Hey hey!!

It’s midterm!!! Wish I could be as excited about it as everyone else is but it’s not happening! I’ve spent the majority of my bank holiday weekend trying to figure out WTF I am oing to do for my history research topic (How cool am I??). But yeah, I still have no clue. Last year, I did the Magdalene Laundries..I got it done so fast and I was delighted with it. And then this year, I find out I can’t use it again! I have to say that that’s a pretty stupid rule. I’ve already done the project so why can’t I submit it again, it’s still MY work, no difference really.

I suppose though, that would be making things too simple! I’ve got a good bit of study planned for this week. My main focus is history and Biology. I am so determined to get them from D3s to B2s. Oh, and of course King Lear….I really don’t get that play. Nothing happens in it. The daughters are bitches, Lear is a senile old git, Edmund is a socio path and Kent is most likely gay…where’s the plot Shakespeare?

Is anyone else watching The Apprentice?? My mother got me into it and it’s actually quite good. That Bill Cullen guy is class, he makes everyone feel like crap. Well, that’s the craic people. Not a lot I know but what can you do!

Happy Halloween!

Hey guys

How’s everyone? Hope you’ve got some great things planned for the midterm. I decided to make  a study timetable for this week..I’m actually sticking to it! I’ve been doing some chemistry exam papers all day and I must say, I honestly do see an improvement, I’m moving through them more quickly and I’m finding them much easier. So, seriously the best way to study is to do exam papers. I have plans to go over my biology and art too but iIcan’t seem to find my art history notes…:( I’m also feeling 100 times better, no magical mucus! I guess last week was just one of those weeks that I’m sure everyone goes through. I don’t have much news to be honest. I will report though, the weekend courses are going excellent! I have this week off then in 2 weeks time I’ll be back, plus the following Sunday I’ll have the HPAT prep course which I’m looking forward to as well. I was in RCSI on Saturday too, I got really encouraged. I don’t know, it just felt strange. I kept thinking…”You can do it…you can do it”, so what if it’s cheesy? :) It’s true I’ve got my ticket for the open day in January   Oh yeah! I’m starting my driving lessons tomorrow as well, I have no idea how that’s going to go.

So, Have a good midterm, try to study that one subject for even 20 minutes at the least and have fun, because we deserve.. and pretty much need a break! See you when I see you! XD

Hey im getting the hang of this thing now I suppose

So how was your weekend? Packed with revision and studying I hope or did someone else decide they want to turn eighteen this weekend?  Either way yours was probably better than mine.

Friday was grand, did a bit of the homework for about and hour and a half and then watched telly for the rest of the day and YouTube’d crap for the rest of the night. My bad I guess. Saturday morning-I get up at 7am and leave at around 8:15am for The Institute in Dublin. That went well, except I forgot my calculator and did nothing in Chemistry which really got me frustrated, plus I was unusually hungry afterward and that ‘chilli tuna melt’ out of the bagel factory really didn’t do the job. Then comes Dundrum. So my sister (who came along this weekend) buys a €109 jacket from M&S, I really wanted it but they didn’t have my size left. I try on a really nice (in my opinion) navy jacket from warehouse but my mother tells me it looks weird on me.

Basically i came home then, starving, angry, jealous and frustrated. And to make things better when i tried to take a nap (at around 7pm) i couldn’t. Why? Because my fricking nose was filled with magical mucus that would not disappear! (I got sick AGAIN after just recovering from the cold two weeks before. I attempted my English essay on King Lear but couldn’t get myself to finish it. I couldn’t get myself to start my Irish homework or Chemistry homework either, so i ended up watching telly again.

Sunday; I got up at 1pm and finished off the homework but watched the repeat of X factor which lead to other impulse telly watching. I just remembered i have a Biology test on Tuesday on photosynthesis. I left my notes in my locker. SOOO I have to attempt to get into the school tomorrow even though its closed (day off-3rd year PTM), otherwise I’m screwed. I decided I wanted to watch ‘ Back to the future’ and ‘WALL-E’ on Sky anytime too..a waste of like…4 hours.

So to sum up my weekend…I really messed up. Like, I feel so bad right now…I’ve never been so unorganised in my life:( and I’m about to snip off my nose at this stage too! I just keep watching the damn telly !!! I really need to cop myself on. I’m finding that I keep putting off things till…whenever. I’ll try improve on that.

Oh yeah, i also booked myself for the HPAT prep class in the Institute of Education in November…I’ve read so many articles about people who are for and against it, its pros and cons… the ‘Irish Medical Times’ (Dad’s weekly read ) had about 2-3 articles in it about how people don’t benefit from it..its just a money making scheme etc etc. In my opinion, i think if i sat down, looked at a few questions and was showed some logical and practical ways of attempting them id psychologically be prepared for the test, and therefore would prob perform much better?..sure we’ll see!

