Leaving Cert 2012-13 *OFF-TOPIC* (hideaway) thread

frozenfrozen

smurphy11 wrote: »

i have a french oral next week but im repeating and not doing french next year so dont know whether to bother doing it or not.. what do lads think?

learn off a nice long thing saying you're not doing french next year and impress them then leave and never speak the language again

CookieMonster.x

TehFionnster wrote: »

CookieMonster.x wrote: »

Going to CTYI and Bru na Pairce. Thinking of going to France to learn french but not sure yet, it's quite scary thinking about it!

Which Bru na Pairce dates are you going to?
Also, I hear a lot about CTYI on this thread. What is it?

I'm going to the girls one in June. CTYI run college courses for 6-17 year olds who are in the 'gifted' range. I've done medicine, neuroscience, astronomy and loads more.

0mega

CookieMonster.x wrote: »

I'm going to the girls one in June. CTYI run college courses for 6-17 year olds who are in the 'gifted' range. I've done medicine, neuroscience, astronomy and loads more.

I'm not directing this at you, but that CTYI just sounds really pompous to me.

Glee_GG

0mega wrote: »

I'm not directing this at you, but that CTYI just sounds really pompous to me.

its not really, well some people are a bit but sure thats the same anywhere. The way I see it is some people go to the gaeltacht for irish, some people go to french college and some people go to ctyi to do other courses!

0mega

Glee_GG wrote: »

its not really, well some people are a bit but sure thats the same anywhere. The way I see it is some people go to the gaeltacht for irish, some people go to french college and some people go to ctyi to do other courses!

The Gaeltacht and French college are for people from any background or intelligence quota, etc. to come together and interact while learning.

For that CTYI, it's as if they only admit the 'cream of the crop'. You need to be in a certain percentile in an IQ test to attend don't you?

I'm not criticising the people that go there, I'm sure it's great - but I think the whole programme itself is pompous.

CookieMonster.x

0mega wrote: »

Glee_GG wrote: »

its not really, well some people are a bit but sure thats the same anywhere. The way I see it is some people go to the gaeltacht for irish, some people go to french college and some people go to ctyi to do other courses!

The Gaeltacht and French college are for people from any background or intelligence quota, etc. to come together and interact while learning.

For that CTYI, it's as if they only admit the 'cream of the crop'. You need to be in a certain percentile in an IQ test to attend don't you?

I'm not criticising the people that go there, I'm sure it's great - but I think the whole programme itself is pompous.

Yeh you have to take a test to get in. It's good because it gives you a challenge. I hope I don't sound cocky or anything but a lot of above average people are very bored in school and it gives them a challenge. I think it's good and in my own experience some people think you're weird (including friends and just to clarify I'm not ).

TehFionnster

It does sound very pompous.. Also, I believe the prices are completely extortionate from what I've seen. Out of interested, what IQ does one have when he/she can be classified as gifted?

Glee_GG

TehFionnster wrote: »

It does sound very pompous.. Also, I believe the prices are completely extortionate from what I've seen. Out of interested, what IQ does one have when he/she can be classified as gifted?

theres no specific IQ, it just goes by the top 5% in your age group.

MWick94

Just wondering if anyone knows about the Honours Irish LC paper for our year. Do we have to know anything about the poet and their life? One HL teacher said we don't and the other said we do. Slightly confused right now.

reznov

I completed CYTI when I was 4 because I was ranked top 1% out of the 17 years of age group. It was excessively boring at times and I really regretted wasting my talent there. Homeschooling for the win!

0mega

MWick94 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone knows about the Honours Irish LC paper for our year. Do we have to know anything about the poet and their life? One HL teacher said we don't and the other said we do. Slightly confused right now.

You do, the poetry question on the SEC Sample Paper had discussing 'the poet' was one of the parts of the question.

MWick94

0mega wrote: »

You do, the poetry question on the SEC Sample Paper had discussing 'the poet' was one of the parts of the question.

Thanks, the teachers in my school seem to have no clue about what is going on.

SureYWouldntYa

0mega wrote: »

The Gaeltacht and French college are for people from any background or intelligence quota, etc. to come together and interact while learning.

For that CTYI, it's as if they only admit the 'cream of the crop'. You need to be in a certain percentile in an IQ test to attend don't you?

I'm not criticising the people that go there, I'm sure it's great - but I think the whole programme itself is pompous.

It pompous beyond belief. I was there during my primary school days. I got 100% in all them drumcondra tests we done for years and in summer between 5th and 6th class my teacher advised my parents to send me there. Dont remember much of it because i had to leave after 3 days but we done a test at the start and i came 14th in a test for all under 14 when i was 11. My mother was telling people that i was the 14th smartest person in Ireland which was so stupid and so snobby of her

Colm!

MWick94 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone knows about the Honours Irish LC paper for our year. Do we have to know anything about the poet and their life? One HL teacher said we don't and the other said we do. Slightly confused right now.

