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Summer Exams - Finish Date?

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  • 22-02-2007 12:55am
    #1
    Pythia
    Registered Users Posts: 7,469 ✭✭✭


    Hiya all,

    I'm thinking of booking a holiday in June and am wondering what the latest day the exams will be on til? Just in case I book a holiday the day I have an exam. Monday 4th is a day that suits. Could exams go on that long? Did anyone have an exam that late last year? Mine have always finished in May.

    (Sorry for mentioning exams by the way!)

    Thanks!


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    #2
    humbert
    Registered Users Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭humbert


    I've the 5th stuck in my head, I can't remember for sure though :o


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    #3
    Blush_01
    Registered Users Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    The invigilation application form only goes up to the 2nd. If I was you, considering it's UCD, I'd give myself about few days after that as a buffer period to be on the safe side. Exams started earlier last year and ran on until the 9th of June, but exam formats have been changed and as far as I know everyone will be sitting 2 hour max. papers from now on (which is FANTASTIC if you have to write two essays - thank you Mr. Brady, in your infinite wisdom.) so it may or may not finish on the 2nd. If it was me, I wouldn't risk it. If you email assessment@ucd.ie they might be able to give you a better idea of whether the dates are definitive or not. Best of luck!


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    #4
    besty
    Registered Users Posts: 4,010 ✭✭✭besty


    I remember a couple of my friends having exams up to around the 7th of June or so, but as mentioned above, this is UCD you're dealing with so don't take that as Gospel. But, Pythia, like you, I've never had exams into June...


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    #5
    Pythia
    Registered Users Posts: 7,469 ✭✭✭Pythia


    Blush_01 wrote:
    Exams started earlier last year and ran on until the 9th of June, but exam formats have been changed and as far as I know everyone will be sitting 2 hour max. papers from now on

    Well I do still have one 3 hour exam which might mean I have a funny timetable. I am only doing 4 exams though, one of which is only an hour long.

    I'll email that address and ask, I'm sure they'll be their usual selves and tell me nothing. :mad: You get better advice here than from official sources.


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    #6
    aaronquigley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 65 ✭✭aaronquigley


    Pythia wrote:
    Hiya all,

    I'm thinking of booking a holiday in June and am wondering what the latest day the exams will be on til? Just in case I book a holiday the day I have an exam. Monday 4th is a day that suits. Could exams go on that long? Did anyone have an exam that late last year? Mine have always finished in May.

    (Sorry for mentioning exams by the way!)

    Thanks!

    Have you seen: http://www.ucd.ie/regist/dates.htm [Examinations Commencement Date: Monday 14th May]

    It doesn't say when they will finish but your school secretary should have an idea.

    Aaron.


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    #7
    Pythia
    Registered Users Posts: 7,469 ✭✭✭Pythia


    aaronquigley wrote:
    Have you seen: http://www.ucd.ie/regist/dates.htm [Examinations Commencement Date: Monday 14th May]

    I did look, but as you said, was pretty useless. Well didn't tell me what I want! :)


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    #8
    panda100
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,551 ✭✭✭panda100


    Your in final year right?Final year exams are always a bit later then other years.I wouldnt book a holiday till the 12th just to make sure


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    #9
    Vainglory
    Closed Accounts Posts: 801 ✭✭✭Vainglory


    I had this exact dilemma over Christmas when I was booking my holiday.

    From what I can tell, exams do start later this year than ever before (14th May) - but there are also less exams than ever before as most people did some exams at Christmas.

    While there may be slightly more exams in summer than there were at Christmas to account for people in the "mongrel" final year who didn't have any exams at all at Christmas (e.g. final Philosophy and English classes), I don't think it would result in the exam period in the summer being significantly longer than the Christmas one - which was 11 working days.

    Also - knowing UCD - I would expect them to accomodate people who have more exams in summer not by spreading the exams out over a long period, but rather by cramming them into a ridiculously short period in order to facilitate marking and lecturers not giving out about their summer being ruined. Example - I have 9 exams in the summer, but I don't expect them to go on until the middle of June - rather I expect to have 3/4 exams in one day at some stage. Typical UCD.

    Finally - some investigative work revealed that TCD exams start AFTER ours, and end on the 15th June. So I don't see how ours could possibly be still going on after TCD's finish - this would be unprecedented, especially since they start after we do.

    So in the end, I booked for the 15th June, at 7pm - two months travelling around South East Asia, hurrah.

    Exams just won't give you a definite answer - its to cover their arses if they **** up and you do end up having an exam that day for some strange reason.

    All flights are cheaper before the 15th June which signals the start of high summer seasons - for example mine were 752 euro on the 15th June and about 1000 euro on the 16th. So if you book it for as close to the 15th June as possible you should be fine. It'd be good to have a little bit of a gap between your last exam and going away anyway - you won't have time during exams to organise packing and passports and all that rubbish so you'd use the time well if you booked for 13th/14th/15th and you finished up on say the 10th anyway.

    Hope that helps.


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    #10
    tintinr35
    Registered Users Posts: 1,437 ✭✭✭tintinr35


    Blush_01 wrote:
    The invigilation application form only goes up to the 2nd. If I was you, considering it's UCD, I'd give myself about few days after that as a buffer period to be on the safe side. Exams started earlier last year and ran on until the 9th of June, but exam formats have been changed and as far as I know everyone will be sitting 2 hour max. papers from now on (which is FANTASTIC if you have to write two essays - thank you Mr. Brady, in your infinite wisdom.) so it may or may not finish on the 2nd. If it was me, I wouldn't risk it. If you email assessment@ucd.ie they might be able to give you a better idea of whether the dates are definitive or not. Best of luck!
    unfortunatly the two hour paper thing has disappeared for me in a puff of smoke, our department just put up a note informing us all our papers will be 3 hours!! oh the joy!!


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    #11
    beanyb
    Registered Users Posts: 1,151 ✭✭✭beanyb


    tintinr35 wrote:
    unfortunatly the two hour paper thing has disappeared for me in a puff of smoke, our department just put up a note informing us all our papers will be 3 hours!! oh the joy!!

    Please tell me that wasnt Politics. I think I'd cry.


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    #12
    snickerpuss
    Registered Users Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭snickerpuss


    No art history, i thought it was odd because Irish wanted to give us all 3 hour papers but were told they were absolutely not allowed to. So they had to invent some extra work for us to do on courses that we did last year. Which is a pain, though i'm not complaining about shorter exams.


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    #13
    Blush_01
    Registered Users Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    To be honest, I'm glad I don't have any more exams - at least not with this course. I couldn't cope with a two hour English exam (apparently that's what has been dictated from "above") as it takes me quite a while to settle into an exam, I start writing properly about 30/45 minutes into the exam normally. If I only had two hours for two questions I'd be royally screwed. I hope the English Dept. are able to wangle 3 hour exams too.


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