When should you start studying?

goldenace

I am curious in knowing when should you start studying if you want to achieve very high results. I am currently in 5th year and I haven't done much work except the homework that the teachers give us. I want to start studying now but I've heard people say that they forget all the revised work by the end of the year. So would it be pointless to start now and instead do all of the studying in 6th year or should I do a good amount of studying now and build up on it in 6th year?

Thanks in advance.

Rowanvella199

As soon as you know your going to have an exam!

finality

Depends. Everyone's different. For me it's been ok to study the night before tests, and I plan to begin studying properly this week or next week. I've got 8 weeks or something. Other people study from 5th year, I know I would personally have either completely burnt out by now or forgotten it all if I'd done a lot of study then.

Nice triple post by the way.

goldenace

As in summer exams and other class tests?

Eathrin

Entirely up to you and what you think is necessary in order for you to achieve the results that you want. As a 6th year in March I think it's about time I started but if I'm honest I'd say I'd have been a whole lot more comfortable had I started doing a bit of extra work around Hallowe'en or so.
You'll thank yourself later if you start relatively early doing small amounts rather than...well what I'll be doing which is cramming the month beforehand:D

Togepi

Tomorrow. Always tomorrow.

Nonoperational

Tip away through 6th year and then keep upping it from Christmas on. That's when the serious stuff starts.

goldenace

Eathrin: Thanks for the advice. I think most of us have been in the same situation where we would leave it to the very end. Hopefully I won't make the same mistake

goldenace

Thanks Togepi and gpf101. Seems like it is going to be mixed answers between now and 6th year. I think the wise thing to do is to start now yet I feel like I'm going to have to do the same thing again in 6th year without any advantages of studying this year.

goldenace

Thanks for the tip. I totally agree with you that you will forget by 6th year.

Yeah, I pressed the post botton three times without noticing. Slow internet probably

Canard

My advice is prepare answers to learn off in 6th year - for me with subjects like geography I find myself have to do and redo answers before I can learn them off (or else they'd be less than 30/30 etc), itd be so handy to have done it last year :rolleyes:

spurious

The first and most important part of your studying is to listen properly in class and ask questions if you do not understand something. Always catch up on work you missed due to trips out, matches, sick days etc.. If you 'get' a concept the first day the teacher covers it, then revising it will be a piece of cake.

Nonoperational

It's not going to hurt keeping on top of things in 5th year. It's hard to go between doing nothing and then going flat out. Keep working away as best you can and then really ramp it up after Christmas in 6th year. That's what I did and I did ok. Everyone is different though and you need to find out what works for yourself.

goldenace

Alright, thanks everyone for the helpful advice and good luck to all 6th years

starlit

goldenace wrote: »

I am curious in knowing when should you start studying if you want to achieve very high results. I am currently in 5th year and I haven't done much work except the homework that the teachers give us. I want to start studying now but I've heard people say that they forget all the revised work by the end of the year. So would it be pointless to start now and instead do all of the studying in 6th year or should I do a good amount of studying now and build up on it in 6th year?

Thanks in advance.

What I have in bold is what I'd advise you do!

Everyone is different how they approach study. Some can study stuff in a short period of time and are better able at retaining it others are better at retaining stuff that they have studied over a longer period of time.

Based on my personal experiences, I'd fail an exam if I started studying too late/over a short period of time as I don't retain stuff that well over a short space of time. If you told me something 5 minutes ago I'd forget if you told me that same thing 5 hours ago I'd probably be more likely to remember 5 hours later as it has gone into my long term memory and skipped from my short term memory. Strange example I know but that's how I am!

I remember in college, I studied something from an assignment and hadn't touched it for a few months, and happened to remember it for the exam! That might be a better example to give you as I had studied it ages ago and was able to retain it long enough to remember for the exam so probably had looked it now and again before hand but probably had learnt it well enough the first time for me to remember it over a long period of time, just by reviewing it and having understood it.

When I was in 5th year I did all the hard work in 5th year which was a help when doing 6th year. For me it was a better system for me to work with, started studying from day one. I had done TY so had an idea what was expected on the curriculum's but 5th year does prepare you for 6th year but its not until 6th year do you really work to a standard for the leaving cert really. What you study in 5th year you go back over it again in 6th year depending which way the curriculum is run. In 6th year you are focusing on revising what you learnt in 5th year and preparing with exam papers, tests a mocks before sitting the leaving cert.

If you get all the hard work done in 5th year, know your stuff just a matter of reviewing and revising in 6th year. You better able to retain stuff well enough and understood for the leaving. You be better able to concentrate on the exam techniques which is something you really have to nail down to get the marks you want and do really well its not just a case of rote learning and knowing your stuff inside and out. How you approach an exam and exam questions are just as important as knowing the answers. Timing is crucial, timing yourself how long it takes for you to answer a question is very important if you can't get that right you could loose a load of marks without trying and regardless if you know your stuff or not. Timing and techniques as well as knowing your stuff is the difference between an A student and a B student!

Everyone is different there is no right and wrong time to start studying but starting as soon as you can, can help more than you think. Depends what method of study and how you study works for you. People forget that your brain is like a big database it can hold more information than you think though absorbing too much at one time can make you loose the information you learn. If you absorb a small amount and build up what you have learnt and do so gradually over time and build what you learnt and what you learn new together you be better able to absorb new information and keeping it all in your mind.

Exam papers are very important practise practise practise! Best way. Notes are important too, if you write stuff out in your own words not just having the terminology included can be useful in helping you understand and retain. Having an outline and having solutions for answers are good too to have. Some teachers be great like that they provide solution for answers go with that, it be a big help. Have bullet points made out too know them and know how you can expand on those points, knowing the bullet points isn't enough, expanding on them is what make you know and understand your points more and help with building up your answer.

That is how I'd approach the theory stuff the more practical stuff like maths well its just understanding and practising really and being able to do calculations without making mistakes. Languages, its more about understanding than just being fluent in it, fluency helps but understanding is worth more I think having the two is great though. Though learning and rote learning is probably the most obviously thing here too when it comes to essay type questions. Oral and Aural stuff just practise and understanding.

While other subjects how you approach one subject might be different to how you approach another. I find start with the tough subjects first and then the easier ones. How you spread your time with each subject can have a bearing on how you do in them! Though you are either have a flare or not for a subject, good or not at a subject but some just able to learn stuff well and reproduce it whether they like the subject or not whether they are good at the subject or not doesn't matter. But there is a lot to be said for understanding a subject! No point learning something if you don't understand it!

Best of luck OP

_pure_mule_

goldenace wrote: »

I am curious in knowing when should you start studying if you want to achieve very high results. I am currently in 5th year and I haven't done much work except the homework that the teachers give us. I want to start studying now but I've heard people say that they forget all the revised work by the end of the year. So would it be pointless to start now and instead do all of the studying in 6th year or should I do a good amount of studying now and build up on it in 6th year?

Thanks in advance.

If I was you I would start studying now, not to scare you or anything its not the end of the world if you dont, you will still have a lot of time. But I studied fairly hard in 5th year and my life is so much easier this year than what it would be. Ye, I forgot most things even though i learned them inside out but all it took was a read back once or twice which took about 10mins and then I knew it again! which i found very handy:)