starting sixth year; starting to study??

wiensta

I was wondering if anyone here is starting the leaving this year and if theyre starting to study now too? I guess ill try a halfhour/hour every night. Is this too much or too little? I know people who started over the summer tho and that kind of taunts me.

Id like to hear from those who just finished theyres this year too please, any advice you could give? any regrets you have about last year? Id really like to get this leaving cert thing done right the first time y'know.

Thanks!

Dont be at yourself

Yup, sixth year for me. Studying Irish, English, Maths, Accountancy, Physics, French and Engineering.

Having done zero work in fifth year, I'm left with two choices with regards study. I can either study my ass off and try and get a two year course covered in a year, or I can just try and keep up with the 6th year stuff and resign myself to repeating next year. I'm undecided as of yet, but I wouldn't bet against my lazyness prevailing.

If I am studying, it'll probably start after the mid-term.

Dave

You can cover the LC course in a year. I did.

PHB

Sixth year for me also, atm I'm doing 2 hrs study a night, but its more I'm just doing homework properly, I have a lot of trouble studying

I don't want to repeat but I might have to if I don't cop myself on

Winters

You will need to do a minimum of 1hour 30min or 2hours+ a day really. Most schools do provide after hours study and I would advise going to them.

damnyanks

It all depends on what your setting yourself up for. If you want 450+ you will have to do proper study. If your content with anything under than that it will depend on how you approach your school work and have done so for the last couple of years.

You will here of people who got around 450+ saying they did no work and just crammed also doing no work for six years. Dont listen to them its pure ****e.

Also it depends on what your attitude to school was / is. Did you go in all the time only skipping a bit of school, did you listen in class ? Did you do your homework etc. etc.

I was a total slacker in school and got what I deserved I was pissed off with the results but at the end of the day I know its what I should of got and I still got 2 offers on first round.

embraer170

I repeated so it is a bit different. Spent the 5 years until the first LC doing nothing nothing at all study-wise and came out with a mediocre 360ish points. Decided to repeat (not because I didn’t get what I want at the time but rather because I was too young to go to university - still am only 16, well 17 next week, after doing the LC twice).

Repeated thinking everything would be different but nothing really changed, same old routine of saying I will start studying tomorrow which prevailed throughout the year, even until the final days. Finished the exams feeling I had messed up altogether until the results came: 475 points, which I was over the moon with. Not saying it is a good idea to do the same, just my own experience.

What I would recommend: Miss as little school as possible and concentrate in class. Both are as important if not more important than study.

JT

sceptre

Originally posted by Dave
You can cover the LC course in a year

Less - but I wouldn't recommend it. I started studying after my mocks. Getting 1% in my Chemistry was the turning point (yes, that's "one percent" - and that was a guess) (I got a B1 in the Leaving and was fairly disappointed with that). Spent the previous two and a half years copying homework in the mornings.

Doing the study as you go helps though. I did no actual study during the Leaving Cert itself and went out every Sat night to try and calm down. Made a balls of my maths and got a C1 (GF likes telling people that I got a C and she got an A - mind you, she was doing pass but it fair shocks people who know both of us when we leave that small fact out)

Learned Applied Maths in three hours. Never went to any of the classes and forgot I registered for it. Turned up for the exam and asked the other victims if I should do pass or higher. They reckoned I'd fail the pass but do OK in the higher paper (doesn't make sense, I know). Got a higher C in the end.

I got lucky (though unlucky in a few - notably accounting - came naturally but my question one didn't work out for the first time ever)

So study! And start now. It'll stop you panicking at the exams as at least you know that you know the stuff as you have the hours done for the exams. When you get the results you'll thank yourself for it - it's only one year of sacrifice. Wouldn't it be a good sacrifice if it made all the difference between you getting a course you really wanted and doing something that you didn't really want to do?

red_ice

First of all id like to say HAHAHAAHAHA hate to be in 6th year!

