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Time Management?

  • 27-01-2013 4:48pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭


    I just finished my mocks there on Friday and ran out of time in alot of my tests (Geography, Business, Both English Papers :eek: and Irish Paper 1) leaving tests unfinished, and being forced to rush parts of a test on a below-par standard.

    Any advise :(? I've dropped from a potential A1 to a B2 I reckon in English because of a rushed composing essay, and from not getting the chance to do the unseen poetry :mad:


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 471 ✭✭Aeternum


    A lot of people try to put too much into the exams. With subjects like English it's about learning to get your point across in as little words as possible. There is no point preparing essays or answers which you wouldn't have time to do in the exam. I learnt this myself in history, I managed to cut down a 5 page essay to a 3 page essay and still get the same grade. It's all about ensuring everything you put in your answer is relevant to the question.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    I just finished my mocks there on Friday and ran out of time in alot of my tests (Geography, Business, Both English Papers :eek: and Irish Paper 1) leaving tests unfinished, and being forced to rush parts of a test on a below-par standard.

    Any advise :(? I've dropped from a potential A1 to a B2 I reckon in English because of a rushed composing essay, and from not getting the chance to do the unseen poetry :mad:

    Unfortunately those subjects (Business, Geography, English Paper 1 + 2) are always subjects you're going to be short for time with. I sat all of them in the Leaving Cert. last year and tbh, barely had enough time to finish them all during both the mocks and the actual Leaving. You just have to practise timing yourself doing the questions as under exam conditions and try to speed up your writing/cut down on the waffle.

    I struggled for time with all those 3 subjects last year, just something you have to learn to cope with.

    I ended up getting an A1 in English and B1's in Geography/Business.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Aeternum wrote: »
    A lot of people try to put too much into the exams. With subjects like English it's about learning to get your point across in as little words as possible. There is no point preparing essays or answers which you wouldn't have time to do in the exam. I learnt this myself in history, I managed to cut down a 5 page essay to a 3 page essay and still get the same grade. It's all about ensuring everything you put in your answer is relevant to the question.

    I see your point. The standard length for an English is essay is four pages (so I'm told), but I found myself dragging on a little bit and thinking outside of the box during my Macbeth essay. I'm going to practice some exam questions and try to stick as precisely to the question asked as possible. I guess it's about what you write, not how much.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 471 ✭✭Aeternum


    I guess it's about what you write, not how much.

    It's always quality, not quantity that counts :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Unfortunately those subjects (Business, Geography, English Paper 1 + 2) are always subjects you're going to be short for time with. I sat all of them in the Leaving Cert. last year and tbh, barely had enough time to finish them all during both the mocks and the actual Leaving. You just have to practise timing yourself doing the questions as under exam conditions and try to speed up your writing/cut down on the waffle.

    I struggled for time with all those 3 subjects last year, just something you have to learn to cope with.

    I ended up getting an A1 in English and B1's in Geography/Business.

    The time management concept of the Leaving Cert is so unfair :( Why do they make tests into a race? There's nothing more sickening then when you know an answer, but don't get time to show your knowledge.

    Maybe a lack of exam question practice is at the root of my problems? I generally study by reading. But for subjects like Geography for example, did you count your SRP's as you wrote your answers, or did you just write as much as possible and stop when you felt you had answered the question?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 893 ✭✭✭ray2012


    As the above poster said, try breaking a 5 page answer (for example) down to 3 + 1/2 pages. In subjects like English for Macbeth/Comparative answers, waffling is huge and just wastes your time. Try not eliminate that, and just focus on the points that you actually need and which will get your marks. My essays for English do be NEVER four pages. I'd say the most I've ever wrote was maybe 3 pages, and I do pretty well in them. Remember it's quality not quantity :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    Do you mean Irish paper 1 or 2, and HL or OL? There's a huge amount of time given for that, I honestly can't see how you could run out..what was the problem? I'd try help more but I just can't imagine what it was. :P

    For English, look at the P1 essay first. Think about it while you do the others. Pick your part B before your part A (you do NOT want to realize you can't do the nicest part B because you picked its part A!). For P2, I've heard of people doing all 3 sections at once and switching if they can't think of things so their time is maximised. Don't worry about unseen poetry either - realistically no matter what you write for it, it's only going to ever bring you up one grade (20 marks = one grade, so unless you got full marks and were on the dot of a grade you won't be gaining anything). I got pretty close to full marks in paper 2 but only 13/20 in the unseen. I was raging at first thinking that had cost me a grade, but even 20/20 would have left me at the same grade, and only getting 1/20 could have brought me down. It's so much less important than people think. Main thing with P2 is one mark = one minute!

    For geography, do your answers in bullet points! That way you can count and even if everything isnt an SRP, you can get a rough idea. I planned not to do that in the exam because I thought I'd look arrogant (i.e. "hi examiner I'm telling you this is an SRP whether you like it or not"), but panicked when the exam was so bad and just started doing it anyway. I got full marks on the questions where I did it and I knew I was getting full marks because I could clearly see how many SRPs I had, and then I could move onto the next question - it's helpful. :) Just make sure not to do that in the option bit, I don't know if you're allowed to? I put faint dots beside mine to make sure I could still count them.
    (funnily, though, because my section was the oceans question and i couldnt answer the question i'd chosen i made things up and the examiner thought i was giving more srp's than i was...but that wont work in geoecology :P)

    I don't really know what to say for business, pretty sure I finished that one with seconds to spare. :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43 Michael Scofield


    The time management concept of the Leaving Cert is so unfair :( Why do they make tests into a race? There's nothing more sickening then when you know an answer, but don't get time to show your knowledge.