Yes, definitely. Like, take Syliva Plath or someone like that for example; their poems heavily reference their personal lives and you need to know about that to explain them well.

Eurovisionmad

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

It pompous beyond belief. I was there during my primary school days. I got 100% in all them drumcondra tests we done for years and in summer between 5th and 6th class my teacher advised my parents to send me there. Dont remember much of it because i had to leave after 3 days but we done a test at the start and i came 14th in a test for all under 14 when i was 11. My mother was telling people that i was the 14th smartest person in Ireland which was so stupid and so snobby of her

Hit the nail on the head, I went when I was younger, I thought it was such a waste of time filled with self-important c**ts!

buyer95

Glee_GG wrote: »

its not really, well some people are a bit but sure thats the same anywhere. The way I see it is some people go to the gaeltacht for irish, some people go to french college and some people go to ctyi to do other courses!

My experience of the Gaeltacht was living for the ceili's were at sos at the ceili, half the lads and girls were around the back of the hall meeting, we had a great time but learning Irish ranked fairly low on the priority list! We spent the 3 weeks arsing around, having the laugh and sure did classes for about 2 and a half hours a day but the rest was a holiday, I mean we were 2nd years away from our parents, and had no real thought for education.

This CTYI, no offense to anyone, sounds like a load of people licking eachothers arse, and complimenting one another on their " special ability ." Give me those 3weeks irish college staring at girls skirts anyday!

MegGustaa

Just like to give a little defence of CTYI here while you're all giving it a hard time.

Firstly, it is not an inherently pompous programme. I've attended the teen programme three times and never encountered a degree of pomposity from the staff or from 99% of students. There are some arrogant people there, yes. But let's face it. Those people are everywhere.

Secondly, "giftedness" is not the same as doing well in school. The people who go there are not there for a "grind". Indeed, the classroom comes an easy second to the social element of the programme. It's a chance for like-minded teenagers, who have often experience some degree of social isolation and bullying in school at some stage, to get together and make close friends over the course of three weeks. If you're in the top 5% of students in the country, it's very likely that you could be the only person you know who is classed as 'gifted'. That can be a lonely experience, especially if you have difficulty relating to others (and it is *not* always a case of just "being more social". Believe it or not, but some people have serious problems fitting in at school that can't be remedied by "trying harder", for a multitude of reasons). This might be the only occasion when you meet someone who's been through something similar, at least until university.

It's an extremely inclusive environment, where people with all kinds of interests are allowed to be themselves and express their interests without fear of people openly ridiculing, mocking or jeering them - or worse, physically bullying them. I know from experience that *this* is what most people who attend the programme appreciate most (in general) about their three week stay. There are no grades, no exams, no school pressure. People don't give a damn how many As you got in your Junior Cert. People talk about music, and TV, and art, and movies, as well as politics and philosophy and religion and ethics and all those things that might interest them but no one in school wants to talk about or thinks is interesting. The passion I've heard politics debated with at CTYI is unparalleled, at least in terms of teenagers.

Giftedness is not about academics. In my time there, I've encountered people from all ranges of the grade spectrum. Some get straight As, others fail ordinary level subjects. There are also people with Asperger's Syndrome, Austism Spectrum Disorders, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and a whole host of other difficulties who go there. There are also people who get on perfectly well in school and have no major issues - physically, emotionally, socially or academically.

My time there has made me more tolerant of differences than anything else I've ever done. It's exposed me to a much more diverse range of people than I could ever hope to meet at school. It has humbled me, and taught me that my straight As do not make me superior to others - and that there are a million ways to be talented.

Most importantly, it taught me to neverbe ashamed of myself or my passions. It's easy enough for someone who loves what everyone else loves to be open about that because no one's going to make fun of them for it. Not quite so when you don't have so much in common with the majority of your peer group. I gained buckets of confidence from going to CTYI - as well as making friends with similar interests to me, which has in turn informed my ability to get along with the people I go to school with.

Long story short, CTYI is less about academics and more about the social experience. If everyone could go, it'd be the same as school. It's hard to appreciate its importance if you've never experienced the sorts of problems it helps to solve, but please do no label it as pompous until you've been there. It is the furthest thing from pompous.

0mega

Well that's shut me up.. :eek:

reznov

MegGustaa wrote: »

Just like to give a little defence of CTYI here while you're all giving it a hard time.

Firstly, it is not an inherently pompous programme. I've attended the teen programme three times and never encountered a degree of pomposity from the staff or from 99% of students. There are some arrogant people there, yes. But let's face it. Those people are everywhere.

