Hoping to study medicine but I didn't study at all..

Seanf999

I'm 17 going into 5th year and I want to study medicine, my issue is that for my junior cert I didn't study what so ever, I still came out with Cs at higher level but I didn't do all the high I could have.
So how now I have to move up to higher level into everything and I don't know if I could manage.
I can't see myself doing anything else but I don't know I get in.
I need minimum of 480 but if I was going by jc results I would have gotten 415 (had all the results been the top mark in that grade)
Il need an average of 80% per test all at higher level to make bare minimum points and at that I still may not get in!
What should I do ? I'm worrying...

How can I get the maximum points in the lc? Any study tips ?

RainBow_xo

You have plenty of time. If you really want it you will put in the hard work and study your butt off. Another alternative is to do a science related degree and opt for graduate entry medicine.

eyescreamcone

Forget about the 480 points minimum - nobody gets in on the minimum.

Aim for around 550 points at least

rainbowtrout

Seanf999 wrote: »

I'm 17 going into 5th year and I want to study medicine, my issue is that for my junior cert I didn't study what so ever, I still came out with Cs at higher level but I didn't do all the high I could have.
So how now I have to move up to higher level into everything and I don't know if I could manage.
I can't see myself doing anything else but I don't know I get in.
I need minimum of 480 but if I was going by jc results I would have gotten 415 (had all the results been the top mark in that grade)
Il need an average of 80% per test all at higher level to make bare minimum points and at that I still may not get in!
What should I do ? I'm worrying...

How can I get the maximum points in the lc? Any study tips ?

Sorry to break it to you but eyescreamcone is right. 480 is the minimum at which the CAO will consider taking LC Points + HPAT score into account for medicine. No one gets in on 480. The HPAT is an extra requirement but the type of student going for medicine is still coming in with at least 550 points. That's what you need to be aiming for minimum, which is 6 A2 grades more or less.

Maximum points are not attained from minimum work. Ask yourself are you capable of a near perfect Leaving Cert in every subject, and more importantly are you willing to put in the work required for that between now and next June?

miissjuly

Seanf999 wrote: »

I'm 17 going into 5th year and I want to study medicine, my issue is that for my junior cert I didn't study what so ever, I still came out with Cs at higher level but I didn't do all the high I could have.
So how now I have to move up to higher level into everything and I don't know if I could manage.
I can't see myself doing anything else but I don't know I get in.
I need minimum of 480 but if I was going by jc results I would have gotten 415 (had all the results been the top mark in that grade)
Il need an average of 80% per test all at higher level to make bare minimum points and at that I still may not get in!
What should I do ? I'm worrying...

How can I get the maximum points in the lc? Any study tips ?

Don't worry it's still early! Keep doing your work and be consistent. Start studying early (start of 6th year) but effective studying don't just make notes and think you've done a lot. Since you need the points study a chapter a week like know it inside out (know what you are learning don't memorise) this should work for your science subjects. If you know a chapter well you can tackle any kind of question on the exam even if it's mixed with other topics. Revise 5th year work along with the new material in 6th year. But start early! I regret studying a few weeks before the LC. btw you should aim for 550 at least, don't think anyone gets in with 480(?)

Seanf999

Thanks for answering, For Nuig 480 points is still the cut off but from what I'm hearing I need 550 or more...
I'm only starting fifth year but I was wondering if there is anything I could do over the summer study wise as I have all my books.
Also I would plan on studying from first week of 5th year , and I'm also pondering going to an educational institute but that's only if there worth there price.

I really can't see myself doing anything else but I can't see myself getting in...
I mean going from a C1 average to an A2 average? And moving to higher in Maths, French, English, Irish even if my average was a B1...
Granted I never studied at all , but one test I did study for I got 99% and the second highest was 86% it was biology..

I have 2 years to do so but I honestly don't know if it's possible, as I said going from an C1 grade average to an A2 grade average,
And then moving to higher in English, Irish, Maths, French and going from a B1 average OL to an A2 HL average...

What can I do over the summer to prepare for 5th year? I have all my books.
And finally, are educational institutes really worth it? In considering going to Yeats If it's worth its price.

rainbowtrout

Seanf999 wrote: »

Thanks for answering, For Nuig 480 points is still the cut off but from what I'm hearing I need 550 or more...
I'm only starting fifth year but I was wondering if there is anything I could do over the summer study wise as I have all my books.
Also I would plan on studying from first week of 5th year , and I'm also pondering going to an educational institute but that's only if there worth there price.

I really can't see myself doing anything else but I can't see myself getting in...
I mean going from a C1 average to an A2 average? And moving to higher in Maths, French, English, Irish even if my average was a B1...
Granted I never studied at all , but one test I did study for I got 99% and the second highest was 86% it was biology..

