Schols Schols Schols, information and venting thread.

ride-the-spiral

Undeadfred wrote: »

That's a bit off putting...
personally I dont think of myself as distinguishably clever, I just consider myself to be hard working...
I was planning on going for the exam with the thought that if i studied enough, I'd get it....

OK maybe that's not entirely true that its based on aptitude and luck entirely. But its more that if you study right rather than study lots (although you will have to study lots...) I know of a few people who wouldn't be tip of the class but took the right approach to schols and got it.

The fact that youre even considering studying over the summer shows youre dedicated enough to do the work right when it comes to next term, but you're better off doing it right next term. Just hit the ground running when college starts, keep up with everything as it comes and work consistently.

I didn't mean to put you off, schols is hard but its not predestined who gets it. Do enough exam papers and hopefully you can pull it off on the day.

Undeadfred

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

OK maybe that's not entirely true that its based on aptitude and luck entirely. But its more that if you study right rather than study lots (although you will have to study lots...) I know of a few people who wouldn't be tip of the class but took the right approach to schols and got it.

The fact that youre even considering studying over the summer shows youre dedicated enough to do the work right when it comes to next term, but you're better off doing it right next term. Just hit the ground running when college starts, keep up with everything as it comes and work consistently.

I didn't mean to put you off, schols is hard but its not predestined who gets it. Do enough exam papers and hopefully you can pull it off on the day.

That's a lot more reassuring, thanks for the advice

EuropeanSon

I'm a Maths schol, and live with 2 TP schols and one other Maths schol. Nobody studied in the summer, and it would in my opinion have been of next to no use.

If you're going to get it, starting in reading week is fine. If you aren't, starting before reading week won't help you much.

That's not to say those that missed out were necessarily less unable to get it, but that their reasons for missing out were not that they hadn't covered the material 15 times, but rather that they panicked, or couldn't figure out some questions. That is to say, there is not so much material that you won't have more than enough time if you start in reading week.

I genuinely think it would've hurt my chances to study it over summer. Burnout is a real threat, and one too few people consider.

Undeadfred

hmmmm... Even though so many people have said that studying over the summer is pointless, I still amn't fully convinced. At the moment most of my time is being taken up purely by the assignments and I'm finding myself with very little time to do further study. If its the same case next year, and im sure it will be, I honestly dont see where I'd find the time to put in the extra work required to get schols. This is why I think studying over the summer would suit me better than some other people.

I also don't see burnout as being a viable thing for me. I study best not by cramming, but by studying consistently over a long period. I study slow enough so that i dont stress myself out so I'm able to study for long periods of time. For my Leaving for example i basically started studying for the leaving in November, and kept a pretty good consistent pace all the way up to it.

This is why I'm leaning so favourably towards studying over the summer. consistently do 2-4 hours of work a day throughout the summer.

Also, quick question. Do they give you relevant formulae for TCD exams in maths and physics? Or do you have to learn them off by heart?

Undeadfred

hmmmm... Even though so many people have said that studying over the summer is pointless, I still amn't fully convinced. At the moment most of my time is being taken up purely by the assignments and I'm finding myself with very little time to do further study. If its the same case next year, and im sure it will be, I honestly dont see where I'd find the time to put in the extra work required to get schols. This is why I think studying over the summer would suit me better than some other people.

I also don't see burnout as being a viable thing for me. I study best not by cramming, but by studying consistently over a long period. I study slow enough so that i dont stress myself out so I'm able to study for long periods of time. For my Leaving for example i basically started studying for the leaving in November, and kept a pretty good consistent pace all the way up to it.

This is why I'm leaning so favourably towards studying over the summer. consistently do 2-4 hours of work a day throughout the summer.

Also, quick question. Do they give you relevant formulae for TCD exams in maths and physics? Or do you have to learn them off by heart?

Honestly? The majority of people I know who got schols did most of their study over Christmas, myself included. It sucks, but it's kind of accepted that you don't get to enjoy the Christmas break when doing schols. If you really want to study over the summer no one is going to stop you, I just can't imagine trying to teach new material to yourself is going to be more efficient then just relaxing and making sure you're in good shape come time to learn it and study properly.

The Christmas period is what makes or breaks most schol hopefuls, and is the main time when people decide to pull out, because it's horrible :P I think if I had given up my summer as well as my Christmas I'd have gone (even more) insane...

Anita Blow

As someone who also got Schols, I fully agree with what others have said about it being completely fruitless to begin studying over the Summer. Before you actually have the lecture material and attend some of the lectures, you don't know what slant the lecturers will take on Schols for your year and you could spend ages studying stuff that ends up being completely irrelevant.
I tried to start in August but found that I hadn't a clue what I was meant to be studying or how to separate the important material from the less important material so I gave up and started proper studying toward the end of October.
Schols isn't just a test of knowledge or aptitude, it's also a test of endurance. Burnout is a very real risk that happened to a couple of people in my class who ended up dropping out before the exams.

