Leaving Cert 625 points

Krispylad

Okay guys im just finished 5th year and i have decided to work really hard for the leaving cert next year.. If yous have any tips or helpful things to say about my subjects i would really appreciate it..

Thanks..

My subjects are

English H
Irish H
Maths H
Biology H
Geography H
Engineering H
German H
Ag Science H

Aksa94

Krispylad wrote: »

Okay guys im just finished 5th year and i have decided to work really hard for the leaving cert next year.. If yous have any tips or helpful things to say about my subjects i would really appreciate it..

Thanks..

My subjects are

English H
Irish H
Maths H
Biology H
Geography H
Engineering H
German H
Ag Science H

Really best advice I can give you is don't say to yourself that you know a section and not ever look at it again. For example in English keep revising the same stuff every week. For Macbeth for instance there's really only 7 essays at most to know so write out essays for it and keep revising them constantly and you'll be relaxed and stress free come next June

olazbabes

Be careful with this aim. Biology caught up mates of mine as it was very based on plants. Maths paper one this year was tricky. i would advise doing exam papers inside out. for CAO Put up your 500's but also put up 300-400. Countless hours of study does not = A in all subjects it depends on day on how you feel. Trust me in 5th you will get As in Christmas /summer test. But when it comes to mocks youl be thankful of 40 per cent in HL maths. Trust me from experience. Print of Marking schemes of all exam questions. For language I did Italian Learn usefull phrases, vocab and tense that would make your oral unique> examiners can get bored. any new words you come across in Reading comps use again. Wish you all the best.

HugsiePie

Time yourself when doing exam questions, now if you really want the 625 points I'd recommend doing a whole paper all at once, timed, once a fortnight, build it up as you get closer to the exams, skip the parts you havent covered yet however, and correct your papers with the SEC marking schemes. Dont get disheartened when you do them first and get lowish marks, its to be expected after a few weeks or months they will build up.

Noccy_Mondy

One thing, don't go mad into studying yet, you have loads of time. Do a bit, but don't get bogged down.For me the 1st week of may onwards was "lockdown", major work done. You will be surprised by how much you get done in 4 weeks. The exams aren't even all that bad in the end!! At the end of the day, if you understand a topic, you wont forget it, it will stay with you!

diarmo06

Advice..
Don't have such egotistical high aims, the only way is down. That being genuine advice, not a lash at somebody doing JC right now.

For me, I'd also drop a subject.

SeanyboyQPR

Deciding to work in LC at the end of fifth year is what everyone does, it means nothing till you do it. Everyone powers into it initially in September but its not easy and the novelty wears off, a full 8 months at full steam ahead isn't easy...

More power to you but be careful, the LC is by no means an easy test and its tiring and draining, there's a reason so few get 625! With hard work there's no reason u can't do it, but id agree with the post suggesting you drop a subject, best of luck!

0mega

What I would say is forget about it. If 625 is going to happen, it will happen by luck.

If these exams have taught me anything, luck plays a huge factors. Will what you focus on come up? Will you be able to write as fast as you have to? Will you spend the right amount of time on each q? etc etc.

Don't aim for getting an A1 in everything, because no matter how hard you work it doesn't always end up like that. I worked so hard for biology over the two years, was sure I'd get an A1 but weird questions threw me off and now I probably won't get it.

Just do your best, whether that's 550 or 625. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day once you get the course you want. No course needs 625.

Scortho

Why are you doing 8 honours subjects? You can only count 6 afterall.
I did 7 and got 560 with a decent amount of study. Wish college was as easy. While the 7th is counted, it's a good back up on the day if a paper went wrong. However the work required for the 8th subject, could be instead put towards converting 6A2s into 6A1s.
Anyway have a look at you're results when the summer results come out.
The one that is non-matriculation that has the lowest mark, I'd consider dropping and focusing on the other 7.

For studying start early (october-the weather is normally crap) and do it bit by bit. I found doing 2 hours of a particular subject a day worked fine for me. Anything longer and it stopped going in.
Take the summer off, it's the last full one you'll have for a while. Make a plan. And stick to it. Make the plan around your life, not your life around the plan.

Also aim for 30 points more than your course. 625 points would be nice, but nobody really cares.

Scuid Mhór

Oh, to be young again

Krispylad

Okay thanks everyone for your advice.. Im just reqlly trying to get a lot of my notes written out this summer to be ready for september.. This week I did notes on everything that can possibly come up on engineering q2&3.. I have also typed up a good chunk of my ag science project..

And yeah 8 is a bit too many isnt it? I think I will drop to ordinary Irish because I could focus a bit more on German..

