entrance assessment for mature applicant

dubdad

hi all.
i have been called for an entrance assessment exam for it blanchardstown in april. just wondering if anyone sat this last year ?? any pointers would be welcome.
its only an hour long and seems to be a test on comprehension, grammar, maths and a short essay on a mystery subject !!!
grammar !!***??? by the beard of dickens himself, i thought grammar was something that went out with the invention of the mobile phone.

anyway if anyone knows what this assessment is like i would love to hear from you, in particular the maths part, as there is no past papers available to check out, i think the college wants to keep this under wraps.
thanks in advance

KonFusion

Taken from this http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64938318 thread:

Hi all, i did this exam in april in itb - you neednt worry about it , its really easy, just a story with some simple questions, a picture with a question, and literally 2 or 3 maths questions - adding and multiplication..there is also a short section on why you want to do the course etc - which i suppose is basically what you would have wrote on your personal statement.

Its not hard if English is your first language and you don't need to study... even if your a non-national and only have some English I don't think it would be that much of a struggle.

Hope that helps.

dubdad

thanks konfusion
yeah, it all helps

DeXtER1978

I've my writtenentrance assessment this coming Tuesday :eek:

Any advice, tips?? Any way to prepare for this or just think of what to say for the last part of the test i.e. why you want to do this course etc??

How many words is it again - 250 or 1000???

Thanks
D.

DeXtER1978

Well made a total balls of the written assessment - totally gutted....

Very very annoyed!!! Ah well lets hope my LC points will be enough to get in

:mad:

Art monster

Hi, I was Just searching and i came to this thread and I actually got an email From ITB to go for an assessment exam in two weeks.
Im hoping if anyone is about this thread could give me a bit of feed back if they completed an assessment exam as a mature student before? as in was it hard? what was on it? etc.. I'm very nervous about it, as it stated in the email that the exam will make up parts of maths and grammar my very down falls! and some comprehension part. I cant study for it apparently but i can recap my spelling and maths though :P
So any info on this topic from anyone would be v.helpful!

Thanks

bri007

I applied for a course in Blanch IT last minute through the CAO. I also got this email for the assessment. Just wondering, I never sent in an application directly to the college along with my CAO application, was I suppose to, like a personal statement to Blanch IT?

Art monster

bri007 wrote: »

I applied for a course in Blanch IT last minute through the CAO. I also got this email for the assessment. Just wondering, I never sent in an application directly to the college along with my CAO application, was I suppose to, like a personal statement to Blanch IT?

Hey, No i thought also that i would of had to send directly to ITB too but i looked up on the college site and they stated that you are not suppose to send any documentation to the college it all goes to cao after you complete the CAO application online. hope this helps.
sorry only getting back to you now

bri007

Art monster wrote: »

Hey, No i thought also that i would of had to send directly to ITB too but i looked up on the college site and they stated that you are not suppose to send any documentation to the college it all goes to cao after you complete the CAO application online. hope this helps.
sorry only getting back to you now

Thanks a mill for getting back to me. Thats great, I was getting worried because some colleges request a personal statement directly yo the college as well!

Now just have to prepare for the assessment!!:(

Art monster

bri007 wrote: »

Thanks a mill for getting back to me. Thats great, I was getting worried because some colleges request a personal statement directly yo the college as well!

Now just have to prepare for the assessment!!:(

Yeah i know i'm quite nervous about it. I've been going over my maths and grammar and will be for the next two weeks eek! I hope its goes ok.
Cause i seen on some other thread that someone was asking about the ITB assessment exam and then commented saying that they did quite bad on it
But someone was telling me last night that someone they knew did bad on the exam before but still got offered a place so maybe it wont be too bad, fingers crossed!

KonFusion

From what I've heard, if you can tot up your shopping bill for the week, and write a short story without a tonne of spelling mistakes, then you're golden!

I wouldn't worry too much about it folks.

Please, I would ask that you please please come back after you do the assessment and explain what is involved, so others in future can benefit from this thread by knowing what to expect

Art monster

KonFusion wrote: »

From what I've heard, if you can tot up your shopping bill for the week, and write a short story without a tonne of spelling mistakes, then you're golden!

