Countdown to LC Results 2011

B_Fanatic

I agree with english. I got a C1 and I put about 5 times (Literally) more work into it than subjects like physics which I got an A2 in. However, I'm pretty sure I had a crappy short story. 20% gone already

LittleMissLost

amortentia wrote: »

I was in Carrick too what club were you in? A load of us got a bus up from Roscommon. Luckily there was no drama with us.

Class we were in Dunnes then Papillon And you? I met loads of people from Roscommon actually! Nah there were no fights or anything but people can just be so mean

I can not tell you how many times I got this from my "friends"

Them: "What points did ya get?"
Me: "535"
Them: "Ah for fuuuuuuck sake"

PseudoFamous

B_Fanatic wrote: »

I agree with english. I got a C1 and I put about 5 times (Literally) more work into it than subjects like physics which I got an A2 in.

This is literally the opposite to me.

BazDel

LittleMissLost wrote: »

Class we were in Dunnes then Papillon And you? I met loads of people from Roscommon actually! Nah there were no fights or anything but people can just be so mean

I can not tell you how many times I got this from my "friends"

Them: "What points did ya get?"
Me: "535"
Them: "Ah for fuuuuuuck sake"

I think the whole "People are so mean" thing is blown out of proportion. Very few people say something to be mean on purpose. Tbh I would not see the converstion you just posted as being mean. It's just the way some people react to stuff. I would take it as a compliment as they are admitting they didn't do as well as you

Patri

begsy wrote: »

English was definitley marked all over the place.. In my school a girl who always gets A'S AND B's got a D3 :0. To be hoest I was extremely gutted myself as I was expecting an A2 OR B1 and only got a C3 .. I will be rechecking this as well as home ec another subject i will be rechecking.

Ya I'm seeing the same trend! A lad in my year who made up his own quotes for Hamlet got an A1 he didn't get higher then a B2 all year, I've never gotten below an A2 and I got a B3, pretty shocked but I'm confident a re-check will clear this dilemma.

what.to.do

I know people hate to hear it, but English really, really isn't about learning off word for word.

I learned only a few quotes for Hamlet, threw in a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean (came out, realised what I did and nearly died), went around in a circle discussing my points... But I must have been doing something right.

Its not always about knowing the most and writing it down, but expressing what you know in an eloquent way.

Salty

what.to.do wrote: »

I know people hate to hear it, but English really, really isn't about learning off word for word.

I learned only a few quotes for Hamlet, threw in a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean (came out, realised what I did and nearly died), went around in a circle discussing my points... But I must have been doing something right.

Its not always about knowing the most and writing it down, but expressing what you know in an eloquent way.

Depends tbh. I'm gonna sound like the most conceited tool going but meh. I've never gotten anything other than A1s in English, ever. I went through 5 different teachers from 1st to 6th year, and they all awarded me A's. I absolutely love writing, and am going to continue on to third level and do a degree in English. I'm not the type to learn things word for word, especially not for English.

Yet a girl in my year who doesn't have any particular flare for English, or any particular interest got an A. She got a friend from outside school to write her a short story (she couldn't do it herself:rolleyes:) and she learned it word for word, plonked it down on the day; she now has an A1.

One of my best friends is the most talented writer I know, and she didn't get an A either.

LittleMissLost

BazDel wrote: »

I think the whole "People are so mean" thing is blown out of proportion. Very few people say something to be mean on purpose. Tbh I would not see the converstion you just posted as being mean. It's just the way some people react to stuff. I would take it as a compliment as they are admitting they didn't do as well as you

Nah, think of that conversation along with rolled eyes along with walking away with mutterings about grinds and cheating and luck.

(I was lucky but I didn't get any grinds and most certainly didn't cheat!)

stealinhorses

_meehan_ wrote: »

One of my best friends is the most talented writer I know, and she didn't get an A either.