I was looking at biology and I think my notes are too in depth so does anyone know if the revise wise book is any good for biology or is it just a waste of time? Thanks to everyone who replied

Krispylad

Krispylad wrote: »

Okay thanks everyone for your advice.. Im just reqlly trying to get a lot of my notes written out this summer to be ready for september.. This week I did notes on everything that can possibly come up on engineering q2&3.. I have also typed up a good chunk of my ag science project..

And yeah 8 is a bit too many isnt it? I think I will drop to ordinary Irish because I could focus a bit more on German..

I was looking at biology and I think my notes are too in depth so does anyone know if the revise wise book is any good for biology or is it just a waste of time? Thanks to everyone who replied

For Biology, my teacher always recommended Celtic Press, Essentials Unfolded Biology (or something to that effect)

But as everyone else said, you can't full steam ahead, you will be worn out. There's a guy in my year who studies about 12 hours a day when there's no school and 6 hours when there is. His sleeping pattern is messed up, he couldn't focus in class or anything. Then the mocks came and he wasn't even in the top 3 points of the year. He was shattered, don't let that be you.

Thataone

Krispylad wrote: »

Okay thanks everyone for your advice.. Im just reqlly trying to get a lot of my notes written out this summer to be ready for september.. This week I did notes on everything that can possibly come up on engineering q2&3.. I have also typed up a good chunk of my ag science project..

And yeah 8 is a bit too many isn't it? I think I will drop to ordinary Irish because I could focus a bit more on German..

I was looking at biology and I think my notes are too in depth so does anyone know if the revise wise book is any good for biology or is it just a waste of time? Thanks to everyone who replied

Books like revise wise are essentially basic revision help notes and while they're grand for a quick flick through the day before an exam or whatever, I've come to the conclusion that they lack the detail needed for them to be used as sole means of revision. IMHO your best bet is to make your own notes by condensing down what you have.

Jade.

I found revise wise brilliant for biology! That Celtic press unfolded or whatever it's called is useless cuts 3/4 of the course. It really only gives you the basics.

Scortho

Krispylad wrote: »

Okay thanks everyone for your advice.. Im just reqlly trying to get a lot of my notes written out this summer to be ready for september.. This week I did notes on everything that can possibly come up on engineering q2&3.. I have also typed up a good chunk of my ag science project..

And yeah 8 is a bit too many isnt it? I think I will drop to ordinary Irish because I could focus a bit more on German..

I was looking at biology and I think my notes are too in depth so does anyone know if the revise wise book is any good for biology or is it just a waste of time? Thanks to everyone who replied

I used the end of chapter summaries in the edco book, learnt all the diagrams and knew the experiments (basic info). Came out with 97%.
Try it for a class test and if it works it works. It worked for me but mightn't for others.

Prodigious

Ah, I remember those days....

Irish: Write out a very good story in Irish, detailed, good plot, that will fit a variety of themes. Get the teacher to correct it. Correct mistakes, embellish it, get teacher to correct it again. Rinse wash and repeat. This will cover you for paper 1.

English: Marked on PCLM ( Purpose, coherence, language and mechanics) in that order. Focus on P, when you are satisfied you have good focus and always answer the question, work on expression and coherence.

Maths: Practice

yournerd

if you work hard at the beginning you will hate study by Xmas. reaaaaaaalax

woopah92

Don't do too much too soon. You'll burn out after a few months.
I always made sure I took one day off a week from study. Keep pluggin' away, it may seem like it's far away now but the time sure does pass quick :pac:

aimzLc2

Krispylad wrote: »

Okay thanks everyone for your advice.. Im just reqlly trying to get a lot of my notes written out this summer to be ready for september.. This week I did notes on everything that can possibly come up on engineering q2&3.. I have also typed up a good chunk of my ag science project..

And yeah 8 is a bit too many isnt it? I think I will drop to ordinary Irish because I could focus a bit more on German..

I was looking at biology and I think my notes are too in depth so does anyone know if the revise wise book is any good for biology or is it just a waste of time? Thanks to everyone who replied

I loved the revise wise for biology! It's brilliant i would definitely recommend it , well i don't need it anymore you can have mine :P

_LilyRose_

John Cullen book called 'Leaving Cert Biology' is unreal- our teacher gave up using New Senior Biology in 6th year and just photocopied from the Cullen book, in fact most people in my class just bought it. It's thin enough and covers the whole course, and the experiments are the ones we actually did, whereas in New Senior Biology there's loads of complicated methods no one uses.

_LilyRose_

Btw I'm not sure if John Cullen has a textbook version but the one we used was just the 'complete study guide' version which is basically just as good as a textbook!