I wouldn't worry too much about it folks.

Please, I would ask that you please please come back after you do the assessment and explain what is involved, so others in future can benefit from this thread by knowing what to expect

Ok well i hope so! Yep i will have no problem doing that. Id be more than happy to come back and share of my''great'' experience for others to get a bit clarity from it for the future :P

bri007

ye fingers crossed its not too bad!!What course you looking at doing Art Monster

Art monster

Well I applied as my first choice Early childhood care and Edco- O.degree.
What about you bri007?

bri007

Art monster wrote: »

Well I applied as my first choice Early childhood care and Edco- O.degree.
What about you bri007?

I applied for Applied Social Studies in Social Care.

bri007

I applied to DCU and Trinity as well, hope to get one of them!!

Art monster

bri007 wrote: »

I applied for Applied Social Studies in Social Care.

Ah cool. I wanted to do social care years ago but early childhood edco appealed to me more. Did you apply for the O.Degree or the H.degree?

bri007

Art monster wrote: »

Ah cool. I wanted to do social care years ago but early childhood edco appealed to me more. Did you apply for the O.Degree or the H.degree?

Yes Always had an interest in social care and in all type of caring areas. I heard good things about the early childhood course, its good qualification to get, very interesting area to get into. the subjects and modules on the course look good.

I applied for both, ordinary and Higher Degree. Hopefully get one :rolleyes:

amunag

Well I had an assessment yesterday into entry for an IT course in verbal,maths and logic.I must say it was very tough!There is a fixed time limit for each question.so it takes about 45- 1 hour for the test to be done!

Art monster

bri007 wrote: »

Yes Always had an interest in social care and in all type of caring areas. I heard good things about the early childhood course, its good qualification to get, very interesting area to get into. the subjects and modules on the course look good.

I applied for both, ordinary and Higher Degree. Hopefully get one :rolleyes:

Ah cool. Yeah i know im hoping to go travelling after i get it anyway.
Yeah thats why i made it my 1st choice and DIT my second. Ah cool well i hope you get the offer you really want anyway

Art monster

amunag wrote: »

Well I had an assessment yesterday into entry for an IT course in verbal,maths and logic.I must say it was very tough!There is a fixed time limit for each question.so it takes about 45- 1 hour for the test to be done!

@amunag Oh was it for ITB? oww sounds hard id say you did well its a pity you cant really prepare for the assessment and you dont get head's up to what will be on it either

amunag

Thanks Art Monster,No it was not for ITB but something similar.Lets hope for the best!

Art monster

Indeed we should

Art monster

KonFusion wrote: »

From what I've heard, if you can tot up your shopping bill for the week, and write a short story without a tonne of spelling mistakes, then you're golden!

I wouldn't worry too much about it folks.

Please, I would ask that you please please come back after you do the assessment and explain what is involved, so others in future can benefit from this thread by knowing what to expect

Hi again, I had my entry exam assessment today. Well it was an ok paper. The first page was to fill in your details, cao number etc. the second page which i had an idea was ''free writing'' basically an essay question asking you to write about your past education, why you want to go on to 3rd level education and have you prepared much for your return to 3rd level. it was 250 words. I also noticed that each section on the exam had marks too

I honestly dont know how well i did on that part but sure whatever.
The next part was reading comprehension which was paragraphs you had to read then answer questions about it. The questions part was it asked for options from some of the paragraphs and you had circle the right one which was either A,B,C,or D. I dont know how well i did on that section as i couldn't really under stand some of it and as i was pushed for time and trying to get through each section as fast as i could.

The section part which i like was like a story with blank spaces in it and you had to pick what you thought was the appropriate word that fitted in from a selection of words in a box at the bottom of the page. I think i did ok on that part but however i didnt know what two of the words ments. ha im a disaster!

Then there was like 5 or 6 math questions after that which i didnt do well at all because they were fractions and percentage which i never practiced and have never been good at. Then There was a rough work page and another extra lined page for your ''free writing'' section. I found the hour flew and I finished with 10 minutes remaining so i then added a few extra lines for my ''free writing'' section. Then I took a breathe and that was it.