I should really get some sleep now so ill talk to you all later Thanks for putting up with my pessimism, i really appreciate it

Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” ad.
I’m still struggling to believe the guy who used this in an English essay last year received 520 points and is now doing medicine thanks to the HPAT. That guy is meant to be the difference between my funeral being open casket or closed? I should probably introduce myself, names Gera, was simply Ger but ye got to have that ‘a’, yeno how it is. Doing the ole leaving cert, and as the quote up top might tell you, yes the whole thing is a joke. I mean I knew this guy and he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, prob couldn’t tell you which way an elevator was going if you gave him two guesses, yet funnily enough he was the lucky one who was born with one hell of a memory. I think it’s fair to say the L.C is just one big memory test that’s just waiting for you to throw away your social life and put a ban on the alcoholic substances, preferably tequila. Neither of which goes down well with me I’m afraid. Now don’t get me wrong I’m trying to get a hang of this thing, what with writing out notes, sharpening the pencils, cleaning up the room but still cant manage to actually sit down and retain some pointless info that I’m just going to forget about when I go to college to study law (hopefully). The aim is 500 points for trinity, now getting this is the difference between me having a roof over my head and me busking outside Easons come September as law in trinity is a pretty big tradition in the ole family, supposedly I have 10 cousins involved with politics, go figure. Now this should be enough to motivate anyone to go for their desired points but it’s actually the proposed motorcycle my da will get me if I manage to get 500 is what’s doing the trick. Suzuki GSX-R1000 in yellow, oh yes. I think the only reason he made this deal was because he probably thought I had no chance of passing the theory test as I wasn’t going to pay another 30 Euro to re-take it if I failed now. Come to think of it – and I’m not proud of this by the way- but Id say if I didn’t write out the answers on my arm I wouldn’t have been able to see the look on his face perhaps acknowledging maybe just maybe he might have to buy a bike after all. Anyway that’s my post for the week, have to write out an English essay on pride and prejudice (I think). I’m just getting used to this thing by the way ,what with being the only guy and all, give us a chance goddd ha.

Positive thinking and motivation was my new approach to the Leaving Cert and the whole study thing. Unfortunately, it seems to have taken a back seat in the grand scheme of things. I’ve finally decided what course I REALLY REALLY want to get this year and I was being all motivated with my trusty flashcards and my strict study plan (even though I swore I wouldn’t attempt one this year!) and then in a quick glimpse of my brother on YouTube…it was gone.

I closed my economics and settled down to watch pointless videos on YouTube. I told myself that it would only be for half an hour but….that suddenly turned into two hours that just flew by. After that, I was too tired.
Even now, I’m writing this ‘cuz I could just not be bothered to attempt my English essay on poverty!
Though I have to say, my major problem this year has to be French. I hate it! I’ve never really listened in class enough to hate it but this year I went to about five classes and stayed awake and I realized I hate it with a passion. I can read it fine and speak it but listening to it and writing it is a complete bitch. Why do they have to talk so fast on the stupid aurals? We’re not that bloody fluent in it!

I really feel like I’ve regressed in it. I’m still learning the passé compose yoke and which ones are irregular.
The French really have to complicate things. How many bloody tenses do they have to have? And why can’t all verbs be regular????

It’s beyond me. Well, that concludes my little rant for this week!
Au revoir!

Hi all!

This week is my first week back at school. It’s my second time to go into LC year and I have to say, it’s not been the most impressive start. Last year, I watched the whole year disappear in a haze of study time tables, history project research and procrastination. The study time table thing was a great idea I thought…at first. The only problem was I spent most of my time making up the bloody thing that actually implementing it.

I think that’s the reason I have ended up in the same place I was last year…though this year definitely has more of a melancholyfeel to it. Most of my usual people to talk to and hang around with have moved onto pastures new while I’m still at home making study timetables. So, for the LC 2010, I decided that I am going to study my ass off and not waste a minute of it. So far, I have done nada except look up the internet for ‘notes’ aka bebo and facebook (I love to depress myself further by looking at people freshers’ pics and college nights out!).

Study time tables and extra classes and revision courses are really making the parents think that I am now a dedicated student as opposed to last year. HA! Little do they know!
The great thing about being a repeat is that no one actually cares where you are. I don’t want to go to French…I don’t! It’s a sweet bitch alright.

