Enter The Dragon

Timans

So, I'm going into LC year on Monday.

How much study a night guys?

I was thinking about starting at 30mins a night and upping it 30mins every month.

Would that be enough do think?

Any tips are welcome. This is for me, a man that did NO work last year, is completely out of the habit of doing ANY study.

Thanks,

Naikon

Make sure to practice the exam papers regularly.
Do not study too much until after the mocks when the real grind will begin(an hour or 2 a day)
And last of all, consume PLENTY of caffeine;)

JC 2K3

Do enough to maintain a consistant grade in class tests across the board for most of the year and have some vague study goals. Cram for 2 weeks before the mocks and then cram for the last 4 weeks or so.

Worked for me.

Caffeine is good too.

spurious

Pay attention in class. Do ALL your homework to the best of your ability (and keep it).
Cover past papers inside out.

PurpleFistMixer

I'm also going into 6th year.. well started on Thursday, but it doesn't really begin until Monday. I was considering 30 minutes a day also, I think it'll depend though. If I get a ridiculous amount of homework I'm not going to be doing study on top of that, and I think weekends are probably out as well.

My school is putting on a 3 hour study slot on Saturday mornings as well as 2 hours after school Monday to Thursday, but I like my afternoons and my Saturday mornings too much for that.

Nehpets

Depends on what you are aiming for. If you're not aiming for 500+ there is really no need to start studying yet

JC 2K3

Supervised study(3 hours after every schoolday) was the best thing I did in 6th year.

It's too boring to sit around doing nothing for so long, so you actually start to do your homework and take an interest in school subjects, there're no distractions(presuming it's supervised well, which ours was) and you're free for the rest of the night at like 7pm.

carlowboy

TBH, I did more studying at the weekends than during the week. Didn't affect my social life though as I still got to go out so don't rule it out.

PurpleFistMixer

I wont rule it out completely but I think there should be at least one day a week where I don't have to think about the Leaving Cert at all. Whether that's Saturday or Sunday I don't know yet, but I don't think I should have to study on the weekends for a while yet.

JC 2K3

If you can manage it, which I did about twice, Saturday morning from 8-1 is great - you don't have to think about study until the next Monday.

Course, this won't be necessary until the latter stages of 6th year.

Timans

I am aiming for 545 atm. Will defo be aiming for over 500 regardless but the course I'm looking at is 545.

So, yeah, study is pretty essential early on when I haven't done homework 80% of them time since early 3rd year. :eek:

Thanks for the replies. Will be doing after-school study definitely.

Coco88

Ok NO to 30 mins a night . My school Principal told us each leaving cert student must be studying for 3 hours a night . I would approve with that . Because after all we don’t want to be replicate leaving cert year once more . And he has a PhD . and if you have a job you must discontinue it now even its part time !! . And the leaving cert is going to be really really problematical . So make the best of now . Make life easier by studying longer a night . how may higher level subjects are you doing and what subject ??? I hope this helps you with your question

Timans

I am doing ALL honours subjects.

Maths/English/Irish (MAY drop to OL in Irish after mocks)
Spanish
Geography
Economics
History

PurpleFistMixer

3 hours a night? Jaysus. On top of homework?

Steez

Don't do what i did and leave it all til March to do anything. I know everyone says that, and you might think "ah sure it's ages away". It's fuppin well not! I'm repeating this year and i'm going from 9-9 study and classes. Oh it'll be fun, terrible terrible fun.

Anyway, my best advice, don't start with too much too early or you'll just burn out (my current fear at the moment), but don't do nothing either. Start off doing just some basic revision or looking over easy stuff. As the year progresses, you'll have more to look over and learn.

Timans

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

3 hours a night? Jaysus. On top of homework?

That's what I was thinking.

On TOP of homework? Right from the off?

That's CRAAAZEY talk. Like, h/w would probably take 2-3 hrs on it's own, plus another 3 hrs study? Before Christmas? :eek:

JC 2K3

I only ever did homework if I felt it would benefit me.

I don't know if this is good advice or not.

Also, depending on the strictness of your teachers, you mightn't get away with an attitude like that.

Coco88

It not idiotic talk . Its correct if you want to get A1 - B2 in all subjects then do it this way . And yes before Christmas . I have my pre-exam in the end of January

JC 2K3

^I got all A1-B2s, and I certainly didn't do that much study before Xmas.

Coco88

JC 2K3 wrote:

^I got all A1-B2s, and I certainly didn't do that much study before Xmas.