    Maybe a lack of exam question practice is at the root of my problems? I generally study by reading. But for subjects like Geography for example, did you count your SRP's as you wrote your answers, or did you just write as much as possible and stop when you felt you had answered the question?

    While the Leaving Cert is flawed in many ways, the time management aspect is something that will follow you around for the rest of your life. You need to be able to get your point across concisely, that's the point. When you start college, this will continue to be tested in exams, along with presentations, where you will actually be cut off mid-speech if you go over your allotted time. You will also be tested on this skill in essays where you're given word counts - In a 3,000 word essay, it's just as bad to be 500 words over the count than 500 words under. Learning to write concisely in your Leaving Cert is an essential skill which will stand to you forever.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Maybe a lack of exam question practice is at the root of my problems? I generally study by reading. But for subjects like Geography for example, did you count your SRP's as you wrote your answers, or did you just write as much as possible and stop when you felt you had answered the question?

    I had wrote so little in my Geography exam in my Leaving Cert. I had time left over. Don't know how I got that B1 ever!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    Do you mean Irish paper 1 or 2, and HL or OL? There's a huge amount of time given for that, I honestly can't see how you could run out..what was the problem? I'd try help more but I just can't imagine what it was. :P

    I'm going to answer all these paragraphs individually, just to ensure we don't break the record for the longest post ever :P

    Oh, Paper 2 (higher level) of course lol. I honestly think I could write six or seven pages in the time given for the essay. I left 45 minutes early but was still the last out :cool:

    I think I spent a bit too long on the comprehensions. 1hr 40 mins, but that was increased because of the talkative lads doing foundation were finished within twenty minutes -_- how long would you advise for the 30/30/40 questions? I know the principle is quality>quantity but just roughly.

    90 mins for comprehensions and 90 mins for everything else at 100 marks each was the initial plan :p Also, on the question b's on the first comprehension were asking for two pieces of information in every question from 1 to 5.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 Sparkyhav


    The standard length for an English is essay is four pages (so I'm told).
    When you say four pages, do you mean four sheets of paper back to back or two sheets of paper back to back with writing? I know this sounds like a really silly question but I was told to write six pages (three sheets of paper) and I was just wondering.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 471 ✭✭Aeternum


    Sparkyhav wrote: »
    When you say four pages, do you mean four sheets of paper back to back or two sheets of paper back to back with writing? I know this sounds like a really silly question but I was told to write six pages (three sheets of paper) and I was just wondering.

    We are told 4 for compositions and 5 for Macbeth and poetry in my school. Some people go over that of course but that's a guide anyway. And I mean two sheets of A4 paper, filled on both sides for the 4 pages. I think for short stories it's necessary to do more (just my opinion), but for articles, speeches and personal essays 4 pages is a good estimate.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    For English, look at the P1 essay first. Think about it while you do the others. Pick your part B before your part A (you do NOT want to realize you can't do the nicest part B because you picked its part A!). For P2, I've heard of people doing all 3 sections at once and switching if they can't think of things so their time is maximised. Don't worry about unseen poetry either - realistically no matter what you write for it, it's only going to ever bring you up one grade (20 marks = one grade, so unless you got full marks and were on the dot of a grade you won't be gaining anything). I got pretty close to full marks in paper 2 but only 13/20 in the unseen. I was raging at first thinking that had cost me a grade, but even 20/20 would have left me at the same grade, and only getting 1/20 could have brought me down. It's so much less important than people think. Main thing with P2 is one mark = one minute!

    For Paper 1, thankfully I didn't fall into that trap, and did really well in the comprehension questions (I think I'm looking at surely 85/100 at the very least) But I'd say I'm looking at something from 60-80 on the essay because I spent wayyy too much time on the comprehensions. I had fifty-five minutes to rush an essay and basically wrote whatever came into my head :( It's hard to make a story about a court case interesting in that amount of time lol, so I'm not too optimistic..

    That's actually a good way of putting it now that I think of it. I just realised the Unseen Poetry is only 5% :pac: I think I'm going to do this last again in the actual Leaving Cert to be honest.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Sparkyhav wrote: »
    When you say four pages, do you mean four sheets of paper back to back or two sheets of paper back to back with writing? I know this sounds like a really silly question but I was told to write six pages (three sheets of paper) and I was just wondering.