This happens all the time, you just can't beat the system. My English teacher was telling us about a student he had a few years ago - the best he's ever taught. Wrote excellent essays, had a real passion for literature and operated flawlessly in the language. He got a B2 in his LC and was obviously disappointed. He went in to look at his paper with my teacher, who marked his script and had him at an A2. After the re-check, it came back as a B2 again.
The guy went on to study English in Trinity, but it was down to the complete subjectivity of the examiners what he got in the LC. What can you do? :rolleyes:

Salty

stealinhorses wrote: »

This happens all the time, you just can't beat the system. My English teacher was telling us about a student he had a few years ago - the best he's ever taught. Wrote excellent essays, had a real passion for literature and operated flawlessly in the language. He got a B2 in his LC and was obviously disappointed. He went in to look at his paper with my teacher, who marked his script and had him at an A2. After the re-check, it came back as a B2 again.
The guy went on to study English in Trinity, but it was down to the complete subjectivity of the examiners what he got in the LC. What can you do? :rolleyes:

It's a shame tbh that the system can do this. It just adds to the anxiety. When I saw my result in English, I spent the whole day seriously questioning my ability. But when I managed to get over the disappointment of not getting what I wanted, I just gave myself a mental slap. The LC is not a true test of what you're good at. It's how well you can work the system, and how much you can remember on the day.

I'm just glad I'm moving on from it now tbh.

RHunce

Going through school our English teacher never gave us A's, he refused to give them to us, getting a B was a great result in his class. The odd time somebody would write something absolutely spectacular in English whether it be an essay, a review or a comparative question, then they would get maybe an A2. Very rarely. We had great respect for our teacher and we worked really hard together. 12 of us came out with A's, 3 of which were A1's, myself included. The rest came out with B1's and B2's bar one person with a C. Nobody in our class ever memorised notes but instead we were thought to express yourself and know your quotes.

I honestly think English was marked quite fairly as I know everyone in my class busted their hump and got a grade which they deserved. I know some of you are fairly disappointed and with a good reason too, but perhaps ye may have become a little complacent with the exam if ye had been going through school scoring nothing but A's. I'm sure some of you will come up in the rechecks but the majority of you will not, unfortunately. They can't move everyone up a grade or two. The subject is one marked subjectively so every examiner may not like your style. It may be repetitive. Sometimes always thinking "outside the box" is too common, who knows. Best of luck in the rechecks guys but don't be too disappointed if your grade doesn't change.

LittleMissLost

RHunce wrote: »

Going through school our English teacher never gave us A's, he refused to give them to us, getting a B was a great result in his class. The odd time somebody would write something absolutely spectacular in English whether it be an essay, a review or a comparative question, then they would get maybe an A2. Very rarely. We had great respect for our teacher and we worked really hard together. 12 of us came out with A's, 3 of which were A1's, myself included. The rest came out with B1's and B2's bar one person with a C. Nobody in our class ever memorised notes but instead we were thought to express yourself and know your quotes.

I honestly think English was marked quite fairly as I know everyone in my class busted their hump and got a grade which they deserved. I know some of you are fairly disappointed and with a good reason too, but perhaps ye may have become a little complacent with the exam if ye had been going through school scoring nothing but A's. I'm sure some of you will come up in the rechecks but the majority of you will not, unfortunately. They can't move everyone up a grade or two. The subject is one marked subjectively so every examiner may not like your style. It may be repetitive. Sometimes always thinking "outside the box" is too common, who knows. Best of luck in the rechecks guys but don't be too disappointed if your grade doesn't change.

Not trying to be a bítch but I'm so sad over my B3

soccymonster

I know this may sound so simple but maybe you didn't answer the question?
And you may not have noticed. My teacher always told us to "ANSWER THE FCUKIN' QUESTION!!" because in nearly every single question, there'll always be a tail that'll catch people out.
People will write magnificent essays that are an A standard but will lose a crapload of marks by not answering one small little part.

