Help me I'm running out of time.

rex111

Well where to begin...

I am in 6th year now and I have not done a tap of study in my life and as you all know the LC starts in 2 months. I would like to do games development in Dunlalk IT but I am not really pushed, it's not enough to get me to study. To understand my position I have to go back to the beginning.

In first year I was acedemically top of the year and seemed to have the potential to do whatever I wanted however during the summer after 1st year my familty went through a terrible breakup and everyone was shattered and fighting with themselves, I was right in the middle of all this. This was in Summer 2004.

When second year came around, I was obviously put into the top class but the emitional turmoil had taken it's toll on me. I became disillusioned, I lost interest in school, I lost interest in life, sometimes I prayed not to wake up the next morning. I became increasinly violent towards myself, my family and my classmates. I attended a psycologist and social workers got involved with the family. This only made me worse. Then one day after almost killing my sister I left home and went to live with my father who left the year before. This was in April 2005.

I improved in third year, and I sat the JC and did quite well but not half as good as I should have. After the JC I became extremely reclusive and shut myself off from everyone I knew. This was 2006.

In 5th year things went downhill again but improved towards the end of the year. I was treating school as a joke however. I was doing barely enough to get by. My summer tests showed awful results.

Now I am in 6th year, and I am still doing enough to get by. As in get 155 points in my mocks. A few years ago one would have expected to get at least 3x that but that's not gonna happen.

I cannot study. I don't know why but I just can't do it. When I am told to study I just get angry. I might head up to my room and relax or go to sleep but I won't study. I am not sure if telling you this will help or not but I have nothing to lose at this stage. My future is hanging in the balance and a weakwilled person like me cannot do it alone.
I am no longer depressed like I was was. Now, my mood is good and I'm fine. But if I don't start studying hard within the next 48 hours my future is gone. For example my french oral is tommorrow April 7th but I have not touched my schoolbag all weekend.

If there is anything anyone can do or say to help me then I beg you to do it. I would ask you refrain from making comments such as "just study or you'll regret it" They will have no effect.

Can you help me?

btw the subjects I do are

Maths O
Irish O
English H
Physics O
Chemistry H
Biology H
French H

rex

Fibonacci23

Ok, i don't know how anyone's going to help you when you tell them what not to say....



But basically it's your own choice... I understand though, i come on here for motivation, when i need to read bout other people not sitting down and geting stuck in either.... But it's ultimately up to you.



Your french oral is tomorrow... It's now 16.50..... that gives you alot of time to open a book, speak a few words, flick the pages. They're not that heavy.



Start with introducing yourself, then your family, pick one passtime in detail, have a good read of everything else, and if you're serious enough about getting anywhere in life you'll do it.



If not, good luck in the future.

The Walsho

^ Fibonnaci's right.
I know you don't want to hear the usual "Just do it" type stuff, but there's a reason why that's said so often - it's really the only way. At the end of the day you can hope and wait for motivation to come, or hope someone will reveal some secret to you that'll miraculously help you study, but that's not going to happen now.
I'm sorry to hear of your troubled past but for the next two months or so you have to focus completely on one thing. Things have come good for you personally of late, so now is the time for the academic side of things to fall into place once more.

Telling yourself you just can't study is doing no good I'm afraid. You came on here and made an excellent, coherant and seemingly comprehensive post. So next time you get home from school, sit and down and make some excellent, coherant and comprehensive notes.

As you said yourself, you're running out of time, but there is still time there. Everytime you go up to your room to "relax" remember the things you said on this thread, your future hangs in the balance. Two months of work and you'll do well. Two months of procrastinating and where'll you be?
Try making timetables for study, see how that goes. Go easy on yourself at the start (if you're not used to studying there's no point making unrealistic 9 hour study sessions).

Sorry if this was exactly the sort of thing you were hoping to avoid, but I don't think there's much else that can be offered.

Peleus

I can't say i know how you feel, but i sorta get what you're feeling. (if that makes sense). Last year I was training hard for sport and my school work went out the window and by the summer exams i just wasn't bothered studying cos i didn't feel like it. That was reflected in my results. But i picked up in sixth year. So I know how it feels to think "I am literally fu**ed for these exams. There is no point in me turning up".