    Oh, two sheets of paper and four pages :p I actually went over that for all three essays to write a conclusion and whatnot.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 Sparkyhav


    Aeternum wrote: »
    We are told 4 for compositions and 5 for Macbeth and poetry in my school. Some people go over that of course but that's a guide anyway. And I mean two sheets of A4 paper, filled on both sides for the 4 pages. I think for short stories it's necessary to do more (just my opinion), but for articles, speeches and personal essays 4 pages is a good estimate.
    Thank you for that and the tip, will keep that in mind.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33 Sparkyhav


    Oh, two sheets of paper and four pages :p I actually went over that for all three essays to write a conclusion and whatnot.
    Just making sure that I'm doing a significant amount of writing, thank you.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    I'm going to answer all these paragraphs individually, just to ensure we don't break the record for the longest post ever :P
    Haha, sorry, didn't mean to ramble on for so long. :P
    Oh, Paper 2 (higher level) of course lol. I honestly think I could write six or seven pages in the time given for the essay. I left 45 minutes early but was still the last out

    I think I spent a bit too long on the comprehensions. 1hr 40 mins, but that was increased because of the talkative lads doing foundation were finished within twenty minutes -_- how long would you advise for the 30/30/40 questions? I know the principle is quality>quantity but just roughly.

    90 mins for comprehensions and 90 mins for everything else at 100 marks each was the initial plan :p Also, on the question b's on the first comprehension were asking for two pieces of information in every question from 1 to 5.
    Ah, that makes more sense. :P Truth be told I only realized IN the P2 exam that I had no idea what time to spend on everything :o, so obviously I never found out after. :pac: I just spent the time getting my point across, but I think I write kind of fast. I wrote about 3-4 pages for Hurlamaboc and 4-5 for An Triail, so yeah, I have no idea how I didn't run out of time doing that. I guess the key for those things is know what you plan to say - honestly you can summarise the story to take up space and just point out how the part you're at is (or isn't) relevant to the question, if that makes sense?
    Rather than try to explain that, how about this - are you rewording the comprehensions? That takes up so much time, and you don't have to. You can take the answer straight from the text which really cuts down on time. :)
    For Paper 1, thankfully I didn't fall into that trap, and did really well in the comprehension questions (I think I'm looking at surely 85/100 at the very least) But I'd say I'm looking at something from 60-80 on the essay because I spent wayyy too much time on the comprehensions. I had fifty-five minutes to rush an essay and basically wrote whatever came into my head :( It's hard to make a story about a court case interesting in that amount of time lol, so I'm not too optimistic..

    That's actually a good way of putting it now that I think of it. I just realised the Unseen Poetry is only 5% :pac: I think I'm going to do this last again in the actual Leaving Cert to be honest.
    I know the feeling, in the real exam I had 40 minutes left and all I wanted to do was start my essay all over again! :pac: You mentioned a story, do you always do those? It's best to stick to just one type of essay, especially after the mocks. That way you get used to it and stuff. :) I wouldn't worry if I were you anyway, I got 73/100 in my mock essay and was so so so disappointed because I usually hit the high 90s (I loved writing :P), but in the real thing it went up to 87 (I wasn't happy with that but hey, still the best I'd managed under time pressure :pac:). Also, it's handy to get useful descriptive phrases that you can just drop into the stories to move them along. Rather than trying to think, on the spot, of an elegant way to describe someone standing nervously in a courtroom (for example), why not write out some descriptions (or indeed take them from books and other stories) and have them in mind to save time? I did that with a lot of my writing and it also raises your marks if it blends in properly. :)

    (Looks like I do win the longest post ever award, oops. :P)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    For geography, do your answers in bullet points! That way you can count and even if everything isnt an SRP, you can get a rough idea. I planned not to do that in the exam because I thought I'd look arrogant (i.e. "hi examiner I'm telling you this is an SRP whether you like it or not"), but panicked when the exam was so bad and just started doing it anyway. I got full marks on the questions where I did it and I knew I was getting full marks because I could clearly see how many SRPs I had, and then I could move onto the next question - it's helpful. :) Just make sure not to do that in the option bit, I don't know if you're allowed to? I put faint dots beside mine to make sure I could still count them.
    (funnily, though, because my section was the oceans question and i couldnt answer the question i'd chosen i made things up and the examiner thought i was giving more srp's than i was...but that wont work in geoecology :P)

    Wait, can you actually do that :eek:? For all my part b + c's I do all essay format with headings and whatnot. Like this:

    http://gyazo.com/c34e6ab826f0c5649ea26fb1f700f778
    and
    http://gyazo.com/536571f99f34c1b483031a5fcf4065c1

    That essay got me 30/30. I'd did this for all my essays in the mocks past apart from two parts c's which I bullet pointed (badly) due to the time restrictions.

    I know for a fact that the geoecology essay has to be in an essay style format because roughly a quarter of the marks go for coherence.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    Wait, can you actually do that :eek:? For all my part b + c's I do all essay format with headings and whatnot. Like this:

    http://gyazo.com/c34e6ab826f0c5649ea26fb1f700f778
    and
    http://gyazo.com/536571f99f34c1b483031a5fcf4065c1

    That essay got me 30/30. I'd did this for all my essays in the mocks past apart from two parts c's which I bullet pointed (badly) due to the time restrictions.

