The Leaving Cert

[Teal'c]

Irish people only!

I think it just hit me about 30 seconds ago that the Leaving starts in just over 2 weeks.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh God, English, I'm screwed for English!!!! If Kavanagh doesn't come up, I'll have a heart attack. And French! I've failed every tape test I've ever done!!!! And Irish!!! Oh God, I've completely forgotten about that!!!! :O

[/longpanicedrant]

[ShadowMaat]

*points at Teal'c and laughs*

[Bagpuss]

Poor Teal'c! Shame on ya Shadow!

"Cheery FHB" checking in to offer a bit of sympathy and some positive "Part Irish" thoughts.

I'm sure you'll do OK,Teal'c! You've got 2 weeks to Cram the relevant course work into your Stargate Obsessed Brain.
(Been through all that c### years ago.Usually worked. )

Upside:Concentrating on the upcoming Exams= Good Pass marks.

Downside:Can you survive a Stargate-Free Concentration Zone?

Good Luck anyway! To you and any other Irish Gaters facing the Exam season.

[Aphrodite]

Good Luck! Teal'c and to all the Irish students taking the exam. Remember, if you don't do as well as u wish you did, IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD OR YOUR ACADEMIC AND CAREER LIFE.

[Flyboy]

Sorry I'm lost...

[Thoth]

Sorry I'm lost...

The leaving certificate is the Irish final exam. It is done when you are 17 or 18 years old and are leaving secondary school. You do 7 subjects, English, the hardest exam, is first on Wed 9th June. This is widely thought of as stupid because in English, your surroundings and feelings at the time of the exam effect your writing a lot. Being nervous on the day of the exam can cost a grade or two. Maths and Irish, the next two most difficult exams are directly after English on Thursday and Friday. The exams span two further weeks, ending on Friday 25th June with either Applied Mathematics or Ancient Greek. Any 4 subjects are chosen to do exams in after the 1st 3 days, other than Home Economics, which is on Friday afternoon.

points are assigned to each grade possible. An A+, or A1, as it is called in Ireland, rewards 100 points. While a B3(-), gives 70 points. The six subjects in which you scored the best are counted. These 6 subjects are added up and are comparable to the total possible 600 points.

Each college course can allow a certain amont of students in to it. For example, 100 students may be allowed to attend Law in Trinity College every year. If you are in the top 100 people applying to this course, you are accepted. In this way, the system allows for availability of places and general demand.

[Teal'c]

7? I'm doing 8! Some of my friends are doing 9... good old Applied Maths

[Thoth]

And now for you, Teal'c.

I'm not going to be one of these people who just say you'll be fine, don't worry, because it doesn't make any sense. You may not do fine, you may not get your choices, but I'm still going to say, don't worry.

On average, people doing the LC are not completely unlucky. In most of the subjects, you will get what you are hoping for. In others, you will get even higher. But, unfortunately, in some, you will be unlucky. This may be the case with English. 8 poets can come up this year, four will come up. If you have only studied Kavanagh, I would strongly advise that you study at least one other poet. With only Kavanagh, you have a 50:50 chance of him coming up. Putting in a little bit of work now by studying another poet and you'll be up considerably. I know that you may think that its a little late in the agme to change your strategy, but it has to be done. My advice is, learn Kavanagh in depth, if he comes up your sorted. Learn 75% of one other poet and 50% of at least one other. If any of those three come up, you'll be able to answer questions on them. If Kavanagh comes up, thank your lucky stars and do the question.

In French, you're probably screwed in the listening test any way. I'm sorry, but school's over, you can't practice any more. You do have one more chance to improve your french listening skills though. You're gonna have to speak French. If you have any family members that can speak French in anyway at all, get them to do so. My brother is doing his LC this year and I'm only doing my JC, but I do it for him.By doing this, you will make listening to French much more natural. Works for us like a charm. If you have entendu, use it and any French TV channels or radio stations that you have access to could also be v. useful. Encourage your friends to do it. Don't go out with them, but ask them over for study sessions and encourage speaking French during these study sessions. I know that it sounds v. dodgy and almost unbearable, but once you get into the rhythm it just comes naturally. Also, read all the French that you can. You live in Dublin don't you? You'll definetely be able to find French newspapers in Easons. Do the same for Irish and if you're lucky on exam day, you'll bring yourself up a grade.

In those subjects which you are very comfortable in and you have plenty of exam paper experience and you can do in the time provided, reduce your study. If you're doing accounting and you know exactly how to do evrything from the Cash Book to the Balance Sheet, do less study for it.

I'm afraid you're gonna have to do straight study from now on. There's no going out, going on the internet or texting and TV is gonna have to be 1 hour per night MAX. You should be aiming to do 8 to 9 hours every day. It's seems impossible but its not. Wake up early, at 8 o'clock. Start at 9, work till 1. Break for lunch for an hour. You've got just under 4 hours done so far. 2 til 6, then dinner leaves you with only two hours or so to go (i'm including breaks). 7-9 and you're finished. TV till ten and then either read some French literature or go to bed.

Finally, good luck and remember to read the q.

[shelsfc]

Irish people only!

I think it just hit me about 30 seconds ago that the Leaving starts in just over 2 weeks.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh God, English, I'm screwed for English!!!! If Kavanagh doesn't come up, I'll have a heart attack. And French! I've failed every tape test I've ever done!!!! And Irish!!! Oh God, I've completely forgotten about that!!!! :O

[/longpanicedrant]

You & me both!! Tomorrow's my last day, I've got goosebumps just thinking about it. I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown trying to cram next week!!
I'm screwed if Mahon doesn't come up....and Bismarck & Parnell in history!

