Failing the leaving cert.

Contessa Raven · 12-06-2011 04:40PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

You were told wrong on both counts

Although many third level courses would require English and Maths

The lying bastards!

I did fail maths though so at least I didn't waste a year repeating.

Dudess · 12-06-2011 05:20PM

Niles wrote: »

I recall be told that RTÉ's Charlie Bird doesn't having a Leaving, doesn't seem to have hurt him too much.

Different times. The chances of a person getting a job like his now without a leaving cert are miniscule.

wonderfulname · 12-06-2011 05:35PM

Never mind the leaving cert, the chances of someone getting a job like his without a degree are minuscule.

omahaid · 12-06-2011 05:48PM

Chairman Meow wrote: »

Yeah when i did it in 1997 if you failed maths & irish you failed the LC, i think. Jesus, kids must have it easy nowadays. I failed maths, and irish, and now have a respectable IT job and have never once, in my entire life, been asked to show LC results in a job interview.

I'm very similar, failed irish and maths in 98 and now have a 1.1 in comp sci and working away on a MEng. Ironically, I actually have a published paper in the area of maths (proud as punch

). I firmly blame the teachers in my case, my maths and irish teachers were shockingly bad (one is still teachin btw)

Naikon · 12-06-2011 07:56PM

omahaid wrote: »

I'm very similar, failed irish and maths in 98 and now have a 1.1 in comp sci and working away on a MEng. Ironically, I actually have a published paper in the area of maths (proud as punch ). I firmly blame the teachers in my case, my maths and irish teachers were shockingly bad (one is still teachin btw)

This. I had awful maths and science teachers in school as a result of being streamed on that bloodly entrance exam. The leaving cert maths teacher was actually a biology teacher if I remember correctly.

I remember having no maths teacher for at least two months coming up to the LC. I can't speak for everybody, but I found college maths pretty handy once you put in the work and not miss tests.

The formative years are important, if you don't get a good teacher in primary school, that will carry on to sec and then you have problem. Hence the silly failure rate in ORDINARY level maths every year.

Learning maths is easier than those exams would lead you to believe. If you want to cover the essentials of Higher Level Maths without the convolution - this is a good start that covers the important topics of that course->link

Teachers should not be allowed teach maths without a maths background. Simples.

12-06-2011 07:59PM

Pauleta wrote: »

........... I passed and didnt bother turning up the last 5 months of school. I cant say passing my leaving cert has opened any doors for me. Everyone has their leaving cert now a days. It doesnt mean ****. .........

How many points did you get? 6 Ds at pass level is no doubt a pass but it's nothing to boast about. The LC as a standalone qualification is toilet paper.

Naikon · 12-06-2011 08:11PM

Experience > Qualifications :pac:

College is the only thing that the LC has helped me with. Outside of pressure cooker places like KPMG, does anyone really care about the LC? I have never been asked to furnish my results.

Niles · 12-06-2011 08:17PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

You were told wrong on both counts

Although many third level courses would require English and Maths

Indeed. Irish is also still required by some colleges (certainly the four NUIs), though not Trinity. I'm not sure where the ITs stand in this regard.

I specifically remember a teacher saying that it it used to be the case where failing Irish meant you failed the LC, but that it is not the case any longer. I've no doubt it's no longer the case, but was it ever the case, and when was it dropped?

Have to agree that the amount of emphasis placed on points (and honours, moreso in the case of the Junior Cert for some reason) is ridiculous. I've even had a few teaching veterans agree with me on that. It's mad the way after the JC results come out people are going around asking how much "honours" you got like they are some form of commodity. Whatever about points the amount of honours you got in the Junior Cert is probably one of the most irrelevant things you're likely to come across in life - I even recall my Maths teacher telling us before we did the Junior Cert that it didn't really matter, it was the Leaving that counts.

billy few mates · 13-06-2011 09:09PM

What would happen if you somehow failed English?

Fail English...? Thats unpossible.....:)

Seriously though, here's something that might be of use to someone, its the Marking Schemes used by the markers to tell them how to mark the papers and what to award pints for etc. My son who's sitting the LC this year found it useful (especially for the Maths) when read in conjunction with the past papers....

http://www.examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=en&sc=ep&formAction=subject

For what its worth, I never sat the LC....:eek: (and my kids keep reminding me of it....). I had just turned sixteen and completed fifth year when I was offered an Apprenticeship with Aer Lingus the day before I was due to go back and start sixth year, my school principal told me I'd be mad to turn it down so off I went. I told myself I'd go back and do it at night but I've never got round to it and I'd certainly fail it if I tried it now. Since then I've worked all over the world, hold professional qualifications (aircraft maintenance engineers licences) from the USA and Europe and have worked for many airlines and have never even been asked if I have a LC, never mind asked to show it. My brother left school at sixteen without sitting the LC to join the Navy and always regretted it so about five years ago (in his mid thirties)when married with two kids he went back to school for a year and sat (and passed) it, he then went back to the exact same job he was doing before.....

fryup · 13-06-2011 09:37PM

i did the leaving passed by the skin of my teeth

but i didn't want to do it, wanted to leave after the inter

Mike 1972 · 13-06-2011 10:20PM

Naikon wrote: »

College is the only thing that the LC has helped me with. Outside of pressure cooker places like KPMG, does anyone really care about the LC? I have never been asked to furnish my results.