Not necessarily saying anyone here did. But it's a very very common mistake.
Happy out with my B2

RHunce

LittleMissLost wrote: »

Not trying to be a bítch but I'm so sad over my B3

Damn and I read over that twice as well before I posted just in case!

Well played.

I wasn't trying to make anyone feel bad or anything but then again it's not all about spelling either. I have a friend who is dyslexic and got an A2.

It's about clearly expressing yourself (hence only 10% are mechanics). I'm sure you were well able to decipher what I meant.

IfUSeekAmy

TBH not one mark of the 400 on those english papers wasn't subject to subjectivity.

I'm fully confident that had my paper been distributed to 10different examiners, the grade from each one would be different.

LittleMissLost

RHunce wrote: »

Damn and I read over that twice as well before I posted just in case!

Well played.

I wasn't trying to make anyone feel bad or anything but then again it's not all about spelling either. I have a friend who is dyslexic and got an A2.

It's about clearly expressing yourself (hence only 10% are mechanics). I'm sure you were well able to decipher what I meant.

I'm sorry I just read my post again and it did come across really bitchy, I appologise. (Too late to edit) Well done on your A1, I'm sure you deserved it

12 A's in one class is flipping fantastic.

RHunce

LittleMissLost wrote: »

I'm sorry I just read my post again and it did come across really bitchy, I appologise. (Too late to edit) Well done on your A1, I'm sure you deserved it

12 A's in one class is flipping fantastic.

:rolleyes: Just kidding

It's fine

Thank you, I worked very hard as did everyone else in my class. Out of 24, 12 A's is great. Delighted for my teacher. Sorry you didn't get the grade you wanted.

LittleMissLost

RHunce wrote: »

:rolleyes: Just kidding

It's fine

Thank you, I worked very hard as did everyone else in my class. Out of 24, 12 A's is great. Delighted for my teacher. Sorry you didn't get the grade you wanted.

Oh the irony! :rolleyes: I totally retract everything I said, I DESERVED that B3 :pac:

That has to be a record. 50% A's in one class, s/he deserves an award!

stealinhorses

RHunce wrote: »

Sometimes always thinking "outside the box" is too common, who knows.

This is the impression I got after hearing what people wrote for their composing questions in the exam. Most of them came up with mad, "original" stories that involved a mysterious event or person, often coupled with humorous endings or surreal elements. Some of them also wrote more pages in Paper 1 or 2 than I did for the whole exam combined.
I went for the question about 24 hours in the life of a city. Such a simple and beautiful question. You could really work the language there, and if you had an appropriate arc to your piece then it was bound to be a winner. I ended up getting an A1, while most of my class scored Bs.

The truth is, if you actually have talent and some flair to how you express your ideas then you will get your grade. I'm not even a native English speaker, but I really like the language and I think the LC is a good way to test the students' abilities.

So much preparation goes into the English exam, especially Paper Two, that people sometimes forget to just go in there on their toes and be ready to write about what they know in the best way they can. People in my class were learning off reams of quotes, trying to memorise the exact lay-out of each essay as done by our teacher, worried to extremes about the slightest curveball that may be thrown at them.

In other countries, the native language exam is more like a literature test, often paired up with an oral presentation. You're not tested on your ability to write a lot as fast as possible, but more on your analytical skills and knowledge of grammar/etymology, etc.
Maybe that sort of system should be introduced in Ireland to make the exam fair?

jumpguy

I think the timing thing in English is a bit ridiculous. Putting paper one and paper two on seperate days was a step in the right direction, but I don't really see any good reason why both papers can't be 20 minutes longer. It means you really need to be having a good day sitting the exam, and not the nervey type that'd stall.

