How much work is needed in 5th year?

0mega

I'm hoping to do medicine and currently halfway through 5th year, so far I've mainly just been staying on top of all my homework and exams.

Is this enough or do I need to start planning out a study timetable for what I've covered so far this year?

QueenOfLeon

I wouldn't push yourself too hard in 5th year. If you're on top of everything you've done in the courses so far I would say that's enough for this year.

My advice would be that if you finish a section of something completely (as in, able to do exam questions in it) make sure you have organised notes for it that will be easy to find and follow when you go back revising it next year. This goes especially for things like maths and accounting, as you're using methods to work out questions that you will probably forget how to do in a few months time. If you have good notes and short explanations beside the questions about what exactly you're doing it'll make it so much easier for you when you're looking through them again.

JonnyMcNamee

I'm in 6th year now and kind of regret doing nothing in 5th Year. I would advise doing and understanding your homework. Then as long as you study for class tests and exams (christmas, midterm, summer) and do well you should be grand!! Don't leave it all until 6th year... Believe me, its not worth the stress, especially if your aiming for high points!

finality

I think it really depends on the person. You know your own learning style best. I did the bare minimum in fifth year and I have no regrets, I know I would just need to learn it all again this year anyway. Everyone tells you to put a lot of work in in fifth year, but I know I would personally have burnt out by sixth year if I had. The most important thing is keeping good notes and if you're doing science subjects, write up the experiments concisely as you do them; that would be really helpful to have now, had I done it at the time... oh well!
Essays are very important too, make sure to put the effort into writing them well in the first place so it's just a matter of looking over them in sixth year.

Overall I'd say there's no need to kill yourself studying in fifth year, but make sure to do the work you'll need to refer back to well.

edit: one piece of advice re: chemistry, the experiments are written out very badly in the book. If you're writing them up yourself, make sure to ignore things like "in a clean, dry beaker" or "place 531.6cm^3 of ethanol...", you don't need those details or exact quantities, I wish I'd been told that before writing them up.

Coeurdepirate

In fifth year try to make out notes for your subjects, if you can. Don't kill yourself by any means though. One thing that I wish I did in fifth year was to write up and learn all of my biology and chemistry experiments and also my quotes for English. That'd stand to you next year!

paddykell

I'm in 6th year now, and all the advice I'll offer you is start working now! I was lucky and I got quite a lot of my notes done in subjects last year, so this year I can just take out my folder and read through them, and that makes it a lot easier. Unfortunately, I have some subjects where I didn't make notes and now I'm lumbered with Less Stress More Success falling out my ears, to try to make up for lost time.

Basically, the moral of the story is that you shouldn't be too bothered about knowing information off by heart this year, but it's certainly going to help you big time for next year if you have stuff done out in notes. Good luck!

Missmiddleton

I worked really hard in 5th year and found that it payed off. Make sure you do all your homework properly if you don't want to study regularly so you have something to refer back to next year. Keep old essays and corrected exam questions too, they come in handy when revising.

Chavways

I worked pretty hard in 5th year especially for Irish.Always did around twice as much Irish homework than was required.Its paying off now though because I have a huge reserve of good material to revise this year.

Just do all your homework well,go over the stuff you did that day and if possible do a bit extra.It will pay off next year when you are coming up to pre's and the LC.

zinny

hi im in fifth year also and unfortunatly i am really stuggling , i want to do medicine too, i for one am just trying to keep on top of the work. im doing chemistry biology home economics english irish maths french and lcvp all higher , im finding maths chemistry and my two language subjects really stressful .my school is really into getting good grades and stuff ,recently my chemistry teacher told my parents that i shouldnt set my heart on medicine , to be honest that kinda hurt ...so now iguess im asking how can i improve??? how can i get 570 points in my leaving cert ???? is it even possible for me riight now??? i need some guidence but all my teachers seem to do is to say 'work harder' i am but they dont see that??? so yeah i would love advice from ye guys !

gawdd

from my experience just do your homework very well! like sometimes it might only take you 5 mins to do your maths and other times it might take you 45 mins but always try get a good grasp of it that night . try listen carefully in class because thats where you learn most of it and then skim back over it at night. this might sound silly but when you do diagrams or draw up experiments , do it in colour it makes easier to learn. just do your best and this year is about learning what way of studying is best for you.

frozenfrozen

I'm doing absolute bare minimum at the moment and I'm finding that I have no time for anything else, and so I put off doing homework as I feel like I can't concentrate without enough of a break from work. Also happened to leave my bag in my locker on Friday, meaning Monday will be filled with excuses during school and Monday night will be filled with a ridiculous amount of homework. I'm still on boards, though. Something is wrong here.

