Getting good grades?

estebancambias

I was just looking at some of you guys mock results and im Just wondering how do you get these results? Was it just steady study for 2 years, or was it cramming? So whats your secrets for doing well?

estebancambias

I just realised I said grades, does anyone say grades?

md99

natural ability, sometimes skill in a particular area eg maths, languages, sciences...) combined with hard work usually does the trick....

but you dont HAVE to... the LC is really about cutting things down to what you actually need to know, learning those things that ALWAYS come up THEN learning less important things... eg in maths first I learned trig equations, difference equations, factor theorem (guaranteed every year in some form), then moved on to the harder things

the LC isn't (for me anyway) ALL about rote learning, I really only have 1 rote learning subject (home ec) and even in that there's a lot in the exam that you don't learn from the book...

for my other subjects, Maths, Accounting, Economics, French.... it's ALL practice really, practice practice... a little learning at the start but once you've that done it's just practice and revision which is a lot easier...

Also... what points are you aiming for?? I know if I wasn't aiming high I probably wouldn't have worked as hard as I did... having a goal is always a good idea, though plenty get great LC without it too, my bro got 550 and had no idea what he wanted to do

Selphie

md99 wrote:

natural ability, sometimes skill in a particular area eg maths, languages, sciences...) combined with hard work usually does the trick....

Seconded. My skill is with languages, though with maths and biology I have to keep on practising and revising (cos I'm useless at both of them) Just basically keep on going back over things, keep answering exam questions, that kind of stuff. I have two rote learning subjects - history and biology, and its just a matter of constant work.

cocoa

natural ability here also. Namely a knack for logic and an ability to take stuff in in class i.e., I barely need to do any work outside of class and the information sticks. I got 550 in my mocks after doing minimal work coming up to them, i.e., I had a look over a few exam questions and made maybe 1 or 2 pages of notes on each subject to remind me where my problem areas were.

I can't tell you how to increase your marks, as far as I can tell, studying is vastly different for different people and you really do need to find the method that suits you. You know your own habits, patterns and skills best.

Nehpets

I know a lot of people might disagree but I think the teacher plays an important role. If you have a bad teacher, you won't love the subject (plus they won't explain it best) so you're at a disadvantage there.

cocoa

Nehpets wrote:

I know a lot of people might disagree but I think the teacher plays an important role. If you have a bad teacher, you won't love the subject (plus they won't explain it best) so you're at a disadvantage there.

The teacher certainly has an effect, but I think it's usually possible to separate your feelings for a teacher and a subject. I hated my business teacher in fifth year because (in my opinion of course) he's a moron who, instead of giving usable notes, just gives back the stuff from the book, with even more BS making it even harder to learn. I quit business at the start of sixth year because I was sick of listening to him, but I still consider business to be interesting (even if it does have a bit too much rote learning and BS for my own taste) and now that I don't have to listen to him, I find the teacher's antics more amusing.

The moral of that long-winded and not entirely relevant story (I'm sorry, I honestly didn't realise where I was going with that...) is that if you try, you can get past having a crappy teacher. However, I agree entirely that having a bad or good teacher does have an effect, a big one, it's just not the be-all and end all.

Rozabeez

My grades seem to have gone up, and I've been studying lately. *puts two and two together* oh, I see.

boger

i find maths easy but for the rest i just cram, it works for me

colm-ccfc84

Natural ability combined with a solid effort.

JC 2K3

CRAMMING!!!!

And natural ability for things like Maths and App Maths, but mainly

CRAMMING!!!!

Got me 480 in the mocks.

boger

wel i got 555

DtotheK

i got 525 in the mocks with serious study for a week beforehand and the day before each exam, and worked perfectly!!

I do homework and study for class tests, but tend to not study by a plan etc..
I'm pretty inclined towards maths and chem/physics etc, languages are my bad area but i got a C1 in english which was my worst so i was delighted!!!

I'm studying semi seroiously these days and very seriously after the 16th of may. So i'm counting on 3 weeks of nerding and cramming through out, and i'm confident it will work like the mocks.

I need 495(~) for general engineering in UCD but i would be annoyed if i didn't get in the 5 hundreds in the real thing

genericgoon

A youth of social isolation which developed a thirst for knowledge in all its forms. (except non-english languages . I HATE YOU ALL) OK thats a bit dramatic but yeah I didnt get out much when i was younger. (making up for it now and even more so after the LC )

analyse this

Yeh its the same for me. I picked the worst year ever to discover my social life!!:D