Selling Leaving Cert. notes

JellyBeans123

Hello all!:)

I would like your opinion on something! Do you think it is right for someone who has achieved all A grades in their Leaving Cert. exams to sell their notes online?

Personally, I think it is wrong. I think it is wrong that people can effectively buy their Leaving Cert. grades by reproducing essays written by somebody else. I worked hard all throughout my schooling days and did my Leaving Cert. last year and got grades that reflected the thousands of hours of study I did. If I saw someone in my class who didn't do a tap but got elevated grades because they bought someone's English essays off the internet and learnt them off, I would feel annoyance, it's only natural.

Buying notes/essays off the internet and learning them off for exams will not benefit the student. They are an inaccurate reflection of the student's ability.

So, opinions?:)

spurious

One of these days (hopefully very soon) the SEC will insert small phrases in every question that will kill these regurgitated essays stone dead. I can't wait.

In the meantime, if there is someone stupid enough to think using another person's notes (be they written by a teacher or student) is better than making their own, well they deserve to be fleeced of a few euro, if it teaches them something.

Life will have many other fleecing opportunities awaiting people like that.

Canard

The only real difference I see is that in geography, for example, the book has pointless filler in some places and A1 standard notes probably chop all that out and focus on the exam. I dont see anything wrong with it, I'm sure we could all make A1 notes with the amount of revision books out there and teachers try their best to give good notes.

I do think its wrong to sell them though. Like yeah you put in the work to make them but they get sold for hundreds, a total rip off and exploitation of people who want to do well in my opinion.

spurious: if you mean those tricky marking schemes with required words/phrases, I think thats a terrible idea. It affects anyone who does the exam honestly or otherwise because theres no way to know that they're looking for those phrases.

Sunny!!

I don't see the point. Its a lot more productive and cheaper to just use your book and revision book and teachers notes and make out your own you'll remember more instead of learning stuff you might half understand. I wouldn't bother either for English, the questions are changing to prevent people doing this there are a lot less personal response questions these days and more the specifics.

JellyBeans123

There are notes(English essays etc.) available on the internet and it gets my blood boiling because I think it is so wrong that someone can just pay money, learn the A1 essays off and get a completely elevated score in the exam when they haven't put hard work into getting it right themselves.

spurious

Patchy~ wrote: »

spurious: if you mean those tricky marking schemes with required words/phrases, I think thats a terrible idea. It affects anyone who does the exam honestly or otherwise because theres no way to know that they're looking for those phrases.

No I don't mean them. I mean instead of something like 'Hitler's foreign policy and how it led to the war', they might ask 'Hitler's foreign policy with specific reference to x and how it led to the war'.

Learned off answers - stuck.
People who have studied and understood the course - result.

I like Cookies

The OP reminds me of someone I know. I got 600 points in my Leaving Cert and I learned off essays for English and Irish. I see nothing wrong with this. I always had an exceptional grasp on both languages but to achieve an A1, this simply is inadequate. You need to be prepared, and I was. I didn't write the essays word for word in the exam but I made sure I answered the question. The way I had written my essays meant that I had to change very little.

My course required exceptionally high points and I will challenge anyone who says you shouldn't learn off anything. The Leaving Certificate is a sham, a set of exams do not test your knowledge but your memory. To succeed, you must exploit the system. I did and I wouldn't have gotten my course if I didn't use my notes.

I am now selling my English notes and I have no qualms with doing that. I spent my time and a lot of effort writing those notes. A member of my family resents me selling my notes but I think that may be jealousy more than anything else. At the end of the day, it is the buyer who has to learn those notes. I am helping students by giving my notes to them, and in the process I am earning money which will help me get through college. I only charge a fraction of the price that other students would charge so I take issue with anyone who says that I'm exploiting student who are desperate for high grades. I know what it's like to be in the Leaving Cert year and the pressure students feel. I am selling my notes to help other students and to see myself through college. My conscience is clear.

randylonghorn

I like Cookies wrote: »

My course required exceptionally high points and I will challenge anyone who says you shouldn't learn off anything.

I wouldn't say you shouldn't learn off anything, certainly, but I don't see the need or indeed the point of learning off essays or reams of notes, especially other peoples.

Definitions in science subjects and economics, maths formulae, quotes in English, etc. .... by all means memorise them, it's pretty much a basic necessity.

I have a pretty logical mind, and I like to understand things, and once I understand them I tend to remember them. On the other hand, I'm absolutely hopeless at rote memorising ... much as I love Shakespeare, even getting a reasonable few quotes into my head for LC involved declaiming them aloud again and again, much to my mother's amusement and the infinite astonishment of the dogs and cats, who literally lined up to watch the show, heads on one side and "Wtf is he at now?!!" expressions on their faces! >.<

So did I fail my LC? No, actually, despite working reasonably hard but not putting myself under inordinate pressure as I wasn't aiming for medicine / pharmacy / etc.; despite learning SFA off by heart, partly on principle but also partly because it just isn't my learning style; despite relying heavily on understanding the material and thinking on my feet in the exam itself, I got more than enough points for medicine ... if I had had any interest in it as a course / career.

There are more effective ways to skin a cat than buying the notes of someone who skinned one effectively last year and committing them to memory!

LoonyLovegood

It really does depend on subjects though. Learning off essays is a waste of time, I 100% agree, but for notes that you've spent ages making out, that are essentially useless after one year? It's like selling a second hand revisewise, or other study guide, in my opinion.

With the Hamlet notes I'm making out, I'd sell them if it was on next year. No essays, but detailed notes on characters, quotes, etc.

ShatterResistant

I can't see how the seller should feel in any way guilty about selling the notes or how it isn't right. The seller is happy and the buyer is happy. I want to do medicine in university but i'm bad at english, so i have every intention of learning off all my essays as I did for the JC. What the theme behind Hamlets story is etc. will not be relevant in later life but my ability to retain this information and produce it on the day is relevant as it shows the student has the ability to learn things. As for problem solving thats for subjects like maths, which you cant rote learn obviously. So i'm not against the whole rote learning methos to be honest, after all no average fool can do it.

JellyBeans123

I think some of you have misunderstood. I have no qualms about learning off essays. What I do not stand for is somebody selling A1 essays to other people so they can learn them off and achieve a similar grade. It is unfair and a very, very inaccurate reflection on their true grasp at English.