Secondly, "giftedness" is not the same as doing well in school. The people who go there are not there for a "grind". Indeed, the classroom comes an easy second to the social element of the programme. It's a chance for like-minded teenagers, who have often experience some degree of social isolation and bullying in school at some stage, to get together and make close friends over the course of three weeks. If you're in the top 5% of students in the country, it's very likely that you could be the only person you know who is classed as 'gifted'. That can be a lonely experience, especially if you have difficulty relating to others (and it is *not* always a case of just "being more social". Believe it or not, but some people have serious problems fitting in at school that can't be remedied by "trying harder", for a multitude of reasons). This might be the only occasion when you meet someone who's been through something similar, at least until university.

It's an extremely inclusive environment, where people with all kinds of interests are allowed to be themselves and express their interests without fear of people openly ridiculing, mocking or jeering them - or worse, physically bullying them. I know from experience that *this* is what most people who attend the programme appreciate most (in general) about their three week stay. There are no grades, no exams, no school pressure. People don't give a damn how many As you got in your Junior Cert. People talk about music, and TV, and art, and movies, as well as politics and philosophy and religion and ethics and all those things that might interest them but no one in school wants to talk about or thinks is interesting. The passion I've heard politics debated with at CTYI is unparalleled, at least in terms of teenagers.

Giftedness is not about academics. In my time there, I've encountered people from all ranges of the grade spectrum. Some get straight As, others fail ordinary level subjects. There are also people with Asperger's Syndrome, Austism Spectrum Disorders, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and a whole host of other difficulties who go there. There are also people who get on perfectly well in school and have no major issues - physically, emotionally, socially or academically.

My time there has made me more tolerant of differences than anything else I've ever done. It's exposed me to a much more diverse range of people than I could ever hope to meet at school. It has humbled me, and taught me that my straight As do not make me superior to others - and that there are a million ways to be talented.

Most importantly, it taught me to neverbe ashamed of myself or my passions. It's easy enough for someone who loves what everyone else loves to be open about that because no one's going to make fun of them for it. Not quite so when you don't have so much in common with the majority of your peer group. I gained buckets of confidence from going to CTYI - as well as making friends with similar interests to me, which has in turn informed my ability to get along with the people I go to school with.

Long story short, CTYI is less about academics and more about the social experience. If everyone could go, it'd be the same as school. It's hard to appreciate its importance if you've never experienced the sorts of problems it helps to solve, but please do no label it as pompous until you've been there. It is the furthest thing from pompous.

How much did CRYI pay you to sell your voice of reason?

TehFionnster

reznov wrote: »

How much did CRYI pay you to sell your voice of reason?

The wit of this man is simply too much to bear.

decisions

So when are everyone's exams starting?

I start with English, French and Applied maths on Thursday.

buyer95

decisions wrote: »

So when are everyone's exams starting?

I start with English, French and Applied maths on Thursday.

For reasons best known to themselves, our teachers convinced the new principal to move the test forwards two weeks, we did all our exams last week, which now means we have a week and a half left of doing precisely nothing. It's blissful now, usually the stress is awful with revision at this time of the year, but now we are very much on wind down, we got no homework tonight!

When we returned from the Easter holidays the news was broken to us, which gave us plenty of time to prepare(nonetheless I left it all to the weekend before, but overall I was happy, with how they went.)

Have a fun week of exams:D

Glee_GG

decisions wrote: »

So when are everyone's exams starting?

I start with English, French and Applied maths on Thursday.

starting next monday til thursday!

So much to do and so little time.

decisions

buyer95 wrote: »

For reasons best known to themselves, our teachers convinced the new principal to move the test forwards two weeks, we did all our exams last week, which now means we have a week and a half left of doing precisely nothing. It's blissful now, usually the stress is awful with revision at this time of the year, but now we are very much on wind down, we got no homework tonight!

When we returned from the Easter holidays the news was broken to us, which gave us plenty of time to prepare(nonetheless I left it all to the weekend before, but overall I was happy, with how they went.)

Have a fun week of exams:D

I hate you :pac: , enjoy the sun.

CookieMonster.x

I have both English papers tomorrow.. Have only done a bit of Macbeth and one poet and we have so much on our papers

decisions

2 English papers :eek:

I only have a 2 hour exam. We have the essay yoke, an unseen poem, comparative and studied poetry.

Colm!

Starting next monday with 2 English papers, got 6 exams total that week and then in after the LC to do Maths Papers 1 and 2 (2012)

0mega

Colm! wrote: »

Starting next monday with 2 English papers, got 6 exams total that week and then in after the LC to do Maths Papers 1 and 2 (2012)

WHAT?! :eek:

TehFionnster

0mega wrote: »

WHAT?! :eek:

My overall progress is the epitome of inferiority compared to this. You've covered the whole maths course?!

Glee_GG

Colm! wrote: »

Starting next monday with 2 English papers, got 6 exams total that week and then in after the LC to do Maths Papers 1 and 2 (2012)

How have you covered enough maths to even do this?! Never mind the fact that that sounds completely mad!