study for the leaving over the summer

naomi powers

I just finished 5th year and these are my results
Ag science: 65/ H4
Chemistry: 68/ H4
Biology: 65/ H4
English: 44/ H6
Maths: 40/ H6
Irish: 63/ H4
Spanish: 66/ H4
I do all higher level. I'm just looking for some advice on how to improve my maths I find the subject difficult in general but I've been working hard and want to get at least a H4 for the exam. For English I'm lost my teacher hands me back essays and exam questions always saying I need to include more quotes but I don't know how to learn quotes and she doesn't give constructive advice to be honest. For Ag science I'm working on my project at the moment so I'm no stressing about it during the 6th year and I've seen some other projects from past students and some had done too much and still not gotten the A and some did too little so I don't know how to do just the right amount.
And for ll the other subjects I know I just need to study more but any specific help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

thetalker

English, start reading books over summer if you aren't already, its fairly easy and will help your English a lot. Maybe something like 1984 or The count of monte cristo, books will generally help in developing an idea of how essays can be structured, points made etc. The quotes themselves you shouldn't focus on atm.
Maybe try writing something yourself if that interests you.

Chemistry; All I can say is look over the book and the calculations, the rest is just memorizing stuff and some diagrams

Math, key thing here is to understand what everything is, instead of doing hard questions, start from the beginning and see if you understand the theory behind everything from the most fundamental rule, yeah that includes BIMDAS since so many mess that up.
Khan academy have some great vids and you might as well try some questions once you think you've gotten the hang of it. I think Math is a subject anyone can get a H3 or up once they really understand the fundamentals of each chapter since more advanced stuff just builds on that

The general rule for every subject is understanding what the exam is testing you on and seeing how you can improve that, some stuff involve just memorizing facts and others require developing skills. I'd never have the willpower to study over summer though :P

Good luck!

A97

I think it's very responsible of you to do a bit of work over the summer and hopefully that corresponds to a noticeable increase in your grades. One thing to keep in mind though is that 6th Year is quite intense and you don't want to burn out. So I'd say that you should do a bit of work where you feel it's necessary but remember to enjoy your time off too. I'll give a bit of advice for the subjects I did.

Biology - Mnemonics are very useful in a subject like Biology as they helped me to remember lots of properties and lists. Doing past exam questions really helps to iron out the niggly details but reading the book is your best bet. Try to get a hold of, or make your own notes. It's very helpful to condense the course. If you have access to somewhere like eir StudyHub, they have good videos for loads of subjects, but even YouTube might be helpful if you're an audiovisual learner and it helps to get different explanations.

English - Re-read your texts and take a look at your poetry. It's hard to give advice, but generally speaking, making a point, backing it up with a good quote from the text and expanding on that point can get you pretty far. Try reading different types of writing styles over the summer and try to critically analyse them, both to see what they did well and what they could improve on. I never really set out to learn quotes unless my teacher noted that they were really important. I usually wrote essays, and personally looked up quotes to support the points I was making. You'll have an easier time learning them if you find them yourself and use them frequently. In fact, some quotes are better than others since they can cover a lot of different, relevant points. Finally, you don't need to know whole poems off by heart. A working knowledge of what it's about, its underlying themes and the type of language used is enough to get a lot of the most important points. You can often cover that in three or four lines which I feel can make things a lot less daunting.

Maths - Practising exam papers is very important here. I'd recommend going through your text book, and looking at the worked examples. Make sure that you understand them, and then attempt questions. Where possible, try to get solutions. Also, really make sure you know Calculus, Statistics and Probability, and Trigonometry as they come up all the time and are worth a lot of marks. I'd recommend practising frequently and when you get homework, try your best to do it all, and ask your teacher about things you don't get as soon as they arrive, and also after homework and tests.

Irish - The oral is very important so make sure you get a lot of practise. Listening to the likes of Raidió na Gaeltachta is great for listening, and you pick up words and phrases. Things like Nuacht on RTÉ and TG4 are great as well. Tuairisc.ie is a good website to use. And even boards has a Gaeilge forum to chat in. Learn a couple of nice seanfhocail and common phrases. Maybe try to take in a new word a day over the summer.

