Mature student heading back to education after 10 years!!

jen_jen

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so bear with me. It's been about 10 years since I graduated high school in Barbados (at 16 years old) and I was just accepted into St. John's College in Cork doing their Applied Science course. The ultimate goal is to go through there higher links scheme to get into either UCC or CIT for a BSc., however I need to just get through this first year at St. John's.

My question is I'm trying to get an idea of some materials to review before I begin the course. I've got about 5 months before I start and have my husband's old Physics books and I'll probably look up exam papers for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Math, but I need an actual book to study from. Something that encompasses all of what would have needed to have been learned for the leaving cert. ESPECIALLY Biology as I did not take that in high school. Any suggestions of something I can either find in Waterstones, Ebay, anywhere? Anything else you all might think I could avail from?

Any advice would be appreciated... don't know why I'm so nervous, but I am... :rolleyes:

Sid_Justice

http://www.schoolbooks.ie/school-books/1409-0-Biology-School-Books.php

jen_jen

And I've been googling for a little over an hour and hadn't stumbled onto that page *facepalm* thanks dude, I really appreciate that

Larianne

Youtube is a brilliant resource for little videos on things that might have you confused. I used it a lot when I started back studying.

Best of luck!

Cavehill Red

jen_jen wrote: »

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so bear with me. It's been about 10 years since I graduated high school in Barbados (at 16 years old) and I was just accepted into St. John's College in Cork doing their Applied Science course. The ultimate goal is to go through there higher links scheme to get into either UCC or CIT for a BSc., however I need to just get through this first year at St. John's.


Any advice would be appreciated... don't know why I'm so nervous, but I am... :rolleyes:

Can't help you with the booklist, though others have covered that. I might suggest speaking to the tutors on your course to see what they suggest you should look at.
Just wanted to say best of luck with the course!

KittyMcM

jen_jen wrote: »

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so bear with me. It's been about 10 years since I graduated high school in Barbados (at 16 years old) and I was just accepted into St. John's College in Cork doing their Applied Science course. The ultimate goal is to go through there higher links scheme to get into either UCC or CIT for a BSc., however I need to just get through this first year at St. John's.

My question is I'm trying to get an idea of some materials to review before I begin the course. I've got about 5 months before I start and have my husband's old Physics books and I'll probably look up exam papers for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Math, but I need an actual book to study from. Something that encompasses all of what would have needed to have been learned for the leaving cert. ESPECIALLY Biology as I did not take that in high school. Any suggestions of something I can either find in Waterstones, Ebay, anywhere? Anything else you all might think I could avail from?

Any advice would be appreciated... don't know why I'm so nervous, but I am... :rolleyes:

Hi, Can I ask is that course you applied for the Fetac Leval 5? I was thinking of applying for it but didn't realise they had done interviews already? I was nervous to apply because I have no experience with animals, have worked in Retail all mylife and heard it's very difficult to get in to. Did you have any issues with it?

jen_jen

The course I applied for is a Level 5 in Applied Science - Lab techinques:

http://www.stjohnscollege.ie/index.php?pageID=44&PHPSESSID=0c45fa94b66518e6718a98490f003997

The one I think you're referring to is the Applied Science Animal Care, also a level 5:

http://www.stjohnscollege.ie/index.php?pageID=42

I was pretty nervous as well about applying, I'm still quite nervous about actually doing the course! I didn't take biology in high school (it was a choice of either IT or Biology and at the time IT was my best subject... if only I had known...), but despite knowing this, and me not being in a school setting since I graduated in 2001, they still took me on. Being a mature students has it's benefits over someone having just finished their leaving cert., they know that we'll more than likely be quite commited as compared to an 18 year old and we'd take things more seriously.

I think you still have time to apply. The application page is still open on their home page (you have to apply online, no way around it), and this was only just the first round of interviews. There is another round at the end of May, then again at the end of August. They also asked me to list two other subjects that I was interested in should all the places be taken up for the Applied Science course, so have a good look at what's there, you never know!

I'm doing this because I stopped working when I became pregnant with my son (I was a scuba instructor for a while and can't dive while preggo). Once he was old enough I was looking for jobs but it seemed no one wanted to hire someone out of work for so long and the recession blah blah blah. So I'm hoping that by doing this I'll get some kind of work after completing the course.

Good luck!

KittyMcM

jen_jen wrote: »

The course I applied for is a Level 5 in Applied Science - Lab techinques:

http://www.stjohnscollege.ie/index.php?pageID=44&PHPSESSID=0c45fa94b66518e6718a98490f003997

The one I think you're referring to is the Applied Science Animal Care, also a level 5:

http://www.stjohnscollege.ie/index.php?pageID=42

I was pretty nervous as well about applying, I'm still quite nervous about actually doing the course! I didn't take biology in high school (it was a choice of either IT or Biology and at the time IT was my best subject... if only I had known...), but despite knowing this, and me not being in a school setting since I graduated in 2001, they still took me on. Being a mature students has it's benefits over someone having just finished their leaving cert., they know that we'll more than likely be quite commited as compared to an 18 year old and we'd take things more seriously.

I think you still have time to apply. The application page is still open on their home page (you have to apply online, no way around it), and this was only just the first round of interviews. There is another round at the end of May, then again at the end of August. They also asked me to list two other subjects that I was interested in should all the places be taken up for the Applied Science course, so have a good look at what's there, you never know!

I'm doing this because I stopped working when I became pregnant with my son (I was a scuba instructor for a while and can't dive while preggo). Once he was old enough I was looking for jobs but it seemed no one wanted to hire someone out of work for so long and the recession blah blah blah. So I'm hoping that by doing this I'll get some kind of work after completing the course.

Good luck!

Phew, thanks for clarifying! I have a friend in a similar situation as yours, it's not easy going bak into college/workforce after having a child so best of luck with it! The animal course is very hard to get in to so we will see:). I'm sure there will be a lot more mature students fighting to get into courses for this september so well done on getting a spot and don't be nervous!

Redr

The best way to get information is to have a look at the modules you'll be doing. If you are doing Applied Science you'll be doing Biology, Chemistry etc. Google them (something like FETAC module level 5 biology) and the module contains the programme for the year. However that could be off-putting.

If you want to refresh your memory with some Leaving Cert text books it's a good idea. However - don't worry about it!!!