Although i hated my result and definitely want to re-check some subjects,im happy that i got science in UCD. It went up to 435,so i just made it. Although im going to Canada i still thought id see what i got this morning. The site crashed really early as Cillian mentioned. I don’t really know what to say here except that thank you for reading our blogs throughout the year,i hope they kind of gave a glimpse into our hectic and nerve wrecking lives whilst also giving a helpful hand and extra motivation to get you up and running this year…basically…just do your best!!!

Patrick – thank you once more,for being so generous as to make this site. So useful i cant even being to describe. My previous posts all commend Mr.Barry and allhonours.ie so i wont repeat myself.

It’s really been a mixture of emotions this year,but i guess its been worth it. We got what we hoped for and now we’re heading to college ! How does that feel? Now that is going to be a bigger experience than the leaving cert! So again,just attempt to do your best,grow from the experience.

Good luck to the class of 2010,whether you’re repeating,or heading to college.Good luck to the new 6th years! Keep your goals in mind when your studying,points have gone up so keep focused and devoted,but have the odd weekend out too. I can’t believe it’s over…almost surreal! I love it  Thank you allhonours.ie for just being there!!!

Goodbye web-based world. I thank you.

-Ally

Hey guys! Well, long time no see! I’m kind of all over the place at this stage if I’m honest. As your all guessing I did indeed get my leaving cert results. I wouldn’t like to say I was disappointed but I guess I kind of was. I always had that little voice in my head saying that I wouldn’t do as well as I hoped,that voice seemed to be true this morning. I went into school, 9am, was met by a happy principal and nervously opened the A4 envelope…only to reveal no sign of ANY A’s. The first thing I saw was a C1 in pass Irish, my heart dropped, it was then followed by a bleak B3 in English, not looking good. If  I wasn’t moving to Canada where I was already accepted into the science and arts course I’d tear this results up and eat it, then repeat in the hope of getting at least ONE damn A.

Irish (ord) C1,English(h) B3,Maths(ord) B2,French(h) B1,Art(H) B1,Chemistry(H) B3,Biology(H) B2.

now,i was expecting an A in at least english and biology, my top subjects in school..but no. Im also raging i wont be in ireland to see my scripts. I was pleasantly surprised though, to see that i had gotten a B1 in Art and a B3 in chemistry. Other than that,,like i said,,id so repeat.

I got 440 points…I think. Not nearly enough for medicine at ALL, along with my mere 124 points from the HPAT, that’s not going to get me an offer. I think if I were to stay here I’d get science in Maynooth, not even in UCD. In conclusion: Man is it hard to actually pull an A1 in the Leaving!

Although being photographed for local papers was flattering, you still have that feeling of regret, I should have studied that extra hour and not watched the X factor!”. But its over now, I did my best, its not the end of the world! Its a great result but just not great enough. Some of my friends barely passed so I shouldn’t be too upset.

In the end, it was an experience like any other in life.  You move forward not back. I’m just happy it’s over and i can get on with my life, and wait for Monday to see what offers I get! I’m leaving for Canada on the 25th. Start college there on the 1st of September.

Anyway, I hope everyone else did well too. I already mentioned Patrick Barry in my last post but I just want to say that you guys should really try out for these blogging spots, such an amazing experience.

We should all enjoy our day and the last bit of summer!!! best of luck with all that you do!!!!

-Ally xx

I’m just going to get this over with..

French: I thought it was actually a hard enough paper. Well hard as in the comprehensions were fine bar one or two questions but the written pieces left me hanging! I ended up doing the fast food one &the diary entry( which was grand). I did Q1 the one about emigration which was ok..overall i thought the paper was harder in comparison to last year, i did fine but defo didn’t get my A…:( maybe a low B??? The listening was a tad awkward at times especially the last section on tourism. I was really let down by the paper and felt i could have done better..

Biology: What a beauty of a paper! I loved it! I thought it was easy enough,,i didnt like the genetic cross questions though.Protein Synthesis came up..ha..hate that too but did it anyway. Other than than…lovely paper good start to the day!

