emersynn's study log

emersyn

Looked over radioactivity, acids/bases and rates of reaction for Chemistry today as well as some experiments (shout-out to tsmguy for the motivation ). I think I might have to just call it a day and give up on the organic chem chapters, they're causing far too much trouble than they're worth

TSMGUY

I have to admit I dropped chem last year, it was just too stressful. Got an A2 in Bio and a B1 in physics but I knew I couldn't even scrape a D at honours chem so I dropped it 3 months before the exam to save face. I loved the easy little sub questions on Q5 about which scientist made this theory or another but every other question made my brain melt.

You're a better man than me!

emersyn

Maths: Revised proofs by induction and practised exam questions
English: Did a ton on of notes on Bishop, learned quotes for her poems, really hope she comes up
Biology: Learned notes on DNA/RNA, Genetic Crosses, Variation/Evolution and Genetic Engineering & did exam questions (albeit in my head)
Holiday?? What holiday

Edrees98

How do you study English emersyn? Like what notes did you make on Bishop today??

Thanks.

emersyn

Edrees98 wrote: »

How do you study English emersyn? Like what notes did you make on Bishop today??

Thanks.

For poetry, first of all I usually do a page of bullet points about the poet - their history, their inspirations etc. So for Bishop I wrote a little about how she had a really tumultuous childhood, how she loved to travel, how she loved art and painting and how she was inspired by artistic movements like Imagism and Surrealism as all of those aspects of her life are threaded into her poetry.
Then I do a page for each poem under the headings of Language and Theme, as they are the two things that generally get asked about in the poetry question. So for example for language 'Questions of Travel' I noted how she uses sensuous imagery, rhetorical questions and a conversational tone. I also write two or three key quotes from each poem. Then at the end I use one more page to do a summary of that poet, encompassing themes that are common among their poetry and their characteristic language/style.
Finally you should look at some past exam questions and put together some brainstorms/plans.
I hope this helps!:)

Edrees98

emersyn wrote: »

For poetry, first of all I usually do a page of bullet points about the poet - their history, their inspirations etc. So for Bishop I wrote a little about how she had a really tumultuous childhood, how she loved to travel, how she loved art and painting and how she was inspired by artistic movements like Imagism and Surrealism as all of those aspects of her life are threaded into her poetry.
Then I do a page for each poem under the headings of Language and Theme, as they are the two things that generally get asked about in the poetry question. So for example for language 'Questions of Travel' I noted how she uses sensuous imagery, rhetorical questions and a conversational tone. I also write two or three key quotes from each poem. Then at the end I use one more page to do a summary of that poet, encompassing themes that are common among their poetry and their characteristic language/style.
Finally you should look at some past exam questions and put together some brainstorms/plans.
I hope this helps!:)

Couldn't have asked for better advice! What sources do you use to formulate your notes. Like my teacher primarily reads from the This Is Poetry book and never discusses the poem in class!! Also, how long would this take you because I spend like a minimum of an hour attempting to make notes and they pretty much suck. Lastly, for King Lear, how so you study it and weekly how many hours do you spend on English a week and how do you break it down.


P.S sorry for all the questions, English isn't my strong point.

Thanks.

emersyn

Edrees98 wrote: »

Couldn't have asked for better advice! What sources do you use to formulate your notes. Like my teacher primarily reads from the This Is Poetry book and never discusses the poem in class!! Also, how long would this take you because I spend like a minimum of an hour attempting to make notes and they pretty much suck. Lastly, for King Lear, how so you study it and weekly how many hours do you spend on English a week and how do you break it down.


P.S sorry for all the questions, English isn't my strong point.

Thanks.

I use a combination of my poetry textbook (New Discovery), notes we get from the teacher, online research and my own personal interpretations/opinions. The best thing you can do is form your own opinions on each poem as it shows you have engaged with the poetry and put a lot of thought into it. I would usually spend about 20/30 minutes making notes for each poem.
For King Lear, our teacher gave out handouts very liberally covering major themes, characters and key scenes so I mostly use those for revision along with the educate.ie copy of the play as it has good notes, summaries and sample essays. If your teacher hasn't given you anything topics you should make notes on are themes (filial ingratitude, love, nihilism etc), personalities/motivations/actions of characters, key scenes (e.g. Gloucester being blinded), and stylistic features (e.g. imagery). There are lots of resources available online, as well as revision books. Also I would recommend watching a version of the play on Youtube or elsewhere if you haven't already.
I spend a lot less time on English than I should :rolleyes: there are a lot of weeks when I don't do anything (apart from the exam question that the teacher assigns most weeks). Ideally you should break it down by the number of marks assigned to each question (i.e. spend the most time on the composition, then the comparative, then King Lear...) However most people will spend a lot more time on Paper 2 as it seems to require a lot more work. So make sure you don't neglect Paper 1 - familiarise yourself with the layouts of each type of composition and try to work out which one you are most comfortable with before the exam.:)

Edrees98

Thanks a lot emerysn!! I really appreciate your advice and also for taking time out of your day to help me. I wish I had the same enthusiasm that you have about English. Let's see what happens tomorrow! By the way, if you ever have any queries I'm at your service!