The Leaving Cert needs to make up it's mind whether it's measuring people's skill and knowledge or seeing how they perform under stress. At the moment, it's leaning towards the latter. I'm not sure if continuous assessment is the best answer either though.

partyatmygaff

stealinhorses wrote: »

This is the impression I got after hearing what people wrote for their composing questions in the exam. Most of them came up with mad, "original" stories that involved a mysterious event or person, often coupled with humorous endings or surreal elements. Some of them also wrote more pages in Paper 1 or 2 than I did for the whole exam combined. I went for the question about 24 hours in the life of a city. Such a simple and beautiful question. You could really work the language there, and if you had an appropriate arc to your piece then it was bound to be a winner. I ended up getting an A1, while most of my class scored Bs.

I got the exact same impression. People had these zany (Memorised of course...) short stories that just reeked of trying too hard to impress. There were also quite a few people who wrote over twelve pages for their composition alone. Not one of them (To my knowledge) scored an A1. I did. I, like you chose to do the "24 hours in the life of a city" question. I absolutely loved that question despite having never ever done anything like it before. No memorisation, no zany stories with OTT characters and settings and no falsity.

RHunce

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I got the exact same impression. People had these zany (Memorised of course...) short stories that just reeked of trying too hard to impress. There were also quite a few people who wrote over twelve pages for their composition alone. Not one of them (To my knowledge) scored an A1. I did. I, like you chose to do the "24 hours in the life of a city" question. I absolutely loved that question despite having never ever done anything like it before. No memorisation, no zany stories with OTT characters and settings and no falsity.

I did the same essay and scored an A1. I started and closed with the same paragraph. At the time I thought the whole essay in general was rubbish! I guess not.

Ragdoll742

jumpguy wrote: »

I think the timing thing in English is a bit ridiculous. Putting paper one and paper two on seperate days was a step in the right direction, but I don't really see any good reason why both papers can't be 20 minutes longer. It means you really need to be having a good day sitting the exam, and not the nervey type that'd stall.

The Leaving Cert needs to make up it's mind whether it's measuring people's skill and knowledge or seeing how they perform under stress. At the moment, it's leaning towards the latter. I'm not sure if continuous assessment is the best answer either though.

I've always said this. My best two subs have always been English and History (as was clealry reflected in my results) but I am certain this is due to the fact that I take exams well, because it's clear that there are people streets ahead of me working for a decent score in these two. Apart from those two, my scores weren't anything remarkable. History and English both share nasty timing problems. A two paper history exam wouldnt hurt imo.

what.to.do

It seems that a lot of people that did the "24 hours in a city" essay managed to get themselves an A1!

Myself included.

(its actually coming to a stage where I feel guilty and embarrassed to admit my English result, so many people scoff at it. I can't help that I like to read and think Shakespeare is a bamf!)

Salty

RHunce wrote: »

. I know some of you are fairly disappointed and with a good reason too, but perhaps ye may have become a little complacent with the exam if ye had been going through school scoring nothing but A's.

Complacency is a killer alright, but I know I definitely wasn't like that. I always had to work extra hard at English because my timing was awful. My teacher didn't hand out A's either, but I always went beyond the usual effort put in for class work and always scored high. I was almost paranoid about it tbh..it obviously didn't bode well for me in the end:(

stealinhorses wrote: »

The truth is, if you actually have talent and some flair to how you express your ideas then you will get your grade. I'm not even a native English speaker, but I really like the language and I think the LC is a good way to test the students' abilities.

I'm the exception then. It's the only thing I'm really truly good at. I play music, but I'm a far better writer than musician, and I'm not afraid to admit that. I put myself down all the time, might as well give myself credit for something.

jumpguy wrote: »

I think the timing thing in English is a bit ridiculous. Putting paper one and paper two on seperate days was a step in the right direction, but I don't really see any good reason why both papers can't be 20 minutes longer. It means you really need to be having a good day sitting the exam, and not the nervey type that'd stall.