Hold on. You are doing Ordinary Level English, Irish, Maths and French???? That's what i'm picking up from your comment above.

Did you do these subjects at ordinary level in Junior Cert?



The Institute/Yeats is not a magic solution. They will make you work 12 hours a day and you will rote learn a lot of the material. You can do that anywhere if you want to. Going to a grind school will not make your grades jump from Cs to As just purely by attending their classes. You have to work, and you have to have the ability as well.

Also that cut off is the minimum points they will look at for anyone applying for medicine, everyone applying has to have at least 480 for any of the colleges. Realistically everyone has 550+. Before the HPAT most students were not getting into medicine with less than 560. In some colleges it was higher.


To put this in perspective OP, one of my Leaving Certs this year is going for medicine. He got 8 or 9 A grades in his JC and the remainder were Bs. He was hitting the 530ish mark in his mocks with As in all his sciences. He's got an excellent HPAT score (they were released last week) and he's sitting at home hoping the exams he's sat two weeks ago are good enough to get him in in August. That's the kind of student you are up against.

Seanf999 wrote: »

I have 2 years to do so but I honestly don't know if it's possible, as I said going from an C1 grade average to an A2 grade average,
And then moving to higher in English, Irish, Maths, French and going from a B1 average OL to an A2 HL average...

What can I do over the summer to prepare for 5th year? I have all my books.
And finally, are educational institutes really worth it? In considering going to Yeats If it's worth its price.

I've just seen this second post. I'm all for people working and studying, but I don't see how you can realistically expect to pull out all A grades at Higher Level when you are getting B grades in Ordinary Level. That alone would indicate that you are not able for the Higher Level course, let alone get A grades in the core subjects. I'd equate an A at Ordinary Level to a low D at Higher Level at best.

Seanf999

Everyone of my teachers said I should be in higher level, when I say I didn't study I literally mean I may as well not been in school! I did nothing no class work , no homework , no study , no effort.
I hate myself for doing it but I was in with a bad crowd and I know myself that if I worked and I mean worked from day one that I could do well , I could do all higher, question is could I get into medicine.

I know I'm beyond idiotic but I really can't see myself as anything other than a doctor, I actually want a job that's that time consuming I want it to be my main focus and I want it to be challenging!

A friend of just went into medicine after repeating a year ago, he got 520 and a good Hpat but missed out all the same, his friend got 625 , everyone one of his friends got 510+ , some others went for medicine too, everyone I known who's gone for medicine have been borderline geniuses!

What can I study over the summer to bring me close to their level.

rainbowtrout

Seanf999 wrote: »

Everyone of my teachers said I should be in higher level, when I say I didn't study I literally mean I may as well not been in school! I did nothing no class work , no homework , no study , no effort.
I hate myself for doing it but I was in with a bad crowd and I know myself that if I worked and I mean worked from day one that I could do well , I could do all higher, question is could I get into medicine.

Nobody here can answer that question, nobody knows you or your abilities. I'm saying this as a teacher. Plenty of students post on this forum every year asking if they could get 600 points and inevitably the other students on the forum say 'yes, of course you can if you start working now, do revision, do exam papers, etc'. The reality is, it's not that easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. You're basically asking the same question, given the course you want to get into.

Also your school may not let you into the higher level classes because you haven't proven yourself or if you did subjects at ordinary level for junior cert, and they are not going to kick out someone who has better grades than you.

This is something that you can only take up with your teachers and your school. You don't have to be a genius to get 550+ in the leaving, but you have to be an incredibly hard worker and have good all round ability to score high in the 6 subjects you will be counting for points.

spurious

Sometimes hard work isn't enough and anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you.

There is a WORLD of difference between someone who gets Cs in the Junior and people who get 550+ in the Leaving.

Seanf999

My teachers have said they have no problem with letting me up to higher level , and a few said I should have been in there from the get go.
All my life I've been told that I could be so much better, that I was wastin so much potential, I got just below a B and the teacher would hold me back after class and tell me that she was disappointed, that I could be top of the class if I just cared.
It was my science teacher who said I should try for medicine after I said I'd like to do it but I don't think it's attainable..
She said I could do it, if I put my head down and worked, not kill myself but just do my part that medicine was genuinely attainable..

spurious

Again, going into the HL class, or being able to get above a B1 in the Leaving? These are two different things.

rainbowtrout

Seanf999 wrote: »

My teachers have said they have no problem with letting me up to higher level , and a few said I should have been in there from the get go.
All my life I've been told that I could be so much better, that I was wastin so much potential, I got just below a B and the teacher would hold me back after class and tell me that she was disappointed, that I could be top of the class if I just cared.
It was my science teacher who said I should try for medicine after I said I'd like to do it but I don't think it's attainable..
She said I could do it, if I put my head down and worked, not kill myself but just do my part that medicine was genuinely attainable..