Art: It was probably the most nervous i was before any of the exams but it was a grand old paper! I ended up doing Q1 in Irish art-lunula and the brighter collar,easy enough..for European art i did Raphael..which i also did in the mock and for appreciation i did the gallery question although the graffiti one was more popular. I wasn’t surprised by anything on the paper so it was all good. oh and i cant believe Francis Bacon came up!! We went to see his exhibition last December the same day we went to the IMMA.

Those two weeks actually flew by! I just have chemistry to do now for next week…i have no idea what that’s going to be like…kind of dreading it actually.

for those of you who finished the exams WHOOOO!!! well done! see..it wasn’t so bad right?? its over now so go and celebrate you earned it…and if your a  fellow blogger keep in touch! It’d be really interesting to see how everything turns out add me on msn: aaleen92@hotmail.com….as for the rest of us get into those books (for the last time hopefully)!!  lol

bonne chance mes amis!

-Ally

I’m kind of dissapointed in myself for dropping down to pass Irish this morning. It was dead easy and i was finished 40 minutes into the exam…dreadful or what? But I mean I don’t need honours irish so it would have been a huge work load on me and a waste..overall a great paper!

I ended up doing the essay on someone you like and the letter…the comprehensions were great aswel. obviously after doing honours for two years it seemed extremely easy for me..espesh the listening exam..I hope tomorrow’s Irish will be just as easy.

Maths was epic. Ordinary level too but epic. I might have just aced it!

Good luck for tomorrow!!!

Bonne chance mes amis!! -Ally

This will be a short post. Simply because its just maths paper 1,,,ordinary level.

I thought the paper as a whole was grand,much easier than i thought it would be,,the last part in Q8 caught me though…had no idea how to solve it!

Paper 2 will hopefully be alright too.,,new log tables are great! ha..

overall,a good start to the exams i think,first a great english paper and now a grand maths paper…i dont do geography bu my friends who did it said it was fine,,easy short answer questions..!! Have a good weekend and get some studying in there too!

P.S. i salute all those heroes who sat an honours maths paper….good on you…your all geniuses!!!!

bonne chance!!

-Ally

sorry for double posting..i hate doing that:(

wow,so this thing really blew up in the last few days so i thought id post!

Poetry:What can i say? last night i was giving out to myself ,,,”Ally,,what’s wrong with you? you know that Boland is most likely gonna come up so go study her NOW!!!”. but the fact is I hate boland..just don’t get me started. I decided to go against my conscience and quickly go over Kavanagh, Rich and Eliot; my favourite poets. I had a great answer prepared for Eliot so ended up doing him. I think im the only one im my class who did Eliot…i love him !!! Id say i got full marks in that question because it  was jsut perfect..the first thing i did was flick to the poetry section in the exam…it was just such a great feeling,,i think i was smiling for the first half hour in the exam!! I liked the unseen poem too,it was easy enough.

Lear: I did the question (i) loyalty triumphs over viciousness or whatever. It was good, i was happy with my answer. No more Lear is kind of sad. I’m gonna miss learning all those quotes and phrases that sound intelligent! (okay sorry no I’m not *slaps self*)

Comparative: Emm…it was okay,probably the one i was least happy with. I did G.V.V. part (i). It wasn’t up to my usual standard so we shall see!

All in all,i couldn’t be more happy with the English paper,thank God all my poets came up!!! I would be raging if i had spent my last minutes learning Boland,,in the end Eliot saved me I love that guy! Tomorrow maths awaits,,ordinary level that is…so it’ll be fine i suspect!

Bonne Chance mes amis!!!!!

-Ally…

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the eye. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror.I can take the next thing that comes along’. You must do the thing you think you cannot do”. -Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

I stumbled across, (okay Googled) this brilliant quote. I love it and definately feel that it’s relevant to all of us L.C. students who will soon endure the horror (for most) ,that is a week of exams, hours of writing and thinking. But we shouldn’t think of it as a ‘horror’ or something unnecassary that was put in place to strip precious time and sunshine away from us teenagers and young adults. The Leaving cert is a phase that everyone has to go through. It’s an experience on its own, one of many!