Blue Magic

Did my Leaving in 2005.

5th year and the workload you put on yourself all depends on what you want out of your leaving. If you want to go to college and do a Medicine, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy or anything else with higher points in the high 500s, then 5th year has a vital roll in doing the ground work. You should be practising papers away on your own in topics you have covered, especially maths which cannot be learned as such - just have to do the questions often enough to cover all bases.

If you just want to get your leaving to get anything at all, then 5th year is grand. Just get your homework done!

looksee

zinny wrote: »

hi im in fifth year also and unfortunatly i am really stuggling , i want to do medicine too, i for one am just trying to keep on top of the work. im doing chemistry biology home economics english irish maths french and lcvp all higher , im finding maths chemistry and my two language subjects really stressful .my school is really into getting good grades and stuff ,recently my chemistry teacher told my parents that i shouldnt set my heart on medicine , to be honest that kinda hurt ...so now iguess im asking how can i improve??? how can i get 570 points in my leaving cert ???? is it even possible for me riight now??? i need some guidence but all my teachers seem to do is to say 'work harder' i am but they dont see that??? so yeah i would love advice from ye guys !

Maybe I am going to get shot down here, but I think you should consider your attitude to expressing yourself. I mean that in a positive way, not a criticism. You can type any way you wish in texts and in casual chat on the internet, but this is a semi-formal forum where you need to express yourself clearly.

Now have a look at your post, and compare it with those of other students on this forum. Your English is basically fine, but your chosen method of expressing it is messy. Not using capitals, apostrophes and commas could just be casual on an internet forum, but you do it every time, as though you never use them. I wonder why you choose to place your punctuation as you do? When you read you must have noticed that it is not the usual way of placing it. Why does it matter? Well, if someone is reading your work, unexpected placement of punctuation (for example) is like a splinter or a rough bit that distracts from the meaning of the sentence.

Your teachers' comments about 'working harder' might be something as simple as getting used to presenting yourself and your work in a precise and considered manner. If you hand in work that is carelessly presented then the person assessing it has a first impression of someone who is not making an effort. Its almost a matter of courtesy, certainly it has implications for accuracy and interpretation.

Its also possible that 'working harder' could mean being prepared to dig a bit deeper for meaning and understanding. For example, if you meet a word that you are not sure of would you look it up? Or would you only look it up if it were a required part of your homework? Are you just trying to learn enough to pass your exams, or are you trying to give yourself an education?

frozenfrozen

looksee wrote: »

Maybe I am going to get shot down here, but I think you should consider your attitude to expressing yourself. I mean that in a positive way, not a criticism. You can type any way you wish in texts and in casual chat on the internet, but this is a semi-formal forum where you need to express yourself clearly.

Now have a look at your post, and compare it with those of other students on this forum. Your English is basically fine, but your chosen method of expressing it is messy. Not using capitals, apostrophes and commas could just be casual on an internet forum, but you do it every time, as though you never use them. I wonder why you choose to place your punctuation as you do? When you read you must have noticed that it is not the usual way of placing it. Why does it matter? Well, if someone is reading your work, unexpected placement of punctuation (for example) is like a splinter or a rough bit that distracts from the meaning of the sentence.

Your teachers' comments about 'working harder' might be something as simple as getting used to presenting yourself and your work in a precise and considered manner. If you hand in work that is carelessly presented then the person assessing it has a first impression of someone who is not making an effort. Its almost a matter of courtesy, certainly it has implications for accuracy and interpretation.

Its also possible that 'working harder' could mean being prepared to dig a bit deeper for meaning and understanding. For example, if you meet a word that you are not sure of would you look it up? Or would you only look it up if it were a required part of your homework? Are you just trying to learn enough to pass your exams, or are you trying to give yourself an education?