For all the terenure boys, have fun, its the best year of your life - i might drop by to proove my table football skillz and keep my unbeatin title

Watch out for skinny vinny

Study people as much as you can, its worth it in the end - trust me.

reD.

Nietzschean

Originally posted by Dave
You can cover the LC course in a year. I did.

Did the same, very possible. Came out with a nice result so i'm happy, i finished school at 9pm mon - fri at the start btw, then till 10pm and sat's n sun

wiensta

hmm it seems yall have pretty much the same advice, which is, in a way relieving but...annoying cos its study. I do a fair bit of messing in some classes, none in others, in fact, none in most. But the problem for me is that our school is mixed (bit hard to concentrate at times), some of the teachers are absolute jokes (especially pass ones), and I am really against all teaching institutions and what they represent, and Im going to art college so the LC isnt really important to me(the only reason I havent left already is cos my parents wont fund me in college is i do).

These factors arent exactly helping.. also, I have a tv and my pc in my room, and I turn em both on every day after school as a habit and play music or whatever.. I waste so much time so quickly by doing this...

having said that I go to a homework place every day for two hours but I usually just do the homework really well..and I get sooo bored. In general I do surprisingly well exams by cramming ( there seems to be nothing as motivating as coming up to a big exam eh?) i added up 460 in the 5th year summer exams ( I know that doesnt count for sh1t but I was well happy).

Anyways thats the story, I seems my laziness and bad habits must cease at least for the next year...

Thanks for the answers anyways.

damnyanks

For all the terenure boys, have fun, its the best year of your life - i might drop by to proove my table football skillz and keep my unbeatin title

Yeah right bucko

We all know you spent waayyyyyyyy to much time on that table and got lines for being there instead of class! Its ****e 1v1 anyway you need the 2';s!

Tis a good year though by far the best

lordsippa

I'm giving myself a little rest but starting to study next week. But don't think that cramming is bad. It's all down to the person - some people find it works and others don't. So if cramming works for you then go for it! Always helps to reinforce it a bit though.

Personally I'm concentrating on about 4 subjects, with business as a fifth that I could do really good in.

But here's a question:
Does anyone know a good way to get into the right frame of mind for maths... I mean, the kinda sharpness and ability to look at the problem from the right angles, cause i always miss that, but once i spot it get the actual working out done no problem.

Helix

the leaving is 75% common sense, 25% memorising the right stuff

study really isnt the word for what you need to get a good score. memorise 3 or 4 variations the stuff you KNOW is gonna come up on the paper. eg letters in languages. learn them word perfect, dont bother learning how to actually put the stuff together, do it right once and learn it by heart and what it means. if you do that for 3 or 4 variations you should be pretty covered for that. that should take all of a week to do

stuff like history, english, geography, biology require little or no understanding of the subjects. just an ability to regurgitate what was in your book and whatever notes you were given.

thats not studying tho, thats why i personally think the entire secondary school system is a joke. you can be the thickest person in the world, but if you have a good memory you dont need to understand ANYTHING

i didnt do a stroke and got a very good leaving cert. as did most of me mates

damnyanks

I dont think history and english are that simple. You can put out all the crap you know about a certain topic (I did) and still do bad in the question. English you have paper 1 so that isnt gonna look great if you start talking about something else other than the question

Also I think they proved this year in biology that just learning off certain things and not knowing anything else is a bad idea!

Jimi-Spandex

My advice,

Do about 4hrs a day between homework and study ar the start in sixth year, work your way up to 6. Do mabye three hours at the start on Saturday then work your way up gradually to eight. Start doing about four hours on Sunday after christmas.

This is pointless if you are not getting work done. If you find you aren't learning then rest. Its a waste of time sitting in study reading Bill Bryson and listening to jazz*.

-Watch as little tv as possible. ( When I was doing the LC I watched about 6hrs a week maximum)
-Smoke like a trooper**.
-Meditate.
-Get enough sleep.
-Everything in moderation.(except study)

*Damn that was a nice few months, I just sat there listening to Coltrane and Davis laughing quietly to myself.

