Study Tips?

Macbarbie07

Hey!

I'm going into third year thus I am doing my Junior Cert in June!:eek: I was wondering if anybody who has just finished their JC or has done it in recent years has any studying tips!?

I'm finding it really hard to get motivated! I like learning from bullet points rather then mind maps but I find studying really hard

Please reply any suggestions! Thanks in advance!

- Lauryn

sebastianlieken

Step 1. Get off the internet and study instead.

Macbarbie07

Thanks for that

DublinArnie

--> Make simple mind maps. (I can send you an example if you want)

--> Try do your homework without the help from a book or notes etc.

--> Make sure you fully understand what is happening in the class.

--> For subjects like English, practice timing your self. For example, the reading comperhension section for higher English should take 30mins maximum. Every weekend or so, keep timing your self and if you want give your work to your teacher so he/she can correct.

--> Keep practicing. Try do one past paper for two subjects per weekend, and just keep doing that. Make sure to get someone (teacher?) to correct it.

What subjects and levels do you do? Also, don't panic like we all did last year. I only started "seriously" studying after the mocks, although I did light work when I started 3rd year. If you need more help, just ask .

sebastianlieken

but seriously, don't underestimate the power of taking breaks.

you need to take breaks; your brain will just become exhausted if you think you need to study ALL the time. You don't neccecarily have to structure your whole daily routine around when to and when not to study. Just try approach it with a relaxed attitude so that you minimise the stress of it.

Give your studying a few good sessions aswell. get the red bull out and learn the F*** out of that information!!

also, get yourself a few "flashcards" but dont get the credit card sized ones.they're too small. get something like A5. populate that one page with all the relevant info you need to learn. this will be the page of all pages that has everything in simple and concise points. when you go to do the exam you'll find that you remember where on this sheet that info is, and your brain will put the rest of the pieces together.

that's all I got. But remember to take your mind off it and have a break now and again.

Macbarbie07

Thanks! The subjects are do are

-English (H)
-Irish (H)
-Maths (H)
-History (H)
-Geography (H)
-CSPE (H)
-Science (H)
-Business (H)
-German (H)
-Art (H)
-Religion (H)

Macbarbie07

Thanks!

DublinArnie

Macbarbie07 wrote: »

Thanks! The subjects are do are

-English (H)
-Irish (H)
-Maths (H)
-History (H)
-Geography (H)
-CSPE (H)
-Science (H)
-Business (H)
-German (H)
-Art (H)
-Religion (H)

Fact based subjects like History, Geography, Science and Religion are great for mind maps. Really helps and you should get into the habbit of making them. If you have a good teacher, he/she would make them anyway.

Anyway, don't worry about it, enjoy the rest of your summer holidays and start studying when school starts!

Macbarbie07

DublinArnie wrote: »

Fact based subjects like History, Geography, Science and Religion are great for mind maps. Really helps and you should get into the habbit of making them. If you have a good teacher, he/she would make them anyway.

Anyway, don't worry about it, enjoy the rest of your summer holidays and start studying when school starts!

Thanks so much for the help!

Covertheground

Hey im also going into 3rd year. I have noticed what study techniques are good and others not so good.
*_good_*
I use this for every subject and it is effective. Read relevant section in your text book and actively learn this then read your teachers notes if you have them and then close all the books pick a question from past papers on the topic you learned about and answer it like its an exam write as much as you can and then when you are finished read the books again correct your mistakes and do another answer on the topic. This will work as long as you dont cheat and look at the books as you do the answers.

*_ not so good _*

I have noticed that people who use these methods generally do not get as high of results as people who learn the way i mentioned above
Writing notes by coping it from the book i promise you writing notes for 4 hours By coping from the book will not get you As as you are not actively learning


I think the key is to actively learn rather than mindless learning which consists of coping straight from the book

Anyway good luck dont stress too much as thats not good either

Macbarbie07

Covertheground wrote: »

Hey im also going into 3rd year. I have noticed what study techniques are good and others not so good.
*_good_*
I use this for every subject and it is effective. Read relevant section in your text book and actively learn this then read your teachers notes if you have them and then close all the books pick a question from past papers on the topic you learned about and answer it like its an exam write as much as you can and then when you are finished read the books again correct your mistakes and do another answer on the topic. This will work as long as you dont cheat and look at the books as you do the answers.

*_ not so good _*

I have noticed that people who use these methods generally do not get as high of results as people who learn the way i mentioned above
Writing notes by coping it from the book i promise you writing notes for 4 hours By coping from the book will not get you As as you are not actively learning


I think the key is to actively learn rather than mindless learning which consists of coping straight from the book

Anyway good luck dont stress too much as thats not good either

Thanks for the advice! Good luck to you too

OldNotWIse

Might not be of any use (postgrad perspective) but what I have found really works for me is condense, condense and condense again! I write my notes out as usual, then condense them (mind maps or bullets depending on the substance) and then condense again. I joke with my OH that I am going to sneak one page into every exam, and try to fit all the valuable, relevant info onto that one page. If you know the stuff and then condense it down, technically if you can memorise and therefore "bring" the condensed version with you, you should be able to then open it out at whatever point you need to. Good luck with studies.

Macbarbie07

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Might not be of any use (postgrad perspective) but what I have found really works for me is condense, condense and condense again! I write my notes out as usual, then condense them (mind maps or bullets depending on the substance) and then condense again. I joke with my OH that I am going to sneak one page into every exam, and try to fit all the valuable, relevant info onto that one page. If you know the stuff and then condense it down, technically if you can memorise and therefore "bring" the condensed version with you, you should be able to then open it out at whatever point you need to. Good luck with studies.

thank you That's a really good idea, I never thought of doing that, I usually use a whole refill pad on notes!:o

spurious

Listen properly in class.
Do not leave the classroom not understanding something.
Do your homework as if it was an exam question, but mostly 'listen properly in class'.

positivealf

Ah now that I've completed my JC exam I can finally be able to say "It's only junior cert, you'll be grand".

