In Fifth Year and Would Really Appreciate Study Tips

Nic Neptune

Lables and gentlespoons!

Basically I'm in Fifth Year and would really appreciate some study tips for the Leaving Cert. Time and time again I've heard sixth years saying that you really should study throughout fifth year, so I'll learn from their mistakes.

Not being vain but I'm a good student. If I study I'll get straight A's (Minus Irish, which I find very hard) and if I don't study at all I'll get a B- or C. But I know that doesn't apply for the actual Leaving Cert so I feel I need to do the work now.

I am considered a nerd but I find it hard not to be distracted. Since the age of five I've wanted to be a writer (Screen-writing would be my dream) and since a rapid improvement (in both skill and confidence) within the last two to three years I've been writing non-stop. It's literally all I want to do from one end of the day to the next and even when I'm studying and not writing, it's all I think about.

I want to study over the next year and a half in a way that I can both get a lot of work done (without stressing myself) and also get some time to write.

I was wondering what you guys find to be the best methods of study. Yeah, I can practically memorise the book for tests but with the volume of work I'll have done by sixth year that won't work. (Damn!)

Do you find taking notes from each chapter, doing flashcard-like notes, revision books or exams papers the most effective or a healthy combination of each?

I basically want to study in a way that I can have a decent bit of leisure time but also a decent bit of study time. I'll list my subjects with the level so if there are any good revision books/websites for them, or if you have any tips regarding that particular subject then it'd be much appreciated.

Irish (O) ----> My weakest subject. I find it very hard.
English (H) ----> My best subject. I've a natural flare for it.
Maths (O) ----> Dropped back to ordinary level this year. Find it easy.
History (H) ----> Simple. Find it easy to learn and understand.
Geography (H) ---> Very easy though sometimes hard to memorise.
Biology (H) ----> Very easy but again, a lot to remember.
Business (H) ----> Again, very easy but a lot to learn. I find it hard to concentrate as it rather bores me!
Music (H) ---> Extra subject. I get one class a week outside school. Find it okay.

Any help/tips will be appreciated! Thanks a mill in advance.

seriouslysweet

I find reading information, making sure I understand it and then trying to explain it back to myself helps. Then I condense chapters into flashcards. Does not take long. I do at least an hour or sometimes two a night of study, I've found it very manageable but it is quality rather than quantity. My cousin is a scriptwriter and had terrible Irish but noticed lots of jobs in TG4, she did an intensive month course and now writes for Ros na Rún, maybe try watching that Tues and Thurs and half 8. Supposed to really help!

Nic Neptune

Thanks a million for the tips! I'll deffo give that a try.

And thanks for the script-writing info. Let's hope TG4 still have some vacancies when I'm looking for a job. xD Lol.

Chris Martin

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056130676

Some decent techniques here

Nic Neptune

Thanks a lot!!

Chuchoter

For quotes and phrases, sticking things on the wall is the best tip ever. I have all my Hamlet and Aiste phrases in marker on a sheet up on the wall, and I remembered all of them with barely any study after spending ages trying to write them out/flashcards to no avail.

I'm in 5th year too and so far I'm not finding the revision books too much help, I think in 6th year they will be more useful. In any sort of science, make sure you know definitions and experiments like the back of your hand, definitions word for word. I've made a big folder of brainstorms that have lots of colour for all my science subjects, I think this would also work for geography. It really cuts down the reams of texts if you want to flick through things before a test.

Nic Neptune

Some great tips there, thanks.

Sticking things on the wall is a superb idea! Especially like if I take a five minute break from studying, I'll probably end up reading the quotes on the wall.

For Biology I have (what we've done so far) all of my definitions written on sheets (chapter by chapter) and I read one page every night so I'll remember them without over-studying.

For History I'll actually take the important dates and stick them up with the relevant events. That'll help me remember too.

Thanks again!

EuropeanSon

I have merely one tip, regarding History, though I imagine it's equally applicable to other intense theory-based subjects where you've reams of information to simply "learn off".

Don't read the information - write it. Write out each essay topic in a 3/4 page list of bullet points (length may vary depending on handwriting size and topic in question, obviously), and try to learn them as you write, they stick in your memory far more effectively that way. Don't restrict yourself to doing this just once for each topic if it fails to stick, sometimes repeated layers of reinforcement are necessary (especially if it is a less than thrilling topic, for example Britain in the inter war period for me).

Source for credibility of the tip: 97% in LC HL History last year, including full marks in two essays, in which I scored 114/100 and 108/100 (by including excess information, obviously only 100 of those marks were actually counted).

Edit: In addition, the importance of dates is vastly overstated. I used very little of them, except in essays dedicated to short periods of time (eg. The Hungarian Uprising, the essay I scored 108 on. The 114 was on Stalin, and included almost no dates.).

Bonzo-Reborn

I haven't even read what others have said in reply to this thread however, as far as my study normally goes these days...

I research the books I need, I look at the index, look at the chapters, find relevant information and write it all out.

As far as English goes (My only really amazing mark in LC - A2) what I always did was write and rewrite essays and poems. Until I could write them (not word for word) but fluently.

Points arranged on paper at the beginning and then following these adding from the general knowledge of the subject and working around to fit a question.

Learning key terms and phrases for the comparative is always a must to get your C's in every paragraph.

Short Story is yours! Do what you wish with it!!

