Could you do well in a subject just by learning off the revision book?

stainluss · 23-07-2009 5:24pm #1

eg Revise Wise or one of those? Then just doing the test papers?
Would this be possible in any subjects? (eg Economics,Geography?)

Thanks:D

Fad · 23-07-2009 5:25pm

For Economics? Probably.

Revision books tend to be awful though, make sure you get a good one.

stainluss · 23-07-2009 5:32pm

Fad wrote: »

For Economics? Probably.

Revision books tend to be awful though, make sure you get a good one.

and reccomendations?
im not really sure which the better ones are?
cheers:)

Fad · 23-07-2009 5:35pm

stainluss wrote: »

and reccomendations?
im not really sure which the better ones are?
cheers:)

Didnt do Economics

I heard Rapid Revision is good though.

KeyLimePie · 23-07-2009 5:41pm

Yes. I got a B2 in business by learning off practically ALL of revise wise

and I had another book too, I can't remember what it was but it was brown-ish and had a load of sample questions, i learned some of them off too

timmywex · 23-07-2009 6:57pm

Depends on the subject and book. Some revision books leave out areas, but in general you could do quite well alright, but your understanding might be limited!

Depends on the subject aswell, would work for business/biology/geography but would fail horribly for maths/physics etc

siobhank · 23-07-2009 6:59pm

eh.. YEAH! Did mine in 2002 and got Less Stress or something - not sure if they still make them - for every subject (except Music and English). Learned them all back to front and did the job.
For English just get these amazing books called Cliffs Notes which is the same thing for your texts and away you go.

worked for me now, but obviously everyone has different techniques (i.e. don't sue me if you come back with 50 points LOL)

Delta Kilo · 23-07-2009 7:08pm

If you see Less Stress More Success books anywhere on a shelf leave it where it is. They are the same as your schoolbook and very over-rated. For economics Rapid Revision is class, we used it as our texrbook 90% of the time! Rapid Revision is good for a lot of other subjects too.

Loads of people say that Revise Wise is class but I had the one for Irish and found it horrenduously complicated and annoying!

Jay P · 23-07-2009 7:29pm

For me, it wouldn't have worked really.

Physics: You have to know how to apply some stuf and have to be able to think on your feet, so probably not.

Geography: You can learn everything, but still not get an A, it depends on if you answer the question that is asked.

Music: Definitely not. Composition is a bitch.

French: It is possible if you have the right vocabulary for the topics.

Maths: Ha!

English: Again I say Ha! It gives you notes, but these mean nothing unless you can apply them properly to the question, and actually answer the question properly.

Irish: Definitely possible.

So that's my opinion on my exam subjects, so I hope it helps.

blue-army · 23-07-2009 10:06pm

For English Paper 2 - YES.

Use 'English Key Notes' by Tony Lake.

Here's the latest version.
http://www.wiseowl.ie/product-detail/89173/Lake_+Tony/New+English+Key+Notes+Hl+Lc+2010

For Geography - Less Stress More Success is good. Use EDCO exam papers too. They have some good sample answers up on their website. (examit.ie)

Business - Less Stress... is good again.
and
'Revision by Definition' is brilliant too. It's only like a 5er. Well worth buying.
Has every definition/ratio in chapters. Very good for revising the main points of each chapter.
http://www.wiseowl.ie/product-list/Revision+Guides/Revision+by+Definition

Jay P · 24-07-2009 12:40am

blue-army wrote: »

For English Paper 2 - YES.

Use 'English Key Notes' by Tony Lake.

Here's the latest version.
http://www.wiseowl.ie/product-detail/89173/Lake_+Tony/New+English+Key+Notes+Hl+Lc+2010

No, you're wring, imo. You certainly cannot get a high grade in Paper 2 just by learning off a revision book. Like I said, you need to be savvy about answering questions. When answering a question like:
"Macbeth's murder of Duncan has both horrible consequences both for himself and for Scotland."

If you just refer to the bad consequences for Scotland and barely talk about Macbeth, then you won't get anywhere near full marks.
That's only a very basic way of putting it, I know for my mocks it would be easier to demonstrate because that's the exact mistake I made, but it's late and I cant be bothered going downstairs to find it.

KnifeWRENCH · 24-07-2009 7:49am

You'd certainly pass Geography by learning off from a Revision book. Whether or not you'd do well depends on your definition of well: I wouldn't expect an A1 from doing that alone. The best thing to do would be to get a few different revision books plus your textbook and take bits and pieces out of all of them to make your own answers.