    I know for a fact that the geoecology essay has to be in an essay style format because roughly a quarter of the marks go for coherence.
    Yeah, see its extremely unclear...my teacher corrected for the SEC yet he had no idea what an SRP was, and in my mocks he didn't give me ANY marks for coherence in the option section and when I pointed that out to him he brushed it off. :confused: He always told us we HAD to use 2 headings (and 2 headings only - I had 3 and he cut my marks in half :rolleyes:) or we'd get 0 marks. On the other hand, he said we COULD do the option in bullet points!

    So in the end I completely ignored him. :cool: I still went with headings as you have there because a lot of the time in the marking scheme it says you need to, and you never know when you do or don't have to have them - you can always broaden them to lump everything in anyway like. But yes, you can do it in bullet points. :D The most notable thing would be for physical geography landform formation, which I always did like this:

    • Feature: Beach
    • Process: Deposition
    • Example: Dollymount Beach
    • Diagram:
    Then you have 10 marks there! But of course with a beach you don't have 2 headings, so you just write another 10 points underneath. Its 10 times easier to study too (I usually just remembered one word per bullet point and fleshed it out in an exam) and you never end up with waffle. :)


    The geoecology marks go for essay style but also for how well you've written it / answered the question I think. I got full marks for coherence but I didn't answer the question properly, I think they just kind of gave it to me because the exam was more difficult than previous years and they needed to even out the grades. :pac: So yes, you're right to definitely do it in essay style, but if you don't get the 6 or 7 srp's under the heading you can lose some of the OC marks I think.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    Haha, sorry, didn't mean to ramble on for so long. :P

    No problemo haha :P
    Ah, that makes more sense. :P Truth be told I only realized IN the P2 exam that I had no idea what time to spend on everything :o, so obviously I never found out after. :pac: I just spent the time getting my point across, but I think I write kind of fast. I wrote about 3-4 pages for Hurlamaboc and 4-5 for An Triail, so yeah, I have no idea how I didn't run out of time doing that. I guess the key for those things is know what you plan to say - honestly you can summarise the story to take up space and just point out how the part you're at is (or isn't) relevant to the question, if that makes sense?
    Rather than try to explain that, how about this - are you rewording the comprehensions? That takes up so much time, and you don't have to. You can take the answer straight from the text which really cuts down on time. :)

    Whoa haha, you do write fairly fast :cool: I think I got about five pages between the three written questions :P I get what you mean. For the texts, they really aren't looking for anything hugely specific, so it's possible to get your point across by summarizing the necessary part of the story as long as it's somewhat relevant to the question. Only thing is, my mock question on
    Oisín i dTír na nÓg involved the traits of a scéal béaloidis
    which was a little bit more specific ::pac: Oh, I'd change a mé to sé if you get me :) nothing too drastic. Also, how important is your grasp of the grammar rules? I don't have clue where to put séimhiús and I've been learning the language for thirteen years xD


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    I know the feeling, in the real exam I had 40 minutes left and all I wanted to do was start my essay all over again! :pac: You mentioned a story, do you always do those? It's best to stick to just one type of essay, especially after the mocks. That way you get used to it and stuff. :) I wouldn't worry if I were you anyway, I got 73/100 in my mock essay and was so so so disappointed because I usually hit the high 90s (I loved writing :P), but in the real thing it went up to 87 (I wasn't happy with that but hey, still the best I'd managed under time pressure :pac:). Also, it's handy to get useful descriptive phrases that you can just drop into the stories to move them along. Rather than trying to think, on the spot, of an elegant way to describe someone standing nervously in a courtroom (for example), why not write out some descriptions (or indeed take them from books and other stories) and have them in mind to save time? I did that with a lot of my writing and it also raises your marks if it blends in properly. :)

    (Looks like I do win the longest post ever award, oops. :P)


    Yep haha, I always go for the versatile story option :) I genuinely don't think I've ever done a composing question on another type of essay (which is a good and a bad thing in itself I suppose). We'll see how it goes haha, but there's nothing worse than when you're halfway through and you're thinking: "wtf have I just wrote?". That's not a bad idea I must say :p I do something similar for French, but surely there's got to be some versatile phrases in English as well :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard





    Whoa haha, you do write fairly fast I think I got about five pages between the three written questions :P I get what you mean. For the texts, they really aren't looking for anything hugely specific, so it's possible to get your point across by summarizing the necessary part of the story as long as it's somewhat relevant to the question. Only thing is, my mock question on
    Oisín i dTír na nÓg involved the traits of a scéal béaloidis
    which was a little bit more specific ::pac: Oh, I'd change a mé to sé if you get me :) nothing too drastic. Also, how important is your grasp of the grammar rules? I don't have clue where to put séimhiús and I've been learning the language for thirteen years xD
    Exactly! :P Okay yeah thats really specific :o I remember seeing that stuff in my book, but I was sick when we did it so I never learned it :P The others are pretty broad though. :) Honestly they're not too important outside of Q6 in the comprehensions! But my teacher did the dative and genetive cases with us, it makes sooo much more sense when you know why you're putting those h's in, oh my god it was such a revelation :pac: Plus none of my essays came up on the day (I had prepared a grand total of like, 4 haha) so I just wrote a 5 page one on the spot and got 96 for it, definitely helped to know the grammar there! I'd advise you to learn it if you have time (the cases etc are on the internet and its all quite straightforward, save for the genetive, but you just need to practice that one a bit), but if you don't have time don't bother. :P
    Yep haha, I always go for the versatile story option :) I genuinely don't think I've ever done a composing question on another type of essay (which is a good and a bad thing in itself I suppose). We'll see how it goes haha, but there's nothing worse than when you're halfway through and you're thinking: "wtf have I just wrote?". That's not a bad idea I must say :p I do something similar for French, but surely there's got to be some versatile phrases in English as well :D
    I never, ever did anything else either, no need :) I know! Happened to me so I just brought my character for a walk in the woods and described everything, thats the beauty of stories, you can bring them totally off track. :P Thats a good comparison, its exactly like what people do for French, but everyone thinks you can't study for P1 - thats the perfect way to study for it and it makes your stories sound fancier than they otherwise might have. :cool:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    Yeah, see its extremely unclear...my teacher corrected for the SEC yet he had no idea what an SRP was, and in my mocks he didn't give me ANY marks for coherence in the option section and when I pointed that out to him he brushed it off. :confused: He always told us we HAD to use 2 headings (and 2 headings only - I had 3 and he cut my marks in half :rolleyes:) or we'd get 0 marks. On the other hand, he said we COULD do the option in bullet points!