I have decided to take up the english course again…not a smart move according to many people. “You do know it’s a new course, don’t ya?” That is all I hear whenever anyone asks what subjects I’m doing.
Yes, I’m aware and no, I’m not really worried. That was until I realised I have no motivation. All I want to do is sleep! I’m hoping that in a few weeks time, I’ll get into the swing of things again and become the biggest geek ever! ‘Tisn’t looking promising however!

The aim is for this year to bring my points from 335 up to 450! I’m still optimistic I’m taking up economics, though I don’t know what exactly that entails, I’m just thinking it’s like business but it’s another honour subject! I still don’t think I’m taking the whole year as seriously as I should even though I now know what it’s like to not get into college, a PLC or barely get back to school due to high numbers already repeating. I searched for a job but since I have no experience or qualifications..no one was too enthusiastic to hire me.

I must go now to attempt to analyse Eavan Boland’s poetry…who I’ve only recently discovered isn’t actually a man like I thought (as I said I haven’t had a very good start…)

Adios!

Sophie

*WARNING: If you don’t have the time of day and think im a waste of pixelated space then don’t read on. The Following is a compressed (or so i thought..not so much after re-reading this thing) version of my life in the past 2 weeks.

Paramore- Song called “Careful” (click&listen=your new oxygen)

Hey everyone:)

yes im back already! let me first start off by saying “OMG PARAMORE’S NEW ALBUM IS AMAZINGGG!!”

feel free to agree

So yes,ive been quite busy the last few weeks.

• I finally passed my (2nd) theory test,
• bought paramore’s album,
• got a loan of muse’s new album from my friend,
• become addicted to mocha lattés,
• been given the most brilliant news that carlow’s three screen cinema is going to have a new location + ten screens,
• improved my pronunciation of “J’aime” in French all thanks to Kevine (a great french exchange student (well..22 year old) who does lunch time conversation classes in school.
• become friends with another french speaking girl named Marionne (From Belgium )
• Suprisingly got an A2 in two of my chemistry tests,
• Applied for my silver ‘Gaisce’ Award, AND
• had enough time to clean my room.

All that plus I still go to Dublin on saturdays for the revision courses. Which are going quite well. My biology teacher is great as is my french teacher as is my legend of a chemistry teacher from..wait for it…Monaghan! oh yeahh:D what an accent.

This week though, has been horrible with regards to school work. I just got back from my Parent Teacher meeting a few hours ago. The teachers have gone M-A-D with the homework and test this week just so they have something to present our parents with..For God’s sake! Do they not understand that we (mostly) do six other subjects and that those six other teachers give us the same amount of homework!? Its so unfair. I do evening study for 2 hours and this week i found i still had work and tests to study for when i got home at 6pm. Now add an hour for dinner and the usual shower,i usually went to bed at say….12-1am every night!

That is both unhealthy and unfair..where are our rights people?! they should really have some tests prior to the day of the meetings,its easier for us and them aswell.

Anyway, the meeting was fine. Better than i thought (we accompany our parents btw) and not as nerve wrecking as i expected. Most of the teachers (bar Art) said id be well able for the As. So, naturally.. i was delighted. My art teacher just told me to loosen up a bit because J.C art isn’t the same as L.C art. (btw what do you think of the J.C themes this year? I like the one about light and sound..and the out and about one ain’t to bad either:)) other than that i was a happy little camper. I don’t know why but when your teacher’s praise your work and believe in you ,,, you feel the same way! It’s brilliant!

I have my revision course in the morning so i better head on up and finish my last bit of homework.

BUT … If i have any bit of advice for anyone at this stage ,its to keep on top of your homework. I mean, don’t let it slip away. “Ah sure ill do it tomorrow after i watch (insert soap, series, film name here)”. No you actually wont!!!! YOU WONT I SAY!! do it now!…go on…get up off your arse reading this and DO YOUR HOMEWORK…….NOW! you won’t regret it keep working on improving what your finding hard and talk to your teachers about it. thats why they’re there. Ask questions in class because now is the time you should, not when your teacher’s revising for the mocks and assumes you have it understood.

just keep your eye on the prize really.

600 points……….

