Having Completed Your Leaving Cert What Advice Would You Give To Those Who Haven't?

Isitthough?

Start studying early I dont care if your mock result was good with no study done, study early the earlier the better you dont have to kill yourself just an hour a night to begin with but do it over a long period rather than cramming a month before. Another one Id give is do study weekends and During holidays, For me sometimes I Would have those days where I didnt study at all cause I wasnt in the mood and there fine to have perfectly normal as long as you get back into things the next day. with holidays they're like golden dust lots of hours to do what you want, maybe wake up 9am do a few hour study and enjoy the rest of the day off even, Im not saying you have to study alot during holidays cause everyone needs a break but please do something

Yeah if your organized that's great I really did try to be organised but it dwindled and now my room is just a mess with books flung and sheets everywhere but it does help to be somewhat organised especially with like sheets teachers give out makes sure theyre not lose alot of mine were and Id spend a good few minutes looking for certain sheets so just like keep them in a folder.
Next is exampapers..There very important cause thats what your exam is going to look like. I felt it was especially important for maths, thats all I literally did for maths I didnt use the book although I prob should have but for maths the only way to study is practice practice and Oh yeah practice! so do exam questions my grades in maths have improved alot from doing that.

For languages I had like massive piles of study cards with words on them and Ide go through them every once in a while. Id keep adding to the pile when I came across new words etc.. The study cards are very effective for putting words into your long term memory which is important for a language. I would keep going over and over them and if I didnt know them Id put it in its own pile with the rest of the ones i didnt know and learn them again and rinse and repeat. It helped alot in my language study like id come across words in comprehension I remembered or sometimes when Im doing writing and thinking of a word in english a german word or irish word would just pop into my head and I would write it down even if Im not sure of it and usually its right.

I think english is tough one for me anyway, I think the way to do this is do exam questions and hand them up to be corrected and try and get better but I didnt do this till like the last month so yeah but I found it helped me improve on my comparatives anyways so so maybe do a question a week or something it should help you also we were recommended to read articles etc.. to improve on paper 1 but I never really did this, prob why Im not the best at english

Christy42

Use paragraphs:P.

Isitthough?

Christy42 wrote: »

Use paragraphs:P.

anything for you;)

Thoie

• Listen to your parents/older siblings. They've probably been through this themselves, even if you think "it's all changed now". They're not nagging you to study out of mean-spirited badness, they're doing it for your benefit. Their life would be a lot easier if they didn't give a **** about you, or your grades - there are a lot more fun things they could be doing than arguing with you about your homework.
• Ask for help. If you don't understand something, ask your teacher/friends/random passing experts. Even if your parents aren't familiar with the subject, just talking out loud about it can help.
• During your downtime, take some time to prepare for life away from home. Ask your father why he's using that particular setting on the washing machine. Figure out how much toilet paper costs, and how often it needs to be replaced. Think about why the immersion timer is set the way it is. Talk to the chef in your family about the different cuts of meat they buy, and why they chose that one instead of the other, and what ways can it be cooked. Offer to do some of the cooking.
• For foreign languages, read websites in that language about topics you're interested in. For example, if you're going to read Cosmo, why not read the Spanish version? If you like Agatha Christie books, order some in the language you're studying. Your vocabulary and sense of language flow will improve without much effort.

artanevilla

How much to to study and how to study varies from person to person.

My advice would be just relax, do what works for you and don't worry about it.

Days 298

5/10 Would not recommend to a friend

DarraghFitz98

Hi everyone,
I'm 16 and just finished TY,like most people in my year I'm enthusiastic about "the big quiz" but I know that energy will soon burn out for most of us! I have so good attitude towards school and I'm so get around 470/480 points

Was just hoping for some guidance on what to do to succeed in the leaving and what to avoid

I'm doing :
HL Irish
HL English
HL Maths (Will probably drop down)
HL Geography
HL History
HL Business
HL German

Subject specific advice also welcome

Many thanks in advance,
Darragh

dee_mc

Hi Darragh!
2 pieces of obvious advice (but they're obvious for a reason!)
-Get organised before 5th year starts with folders/large hardbacks for your notes etc for each subject
-Listen in class, do ALL your homework, and if you don't understand something in class get the teacher to clarify it until you do understand.