Spanish - Most of what applies to Irish applies here too. Take every opportunity you can to speak. Talk to your teacher in Spanish and see if there's any opportunity to talk to others. Try to follow Spanish language pages on Facebook/Twitter and switch languages on websites and your phone to get as much exposure to your languages as possible. RTVE is a good radio station for listening.

roisiny

Don't go mad or you'll burn yourself out before you're even back.

Reiterating what was already said ... start reading books and newspapers in English. Improve your tone and your vocabulary without even thinking about it. Find a newspaper you actually enjoy reading - I swear the English The Sunday Times writers are just better ....
If you wanted to write out essays to improve, 625points.com corrects your essays on line for you for a small fee (first one free) and she is absolutely unreal at it, was blown away when I got mine corrected.

In whatever subjects you need definitions for, compile the list and just learn them off. Word perfect. It's not labour intensive but when you're under exam stress it's so difficult to sit down and do. Learn your bio ones off too, keywords are so important.

Maths just go right back to basics and redo your whole course, doing every exam question you can get your hands on. Do DEB mock papers (much much harder than Examcraft, which are too easy according to my teacher) you can get them for free with solutions from msselkirk.com.

Focus on the tiny minuet details and make sure you understand WHY in every marking scheme. Maths develops over time, can't rush it.

Whatever you do I definitely wouldn't make a chore out of it, the LC is hard enough without hating it before you even go back.

Also, don't underestimate how much you'll improve over the year - I made out notes in summer of 5th year for bio for example, but they were useless to me as they weren't the quality I needed (writing was also SHOCKING) and rewrote everything out between the mock and LC.

I ended up also rewriting all my sraith pics 3 weeks before and learning them off word perfect. I'd planned to do this during the summer, then halloween, then Christmas (😭) but only did it and learnt them all off then. TBH my Irish was too shocking before this year all those hours learning would of gone to waste anyhow.

Mr Rhode Island Red

I might be in the minority here but I think you'd be soon enough starting from when you start back in September, that would give you 9 months, which I think is enough for anyone. If you go mad studying now you'll be completely fed up by the time Christmas or Easter comes around.

Incipiens

I wouldn't recommend doing a huge amount, nothing crazy. My parents made me do about 7 hours every day over the summer, and it definitely took a toll on me. Not like I could really slack off either, had to sit in the kitchen and be watched over. It's awful.

Fair play to you though, but don't go too hard on it. You'll burn yourself out by Easter.

hasdanta

As someone who planned on doing a little study over someone in 5th year, but then didn't, I honestly would just say to enjoy your summer and hit the ground running in 6th year. You have lots of time in 6th year to improve your grades as long as you work consistently through the year you'll be grand.

Maybe go over your sraithpictuirs and read the novels/plays you're doing for your English comparative over Summer so you're familiar with the books, but that's the max you should do imo

roisiny

Incipiens wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend doing a huge amount, nothing crazy. My parents made me do about 7 hours every day over the summer, and it definitely took a toll on me. Not like I could really slack off either, had to sit in the kitchen and be watched over. It's awful.

Fair play to you though, but don't go too hard on it. You'll burn yourself out by Easter.

Wow... what course are you looking at? Did the exams go ok for you ?

Incipiens

roisiny wrote: »

Wow... what course are you looking at? Did the exams go ok for you ?

Computer science UCD, 485 last year

They went alright, I'm happy with all of them except physics which caused me issues on the day, but if I do well enough I should be okay even with that.

codrulz

I would say you should stick with some daily study!
I've been doing 9am-2pm since my exams ended; it's well worth putting in the time now as one may enter sixth year with a solid knowledge of the fifth year course and potentially some of the sixth year topics. This will make studying a lot easier and you will know everything inside out come next June! For context; I'm aiming for 8 H1's, all honours and hope to studying economics in London School of Economics.

roisiny

Incipiens wrote: »

Computer science UCD, 485 last year

They went alright, I'm happy with all of them except physics which caused me issues on the day, but if I do well enough I should be okay even with that.

Have a friend that wants to do the same. Hope you get it - that's an amazing amount of work put in!

spurious

You could always do 'studying that is not really studying'.
Read novels on your course, not just the one your teacher has chosen. Watch films of them, if available, but don't do that instead of reading them.

Watch films in Spanish, maybe read some Spanish novels/newspapers/magazines.

Etc..