600 points……

6…..or whatever you need

as for me, it’s way past my bedtime so i should go.Bonne Chance

-Ally

Hey Allhonourers ,

So I’m not to sure how to start off something about the leaving cert since I’m only starting it myself this year . Yes I did do TY and yes I agree with what most people say about it (It was the best school year I have ever had) but it didn’t exactly help me with my subject choices like it was supposed to , honestly it confused me even more :/ But that doesn’t stop me telling everyone younger than me to do it

I’m kind of inbetween feelings about sitting the leaving atm :/ In one hand I’m not that bothered but in the other I am completely freaking out about it . I mean why can’t it be like the junior cert where A1s , B2s and C3s didn’t exist ?? Why can’t it be where nobody has to know the exact result you got and just be “Oh I got 8honours and 2pass ” ( My results btw ) Points just annoy me

Soooo … I want to be a primary teacher . For that I have to go to Mary Immaculate in Limerick , need 480+ points and have to do Higher Level Irish . Nothing I was worried about last year but now that we know the teachers we’re going to have for the next two years , I must admit I’m a tinsy bit scared :/

I am a very strong believer that the teacher you have affects the grade you get . I myself have two very good examples of this . Numero Uno … English , My best subject all through primary school up until first year . Then second year came , along with a new teacher and I was failing every test Now fifth year , new teacher again and it’s my best subject yet again . Example two … Irish , Again one of my best subjects since starting school . Now fifth year , new teacher again and well now one of my worst subjects .

Another thing that everyone seems to be stressing about . I mean come on like … Its the start of fifth year and we’re stressing about something that won’t be happening for at least another two years that doesn’t affect our lives in anyway :/ People I know are actually more stressed about this than the leaving cert . I think it’s crazy but I have got to admit I am one of those people myself . I don’t think it’s just the students in my school are nervous about their deb’s but I think our principal might be a tad bit too … Remember a few weeks ago ?? There was a school from Cork on the news about how they put out condoms on the tables at the deb’s ?? Well if you do well then you know my school If you don’t google it I don’t see what the big deal is … You’re finished school , you will probably never be in the same place with all of the people you have just spent the last six years ( or even more ) of your life together and you want to have a good night with jokes and fun . And I can publicly say that’s all it was – a joke

So that’s all for me for now … I have to go ’study’:P Fun stuff

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday”, or so said Don Marquis. Well, Mr Marquis, story of my life. I spent the better part of sixth year mastering the art of procrastination. I could put off anything -homework, housework, study – like a pro. Bad idea. Procrastination and the Leaving Cert go together like Fianna Fáil and the Green Party – seems like a good idea to some at the time, but in the end this combination just doesn’t work out.

Hello, I’m Sinéad and, as you may have guessed, I’m repeating the Leaving Cert. I’m also taking it seriously this time. My last attempt at the Leaving Cert didn’t work out very well (and I’m not referring to the Paper Two fiasco!). I failed to comprehend the basic ‘formula’ that best represents this exam: success = study x time. There is nothing, let me tell you, that will engrain that formula onto your brain like sitting in a state exam not knowing how to answer any of the questions in front of you. It’s horrific.

My experience of sixth year was slightly odd. It never really hit me that I was doing the Leaving Cert. I felt no panic or need to study/work. Not in the run up to the mocks, not during the orals, not even the night before the English Paper One. Therefore, the two weeks I spent sitting my exams were, for want of a better term, a period of self-preservation. It was too late for dazzling results, so I opted to try not to fail anything. Intense cramming and 5am starts were involved, though I spent more time doing most of my exams then I spent studying for them. Not something I’m proud of.

I suppose now I should tell you what this last-minute approach resulted in. Well, 450 points*, actually. Not a score to be ashamed of at all. It got me my fifth choice in the first round offers – Law and Business in Maynooth. Looking back now, I didn’t put my CAO choices in the right order. My seventh choice, Economics and Politics in UCD, appealed to me more than numero five. (Ain’t hindsight grand?)

How many people have you heard of have repeated their Leaving Cert because they were five points off? I was five points off. Not five points short, mind; I had five points too many. Bitter pill to swallow.. Anyway, mistakes were made, lessons learned, etc, etc. I now know not to take the Leaving Cert too lightly. Yes, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all it’s made out to be at time, but it is important. Just as important is the CAO, which coincidentally I’m now totally unsure of, but perhaps there’ll be more ranting on that at a later date.

I’m a week into sixth year take two at my new school. It’s actually an all boys’ school (though obviously they let girls repeat there, I didn’t just wander in). I have become one of my good friend’s personal heroes because of this small detail. I don’t really see how it’s a big deal, but then again I went to a mixed school before this and she went to a convent all girls’ one. I offered to trade her for her college place and I’m pretty sure she was very nearly tempted..
I’m doing the same seven delightful (does sarcasm come across well in print?) subjects again: English, Irish, Maths, French, History, Economics and Physics. Repetition coupled with some courses changes and a new history project await me. Bring it on, I say. This time next year, hopefully both you and I shall be off in the big sch-moke, having the time of our lives. Here’s hopin’..

*Luck and generally jammy-ness played a significant part. I do NOT recommend following my hideous example! Besides, getting good points from cramming came back to bite me..karma’s a beach.