You could probably get away with learning off a revision book for Biology (provided you know the experiments too) but I can't think of any other subjects where it would work. You can't depend on them too much.
Maths, for example, has revision books with some excellent examples of questions but at the same time you need to actually understand what's happening.
Meanwhile revision books for English Paper 2 may be completely different: they'll have different interpretations of drama and poetry because they're written by different people.

pjtb · 24-07-2009 4:58pm

I agree with the posts above, it totally depends on the subject.

I did my leaving cert this time last year, and I found some revision books invaluable, and others absolutely useless. I had Revise Wise for Biology, and it was excellent. I had a great teacher too, but the only revision I did was from this book, I did not go near the class textbook. I had to write in a few details that had been left out, but it got an A1 in the subject (I got 98 and a half percent actually). You need to be smart in the way you answer the biology paper of course.

Another book I found great was Key Notes for English, the notes were shorter in the poetry section than the other book I had, but not so brief as to leave huge chunks of info out. Regurgitating any english book in an exam won't do you any favours though.

I thought French Revise Wise was quite good... but you couldn't do a french exam having just gone through this book alone.

I spent a fortune on revision books in fifth and sixth year...... in a lot of subjects I had every single book that was available! Many of them I hardly ever used though

.... I should have been more choosy in picking them!
Basically, as I and everyone has said- it depends on the subject!

JSK 252 · 24-07-2009 8:42pm

This book is like the bible for biology:

Leaving Certificate - Biology - Higher Level - Essential Exam Revision - Sarah Dilleen - Exam focused to achieve higher grades - Folens

Once I got this book after the pres, Joe Revilles Modern Biology was out the window. Im hoping for an A1 in biology and this book saved me a lot of time and hassle. I basically used it mostly for unit 3 after the pre ( got an A2) because that was where I had to focus on and I had it covered in no time with this book!

JW91 · 24-07-2009 9:23pm

NO!!

Do your own work. By all means learn off any definitions and formulae that are needed but do not learn off heaps of stuff word for word and then repeat it in the exam.

Because that's just basicly cheating. Your using someone elses work to get a good grade which is cheating.

Do it yourself and DO NOT CHEAT!

stainluss · 24-07-2009 11:50pm

JW91 wrote: »

NO!!

Do your own work. By all means learn off any definitions and formulae that are needed but do not learn off heaps of stuff word for word and then repeat it in the exam.

Because that's just basicly cheating. Your using someone elses work to get a good grade which is cheating.

Do it yourself and DO NOT CHEAT!

Sorry JW90,
I have serious problems with the CAO system, which asks you take a series of subjects, 90% of which will have nothing to do with your chosen University course or indeed, your life (the A-Levels are much more relevant.)

It is a memory test, and that is how i am treating it by doing this.

If thats what you call cheating, then im afraid im cheating ( luckily thats not what the Department calls cheating so i wont get the 5 year ban:):):))

Jay P · 25-07-2009 12:23am

JW91 wrote: »

NO!!

Do your own work. By all means learn off any definitions and formulae that are needed but do not learn off heaps of stuff word for word and then repeat it in the exam.

Because that's just basicly cheating. Your using someone elses work to get a good grade which is cheating.

Do it yourself and DO NOT CHEAT!

And how else would you do it, may I ask? Basically, would you rather we didn't use books at all? Because, if you want to get pedantic about it, that's also somebody else's work.

christina_x · 25-07-2009 1:56pm

revise wise is good in most cases..i found it really good for biology, home ec and math (easy to find formulas ect)
for business use the shortcut to sucess, that one is great.
it just depends on the subject really!:rolleyes:

herisson · 26-07-2009 11:41am

depends on the subject

Biology: yes if you get revise wise
Chemistry: DEFO!!! the rapid revision is excellent loads of people got A's in the leaving by learning off this book.
OL irish: yeah revise wise is extremely useful
Geography: the revise wise is useful it gives you sample answers with SRP's
History: ive been told the less stress is good
Business: again the less stress
French/German: if you really need it then get it but it just gives you expressions and grammer and such but i would recommend using your class book that proved to be me more useful than the revision book i got
Art: the less stress is very good for it

TBH i wouldnt reccomened using them for maths or english maybe a little revision book on the shakespeare would be useful if your having difficulty with it but otherwise i wouldnt your better off writing your own notes but thats just my opinion

Could you do well in a subject just by learning off the revision book?

Comments