How much should I be doing for the Leaving Cert?

Seanf999

So I'm in 5th year and I still haven't found out just how much we should be doing per night in 5th year. My French teacher says 3 hours of French a night and more on the weekends, some people aren't even doing the homework and others are getting up at 6 (bus could be at 8 or so) and doing revision while also doing 4 1/2s a night and god knows what on weekends.

I'm doing higher French, Biology, Geography, English, Irish, Business and lower level maths..
And I'd like to have a fair idea of how much study I should be doing, for a normal night or before a test..
Thanks for any help given!

Shakespeare's Sister

Crikey, three hours of French alone per night?!
The arbitrary figures which some teachers throw out at pupils... are they not aware of the ridiculous pressure they're putting on them?

It depends on the person really - how good a memory they have, what aptitude they have for the subject. In my opinion, the main thing is that you do the assignments you're given each day, and revise when something starts to fade from memory.
That's the ideal anyway - if you can motivate yourself to do that instead of leaving it until exam time and then cramming, good for you.
A bit of cramming is no harm though, and often necessary - just to get things fresh in your head right before the exam.

Allow yourself to have a break in the evening too though - the school day is long enough.

Digital Solitude

In 5th years just do your homework and a bit of study for class tests and Christmas and Summer exams?

I'm in LC and I don't do 3 hours a week on French, nevermind a night. Study when you're in Leaving, I can't imagine you'll have much to study after 2 months anyways?

Seanf999

Shakespeare's Sister wrote: »

Crikey, three hours of French alone per night?!
The arbitrary figures which some teachers throw out at pupils... My first thought was 'I hope she's exaggerating'... Sadly she wasn't.

It depends on the person really - how good a memory they have, I tend to have a fairly good memory, I mean if I look at a page and scan over it majority of the time I can get the answer I need from there when I reread that info in my head during a test..

Sadly I won't have much in the way of breaks if medicines my aim!

Shakespeare's Sister

No you'll have to study hard for Medicine all right, simply because the points are so high, but you're not going to have time to devote three hours to just one subject per night when you're doing seven subjects - don't mind her, she's talking nonsense.

Having a good memory is a serious advantage - a lot of the Leaving Cert is purely a memory test.

You have to give yourself breaks too - after a certain point your brain needs a break anyway, and it would be advised that you take breaks.

Seanf999

Shakespeare's Sister wrote: »

No you'll have to study hard for Medicine all right, simply because the points are so high, but you're not going to have time to devote three hours to just one subject per night when you're doing seven subjects - don't mind her, she's talking nonsense.

Having a good memory is a serious advantage - a lot of the Leaving Cert is purely a memory test.

You have to give yourself breaks too - after a certain point your brain needs a break anyway, and it would be advised that you take breaks.

To say the least, to be in with a chance I'm looking at 560/570 without HL maths..

I realise that I will need breaks but I will try to limit does to activity I need to do (eat etc) and I also take Friday evenings off because I'm wrecked by the end I the week!
As for the memory, it's all good till my mind wanders or I procrastinate (doesn't happen during exams just before hand and it can be detrimental!)
Thanks for the advice, I completely agree she is talking nonsense..

Seanf999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

In 5th years just do your homework and a bit of study for class tests and Christmas and Summer exams?

I'm in LC and I don't do 3 hours a week on French, nevermind a night. Study when you're in Leaving, I can't imagine you'll have much to study after 2 months anyways?

Sadly her words were, and I quote 'this is just the beginning'
At the minute I'm at close to 4 hours a night between study, homework and small breaks..

Digital Solitude

Seanf999 wrote: »

Sadly her words were, and I quote 'this is just the beginning'
At the minute I'm at close to 4 hours a night between study, homework and small breaks..

But why should French stand above any subject? You don't have the time to study every subject for 1 hour a night, unless you can eat, sleep and do extra curricular activities inside of 10 hours.

I'd recommend take 5th easy, next year work hard, you won't be able to keep a solid work rate like you seem to be planning up for 2 years. My sister repeated and tried this, April and May before the leaving second time around she was doing about 10 hours a week, down from 30-40 around Christmas? You just burn out and suffer for it.

