Achieving a great Leaving Cert

iMMer5ion

Due to the numerous recent threads started on; help for the Leaving, study tips and so on, I thought it would be helpful to post links to interesting articles written by past Leaving Certs who achieved 600 points.
I think it would be useful to students this year (and the following years) to find important study tips from us, past Leaving Cert students, which may help to motivate students to give 6th year their best shot.

For me in 6th year, reading these kind of articles and seeing how students succeeded academically because of their own consistent hard work, motivated me to try.

Here are some great articles I have read;
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2011/1025/1224306433840.html
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=how%20to%20get%20600%20points%20in%20your%20leaving%20cert&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CFAQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnewspaper%2Feducation%2F2012%2F0117%2F1224310351178.html&ei=UM_pT_CeI4m2hAfylfiCDQ&usg=AFQjCNF29ilVuqo-ikDKCyIReClZbbIyBg
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=how%20to%20get%20600%20points%20in%20your%20leaving%20cert&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CE4QFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.herald.ie%2Flifestyle%2Fim-no-genius-but-i-got-600-points-in-my-leaving-heres-how-i-did-it-3082471.html&ei=wtDpT-iFGpGEhQeB38z0DA&usg=AFQjCNHlO-dgCh97gScvsCwtodoMbp3-Zg

bren2001

I found that reading articles took too much time away from studying.... Just get home, do some study everyday, take one day off at the weekend, study all day the other, go out with your friends, try not to drink. Youll get a great leaving cert that way. You can read all the articles you want, its about getting down to it at the end of the day.

Bears and Vodka

I read that Rory guy articles before and I thought he doesn't have a clue what's going on. Maybe that method works for him but it didn't for me. Find your own winning formula.

dambarude

The advice I'd give you is to ignore all advice. People work in different ways, and it's pointless reading all these recipes for success.

Another thing I'd say is that you should aim to do well, not to get 600 points. It's what the points get you that matters, not how many of them you have. It's all forgotten about pretty quickly afterwards.

iMMer5ion

I do agree with some of your points above. I agree with the point that their tips may not work for most people. Not all of their points may work for us. But I think it would also be beneficial to students if you gave examples of things that helped you learn different subjects rather than criticize what helped these guys.
This thread is called "achieving a great Leaving Cert...not get 600 points.
I think it would be great if we could share our experiences from our last year or two (or three) - explaining what helped our study, what slowed it down, stress management that worked for you, leisure activities that were of benefit. These are exactly the things that we are not told before the Leaving Cert. Things that we have to learn, and sometimes we learn them 3/4 of the way through the year. For the next set of LCers, they might find this information very helpful.

jumpguy

dambarude wrote: »

The advice I'd give you is to ignore all advice. People work in different ways, and it's pointless reading all these recipes for success.

Another thing I'd say is that you should aim to do well, not to get 600 points. It's what the points get you that matters, not how many of them you have. It's all forgotten about pretty quickly afterwards.

Couldn't agree more strongly with dambarude.

Nothing was more annoying during the LC to see 600 pointers selling their stories in the papers to gullible students telling them they did all sort of weird and wonderful things to study effectively. Nothing works for everyone, and there's a good bit of trial and error involved until you find the way that works for you. Different strokes for different folks.

iMMer5ion

jumpguy wrote: »

Nothing was more annoying during the LC to see 600 pointers selling their stories in the papers to gullible students telling them they did all sort of weird and wonderful things to study effectively. Nothing works for everyone, and there's a good bit of trial and error involved until you find the way that works for you. Different strokes for different folks.

That's a very valid opinion there jumpguy, and I can see how it would irritate some.

jumpguy wrote: »

there's a good bit of trial and error involved until you find the way that works for you

I think if you shared what helped you throughout the stressful year that is the Leaving Cert, it would help students find their way quicker and possibly motivate them to settle down. It certainly helped me to hear other peoples' experiences, what they wish they had done and their important advice etc.

irish_man

That guy's advice is useless. Went to school with that fella and all he did was study. Went down to trinity for the 24 hr library apparently, so reading how he studied is fairly useless. Also I think he went to a irish speaking school before heading to the Institute and he spoke French like one of their own from day one of the leaving cert.

From my own experience, I think if you aren't somewhat gifted in some subjects you won't achieve the big 6. There's only so much study you can do. There will be something on the day that you have never seen before and the gifted student will have the ability to solve it, the studious type won't. There's noting you can do about that. That's just something that people have innate in them.

One thing you can do is pick subjects that stick to your strengths. If your maths based drop down to pass English and Irish. Do applied maths, physics. Also only do 6 honour subjects. The amount of time you will waste on the 7th honour subject for no reward is ridiculous.