Im going to suspect the majority of us are now flicking through biology books, learning last minute diagrams of the nitrogen cycle we thought we learned off by heart last week, or madly highlighting useful french phrases we hope to use in the opinion piece. Some of us are probably asking ourselves why we left this all for the last minute, whilst others sit calmly, blissfully sneering at the dreadful thing that takes over the majority of the 6th year population; procrastination. Hey, it’s not our fault that there happens to be kids turning 18th every weekend, or that the thoughts of summer take over our minds, it’s hard! This week has been draining and hectic, no doubt about it, we’ve questioned our abilities and asked ourselves the overwhelming question; “can i still actually get an A in (insert subject you felt an A was possible but now doubt yourself)”.

I honestly think that quote sums it all up! We’re going to look back at this experience some day. All it can do is make us stronger individuals. You only learn from your mistakes you can’t repeat them, you only become stronger and believe in yourself more. If anything, you’ll have more confidence in yourself, you know your weaknesses more and will only embrace them in the future. For some that may be watching glee when you have an hour’s worth of chemistry study planned…im guilty of that anyway:) So what if you don’t get your first choice? Maybe there’s more in store for you? maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

It’s definately sad to think that our 6 years of school have come to an end. I was definately upset and pretty much broke to bits when we sang our graduation songs, got our yearbook signed and got our hoodies. Its crazy. And now we have to do it all again in college! *lets out a sarcastic ‘whoop’*. I will never forget the friends I’ve made and even the amazing teachers I had whom I consider my friends because they cannot be any cooler, friendlier,,and just pure sound!

I think doing this blog was one of my greatest decisions. In a way it acted as therapy..ha. No really. I wrote about school, open days, exams..but even my own personal feelings about everything. Something not everyone gets the chance to do so openly. And to think that people actually read and enjoyed and felt the same way was kind of amazing, thrilling and honestly made me feel less worried. I know I may have been the more pessimistic of the bunch at times but we all have those days

I don’t want to think of this as my last blog becauseIi want to blog after the exams themselves and the CAO and all that jazz, (if we’re allowed?). THAT will be something alright:) totally different feelings then I suppose ^__^ lol.

I dont want to spend too much time online otherwise I’ll check my daily websites and get hooked for another 2 hours so I’ll just say that I hope the exams go just as planned for everyone. I hope they don’t bring too much stress. I hope our predictions are right! And I hope you all get what you earned and deserve. Best of luck in all that you do and I shall talk to you soon!!

For one of the last times; Bonne chance mes amis!! x

-Ally.

You really know it’s almost time when the yearbook is finalised, when you wake up that morning and decide to actually make an effort to look decent for the graduation photos, when everyone’s given their 6th year hoodies with either your name or a nickname on the back…my friends got ‘El Diablo’ and ‘Magicman’ from some Will Ferrel movie I couldn’t be bothered to watch..but you really know its almost time when you realise your graduating next week! Ah yes, the time has come now where we finally realise that secondary school doesn’t last forever. Some of us proudly await our meeting with the principal to talk about our references, quickly remembering everything we gave to the school, be it in clubs, sports,,and even academically, prefect head boy/girl. Some others will reluctantly admit that they just didn’t give enough back to their school,passing each day as it came and now it shows. Doesn’t time really fly? I find it strange seeing as I didn’t do transition year that all my old classmates are still in 5th year while i trudged onto 6th. Sure i made some new friends and lost some old ones, but i have a feeling it just wont be the same singing Cyndi Lauper’s ‘true colours’ on graduation day with my current classmates. Just not the same sentimental value. I mean, they have memories from 1st-5th year together ,feel left out much? Yes actually, myself and a few of the other non-TYs do! If I hadn’t suggested to the Debs committee to include a page on us in the yearbook we’d have nothing. Left out as usual since were the minority. I suppose its an experience on its own.  Don’t get me wrong though, the girls in my year are all nice but I just wish we had more memories together.