Sure the tape test isn't that important if you did alright in the oral. Not that that helps much though, not for me anyway....
And hey, forgetting Irish isn't such a bad thing....really


Fair play to you for doing 8 subjects, I can barely handle 7!

[stargate barbie]

trust me. i've been there. the junior cert was way more terrifying.

in tape tests. if you read the question and work out what it means, and listen for for the key words on the tape, you should be able to work your way through it.

my french was an absolute laugh. i only did pass level and one of the sections was an article about "friends" followed by a bunch of questions about the article. i already knew the answers without having to read the article.

can't help you with irish. pass level again. waffle waffle waffle.

history, do a bunch of essays. write out bullet point facts about the key details, and plan your essays around them.

english. use your imagination. waffle through it. use fancy phrases like "alliteration" and "cacophony" and so on. if your really stuck for poetry and essays, i'll try to dig up my old notes and post some stuff here. just tell me what you're looking for. english was my best subject. i doubt you're doing the same book and play i did, hamlet and emma. so i probably can't help you too much with notes on whatever it is you guys are doing.

but hey, if you're desperate i'll give it a whirl.

don't worry too much about it. study but not too much. try to relax. and the most important advice i can give you is, wear sunscreen.

seriously though, good luck.

[shelsfc]

trust me. i've been there. the junior cert was way more terrifying..

Ah, the Junior is meaningless. I knew that at the time, so I wasn't too bothered. Not until I was about to open the results anyway!! I'm terrified of this alright...I was assisting one of the supervisors last year, and everyone was so nervous, & so relieved when it was over.

in tape tests. if you read the question and work out what it means, and listen for for the key words on the tape, you should be able to work your way through it.

It's all the different dialects that throw me, especially in Irish. I barely passed Irish in the mocks, so I'm not particularly optimistic about the real thing!

my french was an absolute laugh. i only did pass level and one of the sections was an article about "friends" followed by a bunch of questions about the article. i already knew the answers without having to read the article.

I'm doing higher French, but I'm thinking of dropping....my oral was a complete waste of time, I just went totally blank, so the few marks I did get might be worth more in pass.

history, do a bunch of essays. write out bullet point facts about the key details, and plan your essays around them.

My biggest problem in English & history are getting the exam finished. My writing is awful at the best of times, but when I'm rushing it's even illegible to me!!

I don't know about Teal'c, but I'm doing Macbeth.

Any help with poetry though would be more than welcome, and you'd have a friend for life!!!

don't worry too much about it. study but not too much. try to relax. and the most important advice i can give you is, wear sunscreen.

seriously though, good luck

Listen, thanks so much for all the advice (especially about the sunscreen! ), it's greatly appreciated!!

[stargate barbie]

no problem. who are you studying for english, and what poems. if i can find a copy of them, i'll try to do some interperetation and whatnot. who'd have thought you'd end up studying on a stargate forum?

if you've got any other questions feel free to ask.
i did, history, biology, physics, french, and the regulars, but i'm lazy so i took mostly pass and only a few higher levels (including english).

i did pass level history at the suggestion of my teacher, but ended up getting an A1 in it. i'm still bitter because i know i could have done well in honours.

[Teal'c]

I'm doing the 3 regulars, French, Physics, Accounting, Tech. Graphics and Applied Maths. Everything honour except Irish (You know your oral didn't go well when... you responded to "Dia duit" with "Dia duit" ) but I'm a bit iffy in French. In my head I'm like "Meh, I'll be fine, of course I'll get a C3!" but then other times I'm "Oh God! What if I'm not able to scrape a D3!!!" I think I'll talk to my teacher about it. It's a shame really, because I could have got a B but never put any effort into it...

Everything else I'm fine for. Irish I is a joke (My essay ALWAYS, without fail, features Charlie Bird, a motorbike and someone stealing something ) and the tape is pretty easy too. Irish II is not so easy, but only worth 17%

English, I should be OK, as long as my hand doesn't start killing me... I think that's the worst part, both papers being on the same day...

[shelsfc]

no problem. who are you studying for english, and what poems. if i can find a copy of them, i'll try to do some interperetation and whatnot. who'd have thought you'd end up studying on a stargate forum?

Um, Mahon, Heaney, Kavanagh, Plath, Dickinson & Wordsworth. I'm concentrating on Mahon (Grandfather, After the Titanic, As It Should Be, Chinese Restaurant in Portrush & Rathlin), Wordsworth (To My Sister, Skating, A slumber did my spirit seal, She dwelt among the untrodden ways, & It is a beauteous evening calm and free),Dickinson (Hope is the thing with feathers, I felt a Funeral in my Brain, A Bird came down the Walk, After great pain a formal feeling comes, I could bring You Jewels - had I a mind to, & A narrow Fellow in the Grass) and I suppose Kavanagh (Inniskeen Road, Shancoduff, A Christmas Childhood, Epic, Canal Bank Walk & Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin)

I didn't realise it was so much myself....

if you've got any other questions feel free to ask.
i did, history, biology, physics, french, and the regulars, but i'm lazy so i took mostly pass and only a few higher levels (including english).]i did pass level history at the suggestion of my teacher, but ended up getting an A1 in it. i'm still bitter because i know i could have done well in honours.

I do French & hist, but not bio or physics, I do chemistry. Fair play to ya, getting an A1 in history, even in pass, that's really good!! The only pass I'm doing at the moment is maths, but that could change in the next couple of weeks.

[shelsfc]

(You know your oral didn't go well when... you responded to "Dia duit" with "Dia duit" )

LOL! That's not as bad as saying "Oui" no less than 6 times in your Irish oral, then starting your French one with "Hi"