* LC 2018 / 19 Off-topic Thread *

jeonahr

Is it just me or does it seem impossible to finish the accounting course? My class are nowhere near done and my teacher doesn’t seem to notice or care. The books are useless for self teaching as well.

SleetAndSnow

exams started today. English, Business and Economics all on the same day. Needless to say I had to reattach my hand when i got home.

Bubbles2001

What do you use do study for your tests, i find it so hard to improve in subjects like ag and biology i like but i just get so overwhelmed

English - H4 (i was happy with that but it was on the comparative which is supposed to be hard but i hope for either a H3/H4)
Irish - H6 (i was grand with that because i find irish really hard)
Maths - O5 (kinda disappointed but don't mind too much)
Geography - H2 (which i was really happy with)
Ag Science - H6 ( i was disappointed how is a good way to improve)
Biology - H6 (again disappointed)
LCVP - Distinction (happy)

If anybody has any tips to improve with ag science and biology i would really apperciate it

jeonahr

Leaving cert 2019 exam timetable just went up today. Pretty happy with the layout . It’s on for longer than usual but I guess that’s better for the people who do the minority subjects like Russian or Japanese.

sryanbruen

My exam timetable was probably one of the worst especially if I was doing Irish which thankfully I'm not anymore since the middle of 5th year. It had both the French and Irish orals on the exact same day - yesterday - and with the actual written exams. Who's idea was it to do this like seriously? Followed by tomorrow with both Business and Geography. :rolleyes:

SleetAndSnow

Finished my exams yesterday thank god.

Also for anybody wondering the LC 2019 timetable is up.

https://www.examinations.ie/misc-doc/EN-EX-18331764.pdf

SleetAndSnow

Pre-Orals start next thursday. Welp.

Pre's start then the tuesday after midterm (weird why its a tuesday but eh).

Needless Mid-Term will be used to study quite a lot!

Then we have the actual orals at the end of the month! Double welp!

sryanbruen

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

Pre-Orals start next thursday. Welp.

Pre's start then the tuesday after midterm (weird why its a tuesday but eh).

Needless Mid-Term will be used to study quite a lot!

Then we have the actual orals at the end of the month! Double welp!

They said my orals/practical/fieldwork etc will be around two weeks before the Easter holidays (which are late this year).

I have two weeks of straight mock exams besides both Fridays off starting next Tuesday then I'm on my mid-term. They used to do a week of mocks then mid-term and the next week of mocks then after it but changed it for some reason this year.

SleetAndSnow

sryanbruen wrote: »

They said my orals/practical/fieldwork etc will be around two weeks before the Easter holidays (which are late this year).

I have two weeks of straight mock exams besides both Fridays off starting next Tuesday then I'm on my mid-term. They used to do a week of mocks then mid-term and the next week of mocks then after it but changed it for some reason this year.

Yup, Irish orals begin on the 25th March - 29th March and then German/French is the 1st-5th (German is only one day in my school since only 15 of us do it so one of those days!)

Yeah we do our pre's at a weird time, two weeks straight of them after Mid Term which is eh. Not sure about breaks and stuff yet we haven't received the timetable for it.

randylonghorn

sryanbruen wrote: »

They used to do a week of mocks then mid-term and the next week of mocks then after it but changed it for some reason this year.

There is a definite value to getting the Mocks over and have a week to chill and draw breath before the final hurdle.

Plus if they're being corrected in-school, gives teachers a chance to correct them.

SleetAndSnow

Pre orals pushed forward to Monday instead of thursday. Oh well.

mhiggy09

My Irish oral is this Thursday, have yet to do anything for it but it's only pass Irish and just looking to pass so be grand. Mocks start next Thursday I think, also havnt done any real study yet, it can be hard to get time in the evenings after homework.

SleetAndSnow

mhiggy09 wrote: »

My Irish oral is this Thursday, have yet to do anything for it but it's only pass Irish and just looking to pass so be grand. Mocks start next Thursday I think, also havnt done any real study yet, it can be hard to get time in the evenings after homework.

