Love of maths only increased by the girl in the examiner

turgon

I was reading the Examiner and the exam diarist said "Maths is tough cause you cant learn off stuff like other exams".

Delighted. I took a real hard look at her ginger infused face, and just thought "oh ya girl, you cant handle the pressure of having to know, of having to be knowledgeable. Your usual tactics of memorizing wont work here biatch."

The over extremest nature of my thoughts stem for two reasons. One a love of maths, only increased by the fact that memoro-girls like herself wont beat me based only on their ability to remember.

Secondly a hatred of the fact that a lot of people (like the leprechaun in the Examiner) that do really good in the Leaving Cert arent normally overly bright, they just go to these fancy collages and soak up study techniques, where learning how to memorize is more important than learning the information itself. Where the subject doesnt matter, only how many points can be harvested thereof. What a lovely word to finish on.


EDIT:
I realize that the above text is over extreme, and I apologize to anyone who is or has been insulted by my comments. Please understand that they were not meant as malicious but were just my form of thinking on a particularly moody day. Sorry.

eoin2nc

turgon wrote: »

I was reading the Examiner and the exam diarist said "Maths is tough cause you cant learn off stuff like other exams".

Delighted. I took a real hard luck at her ginger infused face, and just thought "oh ya girl, you cant handle the pressure of having to learn, of having to be knowledgeable. You usual tactics of memorizing wont work here biatch."

The over extremest nature of my thoughts stem for two reasons: one a love of maths.

Secondly a hatred of the fact that a lot of people (like the leprechaun in the Examiner) that do really good in the Leaving Cert arent normally overly bright, they go to these fancy collages and learn study techniques, where learning how to memorize is more important than the learning itself. Where the subject doesnt matter, only how many points can be harvested thereof. What a lovely word to finish on.

Ye i agree with you. There is a couple of people in my school who are farily slow, but they just learn everything off by heart and then get a good LC. This doesnt prove that they are intelligent, just that they dont have a social life

They also do OL maths

Decerto

Dont hate the player hate the game,
leaving cert forces people to be like this to get the course they want

kmart6

eoin2nc wrote: »

They also do OL maths

Lol...bitchy!:D

turgon

Maybe some people should realize that they are not deserving of their course. Not saying you are....

Two twins in my Maths class, probably the worst few in the class. D or C they will get. Only do 2 or 3 honours. Yes they want to do Maths Science in UCC (480 points, B3 min for honours maths). I dont know if that is relevant but it annoys me anyway.


One can do good in the LC by being naturally bright. Sorry if I sound cocky, but I dont do heaps of study and I still do great.

turgon

eoin2nc wrote: »

They also do OL maths

BTW, that sentence gives me great satisfaction. They can memorize all the want, but when it comes to actually being knowledgeable, they cannot cope.

Davidius

Maths is teh seckz.

eoin2nc

kmart6 wrote: »

Lol...bitchy!:D

Oh i went there!!

Calorimeterman

That's why the engineering courses demand higher C3s in higher maths...

They can't teach idiots...

Too bad I can't be a natural at english and french or I would be sorted!

PurpleFistMixer

turgon wrote: »

Two twins in my Maths class, probably the worst few in the class. D or C they will get. Only do 2 or 3 honours. Yes they want to do Maths Science in UCC (480 points, B3 min for honours maths). I dont know if that is relevant but it annoys me anyway.

So if they get the points and get the course, they'll either drop out because they discover they can't do maths, or they'll be called by the different atmosphere of college and suddenly excel. To be honest I can't see the latter happening too easily, but you never know...

I hate seeing people just blindly learning maths off... if you give it a chance and try to understand it, it can be so much more than a "eh just learn these formulae and stick in some numbers" subject. That said, some people just don't seem to get it, and have no option but to learn things off if they want to pass.

However, thing is, if you're not the brightest, but you can work enough to learn everything off, that shows dedication and self discipline/motivation, and surely that means you deserve a good LC/a place in their course? It's not as if you'll be robbing anyone who's smarter than you a place. If they're naturally gifted they should have no problem getting higher points than you.

BMH

In all fairness, some people are geared towards maths and the sciences while others towards languages, arts and the humanities. Some people find it easier to study the humanities because they enjoy learning about them, but due to the nature of the LC, a lot of study is still involved.
Maths on the other hand, requires very little work so long as you're geared towards that field of education, so, due to the coursework involved, maths-inclined students appear smarter than those that like humanities, with appear being the operative word.

(But yeah maths fμck¡ng rocks)

Twee.

The LC isn't an examination of how intelligent you are, just how much you can learn off. There's very little scope for opinion.

Davidius

Twee. wrote: »

The LC isn't an examination of how intelligent you are, just how much you can learn off. There's very little scope for opinion.

Sure English is great for asking for your opinion.