Short questions are also simple.

As far as History goes, keep writing essays. Check past papers cover key topics and main parts of history and then delve deeper. Get a wider reading than school books. Go to a library and search some terms other sources will look amazing if you quote them in the exam.

leaveiton

I do Higher Level Irish, so I don't know much of this will apply to you, but some of it might be helpful to others

Basically, all my Irish teacher ever does for prose/poetry is translate the notes in the book into English, and we've to figure it out from there. After a fair amount of trial and error during the year with different study techniques, I eventually found one that I think really works for me. This is just me, though, so it might not work with others at all! But I used this for all the prose and poetry I had to learn for my Christmas exam, and got a pretty good mark in it.

First, I read through all the notes in the book, a lot of which I had translated above the text in Irish. Just to make sure I understood it.

Then I went over it again, picking out key words - themes, adjectives, anything relevant really - and just writing those words on their own down. I paid particular attention to any words that kept cropping up in the notes and sample answers. I focused mainly on these words, as if I knew some decent words, my logic was that I could just construct simple sentences around them, e.g. "Feicimid X sa dán seo" or "Déanann an file cur síos ar an X"

As well as the isolated words, I also went through the notes and wrote out some full sentences. I didn't learn these off word for word, it was just to give me a general idea of what I need to mention in the answer, and also to put the words in some context. Now and again, I'd encounter a sentence that I'd learn off, because it was a good sentence, but I definitely didn't go overboard on that.

It took me a fair bit of time to do this for each poem/story I'd studied, but I feel it paid off in the end. Like I said, this is just a method that works for me, it may not help you, or even anyone else. But thought I'd share, anyway

Ktryan

Hey I hope these are of some help to you!

Ok so the first thing to do is make yourself familiar with the "ins and outs" of the exam structure, you may think this is a really pointless thing to do but it will boost your confidence when you see the exam paper in June 2012 and when you sit your practical!

Performance exam

• Their are 3 important things to consider when choosing your music for the exam:
  • The pieces should vary in style, composer and era
  • The level of difficulty of each piece
  • Your ability to perform the piece as part of a programme
• My advice regarding preparation for the performance exam is to get the grunt work done in 5th year allowing time for embellishment in 6th year with the hope of having the pieces very nearly ready for christmas so you can have a proper run through at the mocks.
• Also if you are a nervous player, practice playing infront of people, this doesnt have to be getting someone to sit down and listen just start playing when people are around, this will really help you as the exam is called a performace exam not a practical!
• The second part of the performance exam consists of an unseen test. You can choose from various differnt options including, sight reading, aural memory, improv and sight clapping. I would advise choosing sightclapping, this is probably the easiest of the lot, but requires practice. Practice these past tests as a way of improving http://www.examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=ex&sc=mc

Composition

• this is divided between a harmony question (60 marks) and a melody question (40 marks)
• Marks can be easily picked up on the harmony question. My advice for it is:
  • DO QUESTION 5!
  • Know your cadences
  • Know good chordal progressions
  • Ensure you know how to use inversions
  • Practice Practice Practice
• The melody is tougher to do well in, the examiners mark it harder, my advice?
  • DO QUESTION 1
  • Practice both minor and major melodies, ensuring you can use the melodic and harmonic minor where needed
  • Make sure you are comfortable with an upbeat (anacrusis)
  • Know the format to follow, this is your best friend! (eg A, A1, B, A2)
  • Know instruments ranges as you will loose marks if you write a melody for an instrument who cant play the melody, clarinet and flute are the safest options usually.

Listening

• Q1 (25 marks) This is a detailed question in 3 parts from one of your works
• Q2 (10 marks) set work
• Q3 (10 marks) set work
• Q4 (10 Marks) set work
• Q5 Irish Music, divided into 2 parts, Listening (15 marks) and essay (10 marks, note this is just as many marks as a listening question!)
  • Listening: 3 extracts- know your dance types, their time sig, an example of a bar of rythm from one, be able to identify them. Know singing styles, sean nos regional style (be able to identify them, muster donegal etc) also make sure you can identify fusion betwen trad and something else, so you should know characteristics of irish music.
  • Essay: Only needs to be an A4. Go through the papers, and write an essay on every one that has come up, you will notice a serious pattern! its easy to presict, i suggest you just learn the essays off, if you know a handful you will be fine as you can guess which are comign up fairly easily.
• Aural Skills (20 marks) Just work on it, practice the ones in the papers and correct them using the marking scheme on examinations.ie to get used to the language needed

I hope some of this is helpful, leaving cert music is all about perseverence, just keep practicing questions. This is really helpful for all elements of your exam, practicing listening questions for set works will really help you get a grasp of the style of language the examiner wants you to use.

Good luck in the exam, if youve any questions dont hesitate!

squishykins

Just with regards to sticking things to your wall; take over the house. I got this tip from my history teacher, really helped Have loads of post it notes in the kitchen, so when you go to get a teabag, repeat what's inside the door of the cupboard before taking it, etc.

Also, easons sell something called "the magic whiteboard". it's like a tenner, and you get a certain amount of while sheets that stick to the wall by themselves, and you can write notes on them I had them on all the walls and ceiling of my bedroom, and in the bathroom and hall They're fairly big, so you can read them from a distance and the info goes in if you're constantly subjecting yourself to it