Here's the thing, whether medicine is attainable or not is largely irrelevant. You know you need a near perfect Leaving Cert to be in with a shout. Below 550 just won't cut it.

So are you willing to put your head down and work for the next two years and give it everything, even if medicine is not the outcome at the end?

Also one teacher telling you that you could be top of the class is one thing, but you're scoring a C in their subject. It doesn't matter that it's nearly a B, if you get 69 in the Leaving, you'll be given a C.

You would have to put in a lot of work to bring yourself up to standard in that one subject, what about the 4 subjects you are currently doing at ordinary level? What level of work is required just to bring yourself up to the standard of the other higher level students? After that more work is required to surpass the best students in the class to be the best which is where you have to be for medicine.

C grades at Junior Cert means you don't have a particularly solid foundation going into Leaving Cert. There's plenty you don't know, by your own admission you didn't do the work. There's a lot to catch up on from Junior Cert alone.

Seanf999

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Here's the thing, whether medicine is attainable or not is largely irrelevant. You know you need a near perfect Leaving Cert to be in with a shout. Below 550 just won't cut it.

So are you willing to put your head down and work for the next two years and give it everything, even if medicine is not the outcome at the end?

Also one teacher telling you that you could be top of the class is one thing, but you're scoring a C in their subject. It doesn't matter that it's nearly a B, if you get 69 in the Leaving, you'll be given a C.

You would have to put in a lot of work to bring yourself up to standard in that one subject, what about the 4 subjects you are currently doing at ordinary level? What level of work is required just to bring yourself up to the standard of the other higher level students? After that more work is required to surpass the best students in the class to be the best which is where you have to be for medicine.

C grades at Junior Cert means you don't have a particularly solid foundation going into Leaving Cert. There's plenty you don't know, by your own admission you didn't do the work. There's a lot to catch up on from Junior Cert alone.

Honestly I am willing to work and work and work, I can't see myself doing anything , I can't see myself being happy doing anything else.
I'm stupid for not trying before but I'm willing to put in the effort.

It was 5 different teachers saying the same thing that I could be top of the class not just hovering about average, I got 69% in 6 different summer tests, an I knew myself I could do better.

As for the 4 I'm doing at lower I may leave one of them at lower (the maths) and doing as I was saying on my other post, just passing that and focusing on the other subjects.
The rest should be ok I came out with Bs and As at lower level. And i feel, my teachers feel and my guidance councillor feel that A grades at higher level are a serious possibility I don't know how they came up with that idea but I hope they are right!

I know the chances of me becoming a doctor are slim but I genuinely can't see myself as anything else, I have spent years upon years researching different careers and alternative but I came back to the idea I had when I was 8 years old and that is I want to be a doctor...

Slow Show

I don't really like the negativity here. Maybe it's realism but I dunno. I mean, surely a lot of the teachers here have seen a lot of students of Sean's ilk, people completely wasting potential that they quite clearly have (if what he's saying is true). I do agree that doing OL in subjects was probably a bad move, but it's not an irreversible mistake.

I'm in Medicine atm and I know there are people in my class, and in others of course, who actually would have achieved fairly meh JC's and then gone on to do great in the LC when they pulled up their socks, realised their potential and actually put in some work. As for the OL subjects, there's ways around things like these, I know someone who did OL English and Maths and just made up the points in his other subjects, taking on some extra ones and pretty much ignoring his weaknesses, focusing on his strengths instead. Four OL subjects is extreme, I'll admit, but if you feel like you have the ability to move up in some of them, then I'd say go for it. Maths could be quite difficult with only OL JC as a foundation, but the likes of French, I feel, can be easily improved if you just find the time to do extra-curricular work in it (there's a plethora of online aids out there for learning French that a quick boards/google search will find).

I dunno, maybe I'm a dreamer, but I don't think this is the lost cause it's being made out to be. I really feel sorry for people who fall in with the wrong crowd and let important things like education fall by the wayside, if you wanna make the change for yourself I think it should be encouraged. Even if you don't get Medicine after it all, putting in the work now will still help you get into a course that you could use as a stepping stone into it later. Good luck!

randylonghorn

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Here's the thing, whether medicine is attainable or not is largely irrelevant.

This.

What is the worst that can happen if you pull up your socks and start working?

You get a good LC (and by the sounds of it, if you work, you are at least capable of getting a good LC) and you at least have options. If you continue as you have been, you'll have few enough options in two years time.

RBT and spurious are right, you have left yourself an uphill battle, but your own teachers seem to think that you can at the very least turn it around and do well.

So you might not get into med in two years time.