Anyway, heres what you should do. As the other two said you have to study. I know you don't want to and whenever you try to you just think that you're so far behind that theres no point at this stage. Just think about it this way:

Every time you open a book, you're increasing the marks you're gonna get. Every time you study, you're adding a couple of points onto your end result and every hour you spend staring into space you drop a couple of points. You could get yourself another 2 points in the leaving by spending an hour reading the poems of one of your poets. It's a good way of realising that by doing a bit of study you ARE actually adding to your points.

You've nothing to lose by reading through your books slowly and trying to build up whatever you can. Every time you sit in your room doing nothing, open one of your books and learn something. It will all add up.

oh and it's good that you've accepted that you're screwed. It is the first step to doing something about it. good luck


PS: what are the points for games development?

rex111

The points are around 300, but more importantly I need a B3 in ordinary maths, which considering I failed it in the JC, and got 30% in the mocks is a daunting task.

From reading the above posts it's clear what has to be done, but if I can muster up enough willpower to do it... well I don't know.

Peleus

rex111 wrote: »

The points are around 300, but more importantly I need a B3 in ordinary maths, which considering I failed it in the JC, and got 30% in the mocks is a daunting task.

From reading the above posts it's clear what has to be done, but if I can muster up enough willpower to do it... well I don't know.

You got 155 in your mocks. you could work that up to about 220/230 if you really push yourself. I'm sorry to say it but it seems unlikely that you'll get 300 so I wouldnt count on getting games development.

my advice is choose a couple of courses in the 160-200 range that you want to do and work towards them. Because there is no point hoping that you'll get 300 and your B3 in O-level maths. You could get the B3 but getting up to 300 would be a daunting task.

If I were you I'd see whats available in the 160-200 range and see if there's anything you wanna do. If not there are always apprenticeships/PLC courses. If you really wanna go to college you can either pay for it (DBS, portabello) or you could always repeat. Repeating could put another 150+ onto your marks if you were willing to work.

You still have options and don't worry, you'll work something out.

Ino112

Don't dare listen to Peleus :P You're capable of much better results. Put Games Development as your no.1# if it is the course you want to do most. Remember, there is no shame in not getting your no.1 choice, but if you found out in August that you did get over 300, I'd presume you'd be upset?

Also, take mock results with a pinch of salt. The majority of subjects aren't fully covered at that stage, and you still have to consider the amount of study which could improve your grades. They are a rough indicator, but nothing is set in stone.

For maths, keep on top of homework, maybe hand up some extra work and always have the teacher near if you have a problem. Edco exam papers are very helpful for studying alone also.

Just remember, for your CAO, put done for no.1 the course you want the most! Don't mind about points! Otherwise you may under-estimate yourself..

The Walsho

Peleus wrote: »

You got 155 in your mocks. you could work that up to about 220/230 if you really push yourself. I'm sorry to say it but it seems unlikely that you'll get 300 so I wouldnt count on getting games development.

I disagree with that part of your post. It's really impossible to say how much someone will improve on their mock results. For all we know this guy did absolutely nothing for his mocks and still managed 155 points. So if he were to work his ass off from now until the LC who's to say he couldn't clear 300 quite easily?

Peleus

The Walsho wrote: »

I disagree with that part of your post. It's really impossible to say how much someone will improve on their mock results. For all we know this guy did absolutely nothing for his mocks and still managed 155 points. So if he were to work his ass off from now until the LC who's to say he couldn't clear 300 quite easily?

that is true. the mocks can be marked quite hard. obviously he should still put it first and try his very best. but he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket and don't count on getting it. Don't worry OP you'll be fine. If you get it, you get it. If you don't there are hundreds of other great courses you can do.

irish_boy90

rex111 wrote: »

The points are around 300, but more importantly I need a B3 in ordinary maths, which considering I failed it in the JC, and got 30% in the mocks is a daunting task.