You just don't get marks for having the wrong one. :pac:

BMH

Twee. wrote: »

The LC isn't an examination of how intelligent you are, just how much you can learn off. There's very little scope for opinion.

Yeah, because we need an exam that grades your opinions...

BJC

Decerto wrote: »

Dont hate the player hate the game

Spoken like a true resident of Compton!

But I agree. OP is jealous and incredibly pompous. I'm surprised he even came on here knowing his post would be seen by us lesser mortals :pac:

In/Casino/Out

If someone works hard enough to learn something off, they deserve the points. If they find maths or whatever difficult to understand what the hell do you expect? You want them to just fail it?

Davidius

BMH wrote: »

In all fairness, some people are geared towards maths and the sciences while others towards languages, arts and the humanities. Some people find it easier to study the humanities because they enjoy learning about them, but due to the nature of the LC, a lot of study is still involved.
Maths on the other hand, requires very little work so long as you're geared towards that field of education, so, due to the coursework involved, maths-inclined students appear smarter than those that like humanities, with appear being the operative word.

Sure they just pretend these other intelligences exist to compensate for the fact that they're crap at maths and thus stupid.* :pac:



*May not be true

turgon

BJC wrote: »

But I agree. OP is jealous and incredibly pompous. I'm surprised he even came on here knowing his post would be seen by us lesser mortals :pac:

Please excuse me for expressing an opinion. If you will please explain your thoughts on the world at large I will be sure to mirror them as best I can.

As regards being accused of being jealous and pompous. I could explain why I am not jealous, but that would only make me appear even more pompous in your eyes.

Pompous - meanwhile, I am on the side of the fence that doesn't learn off stuff, but gets by by using my brain a bit. I was just making a remark that I dislike the method of memorizing stuff as it defeats the purpose of education - ie learning new things. Instead it is just a game of remembering facts on the day regardless of what they mean, and forgetting them as soon as the examiner says "please finish".

Finally, calling me pompous on the basis of one post is at best sad, and if you read my posts on the politics board (where incidentally you would have received an infraction for personally insulting me) you will realize that I am very willing to take on other peoples opinions, which is lot more than could be said for some boards.ie members.

irishbucsfan

I do OL Maths, yet its always been one of my best subjects.

I will get an A1, and take my 60 points.


The reason I dropped is that out of the 68,500 people doing the LC this year, I'd say I'm among the laziest 500, and I was afraid that if I did HL I wouldnt work and risk failing. I agree with you though on pretty much everything you say. I detest the Leaving Cert for the way it rewards those that can remember things best, rather than those who can break down the questions and use their understanding of the subjects and their own natural ability to answer them properly.

I suppose the system we have will do, but I wish we had a better system.

Holly Golightly

in/casino/out wrote: »

if Someone Works Hard Enough To Learn Something Off, They Deserve The Points. If They Find Maths Or Whatever Difficult To Understand What The Hell Do You Expect? You Want Them To Just Fail It?

Amen

eoin2nc

turgon wrote: »

Please excuse me for expressing an opinion. If you will please explain your thoughts on the world at large I will be sure to mirror them as best I can.

As regards being accused of being jealous and pompous. I could explain why I am not jealous, but that would only make me appear even more pompous in your eyes.

Pompous - meanwhile, I am on the side of the fence that doesn't learn off stuff, but gets by by using my brain a bit. I was just making a remark that I dislike the method of memorizing stuff as it defeats the purpose of education - ie learning new things. Instead it is just a game of remembering facts on the day regardless of what they mean, and forgetting them as soon as the examiner says "please finish".

Finally, calling me pompous on the basis of one post is at best sad, and if you read my posts on the politics board (where incidentally you would have received an infraction for personally insulting me) you will realize that I am very willing to take on other peoples opinions, which is lot more than could be said for some boards.ie members.

Amen brother!!

Now myself and turgon have had our disagreements, but yes he is willing to take other peoples opinions on boards and he is right,IMO, about people just learning off stuff for the leaving.

Maybe you dont agree with him, you could say that and list out your reasons for not agreeing with him, but insulting and name calling is not the way to go

Smudge_pot

I'm bright and yet I learn a lot of things by rote. If it's going to help me do well in the exams and get a place in college, what's the harm?

And yes, I do OL Maths. I was OK in Higher, but it was a bit of a struggle and my other subjects were suffering.

straight_As

Firstly, may I say that I am far more of a mathsy/logical student than a rote learner. I far prefer being able to do maths hamework in 5 or 10 minutes due to the application of skills and often a bit of problem solving rather than an hour or two on an English essay which is marked on one's ability to follow the formula for good marks and often a little bit of playing to the examiner's sympathetic side.
Basically, I find maths fun and the fact that others don't makes it all the more satisfying.