You might end up repeating, that gives you an extra year to catch up and perform to your true potential. Is that potential enough for med? We don't know, no-one does really; but your own teachers are in a better position to judge than we are.

You might have changed your mind entirely about what you want to do by then.

You might go and do (say) a science degree, and then apply for grad medicine. It's the long way round and it's expensive, but it's an option all the same.

One way or the other, if you get the finger out and start working hard, you start to open up a wider range of options for yourself. If you continue as you have been, your options will be extremely limited, and I guarantee you that you will look back in later life and call yourself every fool under the sun. Hell, I think you may be getting to that point already.

I wouldn't try to do something crazy study-wise this summer; you have 2 full years of LC pressure to get through, and putting your head in the books for six hours a day over the summer without guidance or help (for example) will probably be counter-productive tbh.

That said, by the sounds of it you have arsed around for 3 years if not 4, and doing a bit won't kill you and might make things a little easier next year.

Do you know what novels etc. you have for English? Read them. At least they will be familiar when you start into them seriously next year. Pop onto something like Duolingo (google it) for your language (French?), it's an easy / fun way to improve your standard a bit. You sound like you like the sciences, read ahead a bit in whatever ones you're doing and see can you puzzle it out. There are loads of videos and free sites on the web which do explanations and mini-tutorials, look around this forum for recommendations for good ones (sorry, I'm not a science-y person). Make a game of it almost, a puzzle / challenge you set yourself, and don't get too disheartened if you don't understand something ... at the very least when you meet it next year, it will all sound very familiar, and will be likely to fall into place much more quickly with a teacher to answer questions.

No-one here can tell you will you get medicine, Sean, but we can tell you one thing: it's up to you and you alone whether you start to open up options for yourself, or twiddle your thumbs for another two years and end up regretting it.

dar100

Motivation is the key factor here. You have a base line of ability, if you put the work in, you will get where you want to go.

I only went to school till 12 years old, I went back to college many years later and got a 1st in my degree, not medicine though, but still a good result

Go with your dream op, sure if you don't get it you Can always go do a degree and come back as a mature student

starlit

Sometimes things will work out in your favour or they won't try not to be hard on yourself. Do have a back up plan. You can still do the special medicine exam after doing another course in college even if you haven't any other career in mind please do have back up courses in mind when you fill out CAO you be surprised you could change your mind in two years time when you are half way through 6th year, you can have change of mind in May before exams as well. You could think differently after you done the LC but be sure its the right career for you, have alternatives similar to medicine or something that could be of help. I know someone who picked Medicine as first choice but ended up with a different course they were between two different ones as second choice but each path would have lead them somewhere different. Please do choose wisely and they felt in the end Medicine wouldn't have suited them despite being so close but they didn't get the points for it. This is decades ago though. Some things happen for a reason if things are meant to be it will happen.

Please do have other options even a PLC course that might help but I don't know if you can do that to get into traditional medicine you can for other science courses depends. Sometimes your 1st or 2nd choice might not always be the right one could be ones down your CAO list so do pick wisely.

Its up to you in the end of the day if you work hard and do the bit of work you be surprised how much you get done if you do a bit each day its so much easier when it come to exam time then.

Tesco TripleChicken

If I could give advice to any fifth year it would be to actually do work in 5th year. 5th years (at least my year anyway) tend to take it handy, I did very little work in 5th year and was then under more pressure in 6th year. Dont constantly think "ah ive another year anyway to start working itll be grand" because it won't be. Im happy enough with how I did on the LC (waiting for results) but I know I could've done much better.
Forget about your JC results, I got all Cs and a B (all HL) in JC, it doesn't mean you'll get the same (better or worse) in LC. Just work hard, and start working now.

Seanf999

Thanks Slow Show, I plan on moving up in every OL subject I did for JC but I might stay in OL maths and as you said ignore weaknesses and focus on strength..
I guess most of them think I'm an idiot (can't blame them, I really have been up until lately..) but regardless, I know medicine is where I want to be every career option I can possibly see myself in needs a medical degree..

Seanf999

**Update**
I'm currently doing all higher level bar maths (tried it an I'm not up to that standard)
I am currently an A student in English, Geography, Biology and a B in French, Business, Irish (scrapping in) and a A student in OL maths which won't be counted (or atleast I hope!

At this stage I'm not up to the level required for medicine but I still have a long way to go and many chances to improve.
I still want to study medicine even with some doubt creeping in but I'm keeping at it.

Just thought I'd give ye a little update and a thank you to everyone who gae their 2 cents!

mirrorwall14

Well done and keep it up!

Lisas98

Hi I am in 5th year too and also want to study medicine. I did a good JC but am really lazy this year. The huge amount of homework was just a massive shock at the start of the year. I do my homework but never really learn anything. I was just wondering how much time you spend on homework and study each night and at weekends?