So its actually been a rather hectic, emotional, anxious week for me. Canada was amazing! In short ;(or at least  I’ll try make it) we flew to Toronto first to meet up with our relatives and got a connecting flight to  St.John, New Brunswick, arriving at 2am their time or 10pm Irish time. Jet lagged is an understatement, mentally confused and physically drained for about 3 days more like! In St. John my brothers and sister went with my mum to the local high schools. I actually love the education system in Canada, they work on credits, and you need a certain amount to be able to graduate ,and they offer psychology as a secondary school subject.  So much variety. I also went to the University of New Brunswick and met with the head of the faculty of science and engineering. What a dude..loved him! He really knew what he was talking about and was shockingly positive. Basically, as I’m hoping for medicine I have to do a BSc for 4 years then do a 2 year MSc course then medicine itself. Long and different I know, but that’s how Canada does it. Anyone can get into the BSc course, I only need an average of B3s in all ordinary level subjects. I actually prefer to study that way because it gives me the time to realise if medicine is for me, do I really want to do it or think I do, can I do it? I can decide to do an arts degree as well as that ie. introduce 1-2 subjects from that degree, I’m thinking English literature and French. So if I don’t get enough points in the end of my 4 years or don’t do well enough in the MCAT (kind of HPAT but not an aptitude test,there’s Qs on science and English too) …its just so open there, so much choice and time, something I really commend!! Im already looking forward to it..and the odds are my Dad is all pro-Canada so its likely, but  I’m still working for admission here too, if all goes differently! Canadians are probably the friend list on the planet. Just thought id add that in there I also loved how french some things were, most signs were also written in french, all the people in the tertiary services spoke french too and i had 7 hours worth of free french magazines and radio channels on the plane. The hotel had a few french programmes too, i thought it was great seeing as i love french! That’s going to be a bonus.

I texted my friend during the trip and got the art topics for my art exam which was this week. I personally disliked ALL the poster ones and ended up doing the batiq. I barely had any free time so ended up drawing quick ideas during dinner at a resteraunt behind my little brother’s kiddie menu. I came to school Monday and showed my teacher who hated it,,i didnt go to any of my classes that day, trying to perfect the design. On the day, Tuesday, i was sooo dissapointed with my design,,it was the worst batiq i ever made in my life, what a day to choose to do badly? I chose ‘over the back wall’. The drawing exam ie. still life and life sketching was much much better, well, I didn’t cry at home afterward so all was good! That’s yet again one less thing to worry about.How did it go for everyone else? What did you decide to do? Oh and i chose passage C for my still life, most popular one in the class it seemed.

Sooo i decided to take today off school to catch up on school work and revision.  It went well to my surprise, seeing as how reluctant i was in the morning! Wow…this is probably one of my longer blogs..?

I just can’t believe there’s only a few weeks left till the exams, it seemed only a few weeks ago when we first started these blogs, offering advice and glimpses into our pre-exam lives, I think ill re-read those posts for some moral pepping:D How do you all feel? I mean…I just have this weird feeling of unease  in the pit of my stomach and i know its staying until the exams..a hundred thoughts are running through my head, of the summer, the future, the present! Its all too much! We Leaving certs go through so much more than others. So young, so fragile..*sighs sarcastically*:D

At least I have ONE thing to look forward to this summer….BRACES!! Whooo! oh no no no, the pain is definitely not etched in my memory from the past 4-5 years of my life which I sacrificed for those metallic monsters..I loved them, I thanked them every night and looked in the mirror and complimented how amazing I looked, my smile was definitely enhanced by those beautiful pieces of wire…*cough* I honestly thought i was through with them…nope.

Bonne Chance guys!!!!

-Ally

Hey everyone!!

whoo! I am so relieved right now.  The orals are finished and I no longer have to worry about saying tá soeur amhain agam,,,no more! I just had my french oral today but I’d prefer working my way chronologically through this post. I also apologise for the probable spelling and grammer mistakes as I have glee waiting for me on sky plus and a sister who aint in the mood for waiting. So, I shall begin!