Krispylad

Thanks so much guys, your responses are great Im going to try not to burn out.. Its a marathon not a sprint ..

Just wondering what the best way to study maths is.. It was my worst result in the summer tests.. C3 ..

Thanks again

Krispylad

Krispylad wrote: »

Thanks so much guys, your responses are great Im going to try not to burn out.. Its a marathon not a sprint ..

Just wondering what the best way to study maths is.. It was my worst result in the summer tests.. C3 ..

Thanks again

For myself, I just practiced papers all the time! I felt that I understood the book but their questions were too straight forward so I had to know how to apply my knowledge project maths style :P

Scortho

Krispylad wrote: »

Thanks so much guys, your responses are great Im going to try not to burn out.. Its a marathon not a sprint ..

Just wondering what the best way to study maths is.. It was my worst result in the summer tests.. C3 ..

Thanks again

Papers. Do them all. Do them all again. And again. And again.
The only subject that I found papers to be really beneficial.

Sierra_x

Oh, the LC! The memories :')

I really think you should do 7 subjects, and go about dropping to Ordinary Irish to focus on German. I actually kept Irish at Higher Level and ended up not even including it in my top six, so I regret it.

Biology - The only book I really looked at for Biology other than exam papers was 'Biology - The Complete Study Guide' by Mentor. The only time I ever used my huge text book was in class. Mentor's book is excellent, without it I definitely wouldn't have got an A1 in Bio.

Geography - Also got an A1 in this. Exam Papers & Sue Honan's revision book, that's all. The biome in my opinion is the same every year except worded differently, so learn everything in the biome you're studying and you have an easy 20%. For regional, I went about making 'master essays' about Ireland, India etc which were actually really easy to learn off. Short questions are a breeze, and as long as you put the effort into your field work you should be grand.

Maths - I can't really give advice for this, I was terrible at Maths but I wanted to do Higher Level because of the 25 point bonus. (The 25 point bonus ended up getting me my course in the end!) I just went through exam papers all the time and I did attend the Maths revision course in Institute of Education and the notes really helped me out.

English - Key Notes! Such a handy book. Don't take shortcuts - learn 5 poets out of the 8, and learn 2 of the 3 options in the Comparative. I was well prepared for Paper 2, my Paper 1 ended up letting me down because I did absolutely no preparation for it and I can't write short stories to save my life!

But yeah, you don't need to be studying for five hours a day. I did around two hours a day on top of homework, and then three or four hours a day at weekends. Some might think this is a little much but my course was pretty high (560, I believe). Good luck and I hope you get the results you want!

Krispylad

Thanks again guys.. All your advice is so beneficial.. Trying to make out my own notes for most of my subjects this summer because when i write something i find it really easy to learn

Thanks again :P

FaoiSin

diarmo06 wrote: »

Advice..
Don't have such egotistical high aims, the only way is down. That being genuine advice, not a lash at somebody doing JC right now.

For me, I'd also drop a subject.

What's egotistical about it?

ChemHickey

+ 1 to Jeaic above.

If it's egotistical to aim high and try to do your very best why even bother aiming to do a good leaving cert and just aim for what you want?

No, you don't need 625 for any course but if the OP wants Medicine it would certainly give him a few points extra leniency on the HPAT than someone who got 560 or even 580. Also, another good reason to aim high is that you can aim for scholarships. In NUIG you get €2000 scholarship if you get 585 or more in your LC (560 or more if you don't include Maths). Or maybe the OP wants to just be certain of getting his course? I commend anyone who wants to aim to get it as it shows interest and self belief which is hard come by these days. There are a lot of benefits.

OP, I think what you're doing is a great initiative to do well. If you set your sights high you will strive to try and make sure to get the grades you want and deserve (sure you may be disappointed if you don't achieve the expected results but at least you still will have the incentive to study to get maximum points).

To those who say do 7 subjects- if you think you can do and handle the 8 higher level subjects, do it. It may take a little work but it is extremely beneficial, especially if something goes wrong on the day of the exam. Some exams need more work than others, some are much "easier" to get an A1 in if you put in the work straight away and then some depend on your aptitude.

I did 8 HL subjects last year and I got 625. At no point during the LC did I stress out tbh. I was pretty calm before the exams and throughout them. Sure I was nervous but I knew I had the work done and I had constantly worked from 5th year. I didn't start "properly" studying until after April. From September of LC, I did my homework and looked over a certain topic of a subject I did that day.

Listening in class and actively taking notes, asking questions and studying for tests is the most beneficial way of studying and remembering all the material, not cramming for a month or two before the exams. Starting in 5th year is the best way to go about it.

