State Exams!!!

J Campion

OK, since no-one else seems to care about us...

Best o' luck to anyone sittin the Junior or Leavin Cert. this year. I'm sure we'll all do magnificently

IS anyone doin either? I'm doin the JC.

Hugh Hefner

Yeah, I'm doing the Junior Cert. too.

Scarinae

I'm doing the LC. Good luck to everyone doing either, especially Caoimhe who's going for Medicine!

halenger

Good luck to you all yadda yadda. It's the start of a fun <insert number of years of degree> for all you LCers.

Crash

Good luck all. i shall be thinking of you as i recline back, having finished the day after you start.

Hobotastic

I'm doing the Leaving Cert. Or more correctly, will be in three days. Funny, in three weeks it'll all be over.... FOR EVER... It's a strange thought. Never really occurred to me what it would feel like until a few weeks ago. Speaking of which... *goes to study*

Scarinae

crash_000 wrote:

Good luck all. i shall be thinking of you as i recline back, having finished the day after you start.

You just had to rub that in... But I deserve it, because last year I was rejoicing in the fact that I was on a cruise along the Amalfi Coast while your English paper 1 was starting - it's all karma of course

jono087

Hobotastic wrote:

I'm doing the Leaving Cert. Or more correctly, will be in three days. Funny, in three weeks it'll all be over.... FOR EVER... It's a strange thought. Never really occurred to me what it would feel like until a few weeks ago. Speaking of which... *goes to study*

ypu know "it's" never really over........ there's always something.

For what are we, as humans, if we lack some grand design or something to strive for??

J Campion

Hobotastic wrote:

Funny, in three weeks it'll all be over...

THREE WEEKS!!! You nearly gave me a heart attack there, I thought the JC was that long aswell for a minute there. I'll be finished in 11 days (apart from Technology which isn't 'til 6 days after that and doesn't really matter). Is the LC really that long?

I also can't believe the Dept. of Ed. or SEC or whatever they're callin themselves these days are still so cruel as to give JC's 5hours and LC's 6 hours of English on the same day. I haven't seen the LC English papers but is it kinda like the JC (Paper I creative and Paper II studied material)?

Do ye think this or do ye think it's better to get the whole subject finished in one day?

PurpleFistMixer

It's pretty cruel that they basically take the 2 papers that involve the most writing and put them on the first day, but I do agree that it's a fairly nice way to get broken into the exams. I mean, paper one is fairly relaxing since you don't have to study much for it, and it's a big relief to get paper 2 over and done with. And that way you know at least if you survived all that writing, it can only get better.

Still, the way I write I get cramps in my hand really quickly, so I'm not looking forward to it too much...

Hugh Hefner

J Campion wrote:

THREE WEEKS!!! You nearly gave me a heart attack there, I thought the JC was that long aswell for a minute there. I'll be finished in 11 days (apart from Technology which isn't 'til 6 days after that and doesn't really matter). Is the LC really that long?

I also can't believe the Dept. of Ed. or SEC or whatever they're callin themselves these days are still so cruel as to give JC's 5hours and LC's 6 hours of English on the same day. I haven't seen the LC English papers but is it kinda like the JC (Paper I creative and Paper II studied material)?

I think it should be a 4 hour Junior Cert. paper (split into 2) and a 5 hour Leaving Cert. paper (split into 2).

My last exam is on the 23rd because Greek is the bloody last exam of them all. It kinda cool though cos' since there's so few students I have fair chance of getting the highest score in the country in Greek.

PurpleFistMixer

There is no way I could do paper 2 in 2 hours. And if there was a way, it would be painful.

LiamD

Good luck to all in the Big Test and the little one too.All you talented youth shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Hugh Hefner

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

There is no way I could do paper 2 in 2 hours. And if there was a way, it would be painful.

Well obviously the paper would be made more compact to accommodate.

Scarinae

J Campion wrote:

Is the LC really that long?

Well, depends on the subjects you do. People who do Applied Maths are there until the bitter end (24th), whereas people who chose subjects like Biology, Geography, French can be finished in a week

It wasn't me!

Hugh Hefner wrote:

I have fair chance of getting the highest score in the country in Greek.

