Competition between classmates

LCBanter

Just wondering if this is common place around the country? I know it is natural to want to be better but in my year (5th year) people are determined to get that mark better than the lad beside him regardless of the test!

I'm in an all boys school so is this normal in mixed and all girls school from your experiences?

And if so,is this healthy competition?

syklops

How did you get to 5th year in an all boys school without realising everything was about competition?

Is it normal? Normal for a boys school I suppose.

Does it happen in a mixed school? No. In 5th year, when I wasnt studying maths, or writing C, I was contemplating Molly O'Connors chest and arse.

LCBanter

syklops wrote: »

How did you get to 5th year in an all boys school without realising everything was about competition?

Is it normal? Normal for a boys school I suppose.

Does it happen in a mixed school? No. In 5th year, when I wasnt studying maths, or writing C, I was contemplating Molly O'Connors chest and arse.

Where did I say I never realised before? :P Just decided to post an observation!

That is understandable!

DarraghF197

LCBanter wrote: »

Just wondering if this is common place around the country? I know it is natural to want to be better but in my year (5th year) people are determined to get that mark better than the lad beside him regardless of the test!

I'm in an all boys school so is this normal in mixed and all girls school from your experiences?

And if so,is this healthy competition?

I'd say there's always going to be a hint of competition. Is it good? Yes. It pushes everyone further to try work harder. However it's not good if you decide not to share techniques with your classmates and then both suffer.

spurious

I wouldn't agree it pushes everyone to work harder. It pushes those who pay any attention to it to work harder.

Long term it's kind of pointless, you should only be concerned about how you will do. Comparing yourself to other people does not always end well. The big fish/small pond factor is there too.

DarraghF197

spurious wrote: »

I wouldn't agree it pushes everyone to work harder. It pushes those who pay any attention to it to work harder.

Long term it's kind of pointless, you should only be concerned about how you will do. Comparing yourself to other people does not always end well. The big fish/small pond factor is there too.

I'm well aware of that, which is why I said that they should work together as it is pointless to compare to your own classmates for your leaving cert. There should still be that syncracy. They're not mutually exclusive, you can have competition and still work together.

And, yes, that's what I meant. The people who pay attention to it will work just that little bit harder to try and continue being best in the class or whatever.

Peregrine

We never had it in my shcool, tbh.

I don't know if competition is healthy or not but if people aren't helping each other because of competition or being snobbish then it's definitely not healthy.

lalabear53

In my school(I'm also in 5th year) the competition is actually unreal! I am in a mixed school in the west and seriously there are some people who just go overboard!

Some teachers also fuel this competition by reading out best essays top test results etc! I would say however that this competition is more evident within the girls in the year since the lads don't really seem to care how they get on!!

LCBanter

spurious wrote: »

Long term it's kind of pointless, you should only be concerned about how you will do. Comparing yourself to other people does not always end well. The big fish/small pond factor is there too.

Fair enough,but would it be fair to say that examiners are going to compare you to the other papers they have,that will be from your year also?

randylonghorn

LCBanter wrote: »

Fair enough,but would it be fair to say that examiners are going to compare you to the other papers they have,that will be from your year also?

Examiners are comparing you to the standards set down by the marking scheme, not your classmates standards though.

OMGeary

randylonghorn wrote: »

Examiners are comparing you to the standards set down by the marking scheme, not your classmates standards though.

That's what they say, but examiners are human as opposed to robots. Therefore they will be judging you against other scripts they have read, plus there is also the bell-curve.

randylonghorn

OMGeary wrote: »

That's what they say, but examiners are human as opposed to robots.

Therefore they will be judging you against other scripts they have read...

True, though by the time you've corrected 400 scripts you feel much more like a robot than a human, believe me! :pac:

But it's probably impossible to prevent some small element of unconscious subjectivity creeping in ... nevertheless, examiners will be concentrating on applying the marking scheme fairly, rather than on judging you by your peers in your own school.

Also remember that there are checks built in ... supervising examiners pull scripts during the correction process, and double-check that the MS is being applied properly.

OMGeary wrote: »

... plus there is also the bell-curve.

This is applied nationally though, not pack by pack or school by school.

Believe me, in terms of competition, it is far more accurate to say that you are in competiton with the c. 60k students out there doing the exam than specifically with your own classmates.

EoghanIRL

I wouldn't get caught up in it OP.
It's doesn't really matter what anyone else gets except yourself. I would never ask others what they got in exams because the only result I am concerned about is my own. As long as you can say you tried your hardest it shouldn't matter what the person sitting next to you scored!

Saying that some competition is normal.

emersyn

I actually found that during the junior cycle things were a lot more competitive in terms of students berating each other to find out what test results they got, teachers announcing who got the best result to the whole class etc... I ended up having to ask some of the teachers to change the way they singled out the best students because the atmosphere was putting huge stress and pressure on me (and probably many other students). However, at the moment in 5th year there is thankfully far less competitiveness - everyone seems to be focused on their own grades and doesn't bother about the results of the rest of the class.