So, for each subject:

English

Practice writing. Develop your own style from 5th year. Most teachers will be happy to correct any work you do. Write a short passage about something venal every week or month (Writing a descriptive paragraph about a bowl of fruit or of a tree in your garden or something). Just try and develop your writing style and try and read some books over the summer as it is hard to find time to read during the LC cycle.

I'd focus on 5 poets for the LC. No fewer, no more (unless poetry or english genuinely interests you). You will be GUARANTEED a poet on the exam if you study 5 poets. Don't risk studying any fewer or you have a chance of losing out on 50 marks in your LC english exam (that's 12.5% (your A1 gone)). Know your single text back to front. Macbeth is a great play. I read it (not in detail) during
TY as I was hoping we were going to have it as our single text but we had Hamlet. Know your quotes and have a copy specifically for Macbeth. Separate the quotes into the specific essays and just make sure you know it and can analyze it well.
Comparative was always my favourite as it is logical. Comparing things. You need to develop a certain style for the comparative and just practice writing the essays. I focused on the 70 mark question as I enjoyed making comparisons between the 3 but many find the 30:40 mark question easier.


Irish

Focus on the oral. This is the biggest thing about the Irish exam. It will make or break your exam. It is easy to do well in it and really easy to get a high percent (38%+ out of 40%) if you do the work on it. Have the sraiths done in 5th year and just revise them in 6th year. Have them printed out so they're easy to read and you can highlight the main points. I put myself into each of the stories as you are used to working in the past tense when talking about yourself (even in the pictures with just girls in them I talked about the girl/woman being my wife and going along with her etc.).

For the written aspects, just know the grammar back to front. Perfect your grammar and everything else comes with it. The literature is only a pittance in comparison with the essay and comprehensions. Keep a copy just for new vocab and make sure you look over it frequently. The more words you know the easier the comprehensions and essays can be. For the literature just know the story/poem/novel. If you have a high standard of irish you can make it up on the spot.


Maths

Practice.

There is nothing else tbh. You just need to practice and try to understand what is happening in the work. Try and watch videos on youtube on certain topics and also wikipedia is great to look at to see where all the things were derived/based from. And it helps with the tricky/random topics that may come up on the Project Maths paper.


Biology

The most beautiful subject there is! :P

Biology was by far the easiest subject to do well in in my opinion. You just need to understand what was going on and have a genuine interest in it. I disagree with people who say Biology is just a big pile of learning off because it's not exactly; with Biology, you just need to understand everything. Everything works mutually with everything else. You need to understand why the electrons are needed in Photosynthesis. Why your eyes dilate in dim light. Why certain enzymes don't work with certain substrates. It's just mostly a subject, in my opinion anyway, that involves active learning.

For biology, I always googled different aspects of the course. I learned things in more detail than needed because I was so interested in it! It allowed me to understand everything that was going on. For diagrams of the skin I always included the Pacinian corpuscles(the proper name for the pressure receptors). I learned about the Purkinje fibres in the heart and the different latin names for our ecology flora and fauna (we did a rocky seashore environment and I work at a beach so it was handy enough anyways).

Biology is a lovely and logical subject in my opinion, many will disagree, saying "What's so logical about plant biology", but if you really look into it, you'll see all the different workings and different reactions that once you understand, you will never forget. I don't forget any of my LC Biology still and it's great, I love looking over all my biology notes and googling new things. Just take a genuine interest!


I can't help much with your other subjects as I did Chemistry Accounting French and Music but feel free to PM me (and if anyone else wants to PM go ahead!) if you want anymore advice or anything.

625 takes work but it's not impossible to achieve. You just need to work constantly to get it.

Scortho

JeaicMaG wrote: »

What's egotistical about it?

I wouldn't say it's egotistical, just anyone I met who wanted the full 600 at the time seemed to put themselves under a lot of pressure. And the amount who were going for that amount who didn't get it, maybe missing it by 10 points were seriously depressed.

Krispylad

Thank you very much for your detailed response and well done on te 625 by the way..

It gives me a huge confidence boost to hear that you didn't do a serious amount of study until a few months prior your exams but I really wouldnt be able to do that.. I plan on not stressing out too much at all and I believe that a relaxed approach is best (but not too relaxed)..

I am genuinely interested in Maths, Biology, ag science and engineering so i am a bit like you in some ways and being interested makes the study less of a chore and more like a past time..

_LilyRose_

As well just remember that even with as much study as you can possibly do there is a certain amount of luck involved to get a perfect score so don't be too hard on yourself because there are aspects to the LC that are completely out of our control (bell curve, marking schemes etc)

Good luck and enjoy (lol)