I'm the same with Latin. I get cramps in my hand as well, whatevr way i write. I just write less. To be honest, don't worry, there's not much writing in English. Wait until History and Geography and be prepared to write like a madman and to hell with the pain! only way to get those papers done as far as I'm concerned.

PurpleFistMixer

I wrote a ridiculously large amount in my mock in English. I've come to the conclusion that I can write about... a page every 9/10 minutes, so if I wrote solidly for the duration of my English exams (not likely) I'd have about 30 pages written.
And hurray! My JC ends on the 16th, so that's just over a week.

It wasn't me!

There's no need to write so much. Don't bother. Won't get you extra marks, and if some of it's not up to standard you're not doing yourself any favours. Less writing, more thought about it.

PurpleFistMixer

I'm obviously not gonna write more than I have to, but what's necessary is still an irritatingly large amount.

Scarinae

Also, it may make your handwriting worse, pissing off the examiner (which you don't want to do)
It's quality, not quantity

It wasn't me!

There's not much necessary in English. I'd say five or six pages, maximum. You can definitely do it in that kind of space, which isn't hard.

BraveheartGal

ok
since im an emotional wreck
prone to random outbursts of hysterical laughter
im probably not the best person to be reassuring all you people


but best of luck anway
n if worse comes to worse, theres always the big booze up on the friday after the exams to look forward to

PurpleFistMixer

Well, on paper one you'd have 4 pages for the story, a page or 2 for the functional writing, maybe a page for media studies, page and a half for the reading, that's what, 8 pages.
Then paper 2 you've got your 3 essays, 3 pages each, then a page and a half for each of the unseens, so that's over 10 pages for paper 2.

It wasn't me!

Dear god you do not need to write that much! Three or four pages for each essay just isn't necessary. Between a page and a half and two pages is much better as long as they're good.

PurpleFistMixer

Sorry, wrote 3 down instead of 2. Still adds up to the same though.

pinkpimp

Quality over quantity. If you ever do Classics, you'll understand how examiners(or maybe just my classics teacher) prefer short to the point essays, rather than roundabout bullsh1t. At the end of the day, three fully developped points in 1 and a half pages is easier to mark than three points in three pages. And you'll still get the marks for the shorter. (actually, I've known examiners to mark people down for the longer one on principle of anti-bullsh1tting.)

It wasn't me!

So have I. Examiners don't want you to waffle on for ten pages they can't correct because they keep falling asleep. They want clear, concise answers that give everything needed, and nothing thst isn't. That's the perfect answer.

Hugh Hefner

It wasn't me! wrote:

I'm the same with Latin.

Ah, yes, but whereas you're 1 in about 200/250 - 300 Latin students in Ireland I'm 1 in about 20 - 40 students. Bit of a difference.

It wasn't me!

Yeah, but I kick muchos ass at Latin. Do they tell you if you got the highest in the country?

Piste

Hugh Hefner wrote:

I have fair chance of getting the highest score in the country in Greek.

/me raises eyebrows

Cocky, Kev?


I completely agree with the 'Quality over Quantity' idea, my friend can write amazingly fast and has the power of people able to bull**** as well. We both wrote the same history essay, hers was about 2/3 pages long, mine wasnt even a page and I got more marks than her. It is kinda nerve-wracking to look over in an exam to see she has 5 pages done while I've just started my second though. We tend to get similar grades though, so that shows that you really dont need to waffle on.

Dalamar

Not unless you pull off something extraordinary. Such as getting 100%, which I guess you can't really do in a langauge, (when compared to something such as maths).

pinkpimp

I'm guessing Kev, your Greek teacher is Walsh and not PHogo? If so, then yes, you do have a more than fair chance of getting the best in the country in Greek.

Lady penelopy

im doing my jc, and im so glad other people agree with me on the quality over quantity thing, because i have a huge inability to bullsh1t on for pages.

Scarinae

Piste wrote:

It is kinda nerve-wracking to look over in an exam to see she has 5 pages done while I've just started my second though.

