Is the Leaving Cert (so far) FAIR this year?

Faerie

The bitterness coming out of this thread is unreal!!
Just because people go to the institute doesn't mean they don't deserve their points. They sit the same exams we do!
I wish I had gone to the institute! My school is a ****hole!

d4gurl

Haters will always hate! Thanks Faerie! I hate those smiling twats too thought especially your one from last year "im not ur typical LCer! I mean i wear ralph OMG!" = TOOL! were not all like that you know? Sky news was up in our school couple of weeks ago and the prinicple was practically beggin students to go on!

Brods

-whats wrong with living in a bubble?!!
-talk about generalising tho... cork, a place outside dublin and so in the country, gets the best results! look at last year, there were three 9 A1ers...
-the education we get for the LC has nothing to do with intelligence or valuing hard work... There are soo many ppl trying to do medicine, for example, that even working hard, and sacrificing your whole year doesnt guarantee u a place. Not all 590 applicants are accepted in trinity, thats a joke...

so then, whats wrong with going to the institute or any other grind school for their notes if it mite give u a slight advantage? If u dont do it, someone else will....

DonaldDuck

Faerie wrote:

The bitterness coming out of this thread is unreal!!
Just because people go to the institute doesn't mean they don't deserve their points. They sit the same exams we do!
I wish I had gone to the institute! My school is a ****hole!

I wouldve loved to go to the institute aswell but decided I'd be happier in my current school

abercrombie

DonaldDuck wrote:

I wouldve loved to go to the institute aswell but decided I'd be happier in my current school

i was given the opportunity to go to the institute this year too but wanted to carry out my final year in the same school i've been in since junior infants..everybody say awww

GrumPy

abercrombie wrote:

same school i've been in since junior infants..everybody say awww

Man, those kids must be super mutant children!! Leaving cert? :eek:

abercrombie

Irish GrumPy wrote:

Man, those kids must be super mutant children!! Leaving cert? :eek:

"I don't know how to put this, but...we're kind of a big deal"...:cool: :cool:

cianclarke

helles belles wrote:

i beg to differ. i went to a normal school last year and have been to the institute too. the institute was far superior. the teachers are fantastic.
unless u have been to the institute you cant judge. and your just being ignorant

So, how much did this "'tute" education cost you again?
Set yourself up for that one dearie... :rolleyes:

d4gurl

she didnt go to the tute

Rockerette

smemon, you cant generalise all private schools like that.
i go to one, but its a whole different world to teh Institute.




in those exam briefs theres this little box thingy (well in one of them i saw it at elast) - "what the papers have to say about the institute of education!"

Oh come on.




Also they have an adverty saying how they cater for "All abilities" - OMG! thats like, SO GOOD OF THEM!
that fact they feel the need to say that speaks volumes.



anyway, i have no problem with paying fees for schools, but i hate the idea of grind schools - not just the institute, any of them.

WAY too much emphasis on just.. exams.
causes people stress.

When was the last time ye had a battle of the bands?!
student V teachers hockey match??
do you guys have a final assembly??




oh but maybe these things arent important..




I cant judge people who go to the Institute, thats unfair. but i think they (the instutute) have completely the wrong approach to it all.




Also, i was talking to someone once who used to teach there.. and he absolutley hated it... didnt have much nice to say about it at all... hhmmm.

cianclarke

d4gurl wrote:

she didnt go to the tute

"i went to a normal school last year and have been to the institute too."
Sounds like she did to me, unless I'm missing something...?

helles belles

i go to the tute at the mo. it cost my parents five and a half grand.
but my old school cost three and a half and i took grinds too!

smemon

Rockerette wrote:

smemon, you cant generalise all private schools like that.
i go to one, but its a whole different world to teh Institute.