DublinArnie

emersyn wrote: »

For poetry, first of all I usually do a page of bullet points about the poet - their history, their inspirations etc. So for Bishop I wrote a little about how she had a really tumultuous childhood, how she loved to travel, how she loved art and painting and how she was inspired by artistic movements like Imagism and Surrealism as all of those aspects of her life are threaded into her poetry.
Then I do a page for each poem under the headings of Language and Theme, as they are the two things that generally get asked about in the poetry question. So for example for language 'Questions of Travel' I noted how she uses sensuous imagery, rhetorical questions and a conversational tone. I also write two or three key quotes from each poem. Then at the end I use one more page to do a summary of that poet, encompassing themes that are common among their poetry and their characteristic language/style.
Finally you should look at some past exam questions and put together some brainstorms/plans.
I hope this helps!:)

Wouldn't learning two or three key quotes per poem limit you? I've got five quotes per poem, but granted a lot of them are two words or so.

Very structured method you have!

emersyn

DublinArnie wrote: »

Wouldn't learning two or three key quotes per poem limit you? I've got five quotes per poem, but granted a lot of them are two words or so.

Very structured method you have!

Ah sure it'll be grand :P thank you!

emersyn

haha been actively avoiding this page because I've done virtually nothing and I've had this constant feeling of impending doom in the pit of my stomach for weeks and it's getting pretty unbearable
Spanish: A few exam paper comprehensions
Chemistry: Started equilibrium notes, cried for a bit about the calculations
Maths: Half a differentiation exam question
English: Thought about how much I want to fight T.S. Eliot

emersyn

nearly one month later....
Maths: Started differentiation revision
Japanese: 2015 short essay question
Biology: Human reproduction notes and exam questions
English: Was planning on finishing my Yeats notes over the long weekend but I went and left everything in school so I started Dickinson notes using the internet

emersyn

I've done about 1000 maths questions over the last three days. My brain keeps trying to somehow factorise the letters out of words. I need to get the maths exam done this is ridiculous
Finished Yeats revision, started King Lear revision
Over the next week and a half I'm only going to study English, Maths and Biology as I have a whole free week between Biology and the rest of my exams, so I'll use that to study the last four

emersyn

Finished algebra and complex numbers today, probably my last revision of those topics before the exam
Started revising cultural context for English

emersyn

English: Finished cultural context revision, did some brainstorms for exam questions
Biology: Revised amoeba and diffusion/osmosis
My head feels like it's going to burst any minute, I would happily do every single exam tomorrow just to get them over and done with

TSMGUY

emersyn wrote: »

English: Finished cultural context revision, did some brainstorms for exam questions
Biology: Revised amoeba and diffusion/osmosis
My head feels like it's going to burst any minute, I would happily do every single exam tomorrow just to get them over and done with

Anyone who gives a damn about these exams feels the exact same way! I've literally had to do shadowboxing and jumping jacks to psyche myself up for more study. GETTING HARD NOW!!! WON'T BE LONG NOW!

emersyn

English: Revised literary genre for the comparative, really hope it comes up. I'm thinking I might just skim over GVV, it's my least favourite of the modes by far
Biology: Revised bacteria, fungi and viruses

emersyn

Maths: Did series/sequences, financial maths, theorems and constructions. I've covered all the paper 1 topics now apart from differentiation/integration
English: Revised the themes in King Lear
Still have to do differentiation/integration, Eliot/Dickinson/Plath, the rest of King Lear and maybe glance over general vision and viewpoint in case the worst comes to the worst. Will be tight but I think I'll be ok

Edrees98

Hello emersyn, how are you gearing up for Spanish?

emersyn

Edrees98 wrote: »

Hello emersyn, how are you gearing up for Spanish?

Kind of burnt out at this stage, I watched The Lion King in Spanish last night so that's gotta count for something I've been working fairly consistently throughout the year so thankfully I think I'll be fine as it's fairly hard to cram for a language, on the night before I'm going to look over my opinion pieces and hope for the best

Edrees98

emersyn wrote: »

Kind of burnt out at this stage, I watched The Lion King in Spanish last night so that's gotta count for something I've been working fairly consistently throughout the year so thankfully I think I'll be fine as it's fairly hard to cram for a language, on the night before I'm going to look over my opinion pieces and hope for the best

Yeah I hope it goes well.

emersyn

Edrees98 wrote: »

Yeah I hope it goes well.

Thank you, you too!

TSMGUY

emersyn wrote: »

Kind of burnt out at this stage=QUOTE]

I know these feels....

emersyn

You guys I need A1s in two out of four exams next week and B1s in the other two and all of a sudden I've completely forgotten how to study

DublinArnie

emersyn wrote: »

You guys I need A1s in two out of four exams next week and B1s in the other two and all of a sudden I've completely forgotten how to study

I have three exams left but it feels like I finished already, the leaving cert lost its shock factor for me.

Edrees98

emersyn wrote: »

You guys I need A1s in two out of four exams next week and B1s in the other two and all of a sudden I've completely forgotten how to study

I need three A1s out of three if that makes you feel better.:o