study? help meeeeee

LegacyUser

Hey all, I'm an 18 year old girl from Dublin

I'm hopefully doing a PLC course in September/October in Fine art & design but the thing is, there are no points requirements, just an interview & portfolio. Of course I'll still do my leaving cert in 5 months but, what about study?

I don't need to study to get high points, but I don't wanna laze around for the next 5 months either. What'll I do?



cheers folk

RHunce

I'd still hit the books pretty hard, for the satisfaction of knowing that you worked to get what you achieved and that you know what you are capable of in the future if you need to takt further exams which is quite a possibility.

Also at the end of the day you don't want to be left out when your friends are saying i got 450pts and you are sitting there with youre 250. It's nice to see all of your hard work pay off. It's only five months! Go for it!

LegacyUser

thank you kindly:) am I right in not feeling too stressed ?

RHunce

Yeah you'll be fine on the day of the test if you do a bit here and a bit there. You dont want to be stressed in the test or especially two weeks before the test and suddenly realise you should study. Stay relaxed like you are whilst still doing some work and you will be fine.

PM me if you have any more problems, i know what it's like!

ConsiderThis

RHunce wrote: »

Yeah you'll be fine on the day of the test ...

I'm curious to know how you know that?

RHunce

RHunce wrote: »

Yeah you'll be fine on the day of the test if you do a bit here and a bit there.

don't partial quote especially when you leave out the important bit of the sentence.

tbh

study? wrote: »

Hey all, I'm an 18 year old girl from Dublin

I'm hopefully doing a PLC course in September/October in Fine art & design but the thing is, there are no points requirements, just an interview & portfolio. Of course I'll still do my leaving cert in 5 months but, what about study?

I don't need to study to get high points, but I don't wanna laze around for the next 5 months either. What'll I do?



cheers folk

work as hard as you can for as long as you can. Not only is it a good habit to get into, but a good leaving cert will be handy if your mind or circumstances change.

Kicks

I know people who changed their minds on what they wanted during college and I think for some, their leaving cert grades had a say in what they could then go on to change to - if you get 150 points for just lazing around you might find it slightly harder after your course to get a job over someone with a great leaving or also if you wanted to do another course, some ask for you leaving grades.

Obviously concentrate on your portfolio but when you do study I wouldn't just sit back and not bother to much, I'd actually treat it like you would if you needed the points to cover yourself.

outspann

Jump forward two or three years. Say you have an interview for a job and you are up against another person who has the same PLC qualification as you do, similar standard of work, etc. But they have 400 points in their leaving cert and you have 250.

If I was the interviewer, I'd certainly lean towards the person with the better Leaving, because they have the talent to do the course AND a proven work ethic to knuckle down and study. Or say after your PLC course you decide to go on and do a degree - again you'll be competing with people who may have a similar PLC qualification. You need something that will give you an edge over them.

Good luck!

morningpeasant

Why not use the time to build your portfolio for art college so you can go straight in next year and not have to do the portfolio course?
Also, if you do decide to do the PLC, you may still need the points the year after next to get into art college. If I am not mistaken, you have to add your Leaving Certificate points to your portfolio in order to get it.

dudara

Let's say that, heaven forbid, you don't get the PLC course you wanted. If you at least studied for the LC, then you'll have gotten the best points that you could and hopefully other avenues will be open to you.

Right now, it's all about maximising your options.

It's not surprising that you don't feel stressed. The L.C. doesn't start for another 5 months yet. But I would be starting to get my ass into study mode if I were you.

miss no stars

Yeah see, I made that mistake. Fortunately enough I'm quite bright, my memory is exceptional, I have a good ability to just figure things out (like maths and physics) on the spot and I'm a master-bull****ter. Fortunately my points don't look bad, but I know in my own heart I desperately underachieved in my leaving cert...

Oh and then when it came to it, I didn't get the "low points" thing I was after (other reasons) and then found myself in a course I didn't like and couldn't apply for the one I wanted because I didn't have enough points (but would have had I studied a little). I have a lucky habit of landing on my feet so I did get into a good course and copped on and started studying and stopped coasting.

Do your best.
Do your homework every day (something I NEVER did, literally did not do homework and teachers stopped asking) and then just do one hour of study. In that one hour, pick one bite sized topic you don't understand and decide that by the end of the hour, you'll understand it. When you understand it, make some brief notes that will jog your memory come May. (Don't make notes before you fully understand something, they'll end up just being a transcript of the book).

The difficult bit is sitting down to do the work. A lot of people think they need music when all it does in reality is distracts them. It's 5 months of your life. That's all. Just 5 months and then you're done with leaving cert. Do it right so that you don't have to do it again.

Ok one last little study tip. Ditch the highlighter. If something needs attention drawn to it, take a red pen and ruler and underline the key point. People have a tendancy to highlight too much, negating the purpose. When you do highlight reasonably, it has a tendancy to draw your eye to that too much so, meaning you don't properly process what's not highlighted. Underlining makes it easier to read the whole passage, while still noting what's important to know.

Sorry for the rant

unattendedbag

Am I right in saying that there is such a mark to Pass or Fail the leaving cert? Something about 5 passes out of 7 subjects, 3 of which must be english, Irish, and Maths? Its what I was told in school anyway. This is the bare minimum to gain entry into any 3rd level college and most public service jobs. Best off is to pass at least pass these subjects even if its at ordinary level. That way if you decide you want to go to a 3rd level college after the PLC then you will still have the option, instead of having to go back and repeat the leaving.

RHunce

you fail your l.c if you fail english, irish or maths

Larianne

If you are doing an art and design course you will probably afterwards like to go onto Art college which requires the Leaving Certificate. The points for courses might not be as high as other courses as they use you portfolio to give points so but still...

Also, jobs will look at your Leaving Certificate results before employing you.

Give it your best shot.

OP, with all due respect, you're 18. A year from now, you could totally change your mind and decide you want to do something completely different. You should do your LC as if you needed to get the maximum points possible. I mean, don't have a nervous breakdown over it, but work hard. A good LC could potentially open doors for you in the future, a bad LC will prevent you from doing things. Why would you waste this opportunity by not doing your best? It's a hell of a lot easier to do it now while you're in school than try to resit it at 30 to try to get out of a dead end job.