Small bits of revision, maybe print out some exam papers from educate.ie (the mocks.ie app with adobe reader is excellent for exams and marking schemes) and do exams questions on topics for revision occasionally, a large workload too early will be detrimental in the long run imo

You're under enough pressure as it is without your teachers trying too scare you into thinking you're not doing enough work.

Seanf999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

But why should French stand above any subject? .

Because she's a French teacher!

I do plan on doing some work in 5th year but as you said I won't kill myself working, I'll put in a bit extra at exam times.
I realise the importance of breaks but so long as my results dont suffer I'm will to go that little bit futher to get where I'm aiming for

Digital Solitude

Seanf999 wrote: »

Because she's a French teacher!

I do plan on doing some work in 5th year but as you said I won't kill myself working, I'll put in a bit extra at exam times.
I realise the importance of breaks but so long as my results dont suffer I'm will to go that little bit futher to get where I'm aiming for

Touché! Just don't worry about doing enough, you can't focus if you're panicked and worried, and that leads to stress, which is never good

Seanf999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Touché! Just don't worry about doing enough, you can't focus if you're panicked and worried, and that leads to stress, which is never good

Exactly what I'm trying not to do! Panicking and worrying can make any test go downhill very fast...
Some skin advice there, cheers!

Shakespeare's Sister

Seanf999 wrote: »

Sadly her words were, and I quote 'this is just the beginning'

Stupid woman tbh. The pressure teachers blindly put on pupils is not based on reality, just a sense of obligation.
I think it's a disgrace being so harsh on 16/17/18-year-olds. Enjoy your youth too. I know when you do the leaving you'll still have plenty of your youth left, but I think it's a shame to make some teenagers feel like they can't do anything but study.
I think the other poster thought you meant you spend the full four hours you're doing at the moment just on French.
You've got a great attitude though and you're mature for your age - great recipe for getting the course you want. Best of luck!

DarraghF197

I'm in leaving cert now and essentially didn't do any study in 5th year for the actual leaving cert exams. 5th year is literally all about keeping on top of things. You only need to study for the tests that you have in normal classes and end of year exams. The main things in 5th year to do is:

1. Do your homework
2. Pay attention in class
3. Know whats going on.

I believe point 2 is the most obvious. For someone like me, it's easy to maintain focus in class, and I actually find it hard not to. I understand some people may be different, though. Looking at your subjects, we're two opposites going for solid points. I do mathematical subjects: Accounting, Physics, Applied Maths, Economics, while you seem to have more of the learn-off the book subjects, that will require more study than me.

So, summary, no study required. But, tip for the future, draw lots of mind maps, you seem to have a more creative thinking brain and mind maps will help you zone in as it integrates the creative side of your brain. They're also a hell of a lot more fun than staring at a page, look up some decent examples and learn the key techniques of them, they're proven to be very very effective.

Unlucky that you're doing OL maths, I'd recommend trying to do a lot of work into that if anything and try bump yourself up to a B in HL, extra 25 points is very handy.

spurious

No. 2 is a real no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many don't do this. Plus missing days. I had students used to think the world stood still on days they were out and never bothered to find out what we had covered on the days they missed, let alone do the homework assigned.

It sometimes seems like there are two cohorts doing the Leaving. The ones who take it seriously and often over-estimate the amount of work they need to do and another gang who think it will be all right if they cram a bit in May because 'the Mocks are always harder'.

TheBiz

spurious wrote: »

No. 2 is a real no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many don't do this. Plus missing days. I had students used to think the world stood still on days they were out and never bothered to find out what we had covered on the days they missed, let alone do the homework assigned.

It sometimes seems like there are two cohorts doing the Leaving. The ones who take it seriously and often over-estimate the amount of work they need to do and another gang who think it will be all right if they cram a bit in May because 'the Mocks are always harder'.

And the term 'be grand' tends to be used a lot by the later while I've seen fielding crying over class tests in fifth year..