Those Nine A1 People...

Undeadfred

I'm talking about these people
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/top-marks-three-students-achieve-nine-a1-grades-1.537525

Its ridiculous. I dont understand how a person can do that. I bust my ass studying to get 535 and then you got people like them who do loads of things on the side and seem to get nine A1s no problem. There's a guy in my class who's like that. He's getting straight A1s in 8 higher subjects and it doesn't seem to scathe him at all. He's dealing with the Leaving Cert as if it was just another thing. It must be something to do with intelligence or memory. Its not to do with studying cause i study all the time, literally all the time, and i still dont get grades like that. Its like they're in a different league altogether, Like they're superhumans or something...

11Charlie11

How can the first one say the results were unexpected! Like come on she surely knew she did well!

I hate how these kind of people get so much publicity like fair play to them and all but I hate how there is such a stigma about the leaving cert and the points! It's really annoying like not everyone can get 600 points

kingcobra

I bet one of those guys put up a thread exactly like this last year :rolleyes:

HugsiePie

I've heard that if your one if those people who get the 7A1s+ with your face plastered across the news/newspaper you generally end up getting the cold shoulder in college, just warning y'all future 7A1s+ers

magicianz

HugsiePie wrote: »

I've heard that if your one if those people who get the 7A1s+ with your face plastered across the news/newspaper you generally end up getting the cold shoulder in college, just warning y'all future 7A1s+ers

Once you don't go rubbing it in peoples faces your fine. Besides, depending on where they go, 7A1's doesn't mean you're going to be top in the class in college.

0mega

Undeadfred wrote: »

I'm talking about these people
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/top-marks-three-students-achieve-nine-a1-grades-1.537525

Its ridiculous. I dont understand how a person can do that. I bust my ass studying to get 535 and then you got people like them who do loads of things on the side and seem to get nine A1s no problem. There's a guy in my class who's like that. He's getting straight A1s in 8 higher subjects and it doesn't seem to scathe him at all. He's dealing with the Leaving Cert as if it was just another thing. It must be something to do with intelligence or memory. Its not to do with studying cause i study all the time, literally all the time, and i still dont get grades like that. Its like they're in a different league altogether, Like they're superhumans or something...

HugsiePie wrote: »

I've heard that if your one if those people who get the 7A1s+ with your face plastered across the news/newspaper you generally end up getting the cold shoulder in college, just warning y'all future 7A1s+ers

Sorry, but both the bits in bold deserve a :rolleyes:.

You really think that someone who gets 9A1s 'get them no problem.' They probably put in a huge amount of work, you can't get them kind of results by just coasting by on intelligence - think of the sheer amount of things you need to learn and remember for a start. Anyone who gets 9A1s seriously deserves it.

Also @Hugsie, you're warning people not to achieve their full potential incase of what a few ignorant idiots in college think? Surely anyone who gets 9A1s wouldn't want to be friends with someone so stupid that they'd shun you because you did great in your exams...

bluejay14

I've never understood why people would even do 9 or 10 subjects in the first place. I can barely manage 7, why put yourself through the hassle of an extra 2 on top of that when your only counting the results from 6.

Undeadfred

0mega wrote: »

You really think that someone who gets 9A1s 'get them no problem.' They probably put in a huge amount of work, you can't get them kind of results by just coasting by on intelligence - think of the sheer amount of things you need to learn and remember for a start. Anyone who gets 9A1s seriously deserves it.

Clearly they put a huge amount of work into it, everyone who does the Leaving works very hard, but someone who gets a score of around 550 could equally put the same amount of work into it as someone who gets nine A1s. I'm working extremely hard to get my course (565 points); around the clock almost. After school i study until around 8 or 9 at night. I've cut down on doing things i used to do like sports and going out at the weekends to dedicate more time to study. I can't see anyone doing more work than i am now, yet people like Conor Durkin seem to be able to get nine A1s with the same amount of time spent studying, if not less. There's something about that i just cant understand. Its as if they have Hermione Granger's time turner...

HugsiePie

0mega wrote:

Also @Hugsie, you're warning people not to achieve their full potential incase of what a few ignorant idiots in college think? Surely anyone who gets 9A1s wouldn't want to be friends with someone so stupid that they'd shun you because you did great in your exams...