**I accept NO resonsibility for any damage to your health/wallet. It helped focus my mind and alleviate stress. On the flip side, due to it I got a chest infection really close to the exams and it kind of fùcked me up.


Finally, advice doesn't always work. Take the initiative, work out what works for you and stick to it. Or don't, if you find that works. Whatever you do don't procrastinate about it.

Nietzschean

Originally posted by Helix
the leaving is 75% common sense, 25% memorising the right stuff

study really isnt the word for what you need to get a good score. memorise 3 or 4 variations the stuff you KNOW is gonna come up on the paper. eg letters in languages. learn them word perfect, dont bother learning how to actually put the stuff together, do it right once and learn it by heart and what it means. if you do that for 3 or 4 variations you should be pretty covered for that. that should take all of a week to do

stuff like history, english, geography, biology require little or no understanding of the subjects. just an ability to regurgitate what was in your book and whatever notes you were given.

thats not studying tho, thats why i personally think the entire secondary school system is a joke. you can be the thickest person in the world, but if you have a good memory you dont need to understand ANYTHING

i didnt do a stroke and got a very good leaving cert. as did most of me mates

Here's a tip for anyone doing the lc , ignore everything the person who i'm quoting said. The LC is 95% learning off boring crap and 5% what you can work out for yourself unfortunatly. Because that 5% is the only thing i'm good at, i had to spend endless hours making the best attempt i could at that other 95%, don't kid yerselves and just think it will all fall into place and ye will fly through the lc with no work - it just doesn't happen. People who tell you that lie.

o and for good advice do what jimispandex said, worked for me and him.(cept the smoking part - i don't smoke..tis bad fer ye)

Helix

Originally posted by Serialkiller
don't kid yerselves and just think it will all fall into place and ye will fly through the lc with no work - it just doesn't happen. People who tell you that lie.

i can only speak from personal experience, and from my mates experience. none of us did a stroke, all of is did very well

phobos

I don't know do I agree with just memorising the stuff. I am all for understanding. When you understand something, you don't need to memorise. It's been a long time since I did my leaving, and I'm currently doing a Masters in Uni. Take for example if you learn something off by heart, you are only fixed for that one instance of a problem.

Take for example (which will be Software Dev based, sorry). If someone was in college and asked to write a compiler (hypothetical example), they wouldn't go, "OK, now what's the code for a compiler". If they were worth two cents, they would understand programming concepts/languages/etc, use that knowledge to construct a working piece of software. Even if it meant hacking someone elses code, that's fine, but to do that you have to understand.

One thing that I firmly stick by, is that you are in education to learn, not to fool examiners (and your parents) in to thinking you're a genius. That's not it at all. When you walk out of school, you are supposed to be more educated in general subjects. When you go to college the same rules apply, but you are now doing something that interests you, and if you are worth two cents you will spend as much time as you can to research and learn. Hopefully to become and expert in your field. Then graduate, knowing that you honestly deserved that piece of paper. Because along the way if you've been fooling yourself, you are going to spend a good portion of the rest of your life, paying for it.

I know if you're in second level, you may say to me "what is subject X, going to be worth to me when I finish". I hear where you're coming from, and I know I hated doing particular subjects in school myself. My answer to you is how do you know in years to come that, that the knowledge gained from a particular class might not come in handy. Subjects like mathematics is important for a lot of people, if not everyone. In school people get bogged down with "how to solve problems", when the better question would probably be "why do we use mathematics to solve problems?". "Define a problem?". "What is logical reasoning?". This is how I think now. But when I was in school it was all about "How", instead of "Why". By asking "How", you only learn one thing, one instance. But by asking "Why", the answer may open your mind to another level of knowledge. This doesn't only apply to mathematics, but a way of thinking that can have drastic effects on your learning curve.

I personally believe the students that do very well in education, are the ones that understand there is more than XYZ, Procedures, Theory. By that I mean other than how the information was presented to you initially. Remember when it was being presented initially, you were apparently learning. But when you swish it around in your head for a while, it can take a different form, you could possibly augment it, and then you truly understand.