Polka_Dot

I did Schols this year (well, sort of...) and I wouldn't advise studying over summer either. I spent so much time working during term, over reading week, over Christmas, that the first time I felt I had an actual break was this semester's reading week. Teaching yourself will probably just confuse you as I've found with the maths department that the exact same material can be explained very differently by different lecturers, and what they expect could be totally different. You can still study slowly and efficiently if you begin when term starts.

EuropeanSon

Undeadfred wrote: »

hmmmm... Even though so many people have said that studying over the summer is pointless, I still amn't fully convinced. At the moment most of my time is being taken up purely by the assignments and I'm finding myself with very little time to do further study. If its the same case next year, and im sure it will be, I honestly dont see where I'd find the time to put in the extra work required to get schols. This is why I think studying over the summer would suit me better than some other people.

I also don't see burnout as being a viable thing for me. I study best not by cramming, but by studying consistently over a long period. I study slow enough so that i dont stress myself out so I'm able to study for long periods of time. For my Leaving for example i basically started studying for the leaving in November, and kept a pretty good consistent pace all the way up to it.

This is why I'm leaning so favourably towards studying over the summer. consistently do 2-4 hours of work a day throughout the summer.

Also, quick question. Do they give you relevant formulae for TCD exams in maths and physics? Or do you have to learn them off by heart?

Don't know about physics, but for maths the tables are available, but if you don't know them off by heart just from using them so often you haven't much hope. Most stuff you need isn't in the tables anyway. There's an awful lot to learn off.

Do what you think is best. I would say that the summer would be better spent not wasting your time on something with almost no utility when spending a quarter of that time in November would achieve as much. Do something fun instead.

countbezukov

Also sat schols this year and thought I'd add one more thing. When talking about burn out you have to remember that you finish schols on a friday and the following monday start straight back into the new term. So it's not even just that you'll burn out from summer to January, but that if you work over the summer you'll be going straight from June/July to May the following year with no proper break of longer than a few days. Lots of people in my class who didn't even study over the summer are finding it tough this term because of there being no break after schols, particularly when we still have no results to go on or anything for motivation for the annual exams. I did a bit early on last summer but really it was pretty pointless and don't think it will have any influence on whether I get them in 2 weeks or not.

Undeadfred

Yeah, I'm kinda thinking now that I'll enjoy my summer until the exam results come out, then have a look at them and see how i did with the amount of work i did, and then make an informed decision. I think it'd be a good idea to read through the physics that will be on the exam this summer, cause i found this year that the physics lectures aren't really that informative and the book tells you way more. Maybe that's just me but i find i learn way more when i learn physics from the book rather from the lecturer.

On that note, when do the results of the end of year exams come out?

ride-the-spiral

Undeadfred wrote: »

Yeah, I'm kinda thinking now that I'll enjoy my summer until the exam results come out, then have a look at them and see how i did with the amount of work i did, and then make an informed decision. I think it'd be a good idea to read through the physics that will be on the exam this summer, cause i found this year that the physics lectures aren't really that informative and the book tells you way more. Maybe that's just me but i find i learn way more when i learn physics from the book rather from the lecturer.

On that note, when do the results of the end of year exams come out?

Second year physics is an improvement in that regard, they use more advanced textbooks though, which will have a lot more info than the lecturer will actually cover.

They're about a month after exams finish.

bayareayogi

I wrote mod edit sat the exams this January and when I first decided to attempt them in May last year I was dead set on studying through last summer - but as others have said its quite hard to cover new material on your own in any productive way. What I decided to do was spend the last two weeks of summer revising things that I thought might be useful from the year before - then I launched straight into the first week of term - studying from start of week 2. My advice is work really hard to stay on top of your coursework - make sure you understand everything as it is covered and revise revise revise. Then those precious 3 weeks over Christmas are for 12 hour study days - NO LIFE.

It's a very serious undertaking and its not for the faint hearted - you will be physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted for the rest of the year - and if you have any commitments or a family it is near impossible - and yes, the exams finish the Friday before term starts - so you will spend the second half of your academic year running to stand still. BUT it is a fantastic accomplishment to even sit the exams and something to be proud of I think. I'm not sure what will happen in two weeks time, and I'm not sure all the work has been of any benefit to me this year as we have covered so much new content since January - BUT given the choice, I would definitely do it again and I recommend anyone considering it to go ahead and do them.

And for everyone who took at stab at them in January - Best of luck

Mr Pseudonym

bayareayogi wrote: »

I wrote the exams this January and when I first decided to attempt them in May last year I was dead set on studying through last summer - but as others have said its quite hard to cover new material on your own in any productive way. What I decided to do was spend the last two weeks of summer revising things that I thought might be useful from the year before - then I launched straight into the first week of term - studying from start of week 2. My advice is work really hard to stay on top of your coursework - make sure you understand everything as it is covered and revise revise revise. Then those precious 3 weeks over Christmas are for 12 hour study days - NO LIFE.