Ehh,I never mentioned anything about not achieving "your full potential" I was merely repeating something I read in an article about "going public" with your results. I remember when we sat our JC some girl In another part of the country got straight As in about 15 subjects and said she couldn't believe the JC was so easy (in a national paper), people the other end of the country were b itching about her for days. But go do whatever you want, it's your life.

Vito Corleone

Undeadfred wrote: »

Its as if they have Hermione Granger's time turner...

Slow Show

HugsiePie wrote: »

I've heard that if your one if those people who get the 7A1s+ with your face plastered across the news/newspaper you generally end up getting the cold shoulder in college, just warning y'all future 7A1s+ers

Dear lord whatever about anything else but this is beyond ridiculous. I'd like to think that people in college would be a little more mature than your average first year. Good grief.

HugsiePie

Slow Show wrote: »

Dear lord whatever about anything else but this is beyond ridiculous. I'd like to think that people in college would be a little more mature than your average first year. Good grief.

Read my above post. Please don't shoot the messenger. It's not some random concoction of mished mashed information I pulled out of thin air, it was in an article in a BROADSHEET newspaper.

randylonghorn

Undeadfred wrote: »

Clearly they put a huge amount of work into it, everyone who does the Leaving works very hard, but someone who gets a score of around 550 could equally put the same amount of work into it as someone who gets nine A1s.

In fact, someone who ends up with a lot lower points than 550 could have put in as much work.

Points are a means to an end, i.e. getting the college place you want; they have imho become too central to our thinking and indeed to our conscious and sub-conscious judgements of ourselves and others.

People who get really good results in LC usually do so with a combination of good memory, a certain type of intelligence and hard work. Parental support, decent teaching and a family and peer culture which values educational achievement are usually factors too, although any or all of these latter factors can be overridden by someone who is sufficiently motivated ... they do make it easier though.

If you can walk out in June and honestly say "I put in the work and I gave it my best shot", then hold your head up high whether you end up with 200 points or 625!

Austmcc

Ha, just came across this thread cause it was on the home page. I'm in my last year of college now, and from seeing people over the years leaving cert is not all its made out to be. yes by all means put the work in and do the best you can. But im telling you, 80% of all the people who did amazingly well (by that i mean all the people getting all A's and that crazy stuff) in secondary school cant hack it in college. its a different type of learning all together. of course there are exceptions, but college is less about the set syllabus and regurgitating facts, its more about adapting the knowledge to new situations.

and before i get someone giving out to me, im not saying the LC is easy, just highlighting different forms of learning.

and jesus, dont give out about getting 500+ points. thats really well done. at the end of the day stop comparing yourself to other people and do the best you can. and over studying is just as bad as not doing enough. you'll only wear yourself out for the actual exam

Scuid Mhór

I don't think it's fair to write them off as 'super humans' or anything of the sort! The smartest people I know are aiming for near six hundred and I hope they get it, because not only are they naturally intelligent, they also work much harder than anyone else I know.

Undeadfred

randylonghorn wrote: »

In fact, someone who ends up with a lot lower points than 550 could have put in as much work.

Points are a means to an end, i.e. getting the college place you want; they have imho become too central to our thinking and indeed to our conscious and sub-conscious judgements of ourselves and others.

People who get really good results in LC usually do so with a combination of good memory, a certain type of intelligence and hard work. Parental support, decent teaching and a family and peer culture which values educational achievement are usually factors too, although any or all of these latter factors can be overridden by someone who is sufficiently motivated ... they do make it easier though.

If you can walk out in June and honestly say "I put in the work and I gave it my best shot", then hold your head up high whether you end up with 200 points or 625!

Wisest words I've heard all night

randylonghorn

Undeadfred wrote: »

Wisest words I've heard all night

Ah now ... do I not even win the week?

Undeadfred

randylonghorn wrote: »

Ah now ... do I not even win the week?

You could possibly win the year

Eoin247

Undeadfred wrote: »

Clearly they put a huge amount of work into it, everyone who does the Leaving works very hard,..

Really? There are a ton of wasters in my school who just club and play games. They will end up in the early 400s( the ones who can cram well) , 300s and less and deservedly so.

Greenmachine

There is a different between working hard and working smart. I will admit that I could learn a thing or two from some of those kids.

yournerd

Their parents probably paid thousands for them to get the best education possible and paid the newspaper to get the status..

Undeadfred

I'd say, as Randylonghorn said, its down to a combination of things.