By simply repeating what you heard in school to an examiner, is not understanding.

Soz if I lost some of you there. The English language is the only tool I have to express my opinion at this time.

;-phobos-)

azezil

From what i remember of my secondary skool days, the leaving cert is a two year course and you should have been doing 3 hr's a nite since 5year n working up to 4 by christmas 6th year.


lol that's what we told, i studied 2 hr's a nite a week b4

the_viper2kie

i'd just like to thank you phobos on the very interesting and inspiring message, i fell like runnin upstairs and studying now. It is a perfect theory, i know that i cannot just learn things off but still i can manage to do well in all the languages. Everything in life haslogic in it, if you can remember a logic or a patern you can adopt it into any type of question asked. If you are unable to learn things off there are a vast amount of subjects in the leaving to adobt, mainly the fact why i am choosing to do applied maths after school.
I do about 3 hours a night study and homework and get a half day every wednesday where i do about 5 with a trip to the gym in the middle as a break. Id also recomend excercise in ur study schedule!!! its a great way to just chill out and stay healthy, it also increases motabilism so you'll find u can concentrate more.

scuzzy

I do about 3 hours a night study and homework

atm I'm doing 2 hrs study a night

You will need to do a minimum of 1hour 30min or 2hours+ a day

Do about 4hrs a day between homework and study ar the start in sixth year, work your way up to 6. Do mabye three hours at the start on Saturday then work your way up gradually to eight. Start doing about four hours on Sunday after christmas

3 hr's a nite since 5year n working up to 4 by christmas 6th year.

:eek:

You're all ****ing crazy...

Nietzschean

Originally posted by phobos
I don't know do I agree with just memorising the stuff. I am all for understanding. When you understand something, you don't need to memorise. It's been a long time since I did my leaving, and I'm currently doing a Masters in Uni. Take for example if you learn something off by heart, you are only fixed for that one instance of a problem.
;-phobos-)

Phobos i completely agree with you that that is the ideal approach. But having done the lc last year it doesn't quite work like that for alot of subjects.That is the approach to take to subjects like physics,chemistry,maths,applied maths. But this approach cannot be applied by most people to subjects such as home ec, the exam is just writing out what you had to learn off from your notes, tis extreemly stupid imo, but thats the exam. Understanding the exact principles involved or anything else was useless, because at the end of the day i had to just repeat what i had learned off word for word.(got me an A2 in business, i did pass english so really thats not supposed to happen ). It is a false sence of achievement in quite a few ways as you mentioned due to it being purely learning off, but thats what the subject is...........thats why i was much more pleased with sci subjects results....... Anyway no more learning off for me(i hope)

Repli

I don't agree with ppl who say "4hours a night" etc, because it seems like an awful lot when you plan todo excess amounts of study, but when you're actually doing it the time flies by.
Imo you should break the course down into it's sections (e.g. Maths - (algebra, calculus, trigonometry, matrices, etc), make a timetable and stick to it, and instead of saying "i'll do 4 hours study this evening", say "tonight i'll completely cover multiplication of matrices" or something.

wiensta

well, 4hrs a night is wayy to steep for me, I think now I could muster 2.5 hrs a night max, but stay at an average of 2hrs per weeknight. Afterall I am working on an art portfolio at the same time.

I think anyone doing 4-6 hrs a night now should really slow down, Its not healthy, and not worth it in the long run, no matter how many points you need IMO.

Raskolnikov

If you have the willpower then try to stick to 2-3 hours study a day and gradually build up.

Whatever you do, don't try to start with 4+ hours every night like i did at the start of the school last year. I worked hard up till around Halloween, then i completly slacked off for the next few months until my mocks. After doing crap in the mocks i then set about trying to complete the entire LC course in a few months. It put me under huge pressure and meant i had to study around 5-7 hours a night. I got 480, had i worked consistantly throughout the year i would have done a lot better.