    So in the end I completely ignored him. :cool: I still went with headings as you have there because a lot of the time in the marking scheme it says you need to, and you never know when you do or don't have to have them - you can always broaden them to lump everything in anyway like. But yes, you can do it in bullet points. :D The most notable thing would be for physical geography landform formation, which I always did like this:

    • Feature: Beach
    • Process: Deposition
    • Example: Dollymount Beach
    • Diagram:
    Then you have 10 marks there! But of course with a beach you don't have 2 headings, so you just write another 10 points underneath. Its 10 times easier to study too (I usually just remembered one word per bullet point and fleshed it out in an exam) and you never end up with waffle. :)


    The geoecology marks go for essay style but also for how well you've written it / answered the question I think. I got full marks for coherence but I didn't answer the question properly, I think they just kind of gave it to me because the exam was more difficult than previous years and they needed to even out the grades. :pac: So yes, you're right to definitely do it in essay style, but if you don't get the 6 or 7 srp's under the heading you can lose some of the OC marks I think.

    That teacher of yours seems like an odd fella :pac: I don't see how the addition of an extra heading would lower coherence. If anything, I'd say it would surely improve it lol.

    Oh yeah, we take the FEED approach to physical as well (Feature, Example, Explain, Diagram) Geography is an intimidating subject for me to study because I have 80+ essays like the one I posted written out, but maybe it's time to start highlighting the key points of them :cool: Presumably you did the LC last year in that case, correct? 2012 was a tough paper compared to others I must say. The mock I just did had a fair few curve-balls as well, hopefully it's not a sign of things to come :eek: We're doing nine biome essays as far as I know, so hopefully one of them will come up on the day :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 608 ✭✭✭BrownBear11


    History is the single worst LC subject for timing. I don't even think an extra half hour would allow the entire exam to be done


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Exactly! :P Okay yeah thats really specific :o I remember seeing that stuff in my book, but I was sick when we did it so I never learned it :P The others are pretty broad though. :) Honestly they're not too important outside of Q6 in the comprehensions! But my teacher did the dative and genetive cases with us, it makes sooo much more sense when you know why you're putting those h's in, oh my god it was such a revelation :pac: Plus none of my essays came up on the day (I had prepared a grand total of like, 4 haha) so I just wrote a 5 page one on the spot and got 96 for it, definitely helped to know the grammar there! I'd advise you to learn it if you have time (the cases etc are on the internet and its all quite straightforward, save for the genetive, but you just need to practice that one a bit), but if you don't have time don't bother. :P

    Whoa fair play :) To come up with something on the spot like that and get 96/100? You must had a really good grasp of the language and general vocab :cool: Oh, dative and genetive cases? Never heard of them in my life lol, (which doesn't bode too well considering I'm hoping for an A2/A1) but I'm definitely going to check it out :P I usually just base my h's on how I would prenounce the words if speaking and I get the odd few haha.
    I never, ever did anything else either, no need :) I know! Happened to me so I just brought my character for a walk in the woods and described everything, thats the beauty of stories, you can bring them totally off track. :P Thats a good comparison, its exactly like what people do for French, but everyone thinks you can't study for P1 - thats the perfect way to study for it and it makes your stories sound fancier than they otherwise might have. :cool:

    Of course you can study for P1 lol :rolleyes: I have ideas floating in my head about stories before I go into an exam. Usually, I adapt it from a movie, novel, or video-game and take a different point of view which really does help. I've written an A2 court-case story before so when the title
    "a shredded secret document, write about a story with a hidden secret"
    I blinked in disbelief :cool: Not expecting to get that luck in the actual LC, but having ideas in place definitely helps I find :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    That teacher of yours seems like an odd fella :pac: I don't see how the addition of an extra heading would lower coherence. If anything, I'd say it would surely improve it lol.