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

JoeySully

I don't get why people are still encouraged to do 7 subjects when you can only take points from 6. There are some who claim its in case you have a bad day or a paper doesn't suit you but if you are well prepared for the 6 exams then you will do better than being kinda prepared for 7. Just my opinion.

The cynic in me would think its to create more jobs for teachers! and more opportunities for their tax free grinds !

For me I see no benefits to doing 7. Remember its YOUR choice how many exams you sit or study for.
don't allow them to tell you that you MUST do English or MUST do Irish, Its your choice what subjects you choose to sit. You must have one or the other and maths to get into college but not both.

If it were me I would focus on getting an excellent grade in maths purely because that is the ONLY subject you are studying now that will be of any use to you studying computer science ! It appears to be your weakest subject too which will mean it will be even more difficult for you to keep up at college.

There are many college courses into the world or IT jobs. Make sure CS is the course that will bring you where you hope to go and suit your skills which from your subjects appear to lean more towards life sciences than CS.

spurious

More jobs for teachers? Have you any idea what the employment situation is for teachers?

Back on topic, check out the Khan academy on YouTube for help with many Maths topics.

carefulnowted

PatrickJMT on Youtube is great too for maths tutorials - personally I find his videos more concise and easier to follow than KhanAcademy's.

I second spurious in that "not-really-study" study is the way to go here. You don't want to be stuck inside making notes and memorising flashcards - the LC year is long enough. Reading loads of books will be incredibly beneficial for your English skills. Even watching a few films and trying to pick out the different dramatic techniques will really help you when doing your comparative.

Don't try to study chapters of books at this stage of the year. You'll only tire yourself out.

daretodream

codrulz wrote: »

I would say you should stick with some daily study!
I've been doing 9am-2pm since my exams ended; it's well worth putting in the time now as one may enter sixth year with a solid knowledge of the fifth year course and potentially some of the sixth year topics. This will make studying a lot easier and you will know everything inside out come next June! For context; I'm aiming for 8 H1's, all honours and hope to studying economics in London School of Economics.

Will be taking on 8 subject here too + hoping for Financial Maths or similar. Can I ask what LC subjects you chose?

rainbowtrout

naomi powers wrote: »

For Ag science I'm working on my project at the moment so I'm no stressing about it during the 6th year and I've seen some other projects from past students and some had done too much and still not gotten the A and some did too little so I don't know how to do just the right amount.

Because an awful lot of students have huge difficulty in grasping basic maths. The ag project is worth 25% (100 marks). The written exam is worth 75% (300 marks). Some students seem to be under the impression that if they get an A in the project that they have an A in the bag when all it means is that they have got at least 85/100 marks on offer for it. There's still another 300 up for grabs and that's the bit that makes or breaks their overall grade.

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Since 2005.

JoeySully wrote: »

I don't get why people are still encouraged to do 7 subjects when you can only take points from 6. There are some who claim its in case you have a bad day or a paper doesn't suit you but if you are well prepared for the 6 exams then you will do better than being kinda prepared for 7. Just my opinion.

The cynic in me would think its to create more jobs for teachers! and more opportunities for their tax free grinds !

For me I see no benefits to doing 7. Remember its YOUR choice how many exams you sit or study for.
don't allow them to tell you that you MUST do English or MUST do Irish, Its your choice what subjects you choose to sit. You must have one or the other and maths to get into college but not both.

If it were me I would focus on getting an excellent grade in maths purely because that is the ONLY subject you are studying now that will be of any use to you studying computer science ! It appears to be your weakest subject too which will mean it will be even more difficult for you to keep up at college.

There are many college courses into the world or IT jobs. Make sure CS is the course that will bring you where you hope to go and suit your skills which from your subjects appear to lean more towards life sciences than CS.

You'll find that that most of the universities in Ireland require English, Irish and Maths, so yes they are actually necessary if you want to attend any of those institutions. Some students are not strong in those subjects but could be strong in others. And some people do screw up on the day, so like the cushion of an extra subject.


The OP didn't state what she wanted to do, let alone that she wanted to do Computer Science. Not everyone wants to do CS. And one good grade in maths will not get anyone into college in the Irish system. It won't be enough in any other system either when foreign colleges look at Leaving Cert grades they are going to look at the overall picture, not one grade.