Nerves , Sweat and Tears....

jamie124

Hi there,
So we are getting closer to the big LC!
And we are now in the middle of French and Irish Orals!!!

Anyways, I wanted to post on here to basically get some advice because I am really afraid that I may have to repeat the leaving cert because I'll tell the truth - I haven't really studied very effectively! And I'm really trying but the info just IS NOT going in!
Repeating for me, would be an absolute nightmare , I cannot go through another year of a school environment I want to get out! I was bullied for quite a while in school but that's all stopped now but when my friends leave and I may have to repeat - I'm afraid it might all start again! I can't do it!
Supposing I don't pass everything... Is there any other options OTHER THAN REPEATING???
Thanks

Leavingcert16

You could do a PLC in the area you're interested in and then transfer into a course which has links to that PLC course

TSMGUY

Firstly, try your best THIS year so hopefully you won't have to repeat. Fear of failure will only get you so far. It's like trying to use an adrenaline rush to become a world-class fighter. It works great in a drunken brawl or when you're running away from a dog just like fear of failing helps you cram the night before the exam, but you need something more to get through the LC. You need desire and discipline, even when you're not emotionally charged up or "motivated."
Cut out social media. Deactivate facebook. Spend less time on netflix etc. etc.

Get some grinds in anything you're not up to speed on. If the info isn't going in you need to switch up your technique. Answer more questions and past papers. Don't waste time making notes, highlighting is better.

Now if all of that fails and you end up not passing, there's still hope!

You can:
a) do a PLC
b) Not go to college
c) Do A-Levels, the SAT or
D) Do what your good old buddy TSMGUY is doing and repeat the exams as an external candidate. Now admittedly teaching yourself isn't for everyone but at the end of the day a lot of teachers are just people who tell you when to read what part of your textbook. If you're sufficiently motivated you can do well teaching yourself (did it last year and got 510)
E) Do the LC at a different school!

Either way, just remember it's not over until you win!

jamie124

TSMGUY wrote: »

Firstly, try your best THIS year so hopefully you won't have to repeat. Fear of failure will only get you so far. It's like trying to use an adrenaline rush to become a world-class fighter. It works great in a drunken brawl or when you're running away from a dog just like fear of failing helps you cram the night before the exam, but you need something more to get through the LC. You need desire and discipline, even when you're not emotionally charged up or "motivated."
Cut out social media. Deactivate facebook. Spend less time on netflix etc. etc.

Get some grinds in anything you're not up to speed on. If the info isn't going in you need to switch up your technique. Answer more questions and past papers. Don't waste time making notes, highlighting is better.

Now if all of that fails and you end up not passing, there's still hope!

You can:
a) do a PLC
b) Not go to college
c) Do A-Levels, the SAT or
D) Do what your good old buddy TSMGUY is doing and repeat the exams as an external candidate. Now admittedly teaching yourself isn't for everyone but at the end of the day a lot of teachers are just people who tell you when to read what part of your textbook. If you're sufficiently motivated you can do well teaching yourself (did it last year and got 510)
E) Do the LC at a different school!

Either way, just remember it's not over until you win!

Hello There,
Thanks so much for your response!
Just in relation to option D - External Candidate -- does that mean that I still have to go into school? Or do I study at home and teach myself and do the leaving cert when it is time??
Thanks

TSMGUY

jamie124 wrote: »

Hello There,
Thanks so much for your response!
Just in relation to option D - External Candidate -- does that mean that I still have to go into school? Or do I study at home and teach myself and do the leaving cert when it is time??
Thanks

It means you literally just have to come in and sit the exams. If you have a medical card it's free. You apply through the state exams commission, get the principal's permission and it's all sorted. I really find the structure of school to be stifling and unhelpful. Teachers move at a slug's pace and you'll be surprised how much more you can learn without "teachers".

jamie124

TSMGUY wrote: »

It means you literally just have to come in and sit the exams. If you have a medical card it's free. You apply through the state exams commission, get the principal's permission and it's all sorted. I really find the structure of school to be stifling and unhelpful. Teachers move at a slug's pace and you'll be surprised how much more you can learn without "teachers".

I really never knew that this was possible
So I don't have attend school AT ALL if I'm repeating as long as I do the work on my own?? Sorry if I sound stupid obviously I would have to on in for the oral exams and all of that but is that it??
Thanks

spurious

jamie124 wrote: »

I really never knew that this was possible
So I don't have attend school AT ALL if I'm repeating as long as I do the work on my own?? Sorry if I sound stupid obviously I would have to on in for the oral exams and all of that but is that it??
Thanks

You also need to arrange with relevant teachers to supervise your work and sign off on any projects/practicals/field studies/research essays you do.

It's not an easy task and you would need to be very self-motivated and disciplined.

You would still need to pay the repeat fee for the exam, but no, you never needed to attend a school to sit the LC (repeating or not).