    Oh yeah, we take the FEED approach to physical as well (Feature, Example, Explain, Diagram) Geography is an intimidating subject for me to study because I have 80+ essays like the one I posted written out, but maybe it's time to start highlighting the key points of them :cool: Presumably you did the LC last year in that case, correct? 2012 was a tough paper compared to others I must say. The mock I just did had a fair few curve-balls as well, hopefully it's not a sign of things to come :eek: We're doing nine biome essays as far as I know, so hopefully one of them will come up on the day :)
    He was very odd. :pac: Exactly! My headings were Climate; Relief and soils; CAP, and he said that if I'd just written them as "Physical" "Economic" I'd have gotten 28/30. He made no sense. :L

    The thing with geography is, besides the fact that half the syllabus never comes up, you can kind of twist it all anyway. As you said 2012 was bad (I thought I was getting a C after it :o), and some question got asked that had never come up before but was on the syllabus exactly as they had worded it. I used information from a totally different part of the syllabus and got 30/30. :pac: You probably don't do the economic elective, but it's a good example of that - you can use information on the policies for regional geography / farming quite a bit. It's not as rigid as things like biology. :)

    I'd say you'd be grand with 9, so if you practice doing them out a few times and shortening them to cut out extra information you should have no trouble with timing in the end. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 471 ✭✭Aeternum


    History is the single worst LC subject for timing. I don't even think an extra half hour would allow the entire exam to be done


    Tell me about it. I love the subject but I hate the exam.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    Whoa fair play :) To come up with something on the spot like that and get 96/100? You must had a really good grasp of the language and general vocab :cool: Oh, dative and genetive cases? Never heard of them in my life lol, (which doesn't bode too well considering I'm hoping for an A2/A1) but I'm definitely going to check it out :P I usually just base my h's on how I would prenounce the words if speaking and I get the odd few haha.
    haha thanks :P to be honest i thought i was butchering the language because i hadnt revised my rules really, but the main thing is to learn the prepositions' cases (which really just means whether or not they add a H!). That's all dative is I think, and the genetive one is just like the man's hat -> hata an fhir. :) The most you'd have to do is find an example in the comprehensions so an A1/A2 is still attainable even if you didnt know they existed. :P
    Of course you can study for P1 lol :rolleyes: I have ideas floating in my head about stories before I go into an exam. Usually, I adapt it from a movie, novel, or video-game and take a different point of view which really does help. I've written an A2 court-case story before so when the title
    "a shredded secret document, write about a secret with a hidden secret"
    I blinked in disbelief :cool: Not expecting to get that luck in the actual LC, but having ideas in place definitely helps I find :D
    That sounds quite specific for a story title anyway! :P But yeah definitely helps to have ideas. :) I got too scared to use any of my pre-learned ones in case they didn't fit the purpose, but if it fits then its grand. :P


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    He was very odd. :pac: Exactly! My headings were Climate; Relief and soils; CAP, and he said that if I'd just written them as "Physical" "Economic" I'd have gotten 28/30. He made no sense. :L

    The thing with geography is, besides the fact that half the syllabus never comes up, you can kind of twist it all anyway. As you said 2012 was bad (I thought I was getting a C after it :o), and some question got asked that had never come up before but was on the syllabus exactly as they had worded it. I used information from a totally different part of the syllabus and got 30/30. :pac: You probably don't do the economic elective, but it's a good example of that - you can use information on the policies for regional geography / farming quite a bit. It's not as rigid as things like biology. :)

    I'd say you'd be grand with 9, so if you practice doing them out a few times and shortening them to cut out extra information you should have no trouble with timing in the end. :)

    Haha, I wouldn't mind but those heading are still relevant to the question because physical IS climate, relief and soils while CAP is part of the economic side of thing :P You were completely robbed, no doubt about it :pac:

    Yep haha, practice makes perfect I guess :cool: Now it's just a case of getting the time to practice :)


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    haha thanks :P to be honest i thought i was butchering the language because i hadnt revised my rules really, but the main thing is to learn the prepositions' cases (which really just means whether or not they add a H!). That's all dative is I think, and the genetive one is just like the man's hat -> hata an fhir. :) The most you'd have to do is find an example in the comprehensions so an A1/A2 is still attainable even if you didnt know they existed. :P


    That sounds quite specific for a story title anyway! :P But yeah definitely helps to have ideas. :) I got too scared to use any of my pre-learned ones in case they didn't fit the purpose, but if it fits then its grand. :P

    That's exactly it :) I'm very good at structuring sentence in Irish, but always have question marks over whether or not I'm getting my h's, urú's and everything like that correct :P

    Oh yeah, I read somewhere here that if your purpose goes down, the CLM goes down as well so I guess I'll have to be careful Hopefully I will be able to twist my story on the day, and if not I'm sure I'll come up with something :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,958 ✭✭✭Mr. Rager


    Anyone have a list of essays they prepared for Geography with last year? Like a pretty fool-proof list (may be a long shot :p)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Mr. Rager wrote: »
    Anyone have a list of essays they prepared for Geography with last year? Like a pretty fool-proof list (may be a long shot :p)

    I actually have one that I posted last year!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Physical
    • Structures of Deformation
    • Formation of Sedimentary Rock
    • Formation of Metamorphic Rock
    • Landform Development (Waterfall)
    • Geothermal Energy
    • Human interaction with Surface Processes
    • Surface Feature formed by Limestone
    • Underground Feature formed by Limestone
    • 2 Types of Weathering
    • How Isostatic Change has effected the Irish Landscape

