/maths/history and left everything else to the night before their respective exams. You'd be amazed how much you can get through in two weeks! Ended up getting 500 and should have done better only for messing up the timing completely in a few exams and making a stupid mistake in English. Now I'm not recommending doing what I did at all, I'm just saying that no matter how late you think you've left it, you can always make a difference by going over notes/doing exam papers.

dannydfc

I'm going into 6th year .
Starting to ****t it already to be honest

Stephen Esquire

I was sort of the lazy type couldn't really commit to a study plan before Christmas.I did alright in the Christmas tests which gave me a false sense of security so was happy to put in about 5 hours a week up until the mocks in which I got 390 points.That gave me a big wake up call so studied my ass off with 2 months to go 3 hours a night an got 500 points in the end.So guess it's never too late to do well!

The study I did was completely paper focused, did every paper in Business, Chemistry and Biology, ended up with 2 A2s and and an A1 respectively.German was my suprise result, the best I ever did in house exams was a C3, so I studied intensively using papers again and ended up with a B1.So basically use the past papers and you'll be fine!