Now saying that the assessment exam might be changed next year again or it might be the same. But hope this will help anyone who will be doing one like this in the future

bri007

Art monster wrote: »

Hi again, I had my entry exam assessment today. Well it was an ok paper. The first page was to fill in your details, cao number etc. the second page which i had an idea was ''free writing'' basically an essay question asking you to write about your past education, why you want to go on to 3rd level education and have you prepared much for your return to 3rd level. it was 250 words. I also noticed that each section on the exam had marks too

I honestly dont know how well i did on that part but sure whatever.
The next part was reading comprehension which was paragraphs you had to read then answer questions about it. The questions part was it asked for options from some of the paragraphs and you had circle the right one which was either A,B,C,or D. I dont know how well i did on that section as i couldn't really under stand some of it and as i was pushed for time and trying to get through each section as fast as i could.

The section part which i like was like a story with blank spaces in it and you had to pick what you thought was the appropriate word that fitted in from a selection of words in a box at the bottom of the page. I think i did ok on that part but however i didnt know what two of the words ments. ha im a disaster!

Then there was like 5 or 6 math questions after that which i didnt do well at all because they were fractions and percentage which i never practiced and have never been good at. Then There was a rough work page and another extra lined page for your ''free writing'' section. I found the hour flew and I finished with 10 minutes remaining so i then added a few extra lines for my ''free writing'' section. Then I took a breathe and that was it.

Now saying that the assessment exam might be changed next year again or it might be the same. But hope this will help anyone who will be doing one like this in the future

Hi art monster,

I was due to sit the exam as well,but I had to cancel,I got stuck over in the UK . Couldn't get a flight home!

They rescheduled me in for the end of may.

I'd say your glad to get it over with? Sounds like you did very well on the written part, don't worry about the maths side of it, every1 will forget how to do them! Are you allowed use a calculator during the exam?

They will probably change the layout of the exam by the Time I do it in may.

thanks for putting up all the info about it, its very helpfull.

Trancechick

I did the mature student assessment last year. This years one sounds pretty similar to last years. As far as I am aware they are just looking to see what level your maths, English and comprehension are at, as long as you can spell and complete some simple addition you'll be fine. I found the essay difficult and that was more about my lack of confidence in my writing skills. Anyway, I got my place at ITB and I'm 20 lecture days away from finishing Year 1. I can definitely recommend ITB as a mature student. All that's left for you to do now is get your course preferences in order wait for the Round 0 offers in early July.

Art monster

bri007 wrote: »

Hi art monster,

I was due to sit the exam as well,but I had to cancel,I got stuck over in the UK . Couldn't get a flight home!

They rescheduled me in for the end of may.

I'd say your glad to get it over with? Sounds like you did very well on the written part, don't worry about the maths side of it, every1 will forget how to do them! Are you allowed use a calculator during the exam?

They will probably change the layout of the exam by the Time I do it in may.

thanks for putting up all the info about it, its very helpfull.

@bri007 Ah no that sucks, well least its rescheduled for you now. Yeah i'm glad its one worry over for now! nope no calculator pity, but there is rough work pages at the back to work out the maths Q's. Well they might not if there is another exam in may but then again i dont know. It would be great for you if they didnt anyway Im glad my ramblings helped anyway.

bri007

Thanks for all the info yes hopefully its same type of exam I will get, eh the maths do (no more googling answers on the day, or using phone apps to give %,fractions etc,il have to re learn it the old fashioned way!)

Fingers crossed you get your course

Bri.

Art monster wrote: »

@bri007 Ah no that sucks, well least its rescheduled for you now. Yeah i'm glad its one worry over for now! nope no calculator pity, but there is rough work pages at the back to work out the maths Q's. Well they might not if there is another exam in may but then again i dont know. It would be great for you if they didnt anyway Im glad my ramblings helped anyway.

bonbondar

Well done all. Bri Im in frst year of applied social studies. Its fantastic but a little shock to the system if youve been out of education like I was. Lot of work but great learning in it.
Hope you all enjoy your time in ITB.

bonbondar

HI Bri just wondering did you get into ITB on your social care course? I start second year this year and loved the first year I must say. Best of luck to all starting.