    Regional
    • Ireland: Teritary Activities, Urban Region + Sketch Map
    • Paris: Primary, Secondary, Teritary, Urban Region, Sketch Map
    • Mezzogiorno: Primary, Secondary
    • SW USA- Primary, Secondary, Teritary, Urban Region, Sketch Map
    • 2 Implications of EU Expanion on Ireland

    Human Elective
    • Differences between Population Density & Distribution
    • Effects of Overpopulation
    • 2 Changes in patterns of Irish Migration
    • Impact of Migration on Donor and Receiver Regions
    • Rural Settlement
    • Historic Settlement
    • Model of Urban Land Use Zone (Burgress Concentric Zone Model)
    • Changing Land Use in Ireland
    • Central Place Theory
    • Urban Problems in Developed World
    • Urban Problems in Developing World

    Geoecology
    • Characteristics of a Soil
    • Human Interaction with Soil
    • Plant/Animal Adaptations to Soil
    • Human Interaction with a Biome


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭Canard


    Just make sure not to draw your sketch maps the wrong way around...eh, PF? :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,958 ✭✭✭Mr. Rager


    Physical
    • Structures of Deformation
    • Formation of Sedimentary Rock
    • Formation of Metamorphic Rock
    • Landform Development (Waterfall)
    • Geothermal Energy
    • Human interaction with Surface Processes
    • Surface Feature formed by Limestone
    • Underground Feature formed by Limestone
    • 2 Types of Weathering
    • How Isostatic Change has effected the Irish Landscape

    Regional
    • Ireland: Teritary Activities, Urban Region + Sketch Map
    • Paris: Primary, Secondary, Teritary, Urban Region, Sketch Map
    • Mezzogiorno: Primary, Secondary
    • SW USA- Primary, Secondary, Teritary, Urban Region, Sketch Map
    • 2 Implications of EU Expanion on Ireland

    Human Elective
    • Differences between Population Density & Distribution
    • Effects of Overpopulation
    • 2 Changes in patterns of Irish Migration
    • Impact of Migration on Donor and Receiver Regions
    • Rural Settlement
    • Historic Settlement
    • Model of Urban Land Use Zone (Burgress Concentric Zone Model)
    • Changing Land Use in Ireland
    • Central Place Theory
    • Urban Problems in Developed World
    • Urban Problems in Developing World

    Geoecology
    • Characteristics of a Soil
    • Human Interaction with Soil
    • Plant/Animal Adaptations to Soil
    • Human Interaction with a Biome
    Was kind of hinting at you :p Thought I remember you posting that before when I was just a lowly 5th Year, great stuff :D


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Patchy~ wrote: »
    Just make sure not to draw your sketch maps the wrong way around...eh, PF? :P

    LOLOLOL.. Lost 20 marks and an A2 because of that level of stupidity :pac:.. I'm actually such a dopey cnut..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    LOLOLOL.. Lost 20 marks and an A2 because of that level of stupidity :pac:.. I'm actually such a dopey cnut..
    LOL :pac: That made me burst out laughing and feel sorry for you at the same time :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    LOL :pac: That made me burst out laughing and feel sorry for you at the same time :D

    If you knew me in real life me doing something like that isn't actually that surprising tbh.. :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    If you knew me in real life me doing something like that isn't actually that surprising tbh.. :pac:

    Haha, I'll take your word for it :) Got Irish back today and realised I did the half of paper 2 with the booklet upside-down :rolleyes: The worst part of all is, I got 69.2% and the examiner was too lazy to find me one mark -_-


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 cremeeggeater


    My english teacher insists on minium 5 page essays when she's correcting, and I never can pull it off in the right timing. She's also never marked me higher than a C despite not having anything constructive to tell me.

    I can't wait to get my mock back, just to see what I'm likely to get realistically...


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    My english teacher insists on minium 5 page essays when she's correcting, and I never can pull it off in the right timing. She's also never marked me higher than a C despite not having anything constructive to tell me.

    I can't wait to get my mock back, just to see what I'm likely to get realistically...

    There is no minimum. I know for a fact that my friend who got an A1 in English last year also, did a 2.5 page composition essay in the exam. Props to him though he is easily the best short-story writer I know, but there is definitely not a minimum length.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 cremeeggeater


    There is no minimum. I know for a fact that my friend who got an A1 in English last year also, did a 2.5 page composition essay in the exam. Props to him though he is easily the best short-story writer I know, but there is definitely not a minimum length.

