Hi All,

Hope the Christmas is going well for everyone! Few updates going live this week, including a new Twitter section which follows all tweets which mention “Leaving Cert” or “Junior Cert”.

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AllHonours.ie Twitter Tracker – Leaving Cert

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Hi everyone.

Long time no see. First off, lets give our selves a pat on the back for finally completing those dreaded Christmas exams! Oh it seemed infeasible at times and almost unnecessary, we may have thought the teacher’s were wicked beings for prolonging and increasing our stress levels but in the end, I think you’ll agree that indeed, it was important after all. We think we’ve done well enough for ourselves at this time, with the CAO and other preps for next year, these exams can be pushed to the side at times. I know that I could have put a tad more effort into my studying for these tests and probably won’t do as well as i hoped. BUT now I’m in study mode (bit late). I am rearing to go! I’ve made out the timetable and am dead serious about this new idea of mine. So 10am-5pm every day,5-7pm a break,7-8 another hour and then that’s that. So i’ll be doing hour blocks,  the first and last blocks go to HPAT prep and institute revision work. Sounds good written down but will i stick to it? With my super studious sister by my side i would think yes. But you never know what the holidays can bring…Anywho..I now reluctantly await my results in the mail…

I ended up going shopping in Dublin again today. I also ended up buying Wuthering Heights,many of you have probably already read this classic novel, I’ve been putting it off for years, so i finally bought it. I’ll start reading it soon, after I finish William Goldman’s ‘The Princess Bride’, a present from one of my friends. Strangely enough I never heard of it before…it’s also a film..? Who knew!? I haven’t read a good book in a while so we shall see.

My French oral was called off as my teacher was sick and absent from school for the whole week. The week we are back she’ll schedule a new one. I was seriously disappointed, I had everything prepared and was totally in the zone! As sad as my love for French might be, I’ve recently gotten worse, embarrassingly worse, it hurts to admit this but the fact that we all understand my strange feelings and alien nature of being optimistic and at times rather negative, translating the last names of people if the root is French (olly walls) makes it a bit easier to say this…I have searched the magnificent thing that is youtube for “popular French singers/bands” and have discovered a woman known to the French public as ‘Alizeé’ some of her old tracks like ‘j’en ai marre’ and ‘ j’ai pas vingt ans’ are pretty decent…ok so I really like them? yes I love them!..:( have a listen…they probably wont do anything to aid my French but I thought it was a nice idea..:) Indochine are a good band too…strange yes…:) I wonder if there’s any Irish bands? but I do think by watching ‘franny’s feet’ and ‘ni hao kao lan ‘ as gaeilge on TG4 in the mornings helps with my Irish listening because they use basic Irish,,i mean its made for 2 year olds really…(cringe!)

The problem with me not posting in ages means i write long novels for you guys and you prob skim down to the end to see if I’ve written anything decent or basically ruined your day with nonsense and nothing that’s really amazing. So iIjust want to basically finish off by saying ‘Happy X-mas’ and I hope you all have a wonderful, successful, healthy and happy new year 2010, let’s hope it’s a good one:)

p.s I’m really enjoying T.S Eliot’s Poetry…I love it actually!!!

Bonne Chance mes amis:)

-Ally

Hello all!
I began the week getting back HPAT results from our school. It turns out the test we got is either very easy, or the people in my school are absolute genii (plural of genius anyone?!) Basically the lowest result was 61%, or 67/110, which equates to about 180 points using the only form of marking scheme ACER have given with the highest score being 73/110 (or just over 200 HPAT points). I got 71/110 (197 HPAT points), one less than I got in my previous test but I was the second highest out of the 9 people that took the test so I didn’t feel too bad. Going on my results I would only need 530, however we’ll see next June, I think I’ll take the test anyway!

I got the chance to meet up with 2 of the other bloggers and a few more All Honours users on Friday night for a focus group with the founder of this website Patrick Barry. I have to say, the €50 from the talk was most welcome, considering the time of year! It was also great to hear about other peoples study habits from other schools and what websites they use to aid their study, so it was far from a waste of time plus I got to meet some really nice people!