Also, i was talking to someone once who used to teach there.. and he absolutley hated it... didnt have much nice to say about it at all... hhmmm.

there are exceptions to every rule of course

but i don't like schools which showcase their achievements and plaster themselves in the media so as to keep intact their semingly flawless reputation.

i too know a teacher who worked in the 'tute. didnt necessarily hate it, but shared my view on it. he also said he much prefers my public school to it as it's more fun to teach, i suppose more challenging.... meet all sorts of characters at all sorts of different levels.

again i don't mean to generalise but he said in general students outside of the tute were more grounded and level headed - more 'weathered' one might say, streetwise.

i have to say in terms of mixing with society, it's much better to spend 6 years in public than in private.

chairs

definitely. people who go to private schools are often sent there by their parents not for a better education, but to keep them with a certain class in society.

Kovik

Back on topic:

No, it hasn't been fair. They seem to have tried to discourage 'tute types by asking more lateral questions this year. In doing so, they've deviated from course content and syllabus layout in a lot of areas, which is idiotic. When people are perceived to be abusing the system, the first question asked regarding the problem should be directed at the system itself. The institute exists entirely due to the manner in which the leaving cert is arranged and examined. These meagre attempts to discourage rote learning solves nothing of the system's problems and have caused students to suffer as a result. Government departments seldom admit fault so it's going to be a long time before we see lasting reform implimented here. However, it's time the ASTI and the department accepted that the enormous faults and weaknesses that exist within our system, faults that both groups enjoy passively complaining about, lie entirely with them. The institute is nothing but a resultant of their failures.

Anyway, the shocking history paper has ****ed me completely. I won't get my points in spite of my preparation and ability with the subject. I'm not getting my points, fiddle dee dee. I'll just sit in my chair for the next fifty years eating bread and cheese and olives.

Attractive Nun

Far too much anger in this thread.

I did French grinds in 5th year which were fairly good, and two or three Irish grinds this year which weren't. But generally I work best if I'm at home on my own. I hate, for example, doing any work in school for some reason. It's just one of those things - people are different.

If someone feels the need to spend €5,000 or whatever it is to go to the Institute, then fair play to them. If they genuinely work better in that environment then the cost is likely well worth it. The Leaving Cert is really just an examination of how much work you put into it. Of course, there are varying levels of intelligence and such but no Institute money will solve that. People with money have an advantage over others because they can choose the best way for themselves to work, but at the end of the day you just have to get on with it; the difference between travelling into town every morning and studying with the best notes and the best teachers isn't really that different from getting up in the morning and bothering your arse writing out your own notes.

I've had hay fever for the past few weeks and it's well a pain in the ass trying to study, but I get on with it. Going to a grinds school is a good way of forcing yourself to do the work probably, but the work still has to be done. If anyone genuinely cares that much about the issue to be labelling everyone at the Institute as having bought their Leaving Cert, then surely they care enough to sit down and bother their arse working.

Or else we should all just bluff the Leaving like smemon.

Rockerette

Kovik wrote:

They seem to have tried to discourage 'tute types by asking more lateral questions this year.

what????

oh god, heaven forbid they should ask "lateral" questions that might actual require people to use their own heads, and not just re-quote notes.
















and if you were so good and so prepared for history as you say you were, you woulda been fine..





back on point: all my exams have been fair, and im happy with them all apart from english, but thats just my own fault

GretchenWieners

this is about the LC being fair NOT ABOUT THE INSTITUTE's performance in the LC!

d4gurl

Get back to the topic kids
Leave the tute alone....my last words on it.....
I loved it...I made so many new friends and just had such a good laugh..got along with all the teachers even if the class was of 100ppl i made sure they would remember me! Rockerette...no the tute does not have battel of bands etc...blah...we had a graduation night...vice principal and a good few teachers came out with us...we got sent good luck cards....All that school spirit stuff i did in 5th year...irish and english debating team, wining four awards, playing against the teachers in gaeilc....I dnt tnk i missed out on anything this year tbh. I learned so much more..... I felt the teachers prepared us the best they could. Why did I go to the tute? well i had a crap irish history english biology and chemistry and oh german too....none of these teachers could teach..this was a private school! I'm glad I went to the institute - if not I would of gotten grinds anyway so it really doesnt make a difference!!!
back to topic sorry I really need to just justify it and my case ....im sick of people having goes at the Institute.....