    Thanks for the reassurance, I've been handed back essays unmarked before because they weren't long enough to accurately correct. Fair play to him for pulling that off!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Bad news here haha :o I got my English back today and got 83% :pac: 7/20 from the Unseen Poetry would have brought me up to an A2 xD

    Still, I guess it would be only five points either way though :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Bad news here haha :o I got my English back today and got 83% :pac: 7/20 from the Unseen Poetry would have brought me up to an A2 xD

    Still, I guess it would be only five points either way though :)

    That's a fantastic result for this stage of the year! I got 84.5% last year in English in the mock, to which the Teacher bumped up to 85% (A2), after she basically told us what to learn on Paper II, 3 poets, LG and certain aspects of Hamlet. If you keep working hard and hone your skills by continuously doing exam papers that A1 or A2 should definitely be in reach by June! If you've any questions about English, PM me. I got an A1 last June and am taking it as a Minor Subject with my Psychology degree in college! :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    That's a fantastic result for this stage of the year! I got 84.5% last year in English in the mock, to which the Teacher bumped up to 85% (A2), after she basically told us what to learn on Paper II, 3 poets, LG and certain aspects of Hamlet. If you keep working hard and hone your skills by continuously doing exam papers that A1 or A2 should definitely be in reach by June! If you've any questions about English, PM me. I got an A1 last June and am taking it as a Minor Subject with my Psychology degree in college! :)

    Thanks haha :) Overall I can't complain with 83%, and I would have definitely taken it going into the exam :D It's other results I'm a bit more concerned about at the minute. I somehow managed to get 48% in Business :pac:
    How did you get on in your mocks points-wise out of curiosity? Did you go up in the actual Leaving Cert?

    The worst part though, was seeing that in P1 I got 48/50 for QA, 47/50 for QB and then 73/100 for my rushed essay :pac: In paper 2 I got 62/70 for comparative, 51/60 for Macbeth, 50/50 for my Mahon essay,(I was absolutely shocked :eek:) but then 2/20 for my unseen poetry lol :o

    Oh, our teacher hinted strongly towards what was coming up also. I don't really know if I like it when they do that though :P

    I'm going for psychology also :) Where are you doing it? And how are you finding it? :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Thanks haha :) Overall I can't complain with 83%, and I would have definitely taken it going into the exam :D It's other results I'm a bit more concerned about at the minute. I somehow managed to get 48% in Business :pac:
    How did you get on in your mocks points-wise out of curiosity? Did you go up in the actual Leaving Cert?

    The worst part though, was seeing that in P1 I got 48/50 for QA, 47/50 for QB and then 73/100 for my rushed essay :pac: In paper 2 I got 62/70 for comparative, 51/60 for Macbeth, 50/50 for my Mahon essay,(I was absolutely shocked :eek:) but then 2/20 for my unseen poetry lol :o

    Oh, our teacher hinted strongly towards what was coming up also. I don't really know if I like it when they do that though :P

    I'm going for psychology also :) Where are you doing it? And how are you finding it? :)

    I did, I went up 35 points!

    Psychology's class! :) I'm doing it in NUI Maynooth and it's seriously unbelievable! The teachers are just unreal and everyone up here is amazing! Definitely would recommend it!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    I did, I went up 35 points!

    Psychology's class! :) I'm doing it in NUI Maynooth and it's seriously unbelievable! The teachers are just unreal and everyone up here is amazing! Definitely would recommend it!

    Oh well that's a bit of a relief :P Currently I'm at 395 from five subjects but at 445 with my terrible business result :pac: I expect to get WAYY higher than a D2 in French, so I should go up to 470+ or thereabouts. That's not too bad for the mocks I'm hoping lol.

    I'm hoping to do psychology in UL (it's about ten minutes from my house), so it's a long distance from Maynooth :) But I'm glad to hear that you're finding it good :P It's definitely something I think I will be interested in, so hopefully I can bring my mock results up and get the points :3


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    Oh well that's a bit of a relief :P Currently I'm at 395 from five subjects but at 445 with my terrible business result :pac: I expect to get WAYY higher than a D2 in French, so I should go up to 470+ or thereabouts. That's not too bad for the mocks I'm hoping lol.

    I'm hoping to do psychology in UL (it's about ten minutes from my house), so it's a long distance from Maynooth :) But I'm glad to hear that you're finding it good :P It's definitely something I think I will be interested in, so hopefully I can bring my mock results up and get the points :3

    Psychology points are high, 520 minimum for NUI Maynooth this year :/.. But if you keep working i'm sure you'll be fine! :')

    Also consider Maynooth as another option, I know you're fairly set on UL, but there's loads of people from Limerick up here! :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 717 ✭✭✭Phoenix Wright


    Psychology points are high, 520 minimum for NUI Maynooth this year :/.. But if you keep working i'm sure you'll be fine! :')

    Also consider Maynooth as another option, I know you're fairly set on UL, but there's loads of people from Limerick up here! :D

    I hope everything works out :) Just purely out of curiosity, how much study did you do at this stage on a weekday and on weekends? (or how much would you recommend)?

    Oh, I'd really love to go to Maynooth :D (or anywhere near Dublin for that matter) My parents would take need some pretty huge persuasion though :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,989 ✭✭✭PictureFrame


    I hope everything works out :) Just purely out of curiosity, how much study did you do at this stage on a weekday and on weekends? (or how much would you recommend)?

    Oh, I'd really love to go to Maynooth :D (or anywhere near Dublin for that matter) My parents would take need some pretty huge persuasion though :pac:

    I did a good bit to be honest. Probably 3.5 hours Monday-Thursday night of Study, maybe 5-6 hours on a Saturday!


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