Study strategies are very personal, I'd say as long as you start strong you'll find something that suits you well enough that you can maintain it.
One other piece of advice: don't aim for a certain number of points; aim for your best.

DarraghFitz98

dee_mc wrote: »

Hi Darragh!
2 pieces of obvious advice (but they're obvious for a reason!)
-Get organised before 5th year starts with folders/large hardbacks for your notes etc for each subject
-Listen in class, do ALL your homework, and if you don't understand something in class get the teacher to clarify it until you do understand.

Study strategies are very personal, I'd say as long as you start strong you'll find something that suits you well enough that you can maintain it.
One other piece of advice: don't aim for a certain number of points; aim for your best.

Thanks very much I'll take that all on board! That doing your best rather than setting a goal is a great tip

thelad95

DarraghFitz98 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I'm 16 and just finished TY,like most people in my year I'm enthusiastic about "the big quiz" but I know that energy will soon burn out for most of us! I have so good attitude towards school and I'm so get around 470/480 points

Was just hoping for some guidance on what to do to succeed in the leaving and what to avoid

I'm doing :
HL Irish
HL English
HL Maths (Will probably drop down)
HL Geography
HL History
HL Business
HL German

Subject specific advice also welcome

Many thanks in advance,
Darragh

You might want to reconsider HL English :P

For geography, I would recommend getting exam skills by sue honan. Fantastic book. For business, I would recommend learning from the marking schemes from the beginning of fifth year. Read through your textbook to get an idea of the material, but paying close attention to the marking schemes from day one will give you every chance of an A1.

You seem to be negative about your chances in HL Maths but if you work hard at it from day one (investing in a set of exam papers in 5th year worked a treat for me) you could at least achieve an honour which is better than an OL A1.

I was hopeless at history so all I can do for that is wish you the best of luck!

For English, make sure you make yourself familiar with whatever your Shakespeare play is and make sure you stay up to speed with all poets. You will probably do 3 poets in 5th year which can seem intimidating but if you take 1 poem a week and learn it well you will be well on top by 6th year.

I didn't do HL Irish so I can't be a help with that

For your European language, read as much as possible, whether it's articles on the internet, comprehensions, whatever, just read. Make sure you do every bit of work your teacher gives you because languages are very difficult to catch up with if you don't put the work in.



Also, I say this to every TY/5th year asking for advice, but I would strongly advise buying an Economics textbook (Positive Economics is the best) and learn the course yourself. You could even do it this summer and next summer. It's such a manageable subject and really easy to do well in. Whether or not your school offers it is irrelevant. If you don't think you'd be up to doing this, don't fear, you should be fine as it is.

DarraghFitz98

thelad95 wrote: »

You might want to reconsider HL English :P

For geography, I would recommend getting exam skills by sue honan. Fantastic book. For business, I would recommend learning from the marking schemes from the beginning of fifth year. Read through your textbook to get an idea of the material, but paying close attention to the marking schemes from day one will give you every chance of an A1.

You seem to be negative about your chances in HL Maths but if you work hard at it from day one (investing in a set of exam papers in 5th year worked a treat for me) you could at least achieve an honour which is better than an OL A1.

I was hopeless at history so all I can do for that is wish you the best of luck!

For English, make sure you make yourself familiar with whatever your Shakespeare play is and make sure you stay up to speed with all poets. You will probably do 3 poets in 5th year which can seem intimidating but if you take 1 poem a week and learn it well you will be well on top by 6th year.

I didn't do HL Irish so I can't be a help with that

For your European language, read as much as possible, whether it's articles on the internet, comprehensions, whatever, just read. Make sure you do every bit of work your teacher gives you because languages are very difficult to catch up with if you don't put the work in.



Also, I say this to every TY/5th year asking for advice, but I would strongly advise buying an Economics textbook (Positive Economics is the best) and learn the course yourself. You could even do it this summer and next summer. It's such a manageable subject and really easy to do well in. Whether or not your school offers it is irrelevant. If you don't think you'd be up to doing this, don't fear, you should be fine as it is.

Thanks very much for your help! I'll consider taking Economics as an 8th subject

XtotheZ

Stay on top of everything and make sure you understand it as you cover it. Itll all come back then the second time around