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UCC Arts
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29-08-2007 4:43pm#1
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You sound like my friend, he really thinks economics is the best option for me as it opens other career options besides teaching but the reason i had went into arts was purely so i could study english ya know?...i WISH i could do both...and then not have to chose betwee maths,politics etc except they are unfortunately in the same group. How the hell am i ever going to decide?...
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WonderGirl wrote:You sound like my friend, he really thinks economics is the best option for me as it opens other career options besides teaching but the reason i had went into arts was purely so i could study english ya know?...i WISH i could do both...and then not have to chose betwee maths,politics etc except they are unfortunately in the same group. How the hell am i ever going to decide?...
Look, in your first month you are allowed to attend all classes and change your decision, so go to both Economics and English and see which one you feel suits you best. However, bear in mind that due to the high demand for English places it may be best to put down English first and choose Economics at a later time (which is what i did). At least you have the flexibility to sample the classes instead of choosing blindly.0 -
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WonderGirl wrote:woooo.i had NO idea you could do that. I thought your decisions were so final!!!I've gotten more constructive advice from you dude in a few minutes then a whole bunch of guidance counsellors have in like a year... I may consider that so...now still left with choosing the fourth subject...Agh well..it'll be fine...thanks a million...
Cool no problem
You get a timetable for the first few weeks which let you know when/where all 1st year arts subjects are being held. So feasibly you could attend them all and see. Hope the year goes well for ya anyway, you will have a great laugh.
Note: Unless you are rubbish at languages i would recommend picking beginners Spanish, its a great language and you will make lots of friends because the class sizes are only about 15 as opposed to 300 like History/English/Economics so you get a chance to get to know people. Also, if you keep spanish on for the later years you can do a year abroad at a university in Spain!0 -
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WonderGirl wrote:What about these, English,Geography,History and Politics??? Good four???
I can only speak from experience, but certainly at least History is a good choice there for a redundancy subject, as it were, outside of your two stated 'main' subjects - Geography and English. The impression of the course that you might get from doing a little research and reading the course literature is far more intimidating than reality. In reality, it's quite a doddle in first year at least, and for that reason is good to put down for a third or fourth subject. For me, it was a major passion, and was one of my main subjects.
The course is broken in to three components of 5 credits' weight each. Two of which are compulsory. The compulsory elements are Irish history from around 1912 to 1992 and the Medieval history module. The former is a rehash of the leaving cert. irish history syllabus, even toned down somewhat, you could say. The latter is far more interesting, namely as the two lecturers that teach the medieval lecture series are pretty easy going guys, and are probably the most down-to earth people you'd meet. Pretty funny too. They'll intersperse any given lecture with references to pop culture and Monty Python. But apart from that, it's a really refreshing course, that gets away from the obsession school curricula have with Nazis, DeValera and Bismarck. It ranges from the decline of the Roman Empire and adoption of Christianity by the Romans, to the First Crusade and the siege of Antioch, and provides lots of answers for why Europe is the way we know it today. I'd consider taking history for the experience of the medieval module alone.
The third, optional module, is where you have choice. Four choices in fact. You can choose to either do US Foreign Policy, Pilgrims and Crusaders with the lecturers from the medieval module, Anti-semitism and racism and finally, The Age of Extremes, or the 20th century history aspect of the leaving cert. syllabus re-hashed, as it might more aptly be called. I opted for the latter partly because I wanted an easy time during the second term (was thinking about exams) but I was surprised with how valuable taking the course proved to be. Namely as the guy who lectures it, Professor Geoff Roberts, is pretty bang on with his introduction to the schools of historical debate. You'd be surprised how many different takes on any one given event there can be, and he basically spends the first 4 weeks of his course dissecting different historical schools. Helps you to very quickly sort ideology and BS from fact!
However, getting back to why the course is good, even if you're only taking it to fill out space in your timetable - it requires little to no hard graft, as I've said. You'd nearly go along to the lectures out of enjoyment, but I don't think it's a necessity by any means. All you need, is a copy of "The History of Medieval Europe" by R.H.C. Davis, your Leaving Cert. Irish history textbook, and maybe the Leaving Cert. 20th century history textbook for the 20th century option. What you then do, is read the exam papers, and there are stock questions that appear for each section of the course, every single year, without fail. You do two essays for the first two modules' exams, and one essay for the twentieth century option (the other options follow the same two essay exam paper format.)
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* Medieval Section:
A question about Constantine and how he legalised Christianity, or about the characteristics of the Late Roman Empire (Christian and Barbarised, and preparation for a Constantine question prepares you for that)
A question about the rise of Islam.
Both have chapters devoted to them in RHC Davis' excellent book (Constantine is the first chapter. The Rise of Islam is chapter 5 or 6 if memory serves), which you can work very closely (i.e. nearly copy verbatim) with to write a good essay of about 3 or 4 A4 pages length. That's that sorted.
* Irish Section:
A question about the Home Rule Crisis. Always. Never fails. You either get asked about the Home Rule movement and John Redmond, or Ulster opposition to Home Rule. A leaving cert. textbook has this pit pat.
A question about Cumann na nGaedhal's policies, or the war of independence itself. Again, should be in a leaving cert. textbook, or done by your history teacher (if you took Leaving Cert. history) to the point of death.