Easter was ok, I did some revision in school during the second week. I had my Irish oral that following week, on Tuesday. I can’t begin to explain how nervous I was. I mean, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts I honestly despise Gaeilge, well the written aspect to it, I don’t mind the talking it’s just hard to suddenly get rid of all that french inside of my head!! On the day though, i was fine, the examiner had a generic irish accent so all was well. He was by far the nicest man i have and will ever in my life meet. He was in his late fifties and was just adorable, like he was actually smiling the whole time! The little grin on his face…ahh, I’m all warm and cuddly just thinking about him! He even gave our school giant helium balloons that said ‘thank you’ on them! I wanted to hug him after my oral! He asked me all the basics, the health system since i said i was all for medicine,,nothing really major. I got my gold fáinne that day too from my teacher so i wore that in along with my gaisce award and was asked on those, sure wasn’t it great! I was really happy with my performance, ‘ar fheabhas!’ was all he said after, I was still thinking to myself  ‘how can you be so nice?’. everyone loved him needless to say. Balloons like! how many of you got balloons from an examiner?

My french orals were more nerve wrecking that i had expected. i think it was the fact that i had done so well in the mocks that i expected myself to nail it. I think it went great if im honest. just the basic stuff, my document was good too,,,she didn’t ask me any abstract topics,,,yeah it was good! im happy anyway!! =) The examiner herself was nice but her accent was dreadful,pure,pure Irish. Easy to understand sure..but just disappointing really. The other french examiner was a twat. People hated her and got really annoyed. My friend was asked ’so do you have any brothers/sisters?’ she said she had a brother but no sisters, the examiner then went and said ’so do you share a room with your sister?’, and it basically went like that for most people.  The woman just would not listen to the students. She also asked totally random questions, one minute its ‘what’s your favourite subject’ the next ‘young people seem to hate modern languages today no?’. Really put people off. The chief examiner was called in because of that. I don’t really know what to think, I just hoped that an examiner would realise that students are already nervous as it is, so being totally random and confusing them isn’t exactly going to help them at this time.

Anywho..they’re over now,one less thing to worry about. I’ve upped my studying. My chemistry teacher has been recommending ‘berocca’ to us lately, a girl was sleeping in class on Tuesday! I can’t stress how important rest is for us soldiers. I find myself staying up, as late as 11.30 pm lately, just fitting in last minute studying that I need to make up and I almost always regret it in the morning and next day when I’m fighting to keep my eyes awake in classes where the teacher’s voice is like a silent buzzing I no longer want to hear. SO just try to sleep earlier for your own sake. And eat plenty of fruit and veg too, at this stage especially. Right now we should be doing exam questions for revision, focusing on our weakest spots and learning off those notes we keep putting off till the next time we’re free. Now’s the last time to put in all the effort,,,we’re almost there!!!!

On a slightly different note, I will, unfortunately be missing my L.C.V.P. written exam (handed in my portfolio). It’s worth a lot i suppose and without it I can only get a mere merit if my portfolio is good enough. I was hoping to use it for points since a pass maths A1 can only get me 60 points,the 70 for the L.C.V.P. distinction could make the difference. But alas, I have no choice. I’m actually going to Canada for a week, ill be leaving on the 1st of May. Why? Well, my Dad suddenly got an offer from a hospital there and they want us to see the area and schools,colleges or whatever. I’m kind of looking forward to it actually!   Its also a chance for me to do some early summer shopping! Ill be bringing my books and all with me too though, god id feel like id be doing an injustice otherwise!

All in all it’s been a hectic week for me  and im looking forward to (really?) getting into my study again this week. For those of you who still await your orals, be optimistic, whatever you’ve learned will come out there’s no doubt..for everyone else,lets kick it into third gear and really fight for these last weeks! It all comes down to this time and our own choices,to study or not? don’t kill yourself obviously but be smart about it. Ha, and a last note for fifth years,,do the work now!!! you wont regret it !