Find that too, by the time I am home, have had a bit of a rest, dinner, homework done, I just don't have time for extra study unless I want to finish around 11 which I don't. Just hard to get time for it with all the homework.

shortgirl0

I had my french oral today which went fine. My teacher told me I did well so that's stopped me from worrying too much. My mock Irish oral is this Friday but I'm not as worried. Then my mocks start next Monday and then run to Friday the 15th but I'm finished my exams on the 12th which is nice. My motivation has diminished so much since Christmas but at least we have 4 more months to study before the Leaving Cert. I've been tired and dizzy a lot recently which has made it difficult to concentrate and it turns out I have a vitamin D deficiency. At least I got that sorted before the mocks!

Thatlcgirl

shortgirl0 wrote: »

My motivation has diminished so much since Christmas but at least we have 4 more months to study before the Leaving Cert. I've been tired and dizzy a lot recently which has made it difficult to concentrate

I relate so much it's not even funny..

mhiggy09

Snow day today! Great opportunity to study for my mock oral.... Orrrr I could go outside and enjoy the snow with my younger sister. You can guess what I picked.

sryanbruen

mhiggy09 wrote: »

Snow day today! Great opportunity to study for my mock oral.... Orrrr I could go outside and enjoy the snow with my younger sister. You can guess what I picked.

No competition there, very easy decision! Obviously the studying :P

mhiggy09

sryanbruen wrote: »

No competition there, very easy decision! Obviously the studying :P

Oh definitely lol. Seriously though I'm back inside now and it's time to do some revision for it as I have basically nothing done for it. It could be bad again tomorrow and school be called off again so here's hoping for that.

spurious

Looks like many schools have their Mocks in the run up to the midterm break.

This will put a lot of pressure on the correctors for the Mock companies as loads of papers will arrive together. I know the papers from some schools are already with the correctors, so those schools will probably have some if not all results back before the midterm.

SleetAndSnow

Well I was meant to have my pre irish oral today but alas, literally during the middle of the night I start to get flu like symptoms so can't go in. Typical. Hopefully they let me do it tomorrow or Wednesday

SleetAndSnow

Was told I was first this morning to do it since they didn't get to me yesterday. Went in and did it then came home again. Think it went ok but eh, will wait and see.

jeonahr

The maths mock DEB paper is ridiculously hard. I don’t get why they make it so different to the actual LC because it honestly freaks out so many students and disheartens them.

sryanbruen

jeonahr wrote: »

The maths mock DEB paper is ridiculously hard. I don’t get why they make it so different to the actual LC because it honestly freaks out so many students and disheartens them.

I remember doing the Maths DEB mock paper for JC as an "extra mock" in class because miss was not happy with our results at the time and some of those questions were flat out stupid if I'm honest.

I have Maths Thursday but I think it's Examcraft.

sryanbruen

sryanbruen wrote: »

I remember doing the Maths DEB mock paper for JC as an "extra mock" in class because miss was not happy with our results at the time and some of those questions were flat out stupid if I'm honest.

I have Maths Thursday but I think it's Examcraft.

Maths was difficult enough, jeez. Sick of Maths after today. Thank god I don't have it for another 2 weeks and a long weekend now too.

daretodream

How you all doing? I've 6 Mocks down, 2 to go. Weekend can't come soon enough. Doing well enough... Will see what results say. When do these results normally come back to us, anyone know? Good luck to any Hpat people. I ruled out med completely which is probably no harm considering I dislike Chemistry so much! It was a fair enough mock exam though. But still can't see me counting it, may devote more attention to applied maths depending on how I go. In saying all that I feel lucky that out of 8, the other 7 are grand. My CAO is very mathsy but still not 100% on my 1st preference, flip flopping between actuarial/maths/maths with education/finance/accounting... grateful for change of mind later this year.

SleetAndSnow

Irish oral finished and German orals Friday. Mocks not starting until Tuesday after mid term so still stressing out here and all over midterm

jeonahr

daretodream wrote: »

How you all doing? I've 6 Mocks down, 2 to go. Weekend can't come soon enough. Doing well enough... Will see what results say. When do these results normally come back to us, anyone know? Good luck to any Hpat people. I ruled out med completely which is probably no harm considering I dislike Chemistry so much! It was a fair enough mock exam though. But still can't see me counting it, may devote more attention to applied maths depending on how I go. In saying all that I feel lucky that out of 8, the other 7 are grand. My CAO is very mathsy but still not 100% on my 1st preference, flip flopping between actuarial/maths/maths with education/finance/accounting... grateful for change of mind later this year.