Leaving Cert time table has just been published, finished this day 6 months exactly; scary or what! I only have one day with two exams so it won’t be too hectic, plus a decent break for Chemistry and Economics!

I took the liberty to fill out my CAO last week with Medicine occupying my top 3,  followed by Pharmacy, Actuary in UCD and DCU, Primary Teaching in Frobel and lastly Fiance & Economics in Maynooth! It’ll be interesting to see how that changes between now and July 1st!

Christmas Exams report arrived in the post during the week too, 100 in Maths. 97 in Biology, 90 in Economics, 86 in Chemistry, 80 in English, 68 in Irish and 64 in French. They were by the best I’ve done, but the chances of me doing that well in the LC are fairly slim!

So 2 days before Christmas, everyone excited?:D I’ve beaten all previous records and finished my shopping a full 5 days before the big day! No idea what I’m getting but that’s all part of the excitement! This year is going to be completely different to previous years, with my previous two Christmas holidays being full of Young Scientist work. Sadly, this year it is going to be replaced by study and gym work! How much study I actually do will be intesting as I usually make great plans to do work, but it never materialises

Thats all for now folks! HappyChristmas everyone and I hope Santa comes to all

I noticed my blog was gathering a bit of dust. Overall Christmas exams went surprisingly well. Kinda gave me a false sense of security more than anything else if truth be told. Especially English where I had to write a short story. (Just give you a lil extract from it)

—- He still felt as if he was looking back towards the dead dog, remembering the moment at which he realised that the eyes were no longer blinking, and he recognised his own reflection in the dark little eyes that looked like the shiny carapaces of a couple of dead little beetles.

Who knew I could write such compelling literachore (wahhhayyy – say no more, say no more). On a serious note though a few tears actually escaped as I was writing this. Hadn’t cried like that since 911 or Apollo Creed dying in Rocky 4.

Had a pretty hectic first week off what with ‘ushering’ my English cousin around town. Felt like a translator the whole day.
Common exclamations included “Ah Jaysus!”, Wat’s de Story, bud?” (which is taken to mean “How are you, my friend?”). ”Wudja looka dat foockin eejit over dare” (”Would you glance upon that young man over there”).

Also had to purchase a suit. More business opposed to pleasure. Should have known what I was getting myself into when I went to the suitable company to get one. Word on the street is it was going to be a law firm before they noticed the pun.

Was fitted by one of those creepy goblin like things that always seems to get a job in the clothing department. Had a grin so cheesy on him you could melt it on toast. Spent a good part of an hour listening to his rehearsed TV catch lines “Oh suits you sir, suits you”. God I hate this place.

And finally managed to get a pretty convincing fake id. Still looks like a real fisher price effort but I suppose it beats my drivers license that officially states that I’m 17.

That’s about all I have to say. Prob won’t post again till the next full moon but ye never know. Tty’sl8r

Omg. I don’t know what happened but once I saw the timetable I got really excited haha.

Maybe it’s because I’ve 4 days study before my evil Spanish exam .

I’ve the last of my christmas tests tomorrow, spanish and english.

Spanish is going to have an opinion piece, dialogue and comprehensions. I’m really not very into that language, but I’m learning off useful vocabulary so fingers crossed it comes in…useful!

English is just King Lear and a Vision and Viewpoint Question. A lot of people don’t seem to like Vision and Viewpoint, I don’t mind it, it’s more Cultural Context I can’t do.

Economics, Biology and History today and oh dear god. I studied 3 essays for history, hoping to god Spain came up as an essay instead of France. But no, French wars of religion was an essay, and not even the bit of the French Wars that I understood. The end of them, I haven’t the faintiest why they ended, but in the words of this leaving cert student: “The main figure heads for the Huguenot religion and Catholicism died. And the country was not in the finanical state to continue the wars,”

…attempt marks there somewhere…please? lol. Biology went much better, my crazy studying at 5 this morning must have helped. Ditto with Economics but I drew the wrong curve…hopefully I won’t lose too many marks cos I studied so hard over the weekend.

Anyways, I was only posting because I haven’t done so in so long. I’m about to go off and learn my opening paragraph for the Vision and Viewpoint question I’m doing tomorrow.