Bonne Chance mes amis!!

-Ally.

Hey everyone!
I owe you an apology for vanishing for a few weeks there! I suppose the only school related topic atm is the mocks, well down this part of the country they are! I have all mine back except the most dreaded! That would be Irish and Maths, so far I’ve calculated that I have 465 points, hopefully at least a B3 in irish or A2 in maths (pass) will bring me up?(updated-465 are my total points..not exactly what i hoped for,,)Overall, apart from English,which I will get to later, (believe me), I thought I did really well.  I had my mock French oral and got 92/100.So that along with my actual mock got me an A1 in french! Delighted so I was! I keep asking myself what was my problem back when I was young, *sigh* a C in the Junior Cert was pathetic in my case, considering I LOVE french and am decent enough in it I know you shouldn’t really go by the mocks because who knows? I could get a horrible paper on the day and totally screw it up (hope that won’t be the case though). I thought my art exam may have been marked too easily, but I cant complain.  Actually, just thought I’d throw this in here, my friend got into NCAD!! So 140 points-yep that’s all, and a few months later she shall be walking into the NCAD college building, dressed like one of those indifferent, aesthetic, expressive art students (which in my opinion are the coolest frickin’ people on earth!!). 

Anyway,what was I actually bringing myself to say…? Oh yes! PLEASE if this has happened in your school too COMMENT and let me know..because to say this as politely as I can possible say, I am absolutely furious, mad, raging, fuming pure angry! Ok, so for the next minute please excuse my ‘big-headedness’ as I’m not going to be modest at all. Basically, I’m an A1 student in English, I’m hoping for an A1 in the actual thing this summer.  I think I’ve only once or twice gotton lower than a B1.  Since 5th year my average has been in the high 90s. This is honours English we’re talking about, there is about 25 people in my class. Not everyone is the same standard. So how is it even POSSIBLE to have given not only my English class, but EVERY higher level English class in the SCHOOL a C1. Yep, everyone got grades ranging from C3-C1. Ridiculous, was the examiner just not bothered or did she actually think that we were all C3 students? The proof? There is no ticks beside my work, no coding, no nothing, nada, zilch, nothing:( yet he/she just marked it in ‘general’. A few people don’t mind, a C3 was shocking to get after failing the whole year, (these students don’t exactly attend school). I hope I’m not coming out as insulting or arrogant but I’m seriously mad at the way the English mocks were corrected.  I mean we pay good money to do these exams, what’s the point if they come back not corrected right and don’t give any significant idea of where a student stands? I mean, i honestly thought I would have gotten a B or something…a C though was just, sickening, and just left me disappointed really. The teachers have filed a complaint but I doubt that will do anything.  The other schools were marked properly. Yet, we were apparently ‘bunch marked’ as they told us. How can over 100 students all get a C?

Has anyone else been getting the exam briefs with the Irish Independent? I find some of them helpful, mostly I just dwell on how well the past students have done, ha,  sad, sad Ally. The total opposite of what the papers are meant to do.  Well done *pats self on back*. This Wednesday are all the business subjects, then the following is the Junior Cert.

Hmm, what else? I’m kind of rushing this blog because I have my Irish mock oral on Wednesday, not as good in Irish as I am French. I also have chemistry revision to be doing. Right now I feel as though I should be doing something productive,I mean I think we have 3 months left? Wow, seems shorter when I type it out Ohh! I also finished ‘The Road’ last week, by Cormac McCarthy, a very different book might I say, well written but the style was something I’ve never experienced before. A good read, it’s a movie now too I think? On another note; isn’t the line up for Oxegen amazing? Muse AND 30 seconds to mars??

Isn’t it funny? (ok not really), this year is just pure mad.  I mean we’re definitely going to remember it forever, hopefully for all the best parts but just the whole experience, the stress and everything, it’s something we’ll keep for the rest of our lives.  After all they pretty much depend on what we do this year!

Bonne Chance mes amis!

-Ally.