Really , But still you have to demonstrate that to your self in the pre exams and to the educators

And history is no uncomplicated subject and at higher level

JC 2K3

Not really....

I went up 90 points from my pre, and I couldn't care less what a teacher thinks of me.

Selphie

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

My school is putting on a 3 hour study slot on Saturday mornings as well as 2 hours after school Monday to Thursday, but I like my afternoons and my Saturday mornings too much for that.

My school offered 2 hours supervised study on Mondays and Wednesdays, best thing I ever did. It gets you into study mode straight away. I used to get my homework done in supervised study and then do actual studying at home.

Lol, JC2k3 and me are sooo different. I also got 570, but I put way more work into it. I used to do at least three hours after school from Christmas onwards. After the Pres, I did as much as I physically could, usually working (homework and study) from 4 - 11 (with breaks for dinner and half an hour for internet checking) if I had loads to do. I took Fridays and Saturdays off and worked from 11-8 on Sunday. I put so much work into my exams because I felt I owed it to myself, and I didn't want to be disappointed with my results and feel that with a little more study, I could have done better. Of course its tiring...but I did no work throughout Christmas and Easter holidays and got loads of sleep every night. (wow, looking back it seems so weird. God, I was a hardass on myself, but then again I went up 100 points from my Pres.)
The most important thing I think is to maintain regular study. Like, if you start from day one and do even half an hour every day, it'll really help. If you want high points, and don't want to take risks, you need to work hard. There's no other way about it. You can still have a social life but, being realistic, there are some things that you have to sacrifice.

Carolus Magnus

Coco88 wrote:

It not idiotic talk . Its correct if you want to get A1 - B2 in all subjects then do it this way . And yes before Christmas . I have my pre-exam in the end of January

It depends on the person. Some people might need to study that much. Others may possess enough natural intelligence to wing it, or to decide for themselves what it is that is beneficial to them. Personally, I never even approached 3 hours of study a night. I was lying when I told my principal that I was doing 2 hours of study a night (he gave me a disapproving look nonetheless and suggested it should be a minimum of 4), as I grew confident in my ability I was doing an hour a night, if not even that. Most of that taken up with the homework that I knew had to be done just to save myself some grief.

People know themselves what they're comfortable with. My Lord, the worst thing that a person could be told is that they're studying 'the wrong way'. We enjoyed a seminar from some teachers on the payroll of a grinds school, encouraging us to use mnemonics and study plans. I'm quite sure it benefits some people, but I never felt the need to resort to such crap. Having an open mind about these things, I decided to deviate from my usual laissez faire approach in the run up to an English class test, and to take some of the 'advice' we were given on board. Did considerably worse than how I usually faired (I usually was in the B3 to B1 bracket, got a C3 in the test). That was the signal to jettison what we had been told, and to follow my own senses. No one knows better how to study, than one's self. I ended up doing fairly well in the end too with 505 points.

I guess I was also a big fan of cramming when I needed to. The week before the pre-exams was spent from around midday to six in the evening just doing exam papers. That was the most strenuous I ever permitted it to get.

Doffaldinho

The correct term is "Chasing The Dragon".

About 1-2 hours a day of studying should do it, But if you regularly take drugs then you may need about 4-5 hours a day due to your brain being mush.

JC 2K3

What if the drugs in question are Nootropics?

carlowboy

Do at least two hours a week on maths. It is essential.

PurpleFistMixer

What if you're good at maths and terrible at English? Is 2 hours a week still essential? : p
I think the amount of study per subject really depends on the person in question...

spurious

The amount and style of study will vary from person to person, but at a minimum, do homework and old papers.

carlowboy

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

What if you're good at maths and terrible at English? Is 2 hours a week still essential? : p
I think the amount of study per subject really depends on the person in question...

We're both ctyiers. I got 89% (raging) in maths based on studying it for 2 hours a week.

JackKelly

How long is a piece of string. Some people need to study more than others to take in the same volume of information.

You're the only person who can judge how many hours you need to do. Once you know a chapter, than that's enough study

JC 2K3

carlowboy wrote:

We're both ctyiers. I got 89% (raging) in maths based on studying it for 2 hours a week.

Having been in CTYI is irrelevent. I got 89.83% in Maths(one damn mark....) and I didn't do anything like 2 hours of dedicated Maths study a week. I varied sleeping and working on my own in Maths class and towards the end I did loads of exam papers.

It varies from person to person and anyway, time is not an accurate measure of how much study is done.

Also, Maths is one of those things where some people seem to need to kill themselves to get a decent mark, and others get by doing very little.