How do you do get a H1 in the Leaving Cert?

tjones05

the l.c. results are out tomorrow which made me think of next year. i'm a 5th year student and am going into 6th year. i'm really bad at English, business, german. I didn't study much this year and am really worried about how i'll do next year. I don't know what I should do. should I learn what's in the text books, study notes or get grinds? ya see I can't really afford grinds so i'm in a bit of a fix. any tips or tricks as to how to do well in the l.c. ? would be really appreciated! Thnx so much!

LLAMAMILK

tjones05 wrote: »

the l.c. results are out tomorrow which made me think of next year. i'm a 5th year student and am going into 6th year. i'm really bad at English, business, german. I didn't study much this year and am really worried about how i'll do next year. I don't know what I should do. should I learn what's in the text books, study notes or get grinds? ya see I can't really afford grinds so i'm in a bit of a fix. any tips or tricks as to how to do well in the l.c. ? would be really appreciated! Thnx so much!

I'm the exact same. It's really hard to get a H1 in any subject unless your naturally bright or love the subject to bits. I struggle with English as well and apart from paper 2, you really just have to be lucky on the day for paper 1. Just make sure you can fit your prepared answers around any past exam questions.
For business, practice all the short questions and use the SEL [ state, explain , link ] method for the ABQ's.
I don't do German but French. All I can say is know your oral topics really well.
I'd recommend getting a Studyxlix account as it has most past paper questions on it and solutions and doing supervised study. Also creating a studygram is a great way to track your progress!

randylonghorn

At the risk of sounding like a smartarse, which I don't mean to be, hard work and organisation is the key to maximising your grades (there is no magical formula for a H1).

- Work consistently throughout the year! Try to eat *fairly* healthily, get enough sleep, get regular exercise and factor in some time for a social life. *Balance* is key.

- Pay attention in class

- Do your homework *properly*

- Set time aside for both homework and study, close Facebook and set aside all distractions, and actually *work* during that time. 3 hours concentrated work will reap far more benefit than 6 hours sitting in front of the books day-dreaming or chatting on Facebook ... and you'll be far less tired at the end!

- When studying etc., 40-45 minutes work, then a 5-10 minute break, then rinse and repeat is what works best for most people. Walk away during the break, get a drink, get a breath of air, clear your head ... then head back to work.

- Making your own notes in class / as you study will drive the material into your brain far better than getting notes from anywhere else. Commercial study notes / books can be useful for getting a different perspective, but draw what you want from them and incorporate in your own notes.

- There are also some good online free tutorials etc. which can be helpful esp. for subjects like Maths / the Sciences, also good sites for languages vocab etc., you'll see them mentioned here often during the year. Try to watch some TnaG or listen to RnaG to help with your Irish oral.

- Look at past papers, practice completing questions *in the time allotted*. Practice, Practice, Practice!

tjones05

Thanks 'randylonghorn' for the extensive reply. In fact thanks so much to both of the replies I've received. You both make very valid points, I have to admit, very helpful points. It's great to hear people who've gone through the same problems or are in the same boat as me. I suppose if I want to do well in English I should start using capital 'I's'! I will try my best to make good notes on the basis of what you've both said. At the same time if there's anyone else out there who would like to add some suggestions, I'd really welcome them!

LimeFruitGum

For the sake of 1 year, OP, get off any online/phone/TV-related distractions. I would crack on with some 5th year revision now, if I were you. Do some practice exam questions in real time and mark yourself. Keep a note of it. Learn from the mistakes and go back and test yourself a few weeks later. Your score should improve. If not, then you simply are not applying yourself properly, or maybe you should do ordinary level.

I shortlisted the courses I had my eye on and that helped me figure out the points range I needed, as well as minimum grades. I think I needed about 430 points in the olden times , but I wanted a good buffer to be on the extra safe side.
I got 3As and 4Bs in honours subjects without a single grind or internet access. But I knew what I wanted and I was highly ambitious about it. I had a picture of a university & some French pics on the wall to keep me focused.
"Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail".

The advice above is great. There is no substitute for practising exam questions. I am sure there are resources on how to hone your exam technique.

As a language graduate, I strongly recommend you take every effort to listen to German and speak it as much as possible. There are German radio stations that you could listen to online. Don't take the easy way out by listening to pop stations; you may as well listen to 2FM. There has to be an interesting German language radio station or podcast that you enjoy listening to, even if you don't know all the words. Watch Netflix with German subtitles. Write down any word you don't know, and see if you can figure it out from the context/screen.

Don't rely too much on technology, as you can't bring it with you in the exam. it can be easy to think that some study app will make you remember everything, but it is easy to get distracted or overly reliant on the app.

themes23

The Leaving Cert is a very hard thing to do well in, especially getting a h1. I was good in school, but terrible in English. I went from maybe a D grade to an A in maybe five months. How I did it was I bought English notes from a former sixth year. He had been a very bright student and was happy to sell me his notes, they were a great help. They cost me maybe 50 euro or less. I was able to learn off some essays, and poetry answers and reproduce them on the day. I know this isn't advised but if you're terrible at English, or you're teacher is very bad or missing it's the only option. Buying external notes is frowned on sometimes but I ended up with a very good l.c. I knew I was smart, but my English teacher wasn't even in school to teach me!

It was less money than grinds, so I was happy. My advice would be to read books often and practice sample answers all the time. If you need to, then maybe buy some notes. Obviously do exam papers too, at home, that's very important. <snipped - Mod>. Sometimes students are left with very little options, my English teacher was on maternity leave when I was in sixth year, so I really had no choice.

Anyway I don't know, it worked for me! That's my advice