The funny thing is that i don't regret a bit of my slacking off, i had some good times

phobos

At this point can I just point out that in my last post I may have sounded like a real bookworm in my second level years. I was not!. But what I did/have learned is that it's not how much study you do, it's how you do it, that's most important.

I am in complete agreement with Repli at this time.

The concept is simple, if your parents ask you how much time you spent studying, does the answer to that question indicate progress was made. I think not!. You can spend as much time as you want locked in a room with educational materials around you, and not make any progress at all, and I have proved this theory to myself on countless occasions. I have a younger brother who has just started his Junior Cert year. I am in the process of trying to make his visions of study as efficient as possible. Efficiency is used because it can be the correct balance between time and progress made.

I don't like seeing young people being put under pressure, but I am certain it is themselves that are the cause of this pressure. If they can identify a pattern that leads to success (efficient study), they will find their job so much easier. Take for example:

Imo you should break the course down into it's sections (e.g. Maths - (algebra, calculus, trigonometry, matrices, etc)

Acknowledging that a subject can be divided in to discreet units, each unit being examined separately (ie Questions), and when those units combine to make a complete understanding, you are ready to sit that exam, and you will succeed (granted realistic factors such as nerves don't intervene too much, but that's a different matter).

The next time your parents roar the word "Study" at you, let them know what I've just said above, and soon they will begin to see that simply detaining someone does not guarantee success. But if you're going to bring up that arguement, let them know what specific problems you may be having, and I'm sure they will oblige in getting/giving you the help/advice you need.

I hope this will be of help to some of you

;-phobos-)

doyler

get a study timetable going and stick with it. 12 hours a week at times to suit yourself! increase that after christmas and again after easter. remember, the LC is like running a marathon. no training and you will keel over puking after 3 miles. but break yourself in gently NOW and you will have no trouble. of course, all of this is useless unless you know HOW to study!!!!!!

wiensta

hmm, now there seems to be more of an emphasis on HOW to study, rather than how much.. thats great. I never really gave a thought on how to study, its generally just open a folder and read.

anyone have any tried and trusted methods theyd like to share?

p.s. would anyone here agree/disagree with the point of view that if you actually write notes, rather than getting photocopies of them, that youll learn them?

I ask because our english teacher gets all her notes of the internet and writes them on the board. We waste like 1/3 or more of classes doing this BS where we could be spending time actually studying themes and stuff (things that will be ASKED) rather than nitpicking each scene/chapter.

I Know when im learning off essays and answers (dont get me wrong, I have to sometimes, examiners dont dig original creativity) that I always write em out a few times, but TBH I think a lot more could be accomplished by just getting the notes, reading em thru three times and asking questions on them or whatever. I mean itd take the same time as writing them from the board.

Repli

Just simplify everything as much as possible within reason...
Read my/phobos posts above, even courses with huge amounts of content can be broken down into sections, and again into sub sections.. and it doesn't seem so much any more

PiE

Originally posted by scuzzy
:eek:

You're all ****ing crazy...

I concur.

If I had of done 1hr a night from Christmas on, I would've gotten 450+.

The LC is piss easy, as proved by the fact my whole class passed and there were some real gems of idiocy in there.

article6

Yeah, I'm starting what you all call 6th year. We don't do Transition Year in our school, being small, understaffed and poor.

I'm trying to do work from 6pm to 9pm each weeknight, homework and study included in that. But most of the homework the teachers set us is study work as well, God bless them.

The hardest subjects to study, in my opinion, are Irish and English, because they're both illegitimate children of an exam.

Maths and Applied Maths are fairly simple, if you know how. Except for part c in Maths, which refuses to budge. But it's only 20/50 marks, so you can miss one or two of them, as long as you start them at least.

Accountancy is easy enough too, it's all practice.

Biology, Chemistry and French are more learning than practice, but they're not too tough if you pay attention.

OK, to work. Woohoo.

Caesar_Bojangle

In all honesty i dont know how someone could do 6 hours a night, imagine doing all that study and still not getting the points you desire:(.