From reading the above posts it's clear what has to be done, but if I can muster up enough willpower to do it... well I don't know.

i got 25% in H lv for my mock.
(we had just finished the course so it was a nightmare)

mark out the questions you want to do.
starting doing them from 2007 back.
have your book with you but not open, if your stuck look up an example of that type of question and find what you did wrong.

After a bit you will notice certain types of questions are asked every year and that you do the same thing every time to solve them.


so 8 weeks to the Lc and you have 12 questions to do.
(try and get 2 questions done by the end of each week)
And when you know them and move on look back at the end of the week so you don't forget.

Chill out, don't sit about worrying about it. "Just Do it"

gaybitch

Yeahhh don't listen to Peleus.

It's all about Positive Mental Attitude. Just decide that for two months - just two months! - you'll put your heart into this and get going. Keep your dream course at number one no matter what. Two months of work and then you're off into something great.

300 is definitely an achievable goal! Keep your eyes on the prize!

JavaBear

"As in get 155 points in my mocks. A few years ago one would have expected to get at least 3x".

That's pretty terrible on any account. Also, who thinks of their LC a few years before hand?

First year is pretty easy so don't delude yourself with the "I was a genius but some stuff went wrong". A lot of people think they are smarter than they are.

Get stuck into Biology*, Chem and Maths**. You can get the majority of your 300 points there. Depending on how good you are at French, try hard with that too. Put effort into maths because you need it. Physics and Irish.. meh. Actually it's worth passing Irish incase you decide you wanna go to a NUI college.


* Get a book called "Coming to terms with Biology". It costs about 7/8 euro. It's a like a little dictionary with defined terms. Example: You realise you don't know what Symbiosis is. Look it up and it defines, explains and links to other related areas. It comes with a CD too which has even more definitions etc.

** Go through questions and find a common WAY of doing it. With a system like that you'll do well. Example: Certain question comes up. You know there are 3 ways of doing said question - pick the most logical one and do it. Seems obvious but some people don't seem to "get" it.

Even though you haven't started studying yet, I'd estimate if you put a lot of work in you could get 400+ points. Also, you said you wanted to do games development. Sound pretty cool but have you thought of doing a more broad course. Gaming industry is hard to get into afaik. Computer Science courses have pretty much the same required points.

hatrickpatrick

A few more specifics might help - can you post the grades you got in each subject for the mocks and the level of said subject?

Peleus

JavaBear wrote: »

Even though you haven't started studying yet, I'd estimate if you put a lot of work in you could get 400+ points.

oh come on. You dont even know the person. Unless he didn't bother doing anything for the mocks and he's capable of doing alot better, he's not going to triple his points. These people can give you all the hope you want, but you have to get realistic. because when you get your points and its not the 400 that these guys promised you, you'll only be dissapointed.

you can easily get your grades up but its not gonna be that much. I'm not telling you what you can and can't do, but don't think 400 points will just come to you.
I advise studying as much as you can until the leaving cert. You're gonna be stuck in your room anyway, you may aswell try do a bit of study.

daggy

Every time you open a book, you're increasing the marks you're gonna get. Every time you study, you're adding a couple of points onto your end result and every hour you spend staring into space you drop a couple of points. You could get yourself another 2 points in the leaving by spending an hour reading the poems of one of your poets. It's a good way of realising that by doing a bit of study you ARE actually adding to your points.

That's very good advice. Very true.. I don't know what to say to you, you have had a rough time. Pick yourself up, because as soon as you do you will feel better.

You know , last year my mother died right before my summer exams and leading up to them I was deluded and sick of everything as she was in hospital for months . She died within days of my 18th and i didnt actually see her at all.It was very sad really...
This year i fell out terribly with my father and moved out.My parents are divorced.
460 in the mocks , but i need about 520. The point is you can use your circumstances to your advantage. As soon as you pick it all up you will feel amazing.

Right now i have freakin' tonsillitis and my French oral has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning, thats if i can speak lol. I used to do absolutely nothing , but recently started doing a little bit here and there. Once you start it's nothing! The thought is worse than the act..

It's all about being realisitic at the moment. Dig deep and focus. Come on lad!

Peleus

any improvement rex?