Love from

Aims

xxx (Merry Xmas to everyone if I don’t post again until after )

Leaving Certificate timetable 2010 – Click to download.

Also, why not check out our extensive database of previously asked questions and answers.

Junior Certificate timetable 2010 – Click to download.

Also, why not check out our extensive database of previously asked questions and answers.

Hey guys!

I can’t actually remember the last time I blogged. I’m terrible! I’ve become so lazy these days…I’m barely making it into school! But that’s been put a stop to since…..THE XMAS REPORT. I wasn’t really planning on letting my parents see it but they insisted that I give it to them. I always hated school reports. There’s always some comment or result I figure is safer not to let them see. But the results weren’t too bad…English 68, French 60, Biology 75, History 70, Business 86…fairly alright results for me but do you think the teachers could leave it at that…hmmm….no!

There had to be remarks about my high absenteeism from school. I had my father convinced that I didn’t actually have to go to school the full week and only really had to go for three days tops. Everyone was happy out with this arrangement..especially me! But now it’s been ruined. The teachers couldn’t just write good result or whatever, they had to point out the bad also. Is it really only me that understands that I can work far better at my own pace at home with my kettle at hand?? Now, my father is insisting that I go in…Everyday! That’d be fine except…I have 25 free classes a week! I don’t want to spend all that time sitting in a cold hall. And I get so much done at home….I really want to quit school…..

But on the plus side Joe won the X Factor!! He is actually sex on legs! Though my friend thinks he possibly bats for the other side…not my opinion though…himself and Mrs. Cole have deffo got something going on! And The Apprentice Final is on tonight….bets to whos gonna win?? Steve Rayner ftw!!

So, asides from the whole ‘I have to go to school thing’, Life is good!  Btw, does anyone know where I can watch Il Postino on the ‘net??

They watched it in English but….I wasn’t in….ok, maybe they do have a point….I also do have a lot of homework to catch up on….Oh shit!Gotta go!

Well hello all again! Still to get a pic up but hey, I guess I’ll live!
Crazy sort of week, Trinity open day on Wednesday was pretty cool. I’ve walked by it countless times but had never actually gone inside so was quite a shock when I first went in, it was like stepping into 19th century Ireland! I had only one problem however, the people. Never in my life have I heard such concentration of pseudo- American accents – they drive me CRAZY!!! Aside from that though, the day was enjoyable. I managed to get into the Physio, Pharmacy and Medicine talk. The crowds were crazy though, I heard the amount of people trying to get into the medicine talk was three times the capacity of the lecture hall! It was poor planning though, there were far bigger rooms than the one they had it in. Anyone that did make it to the med talk however was treated to an epic display of stand-up comedy! The guy, what a legend! He had everyone in the theatre in stitches!

We had our parent-teacher meetings this week. It went pretty well, all the teachers seem happy so that’s always a bonus! Got my English result back, 80%! Seriously surprised myself seeing as I never achieved anything more than 75 in any previous test! That brought my points tally up to 545 which was a serious shock seeing as I only got 425 in the summer, just shows what a bit of study can actually do!

I did a mock HPAT test from the practice booklet last weekend. Section 1 seemed impossible! Time was a serious issue so it was mostly quick guesses. Section 2 and 3 I flew through however. I was a little annoyed to learn ACER won’t release a marking scheme for the test, despite forking out the guts of 30 quid for it. I got the mother to correct it and managed to get 72/110 which equates to about 65%. I then found out each section carried equal weight which meant I scored a pretty impressive 201 in total. That’s what worried me though. That would put me in the top 2% of people that took the test last year and well frankly; I don’t think I would manage to fit into that percentile! I did it under proper time conditions but my score seemed a lot higher than expected! Anyone know of anyone who done any of the practice tests last year and how they fared in the actual thing?

One full week of school left till Christmas =] Have yet to start shopping, yet alone thinking about what to get people. Despite promising myself every year I won’t leave it until the last minute next year, it’s almost two weeks to the date now, and I know I’ll still be out shopping Christmas Eve!

But hey, 18 the day after, I think I’ll defiantly deserve my few pints St. Stephens night!!
Au revoir mes amis!