TSMGUY

spurious wrote: »

You would still need to pay the repeat fee for the exam, but no, you never needed to attend a school to sit the LC (repeating or not).

That's weird, mine were completely free. If you have a medical card and you apply before the deadline (so you don't incur late frees), it's totally free. At least has been for me.

jamie124

Okay so let me get this straight , if you are repeating or not (as an EXTERNAL Candidate) , you actually teach yourself the material and get grinds?? For example, if I fail Irish (which I hopefully won't or I'm screwed!) can I just repeat that ONE subject or if I fail Irish and Maths and let's just say I fail Biology - Can I just repeat those THREE subjects on my own?? Instead of repeating the WHOLE LC and go through all of that torture again??

I actually seriously did not know you could do this, if this is the case would everyone not be doing this? Like not going into school until the actual leaving cert in June? Is that not illegal?

Thanks just need to get the facts

TSMGUY

jamie124 wrote: »

Okay so let me get this straight , if you are repeating or not (as an EXTERNAL Candidate) , you actually teach yourself the material and get grinds?? For example, if I fail Irish (which I hopefully won't or I'm screwed!) can I just repeat that ONE subject or if I fail Irish and Maths and let's just say I fail Biology - Can I just repeat those THREE subjects on my own?? Instead of repeating the WHOLE LC and go through all of that torture again??

I actually seriously did not know you could do this, if this is the case would everyone not be doing this? Like not going into school until the actual leaving cert in June? Is that not illegal?

Thanks just need to get the facts

LOL I wish I could just do isolated subjects again. Unfortunately you have to the whole thing again. I'm from the UK originally so I never had to do Irish. Of course if you applied outside of Ireland you wouldn't need Irish.

As for it being illegal, hell no. Once you're over 15 you don't even have to attend school any more.

Why don't more people do it? Because their parents would kill them!

spurious

You can do one subject a year for LC for twenty years if you like, but most colleges will only take subjects in the one sitting.

If you're not interested in going to college, it doesn't matter.

The SEC who run the exams are nothing to do with schools. People who home school or went to school in another country can sit SEC exams. You will see people of all ages doing LC exams, including some in their 80s who never got the opportunity when they were young.

TSMGUY

spurious wrote: »

You can do one subject a year for LC for twenty years if you like, but most colleges will only take subjects in the one sitting.

If you're not interested in going to college, it doesn't matter.

The SEC who run the exams are nothing to do with schools. People who home school or went to school in another country can sit SEC exams. You will see people of all ages doing LC exams, including some in their 80s who never got the opportunity when they were young.

Jesus, I'm all for learning for life and all that crack but doing the LC in your eighties?! Unless there's a points requirement for heaven I don't know about that's madness

spurious

For some people it's about proving to themsleves that they could have done it, had they been given the chance, or, indeed, as a confidence booster, if you've spent your life thinking you were not able for exams.

jamie124

Okay BUT if I fail a subject or two could I not just get grinds weekly in them and not bother going into school at all? Just sit the 2 that I failed??? It's really bad if you have to repeat the whole thing if you passed everything else!

spurious

jamie124 wrote: »

Okay BUT if I fail a subject or two could I not just get grinds weekly in them and not bother going into school at all? Just sit the 2 that I failed??? It's really bad if you have to repeat the whole thing if you passed everything else!

It depends whether you are using the LC for college entry or not.

If you fail a subject or two and are sitting eight, you could still get into college, and there would be no need to re-sit exams, except for your own interest.

You do not need to pass every exam you sit.

What are your plans?

TSMGUY

spurious wrote: »

For some people it's about proving to themsleves that they could have done it, had they been given the chance, or, indeed, as a confidence booster, if you've spent your life thinking you were not able for exams.

There's just so many great people who never went to Uni (Winston Churchill, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, Abe Lincoln), you'd think it would go without saying that you don't HAVE to do the LC or it's equivalents to be educated.

jamie124

spurious wrote: »

It depends whether you are using the LC for college entry or not.

If you fail a subject or two and are sitting eight, you could still get into college, and there would be no need to re-sit exams, except for your own interest.

You do not need to pass every exam you sit.

What are your plans?

Well I'll tell you out straight...
Plans:
1. My dream job is to be a secondary school teacher of Business and possibly Economics... Eventually.....
2. I may be doing a PLC in Business but you need to pass everything (as far as I know) in order to be accepted into a PLC course!
3. My backup plan is to become cabin crew (air steward).

Thanks

rainbowtrout

jamie124 wrote: »

Well I'll tell you out straight...
Plans:
1. My dream job is to be a secondary school teacher of Business and possibly Economics... Eventually.....
2. I may be doing a PLC in Business but you need to pass everything (as far as I know) in order to be accepted into a PLC course!
3. My backup plan is to become cabin crew (air steward).