ChemHickey

irish_man wrote: »

That guy's advice is useless. Went to school with that fella and all he did was study. Went down to trinity for the 24 hr library apparently, so reading how he studied is fairly useless. Also I think he went to a irish speaking school before heading to the Institute and he spoke French like one of their own from day one of the leaving cert.

From my own experience, I think if you aren't somewhat gifted in some subjects you won't achieve the big 6. There's only so much study you can do. There will be something on the day that you have never seen before and the gifted student will have the ability to solve it, the studious type won't. There's noting you can do about that. That's just something that people have innate in them.

One thing you can do is pick subjects that stick to your strengths. If your maths based drop down to pass English and Irish. Do applied maths, physics. Also only do 6 honour subjects. The amount of time you will waste on the 7th honour subject for no reward is ridiculous.

I agree almost totally with what you have said.

But I wouldn't advise someone to drop down to pass just for the sake of it. I would rather try my very best in 7 (for me 8) HL subjects than do 6HL and then 2 OL just for the sake of doing better in the others. It'd be cheating yourself not to push yourself to your absolute potential, to be a well rounded academic rather than a spot learner, learning to just get through the LC and get the points. It is supposed to broaden our knowledge in several subjects, something the A levels fail to do. Do what you're capable of. It often annoys me to see students from 'The Institute' who claim to be geniuses but drop to OL Irish as they see no use for it or just to focus their attention on other subjects. It is supposed to be a test of ability and not pick-and-choose subject learning...


RANT OVER! =P

ChemHickey

I don't mean 'claim to be geniuses' perse. Usually the students shown off in the supplement papers are quite down to earth and genuine, but hopefully you understand my angle.

Cruel Sun

dambarude wrote: »

The advice I'd give you is to ignore all advice. People work in different ways, and it's pointless reading all these recipes for success.

He's advising you to ignore all advice, meaning you should ignore his advice, which means that you should in fact do the opposite to what he say's and not ignore peoples advice, which would mean you should take his advice, which is to ignore his advice meaning you should take his advice.....I'm confused

dambarude

I'm going to stop you at the X...

Martin_94 wrote: »

He's advising you to ignore all advice, meaning you should ignore his advice, which means that you should in fact do the opposite to what he say's X and not ignore peoples advice, which would mean you should take his advice, which is to ignore his advice meaning you should take his advice.....I'm confused

Ignoring advice doesn't mean doing the opposite - it means just doing what suits you best.

Somebody above said that 'this guy's advice is useless', referring to a newspaper section. It's usually useless because it's commonsense. There's no magic recipe. Even money won't buy you LC points - you still have to learn the notes that grinds/institutes provide.

Cruel Sun

dambarude wrote: »

I'm going to stop you at the X...


Ignoring advice doesn't mean doing the opposite - it means just doing what suits you best.

Somebody above said that 'this guy's advice is useless', referring to a newspaper section. It's usually useless because it's commonsense. There's no magic recipe. Even money won't buy you LC points - you still have to learn the notes that grinds/institutes provide.

Yeah I was joking, too much time on my hands now the LC is over.:pac:

OP- If I were to repeat I would study more and take it more seriously from the start. Most people can get 500+ if they're determined and work hard from the start IMO.

finality

irish_man wrote: »

That guy's advice is useless. Went to school with that fella and all he did was study. Went down to trinity for the 24 hr library apparently, so reading how he studied is fairly useless. Also I think he went to a irish speaking school before heading to the Institute and he spoke French like one of their own from day one of the leaving cert.

From my own experience, I think if you aren't somewhat gifted in some subjects you won't achieve the big 6. There's only so much study you can do. There will be something on the day that you have never seen before and the gifted student will have the ability to solve it, the studious type won't. There's noting you can do about that. That's just something that people have innate in them.

One thing you can do is pick subjects that stick to your strengths. If your maths based drop down to pass English and Irish. Do applied maths, physics. Also only do 6 honour subjects. The amount of time you will waste on the 7th honour subject for no reward is ridiculous.

I'm glad I did 8 honours subjects. Depending on the paper it's possible to mess up a subject or two that you thought you'd do well in. The subjects I would have counted in my mocks are different to the ones I think I'll be counting for real. For example- in my mocks, chemistry and physics were my two worst subjects. In the LC I think they were two of my best. I could've decided "fúck it, they're not worth the work, I won't be counting them anyway" and dropped to pass, and I'd probably have lost quite a few points because of it.

I mean, if you have one subject that's very very weak in comparison to your others, by all means drop to pass and don't waste time on it, but if you're like me and you're roughly equal in everything, it's probably best to keep up the extra subjects.

bren2001

dambarude wrote: »

The advice I'd give you is to ignore all advice. People work in different ways, and it's pointless reading all these recipes for success.

