Which poets do ye think will come up in English?

honru

Which poets do you think are the most likely to come up in the English exam in June? You should vote up to three (just to get a general idea). Bets accepted.

Personally, I'd wager Dickinson, Boland, Yeats.

D-Generate

I doubt Boland and Dickinson would both come up but you never know!

I went for Dickinson, Yeats and Kavanagh.

I have those 3 plus Boland, Longley and Heaney studied so I have choice hurray!

Bah

It's a bad idea trying to guess which are going to come up... last year everybody thought Dickinson would definetly come up, but it didn't. Left a huge amount of people stuck for a poetry question since they had concentrated on Dickinson, myself included.

honru

Bah wrote:

It's a bad idea trying to guess which are going to come up... last year everybody thought Dickinson would definetly come up, but it didn't. Left a huge amount of people stuck for a poetry question since they had concentrated on Dickinson, myself included.

Yes, studying one poet is just a risky thing to do.

That's why you're able to choose more than one poet.

Simple, eh?

Bah

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

Yes, studying one poet is just a risky thing to do.

That's why you're able to choose more than one poet.

Simple, eh?

Well obviously it would be just plain stupid to do only one poet - what I said was that it's a bad idea to *concentrate* your study on just one poet - it's better to spread it out over a few so you're guaranteed that one will come up, unless you want to take the risk of having to answer a question on a poet that you're not very confident about.

lestats_bride

I'm doing 5 and hopefully i'll get another done.

honru

Bah wrote:

Well obviously it would be just plain stupid to do only one poet - what I said was that it's a bad idea to *concentrate* your study on just one poet - it's better to spread it out over a few so you're guaranteed that one will come up, unless you want to take the risk of having to answer a question on a poet that you're not very confident about.

I never condoned studying one poet for the Leaving Cert, that's why I made a multiple poll option.

Studying four poets is sufficient. Anything below three is really chancing it kids.

D-Generate

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

I never condoned studying one poet for the Leaving Cert, that's why I made a multiple poll option.

Studying four poets is sufficient. Anything below three is really chancing it kids.

Studying five poets is sufficient. If you study 4 only there is still a chance albeit a really low one that you will not be asked any of teh poets you have studied.

Cannibal Ox

Heaney, Dickinson, Yeats.

I'm doing Boland as well, but one of those would suit me nicely.

honru

D-Generate wrote:

Studying five poets is sufficient. If you study 4 only there is still a chance albeit a really low one that you will not be asked any of teh poets you have studied.

I think I'll just stick to studying four of the highly tipped poets...

...however, if come June none of them appear on the paper, I'll remember this thread.

sci0x

I am 100% POSITIVE (you can hurt me if im wrong), that Yeats will DEFINATLY come up and Dickenson will definatly come up, and Boland and Wordsworth

Scarinae

sci0x wrote:

(you can hurt me if im wrong)

A dangerous thing to say!

Camogie Playa

I think they only put up one woman poet. I bet you, itll be Boland after some many people being confident that Dickinson iscoming up. Knowing my luck thatll happen anyway!!

Capall86

Even though kavanagh was up last year, there is good chance he will be up agasin this year! As it is his centenary!

sci0x

It would be great if he would coz he's poems are so easy to talk about, but i doubt he will

Scarinae

Ok, say that Dickinson does come up this year like everyone is predicting... That means that loads of people will answer on her, because loads of people will have prepared her extra well. So does that mean that it will be harder marked? Would it be better to do a different poet on the day?

Rredwell

Capall86 wrote:

Even though kavanagh was up last year, there is good chance he will be up agasin this year! As it is his centenary!

Actually, he was born in 1904 so his centenary was last year. That's why he came up!

Fishie: I wouldn't say they mark the most popular questions harder deliberately, but human nature of the examiner could nudge it that way. But they do have quotas for grades (after a fashion), I think. Last summer my late maths teacher showed me his chart of grades he gave when correcting. He moved some people from As to Bs as there would have been too many A students. They have to be fair, I suppose.

