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Love of maths only increased by the girl in the examiner
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Interesting analogy and very well writtenirishbucsfan wrote: »Two people are told to build a wall, and are given all the tools and materials. Neither have any experience in construction.
The first is one of the "rote learners." He doesn't possess any amazing natural logic or abilities, so he goes home for the night and looks everything up, and learns the techniques off by heart. He comes back the next day and builds the wall.
The second is Eoin up there, he's a bright lad and has a natural affinity for problem solving and the like. He spends an hour looking at the materials and equipment and works out the correct way to build the wall on his own. His abilities help him to build the wall to a perfectly similar way to the first builder.
Both of them built the wall (granted the first guy was a day late, but we'll ignore that). So in the end it all comes out in the wash. I think what Eoin is really trying to say is that the people who both possess the natural abilities and the work ethic deserve to be regarded in a higher light than those who just possess the work ethic. And thats fair enough.
But for me personally, as long as the wall was built I wouldn't care how it was built. Both have their own ways of doing things and both build equally good walls.0 -
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square_igloo wrote: »Interesting analogy and very well written
But for me personally, as long as the wall was built I wouldn't care how it was built. Both have their own ways of doing things and both build equally good walls.
What happens when one day that first guy has no chance to go home and learn? He has no natural ability to fall back on. Now in the workforce that will be found out, he wont be as employable as the first guy (disregarding character issues etc.) but there is no way to distinguish the two types of people in the Leaving.
I have no problem with this, I personally don't mind the "rote learners" succeeding, because Im not looking for super points or anything, but maybe these "rote learners" will go on and find themselves unable to handle their courses at Uni because they've relied on their memory their entire academic lives? They've now deprived someone of a place in that course who could possibly have been more suitable.0 -
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straight_As wrote: »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:
The entire Chemistry course is memorizing.... I might be biased because I hated it with a passion but yes, for me it was just learning off (which I didn't do and ended up with a H C3). And it's not because I can't comprehend things or work out problems either, I got B3s in HL Maths and Applied Maths.
Whereas for me, where everyone goes on about learning off things for Arts subjects... I did very little learning off for mine. I didn't learn off any essays for English, I just got to know the poems/texts and wrote my own opinions on them. Got an A1 too :P
And personally I find college to be more based on rote learning and the ability to write essays well than half of my LC was.... (Psychology degree)
Learning by rote requires more work than a natural ability at Maths (or say for example, music), no? The LC is a little unfair... Natural ability will always win out over rote learning IMO (You really can't memorize your way to 600 points if you're not that bright to begin with). But that's the way it is I guess. I really think you should stop demeaning your fellow students (OL = stupid for example), and just concentrate on yourselves though.
(i didn't read all the pages btw.... that chemistry comment just caught my eye
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I love maths and think it's a fascinating subject. But I'm not naturally a mathsy person. I was always more suited to humanities and languages despite preferring maths and science.
I was an odd little fish - my best subjects (Irish, English, French) were my least favourite, while my favourite subjects (Maths and Physics) were my weaker ones. Go figure.
If you are more humanities/language inclined, rote learning is really the most effective way of studying and succeeding (that's just my experience of it anyway). It doesn't apply as much for HL maths but that doesn't mean it's wrong.0 -
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aren't you the sweetest? 
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