I know exactly what you mean! After my English mock, I was horrified that everyone else was saying things like "I wrote seven and a half pages on Dickinson" or "My essay was eight pages long" or "I filled three exam booklets - how many did you fill?" I was like, aaaaaahhhh, because I hadn't written nearly that much, and in fact I had time left over in the exam. So basically I thought I'd done really, really crap. But as it turned out, I got higher marks than all those people anyway, probably because they filled three exam booklets with senseless waffle - they may have made valid points, but they were completely diluted by all the ****e they'd padded their answers out with. So, don't measure how well you did by how much you wrote, because it's quite often the opposite. Just remember, the person marking your paper is doing it in the middle of summer for crappy pay, he/she just wants to get the marking over with so they can go to their barbecue or whatever, they're not going to thank you for extending their workload.
pinkpimp, my Classics teacher is the exact same! He hates waffle

Raphael

G'luck everyone, I'll be thinking about you poor souls when I escort your peers to and from the bathroom

Hugh Hefner

pinkpimp wrote:

I'm guessing Kev, your Greek teacher is Walsh and not PHogo? If so, then yes, you do have a more than fair chance of getting the best in the country in Greek.

No, I've got Mr. Hogan, and he is a good teacher. I wouldn't want Walsh cos' he seems like a hard ass.

Hobotastic

When I said three weeks, I wasn't being exact. In fact, I said (yesterday) that in three weeks it'll all be over as in, three weeks from yesterday. Actually it's less than three weeks, seeing as I finish on the 21st. Now that I think about it, it's 15 days away. Oh good God. I also have 4 days between my last exam (chemistry) and my second last, so chemistry really drags it out. If you know what I mean. I think this post has become a clear example of "what not to do" in the quality over quantity tactic.

Speaking of english, do all of you plan your answers? My teacher never shuts up about planning and I never really do it but I got 79% in my mock. More writing in history than english, by the way, whatever way you look at it. Grrr. Freakin' history.

lemon_sherbert

good luck everybody. totally agree about the quality over quantity malarky. I wrote the shortest essays of everyone in my class, history and english for JC, and i still got the best marks in the year,
You'll all do great. don't panic and remember life is more than your exam results

StupidLikeAFox

Hugh Hefner wrote:

I wouldn't wasnt Walsh cos' he seems like a hard ass.

hahahaha

TYPO!

Scarinae

Hobotastic wrote:

Speaking of english, do all of you plan your answers?

The most planning I would ever do is a quick scribble on the question sheet. Some people say it's a good idea for the English essay to write:
Intro
1
2
3
4
5
6
Conclusion
in pencil on your question sheet, really quickly write down what points you're gonna make, then write the essay - I'm sure that could be adapted for History or whatever. If you tend to go off the point in your essays, maybe that'd be a good idea

pinkpimp

Just know how you're gonna end it before you try to and you'll be alright.

Just a message to all JC's: It REALLY REALLY REALLY doesn't matter. Not in the least. I'd be playing football now instead of studying if I were you. In fact, I was playing football around this time in third year.

It wasn't me!

I was using my tried and trusted form of Junior Cert study:

Step 1: Go to my room
Step 2: Lock the door
Step 3: Turn up music loudly, having told parents not to disturb me and break my concentration
Step 4: Go to sleep

And I still did well, so don't worry.

Lady penelopy

i dont play football, but if i did, i would be right now. this is all such a joke.
speaking of...there was a wordsearch on the cspe mock... anyone else find that hilarious?! or just the fact that there is a cspe exam at all, for that matter....

It wasn't me!

Tougher than my CSPE exam was then...

Crash

CSPE as an idea is BRILLIANT.
CSPE as a subject is TERRIBLE.

Lady penelopy

It wasn't me! wrote:

Tougher than my CSPE exam was then...

well, it was a rather difficult wordsearch...

It wasn't me!

Much as I think givig students a grounding in politics is a great idea, the CSPE course just needs a touch of work...

pinkpimp

Ah CSPE. What a joke. By which I mean it was one f*cking hilarious class.

Ps. Ellen, take up playing football, purely for purposes of the Junior Cert.

Lady penelopy

but i dislike football...either way, i sure as hell amnt working very hard....

modular

In my study time, I made a fairly large and intricate maze. I then solved the maze.

What can't you do with A4 squared paper?

Crash

Build a cannon?