I think you are all taking a massive gamble in studying anything less than six poets. With 6 you at least have the choice of 2, so you're not cornered into doing a question you mightn't necessarily shine on.

Generally the rule for such subjects as Biology is 'if it came up last year it won't this year', but this rule breaks down with English poetry. Kavanagh could well come up this year: Sylvia Plath came up 2 years in a row a few years back.

*Angel*

Rredwell wrote:

I think you are all taking a massive gamble in studying anything less than six poets. With 6 you at least have the choice of 2, so you're not cornered into doing a question you mightn't necessarily shine on.

Well wouldn't it be better to learn 5 well? I'm only learning 5 mind you I only know Kavanagh well at the moment.

Rredwell

No, because on the day you will only have 1 choice and it might be very hard. At least if you have 2 choices you have some security as well as the option of choosing your question, which I think can mean a lot.

Teg Veece

Since the department revised the english course a few years ago they have stated that the poets which appear will be COMPLETELY random. As in drawn from a hat type type scenario. So all predictions go out the window.
For those of you who are going to take a chance and not study at least 5 poets then here are the stats:

Study 4 poets: You have a 98.57% chance of answering the question

Study 3 poets: You have a 92.86% chance of answering the question

Study 2 poets: You have a 78.57% chance of answering the question

Study 1 poet: You have a 50% chance of answering the question

That is of course assuming that all poets are equally likely to appear, which the department said they are. So anything below 3 poets becomes VERY risky indeed. Personally I'd recommend doing 5. That way you will definitely be able to attempt the question and will almost certainly (94.28% certainty) have a choice between at least two.

Rredwell

How do you work these figures out? I'm just curious.

And how does that explain the fact that there has always been a female poet on the paper? And didn't someone above say something about gender and cultural diversity in the selection?

Rredwell

Ah, just worked it out. That means the guy who studied only 4 poets (see the Free LC Help from a Bored Student thread) and got the other 4 was 1 in 70, aproximately. That must have sucked.

Teg Veece

Yeah, I just worked it out using P = Favourable Outcomes / Total Outcomes
1 in 70 is quite unlucky alright. Does anyone know of a school that covers only 1 poet. I've heard rumours...

Johnerr

you'd be safe enough doing four, and remember the poerty is only worth a small precentage compaired to the rest of the paper,

this talk of studing 6 is crazy, concentrate on something else,

claire h

Teg Veece wrote:

Since the department revised the english course a few years ago they have stated that the poets which appear will be COMPLETELY random. As in drawn from a hat type type scenario. So all predictions go out the window.

Completely random but apparently they would rather not have a paper that doesn't have: a) a woman poet, b) an Irish poet, c) one of the oldies (like Wordsworth). So you could get away with, say, studying just the two women, which, if you're going to start taking risks about what you leave out, is a much safer option than trying to predict the paper.

Johnerr

Any ideas about Heaney and Kavanagh??

Da_IRISH_ONE4U

Em... my English teacher reckons that the poets on the paper will be: Yeats, Wordsworth, Dickenson, and Eliot.

Raphael

I reckon the safest bet is to know 6 poets, and of those know the Irish and female poets very well. There will always be a female poet on the paper, or the department would be accused of sexism. And they wouldn't do too well if they had no Irish poet either.

TheDoc

To be honest what is there to study really? You just have to know a general spread of the poems. You can optain a high enough mark without even using quotes, but you can always remember a quote here and there. I havnt paid particular attention tothe poets really. I know I'm going to get high marks on the composing, the comps and hamlet. And I'll do grand on the comparison aswell. For me the poets are just an extra to grab a few more marks.

Finch*

sci0x wrote:

(you can hurt me if im wrong

home address please =]

Creamy Goodness

this is what i reckon,

yeats, he has never been tested before on the new course.
kavanagh, it's his centinery as mentioned above plus he'll be the poet that will be for the repeat leaving certs.