Another thing I'd say is that you should aim to do well, not to get 600 points. It's what the points get you that matters, not how many of them you have. It's all forgotten about pretty quickly afterwards.

Couldn't agree more. What works for some, doesn't work for others. My sister can lock herself in her room for 7-8 hours a day just learning, I get bored after 45 minutes so accommodate it into my plans.

Once your happy with your results everybody else will be, just do your best.

iMMer5ion

ChemHickey wrote: »

I wouldn't advise someone to drop down to pass just for the sake of it. I would rather try my very best in 7 HL subjects than do 6HL and then 2 OL just for the sake of doing better in the others.
It'd be cheating yourself not to push yourself to your absolute potential, to be a well rounded academic rather than a spot learner, learning to just get through the LC and get the points. It is supposed to broaden our knowledge in several subjects, something the A levels fail to do

I agree completely. I would rather be fairly rounded in more HL subjects, rather than dropping some here and there, in hope of doing better in my HL. You may as well just give the subjects a shot.

Martin_94 wrote: »

too much time on my hands now the LC is over.:pac:

Yeah, I actually don't know what to do these days. I'm just wandering around the house aimlessly...looking for something to do lol

Martin_94 wrote: »

OP- If I were to repeat I would study more and take it more seriously from the start. Most people can get 500+ if they're determined and work hard from the start IMO.

Thank you!!! Finally! That is probably one of the most valuable pieces of advise I could give. Students need to realize this sooner rather than later! We usually waste far too much time in the beginning!

finality wrote: »

I'm glad I did 8 honours subjects. Depending on the paper it's possible to mess up a subject or two that you thought you'd do well in. I could've decided "fúck it, they're not worth the work, I won't be counting them anyway" and dropped to pass, and I'd probably have lost quite a few points because of it.

I mean, if you have one subject that's very very weak in comparison to your others, by all means drop to pass and don't waste time on it, but if you're like me and you're roughly equal in everything, it's probably best to keep up the extra subjects.

Again, I agree. I think your extra subject or two (or three) are extremely valuable to you. I always did well in English. Always. Pleaney really messed me up though. Thank GOD I have Music as an extra subject!

bren2001 wrote: »

My sister can lock herself in her room for 7-8 hours a day just learning, I get bored after 45 minutes so accommodate it into my plans.

Once your happy with your results everybody else will be, just do your best.

So how did you balance all of your subjects if you find it difficult to study for long periods? - Only asking as many have the same problem.

bren2001

iMMer5ion wrote: »

I agree completely. I would rather be fairly rounded in more HL subjects, rather than dropping some here and there, in hope of doing better in my HL. You may as well just give the subjects a shot.

So how did you balance all of your subjects if you find it difficult to study for long periods? - Only asking as many have the same problem.

I think its ridiculous to not consider dropping if mathematically you think you will do better in the Leaving. At the start of 6th year if I had a choice of getting my number 1 course but doing 5 HL or doing 7 HL and really pushing myself but not getting my number 1 I'd drop 2 every time. The CAO is a system and everyone tries to beat it in different ways. Yes try and stick with HL as long as you can but if its holding you back in other areas, cut it loose if you think you will get more points that way.

I study in 45 minute blocks for 3 hours:
45 mins study, 15 minute break
45 mins study, 30 minute break
45 mins study, then break for 2 or 3 hours (obviously for midweek study I'd be done).

It takes 3 hours but I get lots done. Then using flash cards helped me a lot (I do engineering now so its mainly Maths which I find easy to do).

iMMer5ion

bren2001 wrote: »

Yes try and stick with HL as long as you can but if its holding you back in other areas, cut it loose if you think you will get more points that way.

I study in 45 minute blocks for 3 hours:
45 mins study, 15 minute break
45 mins study, 30 minute break
45 mins study, then break for 2 or 3 hours (obviously for midweek study I'd be done).

It takes 3 hours but I get lots done. Then using flash cards helped me a lot

Ally7

I was doing 7 HL subjects at the start of the year and decided to drop to pass Irish, best decision I ever made! I wasn't bad at Irish , it just took up a lot of time and we had a rubbish teacher. Tbh I think there's no point being a well-rounded student and doing 7 or 8 honours if you jeopardise your chance at getting your course because you're under pressure from doing all higher level subjects. I think that if you can manage all HL subjects without putting too much pressure on yourself than go for it, but there's no point struggling through the year if you're not able for it.

Just Like Heaven

Sylvia Plath

Chuchoter

In reality a lot of the 600 points things is luck. Once you're aiming for A1s and A2s, your life is depending on what comes up on the day. Like for instance in maths, say you're a fantastic student but that question 8 could have cost you your A. Same for geography and all the other subjects that went a bit wonky this year.

iMMer5ion

Don' rely on predictions. Don'r even consider it!!!