I'd say those type of people have incredibly efficient thought processes. They're probably able to comprehend things at a much faster rate than ordinary people. This probably cause a knock on effect in their studies, in which they're able to study and memorize things much faster than others would. This, in turn, gives them more free time to put into other subjects.
This is probably how they have time to do so many subjects.
The fact that they get A1s in all nine subjects is probably down to a combination of hard work, intelligence, personal motivation, efficient thinking and good memory

randylonghorn

yournerd wrote: »

Their parents probably paid thousands for them to get the best education possible ...

Actually, I've been keeping an eye on that myself over the years, and while some (like one of those in the link above) have attended places like Blackrock or fee-paying schools, most don't. They would have attended pretty decent schools, sure ... but pretty decent *local* non-fee-paying schools in general.

Most would have got some kind of grinds for something, I guess, especially with 9 subjects, but then the proportion of students getting grinds in at least one subject for LC is pretty high these days, as the grinds culture has taken over and become a normal part of the points rat-race.

yournerd wrote: »

... and paid the newspaper to get the status..

No, they didn't. The media chase this particular story every year, at least partly because LC results come out in mid-August which is the absolute doldrums for news stories; even the politicians are on holidays, rather than making outlandish statements about safe-sex websites for teens pushing them all into having threesomes against their will, etc.

Far from the media having to be paid, they almost harass students / families.

And lord, no offence, but that comment kinda reeks of the green-eyed monster!

Leaving Cert Student

Undeadfred wrote: »

You could possibly win the year

Typical brownnosing the mod lol... but seriously 9A1's is just showing off surely... seven would have been sufficient and saved the family money on out of school classes etc.?

Hopefully I won't get another infraction for my opinion

randylonghorn

Leaving Cert Student wrote: »

Typical brownnosing the mod lol...

This particular mod isn't interested in anyone's nose (or other bits) anywhere near his ass, thanks.

Now, are you ever going to give up on the "rebel without a cause" pose?!

Aspiring

It's not all about the 500's and 600's I've known people who studied hours upon hours to achieve maybe 350, but that's all they need and they are delighted with that. I'm lucky enough to be able to aim for the 500's but it depends on each person everybody's different. At the end of the day it's about getting what you need for your desired course. There's no point studying all day and night to get your 625 when you only need 400 for your course, the only thing you'll get out of it is your picture in the local paper and then you'll be forgotten.

Eoin247

Leaving Cert Student wrote: »

Typical brownnosing the mod lol... but seriously 9A1's is just showing off surely... seven would have been sufficient and saved the family money on out of school classes etc.?

Hopefully I won't get another infraction for my opinion

Why settle for less if you have the ability and motivation to get 9 A1s? If people always settled for 'sufficient' , we as a race would have never progressed to where we are today. I personally wouldn't do that many subjects, but I have respect for those that do and succeed.

Undeadfred

They probably feel they can do nine higher subjects without straining themselves too much. They probably feel that if they did less than that they wouldn't be doing themselves justice

thesimpsons

Aspiring wrote: »

It's not all about the 500's and 600's I've known people who studied hours upon hours to achieve maybe 350, but that's all they need and they are delighted with that. I'm lucky enough to be able to aim for the 500's but it depends on each person everybody's different. At the end of the day it's about getting what you need for your desired course. There's no point studying all day and night to get your 625 when you only need 400 for your course, the only thing you'll get out of it is your picture in the local paper and then you'll be forgotten.

don't agree with this in the least. known plenty of students who studied to their very best ability, came out with 550+ points and had over 150 points to spare for their chosen courses. whats the point of doing a half arsed job - brain is a muscle, use it or loose it !

Leaving Cert Student

Eoin247 wrote: »

Why settle for less if you have the ability and motivation to get 9 A1s? If people always settled for 'sufficient' , we as a race would have never progressed to where we are today. I personally wouldn't do that many subjects, but I have respect for those that do and succeed.

Yeah by all means achieve your full potential, but 625 with 6 subjects is the same as 625 with 9 subjects, you just impress more people and cost your family more money? I don't see the reasoning, unless you want a subject like applied maths because you will be doing it in college anyway? Taking ag science just for the other A1 seems pointless and costly on your parents, we are in a recession too?

Oh well it seems the mods have developed a little following here so best not express ones opinions.

Glee_GG

^ I don't see why it has to be costly though? Like the girl went to my school and if your timetable worked out perfectly we could actually take 8 subjects and lots of people teach themselves an extra subject so it's not necessaryly expensive