The level of English in my class is actually shocking. There are several people who still haven't mastered proper usage of 'their', 'they're' and 'there.' In a 5th year honours class it's quite worrying.

I've got a decent command of the English language; but I managed to get 43% in my Christmas exam. You effectively don't need to be able to speak English in an exam, you just need to learn off an essay and regurgitate it.

I've completely lost all want to work in this class because I have the inability to learn off essays. If that's the only way to do well in an exam; I'm clearly not going to do well.

JonnyMcNamee

looksee wrote: »

Maybe I am going to get shot down here, but I think you should consider your attitude to expressing yourself. I mean that in a positive way, not a criticism. You can type any way you wish in texts and in casual chat on the internet, but this is a semi-formal forum where you need to express yourself clearly.

Now have a look at your post, and compare it with those of other students on this forum. Your English is basically fine, but your chosen method of expressing it is messy. Not using capitals, apostrophes and commas could just be casual on an internet forum, but you do it every time, as though you never use them. I wonder why you choose to place your punctuation as you do? When you read you must have noticed that it is not the usual way of placing it. Why does it matter? Well, if someone is reading your work, unexpected placement of punctuation (for example) is like a splinter or a rough bit that distracts from the meaning of the sentence.

Your teachers' comments about 'working harder' might be something as simple as getting used to presenting yourself and your work in a precise and considered manner. If you hand in work that is carelessly presented then the person assessing it has a first impression of someone who is not making an effort. Its almost a matter of courtesy, certainly it has implications for accuracy and interpretation.

Its also possible that 'working harder' could mean being prepared to dig a bit deeper for meaning and understanding. For example, if you meet a word that you are not sure of would you look it up? Or would you only look it up if it were a required part of your homework? Are you just trying to learn enough to pass your exams, or are you trying to give yourself an education?

I don't think for one second think that 'working harder' was the teacher's way of hinting at bad punctuation or an improvement needed in syntax. In exam years most teachers are only worried about the work your putting in and helping you achieve the grade you desire. If they say they want you to work harder they mean just that ; assuming they know by now that you want to do Medicine and they are aware of the astronomical points demands (which I think everyone must be) they are simply trying to advise you so you won't be disappointed come this time next year. If your not finding time to study or do any extra work create a little study plan, nothing hectic as, imho, homework is more important in 5th year so you can gain an understanding of topics covered. That's my two cents anyways

zinny

i just wanna say thanks for the helpful but also truthful advice and also; the two language subjects i am having problems with are french and irish my english is just fine thanks!
my earlier post was made very quickly as i had to dash away at that moment .im gonna take yer ideas and advice on board

finality

frozenfrozen wrote: »

The level of English in my class is actually shocking. There are several people who still haven't mastered proper usage of 'their', 'they're' and 'there.' In a 5th year honours class it's quite worrying.

I've got a decent command of the English language; but I managed to get 43% in my Christmas exam. You effectively don't need to be able to speak English in an exam, you just need to learn off an essay and regurgitate it.

I've completely lost all want to work in this class because I have the inability to learn off essays. If that's the only way to do well in an exam; I'm clearly not going to do well.

You can do well without learning off essays. I have never learnt off an essay in my life and I'm an A student in English.

For poetry, what I find works best is to make a list. I write down the poet's name, then the names of the five poems I'll use in my essay. I then write the three or four themes I'll be discussing. Then I write information about each of the poems which relates to these themes, and quotes to support my points. This condenses the information to about an A4 page to one and a half pages. It works really well for me, and it means I can easily make my essay fit any question.

For the comparative, literary genre, I did this:
SDSDSFNCM
social realism
dialogue
stage directions
symbolism
dance
flashback
narration
camera angles
music

All I have to remember in the exam is my "code", then I know exactly which aspects to discuss in my essay. I expanded this to over 1200 words in my pre. You also have to remember to include key moments, but I find that I just remember them naturally, because the texts are pretty memorable.

Rote learning really is not the only way, I've always hated it and it's not worth giving up on a subject because people think that's the only way to do well in it.

edit: and remember that roughly two fifths of the marks for an essay are for effective use of language, spelling and grammar.