DublinArnie

positivealf wrote: »

Ah now that I've completed my JC exam I can finally be able to say "It's only junior cert, you'll be grand".

He's right. The outcome of this so called "Junior Cert" doesn't matter and will most likely not affect anything in your life. It's only important if you do not the Leaving Cert, so then you use your Junior Cert as some sort of qualification.

Don't worry little ones!

dee_mc

Great advice so far, the only other thing I would add is to correct anything you get wrong (or only half right!) in homework, tests etc- if you're unclear on where you lost marks, as Spurious suggests above, ask the teacher to tell you where you went wrong, then rewrite the answer. You can absolutely use your homework as a study aid, if you make sure from the beginning that the question is marked clearly at the beginning etc. A bit of organisation from day 1 of third year will really stand to you once the exams come around
(Oh yea, and the Junior Cert will be in June, not July, but now I'm just being picky!)

Jijsaw

positivealf wrote: »

Ah now that I've completed my JC exam I can finally be able to say "It's only junior cert, you'll be grand".

A bunch of 2nd years were in my house in the Gaeltacht and I told them the JC was the worst thing I ever did, I told them I went out crying after the majority of my exams :pac:

DublinArnie

Jijsaw wrote: »

A bunch of 2nd years were in my house in the Gaeltacht and I told them the JC was the worst thing I ever did, I told them I went out crying after the majority of my exams :pac:

How was the Gaeltacht?

onlinenerd

DublinArnie wrote: »

He's right. The outcome of this so called "Junior Cert" doesn't matter and will most likely not affect anything in your life. It's only important if you do not the Leaving Cert, so then you use your Junior Cert as some sort of qualification.

Don't worry little ones!

But that doesnt give you the excuse to slack off.

onlinenerd

Do past papers again and again and this will help you as my teacher made us do lots of past papers and I committed myself to do them and I can proudly say they paid me back well especially in History.

Jijsaw

DublinArnie wrote: »

How was the Gaeltacht?

T'was grand, had a sound house and everybody was decent. After 6 feckin years of going to the Gaeltacht I finally got a ceannaire form, YAY for employment! Left a couple of days early because I had to go to Italy (which I'm still at)

orlaxxx

dont start studying until February, you'll just get so sick of it . The Junior Cert is not hard just common sense and listen in class you'll be grand!!! Good Luck

Bluestrike

When studying, never do more than half an hour and after that take a 5 minute break. After 2 hours take about a half hour break, the human brain cant concentrate for more than half an hour and so cant take stuff in after that. I qouldnt say stufy that hard now though, start after Christmas at least because you will get tired and bored of it.
If you have problems with procrastinating, like i did, Physically put anything that you could use eg: phone laptop etc in another room so you will be forced to study and not just do random other things (like i did last year spending all my time on here :P)

SnakeDrake

Macbarbie07 wrote: »

Thanks! The subjects are do are
-Geography (H)

Learn:
the words from your book e.g. granite/polder.
how to read charts/tables.
how to read maps/weather charts/photographs.

positivealf

Study for 6 hours on a weekend and I GUARANTEE that you will remember everything u studied for max 5 weeks, do this ever 2nd week for permanent memory.

IrishLassie26

I know this might be going slightly off topic but just want to ask how ye study religion and history? They are the only subjects I find difficult to study and when I look at religion exam papers I havent a clue.....

positivealf

IrishLassie26 wrote: »

I know this might be going slightly off topic but just want to ask how ye study religion and history? They are the only subjects I find difficult to study and when I look at religion exam papers I havent a clue.....

Just write down key facts and revise them?

Dahecall

positivealf wrote: »

Study for 6 hours on a weekend and I GUARANTEE that you will remember everything u studied for max 5 weeks, do this ever 2nd week for permanent memory.

Bit excessive don't you think. Tbh if you do your homework and listen in class you'll do grand. You should also do some exam papers especially in English. Shows you how repetitive it is. I only really started doing any real studying week before the exams. Worked out fine for me happy enough with my 4 As and 7 Bs even though I was disappointed with some results.

Dahecall

positivealf wrote: »

Just write down key facts and revise them?

My school doesn't do religion so don't know there. For history listening in class and doing homework will get you close to full ( if not full ) marks in pics documents short qs and final q. Only question you have to do any study for is people in history really. The questions that come up are very repetitive so you should be aiming for full marks. Even though I said last q was handy enough don't forget it has same marks as people in history question so take your time on it and write plenty. Best way of studying I found was writing out Name at top then work chronologically throughout the life condensing into one line bullet points. Then underline the key points and learn them. If you learn a religious reformer ( Martin Luther ) an explorer ( Columbus ) person involved in Irish war of independence ( Collins ) person involved in earlier revolution ( washington in American) you should be well covered and easily pick up an A

positivealf

Gavinmcgirl wrote: »

My school doesn't do religion so don't know there. For history listening in class and doing homework will get you close to full ( if not full ) marks in pics documents short qs and final q. Only question you have to do any study for is people in history really. The questions that come up are very repetitive so you should be aiming for full marks. Even though I said last q was handy enough don't forget it has same marks as people in history question so take your time on it and write plenty. Best way of studying I found was writing out Name at top then work chronologically throughout the life condensing into one line bullet points. Then underline the key points and learn them. If you learn a religious reformer ( Martin Luther ) an explorer ( Columbus ) person involved in Irish war of independence ( Collins ) person involved in earlier revolution ( washington in American) you should be well covered and easily pick up an A

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