Id imagine if you didnt go to college/dropped out you would have been asked about your LC results

Naikon · 13-06-2011 10:25PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Id imagine if you didnt go to college/dropped out you would have been asked about your LC results

True enough. Though I do know a guy that works in a medium sized company and didn't put his rubbish LC results on the table. I would imagine it becomes less of an issue over time with experience, but hey, employers can get you to bend over backwards these days.

spurious · 13-06-2011 10:25PM

billy few mates wrote: »

For what its worth, I never sat the LC....:eek: (and my kids keep reminding me of it....).
<snip>
I told myself I'd go back and do it at night but I've never got round to it and I'd certainly fail it if I tried it now.

I bet you wouldn't fail - it's a very different exam to what it was 'in our day'.
If you get a chance, you should do it sometime and shut the kids up.

Naikon · 13-06-2011 10:32PM

spurious wrote: »

I bet you wouldn't fail - it's a very different exam to what it was 'in our day'.
If you get a chance, you should do it sometime and shut the kids up.

My mother still insists that if you fail any of the three "essentials", you fail the leaving. Maybe back in the early 80's or whatever, but as far as I am aware, the SEC do NOT impose grade/subject restrictions. Infact, the points system has little meaning outside of the college application process. That is entirely a CAO/College thing as far as I know. Could be wrong though.

previous user · 16-06-2011 02:12AM

If you fail your Leaving Cert you won't get a job uknow, oh dear....

ger-h · 16-06-2011 03:12AM

I got an ng in accountancy. My da is an accountant and my next door neighbour was my teacher.

I thought I would be better off not writing down anything because then I look like I dont care rather than gettin 27% and lookin like a dumbass. In other words, i failed with dignity :P

Elmidena · 16-06-2011 03:22AM

Conor108 wrote: »

Ah the memories lolzzzzz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z_WHOnHjA4

Did anyone else cop the intro credits features "Anglo Irish Bankcorp"?

Fergality · 16-06-2011 04:50AM

The Leaving is a mega waste of time. I had a maths teacher who once told me "Personally, I hate you". I wasn't a bad kid, I just couldn't adapt to her teaching style. She was atrocious and only about eight kids in our class passed Ordinary Maths in the Leaving Cert because of her. I opted to sit Foundation so I wouldn't have to put up with her and forgot my calculator for the second paper! :P
Also, for most of fifth and sixth year I had no Irish teacher. Disaster.

Our Vice Principal was our career guidance guy and we had three 'sessions' with him (as a class). I shait you not folks, I literally did not know what a degree was until the year after I finished school and started to visit my friends (from other schools, incidentally) in college.

I did well in my other subjects, History and Enlgish at Higher and Geography and Art at Ordinary got B's and C's. I didn't go in for the last two months. The whole experience was uninspiring, and in retrospect I should resent the people in my school for the way the whole thing went.

I can't complain though, I had the best fun ever in sixth year and met some great people in school. The year after I finished school I got a great job in projection and met more great people. The next year I was accepted to Ballyfermot as an outstanding applicant and recently graduated with a HnD in Music Production. I can direct apply into the later years of two different Honours degrees now, if I choose.

Don't stress, life experience is far more important than any exam.

**EDIT** Twenty posts after five years. Milestone.

Pdfile · 16-06-2011 04:59AM

Sergio Ancient Yoga wrote: »

Is it possible to fail it?,i never heard anyone failing it all,unless you sit in the hall and do actually nothing.

my mate got all C's and/or less in ordinary subjects; not a fail but pretty close imho :rolleyes:

Naikon · 16-06-2011 05:25AM

Pdfile wrote: »

my mate got all C's and/or less in ordinary subjects; not a fail but pretty close imho :rolleyes:

Nowhere near a fail imo. The range is from 0-100 percentage wise. The CAO points system means nothing outside of university applications. Get off your high horse.

im invisible · 16-06-2011 06:06AM

Niles wrote:

Have to agree that the amount of emphasis placed on points (and honours, moreso in the case of the Junior Cert for some reason) is ridiculous. I've even had a few teaching veterans agree with me on that. It's mad the way after the JC results come out people are going around asking how much "honours" you got like they are some form of commodity. Whatever about points the amount of honours you got in the Junior Cert is probably one of the most irrelevant things you're likely to come across in life

Off topic, but one thing that used to annoy me was when id hear someone saying 'oh i got eight honours, six at ordinary level, and two at higher...' or something like that

TheReverend · 16-06-2011 06:09AM

I failed and am now in college

watna · 16-06-2011 06:28AM

I did very well in my leaving cert, unfortunately when I got to college it all fell apart and that's where my being very academic ended. I just did the wrong course, tbh. I hated it and I hated the lack of assistance available when I was struggling. I scraped an ordinary degree because I didn't want to drop out and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't be in my current job if I didn't have the degree.

There's always more than one way to get in to what you want, so if you "fail" your leaving cert or don't finish college, don't dispair.

Pherekydes · 16-06-2011 08:37AM

smallerthanyou wrote: »

Theoretically.... I doubt this has ever ever happened!

You can get a 1.1 without even having the LC. Just go back as a mature student and work your arse off.

Failing the leaving cert.

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