Rockerette

d4gurl wrote:

Get back to the topic kids
Leave the tute alone....my last words on it.....
I loved it...I made so many new friends and just had such a good laugh..got along with all the teachers even if the class was of 100ppl i made sure they would remember me! Rockerette...no the tute does not have battel of bands etc...blah...we had a graduation night...vice principal and a good few teachers came out with us...we got sent good luck cards....All that school spirit stuff i did in 5th year...irish and english debating team, wining four awards, playing against the teachers in gaeilc....I dnt tnk i missed out on anything this year tbh. I learned so much more..... I felt the teachers prepared us the best they could. Why did I go to the tute? well i had a crap irish history english biology and chemistry and oh german too....none of these teachers could teach..this was a private school! I'm glad I went to the institute - if not I would of gotten grinds anyway so it really doesnt make a difference!!!
back to topic sorry I really need to just justify it and my case ....im sick of people having goes at the Institute.....

hehe hypocrite

"back on topic:"
and you just go on another "Institute is great" rant..

hehe..

d4gurl

Rockerette wrote:

hehe hypocrite

"back on topic:"
and you just go on another "Institute is great" rant..

hehe..

haha i know!but i did say my final words on the topic!!! I needed to rant!im a very passionate person - I have to justify everything ! maybe pharmacy isnt for me but law and politics hmmmmmmmmmm must investigate

Attractive Nun

Back on topic then:

English: A bit too fair, with the possible exception of Lear, the entire paper was completely predictable
Maths: Paper 1 was fair if a bit difficult. Paper 2 had some unfair moments, and was also very difficiult. A bad combination.
Irish: Fair.
French: Fair.
Business. Way too fair.
History: Unfair at times. And very scabby on people who followed the hints only to learn the case studies - but they had to do that.

Overall, yeah I'd say it was fair.

d4gurl

i agree atttractive nun!! lear question ws predicted by my teacher but i found it hard none the less! maths 1 was harder than math two imo!

nedward

My papers, leaving aside English, were anything but predictable. I think everybody expected a letter in Hons French. But, yeah, fair enough.

Rockerette

yeah, i even learnt off that damn sentence for the end.. (the height of my french studying.. hehe)

i was tempted to pop in in teh email, but thought i better not...

Oye Tim, what are you complaining about?! You only need about 15 points to do the course you want . By the way, Id give you an A1 on you post. Donnelly would be proud!

I think its ok so far. Havent been really really happy wiht any subject but I thank God the aurals were a piss take!

cianclarke

By the way, wasn't complaining about this infamous/famous "tute", just pointing out how funny the "your ignorant" bit was.

LC - this year.. Hard, some bits - but fair, I think so. It's equitable, and although I personally think grind schools do have an unfair advantage over some I guess that really is just how it goes. All in all - fair, yes.

Assmaster_Kronk

cianclarke wrote:

It's equitable, and although I personally think grind schools do have an unfair advantage over some I guess that really is just how it goes. All in all - fair, yes.

Unfair advantage in what way?? because people go there to work harder than they did in their old school?

JC 2K3

Why do people think that a predictable paper = a fair paper???? It should be the opposite I think, if a paper is unpredictable then the person who is fully prepared, knows the whole course and can think on their feet will do well, while the person who's only learned a select part of the course won't.

As for the institute, I've never really needed much help from teachers myself and I do well. It is my personal opinion that people who go to the institute don't do well because they went there. They'd all have been capable of getting the results they did in any school if they put their minds to it. The institute has better teachers that know how to teach the leaving well and motivate students to study. But if you need to spend €5000 for motivation to study then how are you going to cope in the real world outside school??

xnightwishx

I think our exams this year were really really fair, except Maths paper 2 honours.