My last paper is accounting tomorrow. Then back to studying for the hpat. I’ve been focusing too much time on the mocks and now am starting to worry about the hpat although I did focus on hpat during the two week Christmas break every day and til the mocks. I only started “studying for the mocks” the weekend before they started. I’m not worried honestly. The mocks don’t mean much and you know yourself if you weren’t doing your best or studying etc.

SleetAndSnow

*sigh* school just announced a half day tomorrow due to sporting achievements etc and because midterm is coming. I have to stay back till half two for my german oral though . Oh well, some people have to stay back till 4:45 so not too bad!

sryanbruen

Well thank god my mocks are over now.

SleetAndSnow

sryanbruen wrote: »

Well thank god my mocks are over now.

Lucky! Have to stress out over mine all during midterm

How'd they go for you?

mhiggy09

One exam left... English papers 1 pass. English is really not my forte and deceided to take pass like an hour before the other paper. Didn't go great let's hope this goes better, I highly doubt it will though

sryanbruen

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

Lucky! Have to stress out over mine all during midterm

How'd they go for you?

English was fine. One of the topics on paper 1 was related to weather (handy) . Think I've said enough about Maths :rolleyes: . Business was ok. Geography was grand, only parts I didn't get were those that I missed out on in class and even if I were to know I wouldn't find them that difficult. Music was ridiculous with some silly questions like "Define the term rhapsody" like what :pac: . French comprehensions were some of the more difficult I've had but the written section was ok (not for my classmates though as they did not prepare the extra study that I did for it). French oral was fine.

Overall, not a terrible set of mocks but Maths and Music really grinded my gears. Ordinary Maths too..... for a person who was able to do higher Maths (just didn't have the attendance to keep up with the length of the course).

shortgirl0

2 exams left out of 8. I was meant to have finished on Tuesday but unfortunately my Grandad passed away at the weekend. It’s a tough time doing exams while grieving but the teachers are being nice about it. However they got some of my exams mixed up. For example I came back in today and I ended up doing completely the wrong History paper! We were told not to study certain topics and the paper I did had all of those topics. I just can’t wait for midterm to take a step back and relax. My brain is melting

daretodream

Just 1 left here, Accounting. Then it's sleepy time. I find the Mocks useful as at least they have a study focus without which I might just drift... Imagine, just one more set and we're done.

SleetAndSnow

Gotta say, really jealous about all of you being basically finished haha.

It is crazy that there is only one more set of these exams after the pre's... the LC! Crazy! Times flying!

jeonahr

Accounting was horrifying lol. I probably did worse in it than maths. Everything else was fine. Maths was predictably bad so it wasn’t shocking. Chemistry went wonderfully. Irish and English were similar enough to past papers but a few bits were hard. Biology was hard enough and had very specific questions. German was challenging. All in all I’m glad to say it’s over.

mhiggy09

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

Gotta say, really jealous about all of you being basically finished haha.

It is crazy that there is only one more set of these exams after the pre's... the LC! Crazy! Times flying!

Ye I know the year flew, lol remember saying I'll start studying after Christmas at the start of the year... That definitely didn't happen

sryanbruen

Well, I'm happy with my mock exam results, no fails. I'm surprised with Maths at 51% given what the exam was like! I was the only one who passed it in my class.

SleetAndSnow

Didn't go in today, took it off to study. Exams start tomorrow with English and economics. God help me

SleetAndSnow

First two pre exams done! English P1 and Economics. Hand is dead and have a bit of a headache after so gonna relax for a small bit before maths paper 1 tomorrow.

Thatlcgirl

SleetAndSnow wrote: »

First two pre exams done! English P1 and Economics. Hand is dead and have a bit of a headache after so gonna relax for a small bit before maths paper 1 tomorrow.