It's a very serious undertaking and its not for the faint hearted - you will be physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted for the rest of the year - and if you have any commitments or a family it is near impossible - and yes, the exams finish the Friday before term starts - so you will spend the second half of your academic year running to stand still. BUT it is a fantastic accomplishment to even sit the exams and something to be proud of I think. I'm not sure what will happen in two weeks time, and I'm not sure all the work has been of any benefit to me this year as we have covered so much new content since January - BUT given the choice, I would definitely do it again and I recommend anyone considering it to go ahead and do them.

And for everyone who took at stab at them in January - Best of luck

You wrote the exams that you were then going to sit? How the hell is that fair?!

Anita Blow

I think they mean they sat the exam as opposed to setting it

Undeadfred

Are there any indications that you'll be good enough to get it? eg. First in end of year exams, etc.

ride-the-spiral

Undeadfred wrote: »

Are there any indications that you'll be good enough to get it? eg. First in end of year exams, etc.

About half the tp class got firsts in my first year. The people who got schols weren't all top of the class, but I guess its something of an indication. I've heard of one person who got a 2 in first year and got schols though.

234

Undeadfred wrote: »

Are there any indications that you'll be good enough to get it? eg. First in end of year exams, etc.

Depends on your subject area. In humanities/social sciences it requires a very different approach to that of the end-of-year exams. It's not just harder, its about demonstrating critical analysis.

Mr Pseudonym

234 wrote: »

Depends on your subject area. In humanities/social sciences it requires a very different approach to that of the end-of-year exams. It's not just harder, its about demonstrating critical analysis.

What do you mean? Are you saying that the critical analysis required is more advanced than for SF Trinity term exams, or that the challenge is greater because that ability has to be developed sooner?

234

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

What do you mean? Are you saying that the critical analysis required is more advanced than for SF Trinity term exams, or that the challenge is greater because that ability has to be developed sooner?

Simply that they are different exams that measure two different things. There is of course an element of critical analysis that must be demonstrated to succeed in normal exams.

However, schols are simply entirely different. All the mastery of the materials that will help you to get a good grade (though possibly not a first) is assumed as a baseline for schols. Simply knowing material won't get you anywhere. You need to start out with a different mind-frame. Try and get through the material as fast as you can and then take as much time as you can to step back, evaluate it, figure out where it is weak/strong, where the analytical and argumentative flaws lie, how it could be improved.

It's less about knowing the material and more about how you think about it.

Mr Pseudonym

234 wrote: »

Simply that they are different exams that measure two different things. There is of course an element of critical analysis that must be demonstrated to succeed in normal exams.

However, schols are simply entirely different. All the masters of the materials that will help you to get a good grade (though possibly not a first) is assumed as a baseline for schols. Simply knowing material won't get you anywhere. You need to start out with a different mind-frame. Try and get through the material as fast as you can and then take as much time as you can to step back, evaluate it, figure out where it is weak/strong, where the analytical and argumentative flaws lie, how it could be improved.

It's less about knowing the material and more about how you think about it.

Thanks for your response.

lfqnic

234 wrote: »

Simply that they are different exams that measure two different things. There is of course an element of critical analysis that must be demonstrated to succeed in normal exams.

However, schols are simply entirely different. All the mastery of the materials that will help you to get a good grade (though possibly not a first) is assumed as a baseline for schols. Simply knowing material won't get you anywhere. You need to start out with a different mind-frame. Try and get through the material as fast as you can and then take as much time as you can to step back, evaluate it, figure out where it is weak/strong, where the analytical and argumentative flaws lie, how it could be improved.

It's less about knowing the material and more about how you think about it.

This is definitely good advice for people looking into subjects like English, history and some language courses. This is exactly what they wanted from us (which is both a blessing and a curse, because perhaps more than usual you will be allowed to take risks or be ambitious.)

bayareayogi

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

You wrote the exams that you were then going to sit? How the hell is that fair?!

Yes I meant I sat the exams .....

Athos902

So what's the story with the results? I'm positive that my name won't be called out in front square, but I'm curious to see how well/badly I did. Do they post your overall grade online with your student number or just the list of scholars?

ride-the-spiral

Athos902 wrote: »

So what's the story with the results? I'm positive that my name won't be called out in front square, but I'm curious to see how well/badly I did. Do they post your overall grade online with your student number or just the list of scholars?

Yeah there's a list of your overall grade online, and you can email to get a breakdown.

EuropeanSon

Results are on the board in front square too.

Polka_Dot

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

Yeah there's a list of your overall grade online, and you can email to get a breakdown.

Who do you email? Your school/department?

ride-the-spiral

Polka_Dot wrote: »

Who do you email? Your school/department?

No youll get an email at some point tomorrow, to which you reply asking for your results and then they're sent to you.

234

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

No youll get an email at some point tomorrow, to which you reply asking for your results and then they're sent to you.

Surely you mean Monday?

partyatmygaff

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

No youll get an email at some point tomorrow, to which you reply asking for your results and then they're sent to you.

That's not true for every department.

I only got a congratulations email from my tutor. School of Pharmacy keep it very quiet (save for the occasional subtle hint) until Trinity Monday.