That said though, some obviously have a greater aptitude for subjects such as the humanities which require a greater all 'round knowledge of the subject and often more time spent learning. To them, I'm sure being able to write an essay on the history of Irish politics (a bit general, I know) is inexpicably satisfying. These people, however, can rarely understand the joy some of us get from proving a hugely abstract inequality.

The leaving cert (however, I'm not sure, opinion based on hearsay as I'm only in 4th year) would seem to accommodate for both of the aforementioned parties. If you enjoy maths and problem solving, exploit your ability and do subjects such as App Maths, Physics, Acc and even Chem which will reward your aptitude and not bury beneath reams of notes on subjects in which you have no interest.
Conversely, if more factual subjects catch your eye, study them. History, Geog, Bio, Bus would all seem to entral you.
However, don't complain for what is essentially an error of judgement on your part going into 5th year. By not selecting subjects in which your given aptitudes and interests are regarded as paramount you have probably frustrated yourself.
Hope I don't make such a mistake. :rolleyes:

EmmetF

They took our JOBS!

irishbucsfan

EmmetF wrote: »

They took our JOBS!

Ladies and gentlemen, Emmet Furey. The inventor of the infamous punch-kick

Piste

I guess I'd be one of those "memoro" people. I *could* spend most of my time depserately trying to understand maths and perfect my technique...or I could spend half that time learning off my 7 other subjects and getting a much higher grade.

I'm willing to pitch my short term memory against someone maths genius any day :pac:

Gileadi

Been a few years since i did LC maths but tbh i thought it was just learning techniques off by rote (compared to college engineering maths)...

fivetwenty

I'm going to get slated for this because I'm sure most of you did - but I dislike people who take grinds, I mean I worked myself, I didn't even need schooling anymore so took the final few months off. Someone with grinds may have been drilled to a tee without doing the work for themselves whereas I'll take an extra sense of pride come August.

I'm talking about these Saturday school people, you make me sick, a very depressing bunch that only increases the LC's "scary" reputation - these last few days have been so calm I'm now indifferent to it.

KnifeWRENCH

OP do you think it's easy to learn off stuff by rote? If someone is not particularly bright, but spends ages learning stuff off by heart, then they are fully deserving of the points they get because it shows dedication.
I did a lot of rote learning for HL Irish (particularly essays) and got an A1. Should I feel guilty about that in some way? Well I don't because I spent fucking ages at it.

By the way, the snobbery towards OL maths here is disgraceful. Some of the brightest, hardest working people in my year were unable for Higher Level because they are just not naturally a "mathsy" person. With 6 other HL subjects it's hard to concentrate on one you find especially difficult. Honours Maths took up a lot more time than any other subjects for me: I stuck with it because I loved the subject and was willing to work at it, not because I was extremely smart or naturally brilliant at it.

Oh and as for insulting that girl in the Examiner because she's ginger and assuming she goes to a fancy school - absolutely pathetic.

OP if you're as condescending as your original post suggests, I sincerely hope that "leprechaun" outperforms you in the LC.

cHaTbOx

square_igloo wrote: »

OP do you think it's easy to learn off stuff by rote? If someone is not particularly bright, but spends ages learning stuff off by heart, then they are fully deserving of the points they get because it shows dedication.
I did a lot of rote learning for HL Irish (particularly essays) and got an A1. Should I feel guilty about that in some way? Well I don't because I spent fucking ages at it.

By the way, the snobbery towards OL maths here is disgraceful. Some of the brightest, hardest working people in my year were unable for Higher Level because they are just not naturally a "mathsy" person. With 6 other HL subjects it's hard to concentrate on one you find especially difficult. Honours Maths took up a lot more time than any other subjects for me: I stuck with it because I loved the subject and was willing to work at it, not because I was extremely smart or naturally brilliant at it.

Oh and as for insulting that girl in the Examiner because she's ginger and assuming she goes to a fancy school - absolutely pathetic.

OP if you're as condescending as your original post suggests, I sincerely hope that "leprechaun" outperforms you in the LC.

+1 well said

beautiation

Agree that there's nothing wrong with learning subjects off by heart even if you don't engage with it, and such dedication is deserving in points. Let's face it, a work ethic is about the only real transferable skill the LC gives us, so it might as well reward it! Besides, the more you understand and engage with something the easier it is to learn off by heart, so even if it is possible to get an A1 without really knowing the subject, you are still punished relative to those who understand it in terms of the extra work you have to be put in. I very much doubt somebody could really excel across the board if they had to put such a huge amount of work into every subject, so the people aiming for the top are going to have to be good at some subjects naturally in order to have the time to slog it on the ones that go over their head. This ability to compensate to a certain degree by rote learning allows doctors and psychologists to not be denied by slight weaknesses in economics or foreign languages, and I think that's a good thing.

There are some areas where they should discourage people from just learning off by heart though, the prime example being the english essay. It's fricking unbelievable how much they play into the hands of people trying to destroy the creativity element of it with the choices they give.