Ok this is a bit of an odd one, but where do you get your inspiration? Poetic, artistic or, in my case, what motivates you? As I was desperately trying to fall asleep on Tuesday night, this thought crossed my mind. It wouldn’t leave. Like that those annoying lyrics of a song that play over and over, it was jammed.

Famous faces kept dropping in and out of my thoughts, Obama (who should not have won that Nobel peace prize), and his goosepimple-speaches, Mary Robinson, Mary McAllese and so on. But what have they ever done that really affects me? Anything that warms my heart or chills my spine to even thin.

Random phrases took their turn early the following morning. Those quotes, those petty clichés; so annoying, but true. I’m not even going to list them, they annoyed me so I’m sure they would annoy you too. Iconic quotes always seem to make me feel as if what I have to say is pathetically insignificant – sometimes I do need to be told to shut up, I know, but wouldn’t it be nice to hear your name break that crisp silence after real quote? One that sends shivers down your spine and through every muscle in your body. I may keep dreaming!!

By this time I was on the bus to Trinnity, probably the reason these thoughts were harassing my brain. Bus = iPod = crazy lyrics that are usually meaningless mumble to me but, because of this whole philosophical mood-thingy, sounded really deep!! Example; The Blizzards – ok take “Buy it Sell it,” always seemed like an over-energetic “mumble,” but it’s about consumerism and prostitution and its actually really meaningful!! Coldplay; ok always one of the “deeper” bands, but really listen to the lyrics and it means so much more. “Clocks “and “Yellow” have to be my favourite two. Those guys will go down in history. They are immortalised by their music (it’s a half borrowed quote from my notes on Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium”).

Yeats wanted desperately to be immortal, to not be hurt like a human. “Sailing to Byzantium” is by far my favourite poem of his. The quest. The journey to perfection. Isn’t that what we all want? Perfection. Maybe it’s just us Virgos, but I think not. Being self-critical is good, but there’s a limit. Oh I feel a quote coming on (courtesy of my Granny)!! “There are enough people in the world who will want to put you down without you doing it for yourself.” That’s really true! I read a book called “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers.” Read it and live it! It had so many of those confidence boosting quotes that when it made you fell all warm-and-fluffy inside!!! Let’s face it, who couldn’t do with a little boost in the auld self confidence every once in a while =D

Ok back to this inspiration thing. Well, where is more awe inspiring then the big TCD itself? Walking through the cobble courtyard, I just felt a “bubble” rise in my throat. I swallowed quickly and ended up in a coughing fit!!! I think it must have been laughter – laughter at the fact that I was walking in the prints of some of the greats – laughter at the fact that I was wandering around looking for my life inspiration instead of living my life – and probably laughter at the thought of the ridicuolous sentence being handed out to the people of this country only a few blocks away.

Well I found my inspiration later that day in an unsuspecting Cork man or his words anyway. Have you ever heard someone speak and thought “yes, this is for me”? Well I had one of those moments listening to a mini-lecture on medicine. Don’t ask me why, but this is what I want. And I can now say that without feeling guilty, because he said I could! I have always thought I would like to do medicine, but never felt right saying so because I had no answer to “why.” Among some of the people I know, it was and is thought that being ambitious is the same as being snobby. That wanting the best, is like saying what I have is inadequate. And so what if it is? I won’t regret not living my life just because a used-to-be friend thinks I’m being snobby!! Humph! (Sorry that needed to come out!!)

Well after this momentous realisation, I decided I had some changes to make, which I would do in a calm, mature manner. I dropped to pass maths the next day, and made a pact with myself not to get emotionally caught up with this person again. I will not be dragged down!!! Dropping to pass maths really was the right thing to do because I now need to come up a grade (at least) in everything else :/

For now though, my hpat preparation begins. Anyone got any tips? (I know I’m competing against you if you think about it like that, but you’ve got a head start!!) So I have six days of school left, then six days off, and then it’s up to Leeson Street for five. Having a bad biology teacher has a lot to answer for =( Anyone else heading up???
Make the most of that Christmas spirit =D

Ta ta
Katie xxx