I completely agree with this. I'm definitely the nervey type..I had a major freak out during Paper 2 which I wouldn't have had if time wasn't such an object. It would level the playing field a bit had we 20 minutes extra as you suggest. I was so paranoid about getting an A1 in English, because my teacher, my parents and my friends all expected it. In the end I got nowhere near it, and timing crucified me.



It seems the more I want something, the less likely I am to get it.

stealinhorses

_meehan_ wrote: »

I completely agree with this. I'm definitely the nervey type..I had a major freak out during Paper 2 which I wouldn't have had if time wasn't such an object.

Remember, your grade is what you produced during those three hours on the day. There's always the possibility that under stress you didn't hammer the question home enough in your essays, didn't stay on topic or used too subtle a reference when choosing your composing question.
I did that in my mock and instantly got deducted 20 out of 100 marks, which taught me to keep it simple in the real thing :pac:.

Have a look at your paper and you'll know what the main reason was for your disappointment - timing, stress, waffling, etc. You obviously know you're good enough to get an A, so I wouldn't worry too much about proving your worth to other people. You said you'll be doing English in college, so your journey with the language only begins, while it already ends (sadly) for some of us .

amortentia

LittleMissLost wrote: »

Class we were in Dunnes then Papillon And you? I met loads of people from Roscommon actually! Nah there were no fights or anything but people can just be so mean

I can not tell you how many times I got this from my "friends"

Them: "What points did ya get?"
Me: "535"
Them: "Ah for fuuuuuuck sake"

Dunnes then 360, got about 6 free shot tokens from the people on the street so I was happy :pac: Dunnes was jammed and I heard Papillon was too which I can't stand, so 360 was fine! Really? Haha we were everywhere, some of them could have been my friends, weird!

With me it was like this:
Them: "What points you get?"
Me: "520"
Them: ":eek: WHAT! Nooo you didn't! I don't believe it."

I'm like come on guys have a bit of faith :P

Sanity_Saviour

Correct me if I'm wrong but the main problem with the english results seems to be alarming inconsistencies in the people getting high grades and low grades. For a person to be getting A's since 1st year then looking at a C1 amongst a mass of A1s as in the case of someone in my year something is wrong, especially because there were 2 As in the top class coupled with 6 in the borderline pass class?
I might just be bitter because I got a b3 despite never getting below an a2 but it just goes beyond all reason.

partyatmygaff

Sanity_Saviour wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but the main problem with the english results seems to be alarming inconsistencies in the people getting high grades and low grades. For a person to be getting A's since 1st year then looking at a C1 amongst a mass of A1s as in the case of someone in my year something is wrong, especially because there were 2 As in the top class coupled with 6 in the borderline pass class?
I might just be bitter because I got a b3 despite never getting below an a2 but it just goes beyond all reason.

I can't speak for the LC Examiners but in school we had about four HL English classes (All mixed ability, our school didn't stream the classes)

Teacher 1: Gave out A1s for absolutely anything and everything. The lowest grade in the class was a C1 or something for the mock with about 12 or so getting A1s and the rest getting between A2-B3. From what I heard, a poor teacher.

Teacher 2: Slightly lenient with his marking but nowhere near as bad as teacher one. A good teacher however...

Teacher 3: An extremely tough marker. As far as i'm aware, no one ever got above a B1 in her class. A good enough teacher but tended to miss class *a lot*.

Teacher 4 (My teacher): Without being biased, an excellent teacher. Gave everyone exactly what they deserved for what they've written and no more/no less. According to her, we were a very good class. A good few of us got high As and Bs last Wednesday. That said, I'd estimate she awarded less than three A1s in our class of thirty over the past two years and they were only ever awarded for classwork, not exams. I got an A1 in the exam but the only time I got an A1 in her class was for a Robert Frost essay back in November. The only A1 I had ever gotten in English and interestingly enough our class' first A1 out of three.

Ragdoll742

Our teacher was excellent too..She marked hard enough, but gave people what they deserved in relation to her standards if you get me. I think a good few in our class pulled A's.