Thanks

Not true. There is no standard entry requirement for PLC. Yes the clue is in the name, Post Leaving Certificate, so you are expected to be at Leaving Cert standard, but PLC colleges set their own standards for entry. A popular PLC college which gets a lot of applicants can choose the best of those applicants as they are oversubscribed, and can set a standard such as 'must pass all of your LC subjects' to weed out weaker students.

I've accepted and taught students who have failed multiple LC subjects and watched them thrive in a small class, in a different learning environment where everything doesn't depend on the exam in June.


E.g. two years ago a 23 year old mature student applied to the course I run. She had dropped out of school at 15 and obviously was limited in what she could do due to her lack of qualifications. She had periods of unemployment and minimum wage work. She wanted to come to us because she wanted to get an education and improve her chances in life. We gave her a chance. She was in every day and she found some subjects tough, but she worked her arse off for the year and got distinctions in everything. She's now midway through a degree in accounting. I'm especially happy to see people like that succeed in PLC. Someone like that wouldn't get a chance if I only accepted people who had 5+ passes in the LC.

Anyway jamie, you have plenty of options for next year. PLC is one of those, if you do not get a college place for september. You can do a lot of work in the next 8 weeks or so if you get your head down, revise, and practice those exam papers.


Incidentally I know three teachers personally who went on to become teachers (two of them in Business) having started out in PLC and making their way to college via the PLC route.

jamie124

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Not true. There is no standard entry requirement for PLC. Yes the clue is in the name, Post Leaving Certificate, so you are expected to be at Leaving Cert standard, but PLC colleges set their own standards for entry. A popular PLC college which gets a lot of applicants can choose the best of those applicants as they are oversubscribed, and can set a standard such as 'must pass all of your LC subjects' to weed out weaker students.

I've accepted and taught students who have failed multiple LC subjects and watched them thrive in a small class, in a different learning environment where everything doesn't depend on the exam in June.


E.g. two years ago a 23 year old mature student applied to the course I run. She had dropped out of school at 15 and obviously was limited in what she could do due to her lack of qualifications. She had periods of unemployment and minimum wage work. She wanted to come to us because she wanted to get an education and improve her chances in life. We gave her a chance. She was in every day and she found some subjects tough, but she worked her arse off for the year and got distinctions in everything. She's now midway through a degree in accounting. I'm especially happy to see people like that succeed in PLC. Someone like that wouldn't get a chance if I only accepted people who had 5+ passes in the LC.

Anyway jamie, you have plenty of options for next year. PLC is one of those, if you do not get a college place for september. You can do a lot of work in the next 8 weeks or so if you get your head down, revise, and practice those exam papers.


Incidentally I know three teachers personally who went on to become teachers (two of them in Business) having started out in PLC and making their way to college via the PLC route.

Wow! That is excellent information and just what I needed! Thank you so much! I think PLC is the way I'm heading to be honest and I'm doing Foundation Level Maths it's that bad... And I'm still finding it really tough even though I'm getting grinds AND staying back after school with my maths teacher who has kindly offered to help me after school hours.
Thanks so much x

TSMGUY

Are you sure you'd wanna teach economics if you're finding foundation maths hard? Not trying to be rude at all but there's quite a bit of maths in economics, especially the marcoeconomics section. You might find that a bit challenging.

rainbowtrout

jamie124 wrote: »

Wow! That is excellent information and just what I needed! Thank you so much! I think PLC is the way I'm heading to be honest and I'm doing Foundation Level Maths it's that bad... And I'm still finding it really tough even though I'm getting grinds AND staying back after school with my maths teacher who has kindly offered to help me after school hours.
Thanks so much x

Start applying to Plc colleges now. Some will have interviews in the next few weeks and some will wait until later in the summer. You can have it as a back up plan or as Plan A. You can also get a college grant for Plc ( if you are eligible for the grant).

NB: if you do go the Plc route please make sure you take a maths module. The maths module is weighted 60% coursework, 40% exam and is accepted as meeting college entry requirements for maths when applying to Cao with Plc qualification.

jamie124

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Start applying to Plc colleges now. Some will have interviews in the next few weeks and some will wait until later in the summer. You can have it as a back up plan or as Plan A. You can also get a college grant for Plc ( if you are eligible for the grant).

NB: if you do go the Plc route please make sure you take a maths module. The maths module is weighted 60% coursework, 40% exam and is accepted as meeting college entry requirements for maths when applying to Cao with Plc qualification.

Great , so when I'm applying to the PLC college do I just say is there a maths module with that course?

rainbowtrout

jamie124 wrote: »

Great , so when I'm applying to the PLC college do I just say is there a maths module with that course?

ya just ask. Some PLC colleges will have it as part of the course anyway and make everyone do it to cover all bases. Others might only have it as an option.