Hope it goes well for you, it's kinda weird because my school is done with the mocks, so I'm settled back in to the daily routine!

best of luck:)

jeonahr

Getting results back. I’m disappointed but they’re not surprising. I didn’t study much in the lead up to mocks because I focused so much on hpat and I’m kind of regretting it. Some of my teachers are disappointed.
Maths - H6
English - H3
Chemistry - H3
Biology - H4

I’ve got to say that the biology marking scheme was really weird. Almost as if the corrector only took answers that were mentioned as examples on the marking scheme, despite other answers being allowed.

thereisacar

jeonahr wrote: »

Getting results back. I’m disappointed but they’re not surprising. I didn’t study much in the lead up to mocks because I focused so much on hpat and I’m kind of regretting it. Some of my teachers are disappointed.
Maths - H6
English - H3
Chemistry - H3
Biology - H4

I’ve got to say that the biology marking scheme was really weird. Almost as if the corrector only took answers that were mentioned as examples on the marking scheme, despite other answers being allowed.

Did you have the biology mock with the lacteal as Q1 or food? I had the one with food the other day, just wanna know if I had the one that was marked hard lol.

spurious

jeonahr wrote: »

G

I’ve got to say that the biology marking scheme was really weird. Almost as if the corrector only took answers that were mentioned as examples on the marking scheme, despite other answers being allowed.

On the real thing they sometimes insist on exactly what is in the marking scheme too, even though the candidate clearly has the right answer and knows what they are talking about.

SleetAndSnow

And finished! Now to let my right hand rest for like, a week!

jeonahr

spurious wrote: »

On the real thing they sometimes insist on exactly what is in the marking scheme too, even though the candidate clearly has the right answer and knows what they are talking about.

Our teacher showed us the marking scheme. For questions with multiple possible answers the marking scheme said to allow other appropriate answers. The corrector only accepted the one example that was given. Surely something like that won’t happen in the real thing?

There are other examples as well where definitions were answered word for word from the book but still weren’t accepted. Surely the SEC would have to re-adjust the marking scheme, right? I read that a girl got the SEC to change the marking scheme last year to accept a certain chemistry definition which ended up bumping up 11 other people’s grades in chemistry despite them not applying to get them re-checked.

BannerBoy1

Just a question on English. You know for the section B's for the text on paper 1 HL, you are usually asked to write about things like experiences from your childhood and school and stuff like that, well I was just wondering can they be fictional? i.e. I'm looking at a question now to write about my second level education system, am I allowed to write about mabye growing up in another country and talk about their education system to make it more unique? i.e. mabye going to school in North Korea/ aphganistan or something as an example.

spurious

jeonahr wrote: »

Our teacher showed us the marking scheme. For questions with multiple possible answers the marking scheme said to allow other appropriate answers. The corrector only accepted the one example that was given. Surely something like that won’t happen in the real thing?

There are other examples as well where definitions were answered word for word from the book but still weren’t accepted. Surely the SEC would have to re-adjust the marking scheme, right? I read that a girl got the SEC to change the marking scheme last year to accept a certain chemistry definition which ended up bumping up 11 other people’s grades in chemistry despite them not applying to get them re-checked.

Where the marking scheme says 'accept other appropriate answers' it won't happen, but where on a review during the marking, the Chief Examiner has decided ONLY a specific definition, or a particular buzzword will be accepted, then that's it.
Believe me, the people correcting the paper have big issues with that too.

randylonghorn

BannerBoy1 wrote: »

Just a question on English. You know for the section B's for the text on paper 1 HL, you are usually asked to write about things like experiences from your childhood and school and stuff like that, well I was just wondering can they be fictional? i.e. I'm looking at a question now to write about my second level education system, am I allowed to write about mabye growing up in another country and talk about their education system to make it more unique? i.e. mabye going to school in North Korea/ aphganistan or something as an example.

No examiner will know (or care) whether the experiences you discuss are real or fictional, they're primarily marking your ability to write English.

That said, I would suggest not going TOO over the top, unless you have some knowledge of what you're talking about you'll probably put more energy into making it up than in how you're actually writing it!

SleetAndSnow

Irish Orals done and dusted. Actually can't really believe it tbh. Studying for basically 13 years for this oral and within 15 minutes its done and the pressure of that part is gone Think mine went pretty well besides my sraith which was iffy but everything else was pretty good! One more oral to go next Friday and thats all the orals done!