First Year Summer Exams

girlz

How important do you think first year summer exams are?
The reason I ask is, my dad has booked and payed for a family holiday including grandchildren, as a surprise for mum for their 50th wedding anniversary.
The week booked is the week of the exams...
Would you take your child out of school and miss his exams or would you just not go on the holiday?

TIA

MagicMarker

Completely and utterly pointless exams.

I'd go on holiday.

zero19

Very important, your future is decided by those results!

Mr. Loverman

What age is the child?

Wolfe Tone

Fail,and you will die.


Only two important exams in your school life, entrance exam(if you end up in a scumbag class you are doomed) and the leaving.

Saila

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

What age is the child?

old enough to be in first year

they are important exams, if it was 2nd year exams less so, but first year you have the seeing how he will be prepared for the junior cert, these are important exams.

TPD

First year of school? Fcuk em! They might decide if the child moves to/from honours/ordinary, but any half decent teacher will know when to move the kid anyway.

CianRyan

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

What age is the child?

Most likely 13-14.


Exams mean nothing, go on holiday and allow your child to laugh at his class mates.

Guill

He's going to end up on the dole and/or emmigrating anyway, so holidays it is!

I Love Cheese

They are nothing more than an big in class test, really aren't all that relevant.

LD

Those exams are important. Surely you want to keep track of your child's progress since his/her education will have a significant impact on his/her future. Also, you need your child to see school as an important and not something that can be put on the backburner for other events.

One option is to get copies of the exam and have your child sit them under exam conditions when you come back.

Spot the student teacher.

Blatter

Tell your teachers and ask them can you sit a make up of some of the exams the week before you go.

Most teachers would be delighted that you do that rather than not do anything at all.

MagicMarker

Saila wrote: »

old enough to be in first year

they are important exams, if it was 2nd year exams less so, but first year you have the seeing how he will be prepared for the junior cert, these are important exams.

How are 1st year exams more important when it comes to seeing how prepared a child is for the Junior Cert?

Naikon

Don't worry aboot it. Just take the last month off before the leaving and cram like ****. I did not work at a consistent pace throughout my secondary school years, yet still got through. Working "hard" is for suckers anyway. You need to make a schedule and plan well. This is better than just mindlessly "studying" for x number of hours. The only thing that matters is the answers you give on the day. Nothing else. Colleges only care about points, not your personal profile. They will tell you otherwise, but you need to figure out how you actually learn.

FlawedGenius

If your planning on doin your leaving even the junior cert aint that important. First year exams means sfa, go on holiday!

CD.

not at all important.
i missed a mock english exam in 6th year still got an A2 in the actual leaving.
the exam dosnt matter its what was learned prior.
the only important exam is the actual leaving cert.

Saila

MagicMarker wrote: »

How are 1st year exams more important when it comes to seeing how prepared a child is for the Junior Cert?

first year sets the bar and 2nd year prepares and focus' it towards the junior cert.

CD.

Saila wrote: »

first year sets the bar and 2nd year prepares and focus' it towards the junior cert.

sitting the exam wont make any difference to what teh child knows?
surely in the end of year report the teacher will have some idea of how the child is fairing due to homework and what not, plus teh mid year exams would also give some indication of what standard the child has reached.

Naikon

Saila wrote: »

first year sets the bar and 2nd year prepares and focus' it towards the junior cert.

Solid study a month or two before the Junior is more effective for most people than studying like a trojan from the 1st day onwards. Won't work if you need 500 points or whatever, but I don't think taking school so seriously at such a young age is good for personal development.

MagicMarker

Saila wrote: »

first year sets the bar and 2nd year prepares and focus' it towards the junior cert.

Seriously? This is what they teach you in teacher college?

Naikon

MagicMarker wrote: »

Seriously? This is what they teach you in teacher college?

Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach.
/awaits teh flaming

s3129

Irrelevant.

Just to generally see how each child is doing and if there is any need to move them to different classes, but all this will be known anyway by the school work through out the year.

Go on holidays and enjoy it because for the next few years your child will be working towards j.cert & L.cert & possibly summer working, so just go

randylonghorn

Generally I'd say don't book holidays to clash with school year / exams etc., if only to avoid sending a bad message to your kid: i.e that you don't take it seriously, so why should he?

A big family holiday / celebration to mark your parents' 50th wedding anniversary is a big deal though. Discuss it with him, and stress that it's only because it's such a major event, and because he's only in first year yet, that you're making an exception on this occasion.

Speak to the school too. It would be great if they *did* allow him to sit make-up exams before he went, even if in only some subjects, but in fairness they may be reluctant as it would set a precedent which could easily be abused by others.

Naikon wrote: »

Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach.
/awaits teh flaming

Those who can't think of anything original to say quote tired clapped-out old saws?

Chaotic_Forces

The exams are nowhere near important. I would advise you to ask their math teacher to give them a test based on what they learned so far. Other than math, you can basically just learn facts for the other subjects.

Glenster

That happened to me in first year. Parents booked a holiday, 1st week of holiday was exam time. I had to stay at home on my own and do exams! I was only 13!

jackiebaron

girlz wrote: »

How important do you think first year summer exams are?
The reason I ask is, my dad has booked and payed for a family holiday including grandchildren, as a surprise for mum for their 50th wedding anniversary.
The week booked is the week of the exams...
Would you take your child out of school and miss his exams or would you just not go on the holiday?

TIA

Just ask the teacher if they can set a separate exam for your kid when the holiday is over. They'll probably just say "fcuk it, don't worry". Your kid would have missed the exams if he was sick or in hospital or jail:eek:.

girlz

Thanks for all your replies, they were very helpful.
We have just had meeting with teachers and they said he would more than likely be doing higher grade in math and irish. I just hope by him missing exams it would not go against him in this decision.
BTW we didnt mention holiday at meetings, remember too well the lectures about attendance way back in my school days.:D

michelledoh

Yep, even the Junior Cert means nothing!
Go go go!

girlz

Forgot to say, we had a good laugh at some of your replies:D

Chaotic_Forces

girlz wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies, they were very helpful.
We have just had meeting with teachers and they said he would more than likely be doing higher grade in math and irish. I just hope by him missing exams it would not go against him in this decision.
BTW we didnt mention holiday at meetings, remember too well the lectures about attendance way back in my school days.:D

I really, really word have him sit some kind of math exam. Obviously a different one from the other kids for obvious reasons. He might be able to grasp it with a book in class but if he can't replicate that ability in a test then he will need to study more. I think math is the only subject he should take a test in to be sure.

jackiebaron

Chaotic_Forces wrote: »

The exams are nowhere near important. I would advise you to ask their math teacher to give them a test based on what they learned so far. Other than math, you can basically just learn facts for the other subjects.

C'mon man, it's maths.

Cheeky_gal

girlz wrote: »

How important do you think first year summer exams are?
The reason I ask is, my dad has booked and payed for a family holiday including grandchildren, as a surprise for mum for their 50th wedding anniversary.
The week booked is the week of the exams...
Would you take your child out of school and miss his exams or would you just not go on the holiday?

TIA

Awh Take the child on a holiday!

Chaotic_Forces

jackiebaron wrote: »

C'mon man, it's maths.

Yes and as such it's probably the easiest subject for kids to do well in since they have the book. Take the book away and it's a strict case of "you either know it or you don't". It's not like you can suddenly revise it over a few days. You need to both know how to do the math work and how to do it to show your work.

fakearms123

I first thought you were talking about first year college and I was thinking that its not exactly the best option because you will have to repeat all the exams in august. But first year of secondary is grand, head away and let the little ones get sunburned to bits!