* Option Section:
I can only speak for Geoff Roberts, but he doesn't even change the wording of the questions from year to year. He does the exact same format, unchanged for every single examination. 20 short questions consisting of stuff as silly as "When was the Versailles Treaty signed?" and then only one essay. The one I did this year was "Hitler: Ideologist or Opportunist in Foreign Policy?" he'll not change it this year. Mark my words.
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The option gets decided at the end of the first term, so don't worry too much about it yet, and if you feel adventurous, go take the medieval lads' module. It's meant to be good fun, and very entertaining.
Now, in addition to the above, you are required over the year to submit just 3 1500 word continuous assessment essays. One for each module. Two due during first term, one during second term. This could be the only part of the course that resembles hard work, as you have to head up to the library, and find some books, which you'll then cite in the course of the essay as the basis for your argument. That's not too tough however. Essay usually is typed, and should be about 4 pages long-ish. Footnote citation used correctly will bump your grade up immediately - as generally most gombeens can't even master that. Easy marks, tbh. Listen to what the lecturers say in their lectures about the essays, and go to one or two tutorials surrounding the essays, or ask the tutor about the essay titles. They'll give you excellent pointers, so that you don't go wrong, and if you ask kindly, they'll correct a draft version for you. And in the medieval essays, the tutor actually runs through what the main points of the essay should be. The Irish history tutorials are notably iffier.
Anyway. I've gone on for far, far too long
I hope I've been of help. Finally, I'd warn against Politics, as it seems a little heavy on the continuous assessment for my liking. Consider Greek and Roman Civilisation. A truly excellent department - Professor Sidwell is really the exact opposite of an academic snob. He's a really, really nice guy, and is pretty funny. The rest of the department follow the same vein, and are never anything other than relaxed and easy going. All are pretty approachable and cover interesting content in their lectures. You'll be learning about stuff as varied as The Odyssey, The Peloponnesian War, Julius Caesar's Assassination, and the role of Greek women in society. However, the big plus about the course (and it's an open secret) is that they give you the exam questions that appear in the summer papers in May, around February. They trust you to go away, and prepare the questions in the intervening three months. Believe me, that is such a weight off your mind, as English will keep your plate pretty full. The continuous assessment in Greek and Roman consists of two in-class tests which are also piss-easy. You just turn up to the one tutorial for each, and they practically give you the answers ahead of time there too. 0 -
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Different strokes, different folks I guess. I suppose heavier was the wrong word to use. But I certainly prefer modes of continuous assessment where you're given a fair idea of what's coming up, and I'd heard that not much was given away about the politics in-class tests. If I was looking for a subject that I'd drop after the first year, but which I could put up with in the interim, I'd always go for the one that was the least hassle. I could be open to correction though, as I only know people doing the subject, and haven't done it myself
As it happens, I would have probably taken Politics myself this year, If I had realised how bloody awful the German department here in UCC was. Funny that. I had planned on carrying German and History to degree level together.0 -
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Ah, that's something that requires a complicated answer sort of.
I was doing German as well, so that sort of bumped things up above what is normal for most people. There were 4 hours of lectures in history each week in the first term, and then 2 hours of lectures in history each week in the second term. The reason being that the two compulsory modules finish up before Christmas (and the exam in them is in May. No Christmas examinations in Arts as such, save for continuous assessment exams that might be scheduled for around then)
I was also doing Celtic Civilisation, which was 3 hours of lectures a week the whole way through. Greek and Roman Civilisation was the same.
Finally, with evil German, I had a 1 hour grammar class every week the whole way through, a 2 hour language class every week the whole way through, a 1 hour literature class every week for the whole year, and in addition a 1 hour literature tutorial, again, for the whole year. The most wearying thing about those was how, dry, dull and like a school classroom the whole thing felt.
So, in total:
German: 5 hours a week
History: 4 hours a week/2 hours a week in second term
Greek and Roman: 3 hours a week
Celtic Civ.: 3 hours a week.
So that was 15 hours for the first term. However, tutorials in Celtic Civ. started up sometime in mid-October, and they were utterly useless, so I never attended them in the second term. There was also a series of 6 history tutorials in first term, 3 for each module, and they usually centered around the essays. Those tutorials lasted from mid-october to the end of november, and again were one hour out of the week. In second term, there are 3 tutorials in history relating to the option, and they run off around the month of February.
Greek and Roman Civ. had one tutorial that you signed up to voluntarily before each continuous assessment exam. So, depending on tutorials and that, I guess you could tack one or two hours on to the above figure. Maybe 17 hours some weeks.
To my credit however, I did little to nothing outside of that, so I had plenty of free time. When I was writing some of the essays, I might have headed in to the library for 3 hours on one day. No biggie. I did a huge amount of actual 'work' in the study month in April. And it didn't feel like cramming either.0 -
Carolus Magnus wrote:Different strokes, different folks I guess. I suppose heavier was the wrong word to use. But I certainly prefer modes of continuous assessment where you're given a fair idea of what's coming up, and I'd heard that not much was given away about the politics in-class tests. If I was looking for a subject that I'd drop after the first year, but which I could put up with in the interim, I'd always go for the one that was the least hassle. I could be open to correction though, as I only know people doing the subject, and haven't done it myself
As it happens, I would have probably taken Politics myself this year, If I had realised how bloody awful the German department here in UCC was. Funny that. I had planned on carrying German and History to degree level together.
Once again, my experience was different. We only had to read a few sections out of the books and there were plenty of options in the actual test. Quite fair and clear.0 -
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