At the moment i am doing supervised study for 3 hours on mon,tue,thur(considering upping it to 4) and 2 hours on friday and none whatsoever come the weekend or wednesday. This i feel is a minor achievement for me, given that i did nothing throughout the whole of fifth.

My bastard subjects would have to be german and geography due to my incessant hatred toward these teachers.

fisifan01

Planning to do 4 hours, 3hours, 6 hours whatever is easier said than done. The last thing you want to do after coming home from a hard day at school is study and do homework. i start school about 9:00 and dont get home until 4:45 i usually slack for a while and dont get homework started untill 7:00 that leaves very little time for study. i hope to be going to after school study soon.

Flynn

I'm repeating the leaving cert this year.. I'm back less than a week ( santa ponsa holiday forced me to miss 2 weeks) and my attitude is totally changed..
When you hear those people telling you stories of how they did nothing.... well they got nothing on me.. I was Top student in first year.. getting all A's then i just went downhill.. got a mediocor junior cert.. did Fu<K all in fifth yr.. i mean FUC<K all.. the teachers kinda gave up on me after being kicked outta English, Irish & Maths class... ( well english i went into a new class eventually) but for Irish and maths i missed half the year sitting in with first years... Never did homework in fifth year ( why i got kicked out) engineering wasn't so bad, had cool treacher, Biology.. fell asleep in 2 outta 3 classes (really) i remeber drinking half cough bottle one time.. was dead for the whole double.. And Art i was fine.. cool teacher.. and i like it.. I failed most of my tests in fifth year..

Then in sixth year i thought i could change my attitude totally... Didnt work AT ALL... i got worse... failed every test bar Art ( i think) at the xmas tests.. didnt write more than a page for any of them.. i had the worst "I don't give a fu<K" attitude... For the mocks i was told by several teachers it was the worst set of results a student had ever gotten in the skool... i didnt show up for half the tests.. never studied... got 10 points..:) everyone got a good laugh out of it.. for the LC i think i studied the nite before... i didnt hand up engineering project or write up... i failed that.. stayed in bed for physics.. failed maths... missed one paper of Irish.. ( but i got D3 cuz of my irish primary skool) passed the rest.. but having failed 3 out of the 7 including maths i had failed the leaving... I ended up with 160 points...
Had i done no study at all for 5th and 6th but done my homework.. i could have got 300+ easy...i am now repeating.. ( barely got back in) and i need 400 points... if i get it the teachers will all sh!t their pants... i know i can if i study.. but whether or not i can i have yet to find out...

I believe for those who have the same attitude as i had.. and find they cant study.. well then u can't! I had a lotta **** goin on outside of skool...ur better off to take a year out and come back ( i wanted to but i was made stay) they told me the experience would be an advantage for next year.. Thats BS i failed... altho it helped me in that i now know the layout of the papers... yep i was that bad...

I'm doing
ENGLISH
IRISH
MATHS
BIOLOGY
ENGINEERING
ART

all higher bar maths... i gotta teach myself biology though..:( the class was to full to get into..

I'm gonna do 4 hours study a night.. starting tomorrow..;)

CuLT

Christ flynn, thats tough going.

I am in LC yr. difficult enuff to get started, and to keep going.

rED, one of my mates is currently school champion of foozball, undefeated, care to challange?

Time spent studying is relatively pointless once you start going past the 3 hour mark, after 2 its tough going aswell, unless u are some kind of machine.

The school provided us with a seminar on study skills from the "Student Enrichment Services", which i found to be very useful.

This is centred on methods of study, as opposed to time spent. However, timing is critical.

This: http://www.studentenrichment.ie/studytips.html is some of the most astoundingly useful ways of studying i have seen. I got it on a booklet given to us after the seminar, but this appears to be the same stuff.

If you are having a lot of trouble studying, motivating yourself, try to get in on one of these seminars, they're a big motivational and confidence booster.

phreak

the leaving cert is piss easy to pass, but to do really well it involves alot of work.