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

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

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 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

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:(

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.

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

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.

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.

This is prob going to be one of my famous pessimistic blogs, as Ray William Johnson would say, “I’m just saying”. So my friends, you’ve been warned. Ok. I don’t even know what to say or how to put this, and i am dead serious. No sarcasm. None.Have you ever felt so confused and anxious, as if your bottling something up inside and feel as though your going to burst and fly away,crying and zooming through the air like a balloon…?  well that’s how i feel right now because basically, im moving this August. I don’t want to get into too much detail but its outside of Europe (Asia to be a tad more specific). This August,after the results are out whenever,im going awaayyy:( I shall defo still be applying to the colleges for medicine in that area but its all messed up. Ill be using my LC points so still need like mostly all As and then I’m hoping they’ll take my HPAT test instead of their own stupid entrance test…one must sit a test where there’s 70 Qs each on Biology,Chemistry and Physics .. jeez like i don’t even DO Physics whats that about? anyways,,apparently its not for definite,but the way my parents are looking at houses & making plans here and there, talking to people like we actually are ,i have a feeling there’s a 95% chance we are going. Its such a sock to say the least, ive been living in Ireland my whole life, i have friends and family here,,,But then again, I’ve also moved my whole life, ive lived in Clonmel (Tipp),Carlow,Kilkenny,Waterford and then Carlow again,where we’ve been living for the past 6 years. Whatever hospital my Dad gets a new position in,that’s where we go. Lately though he’s decided to commute since we’re all so set here.

So if we do (and are) move, do i just ignore (if there IS any) any offers made on my CAO? would that matter? i have no idea. All i know is that there’s a chance i wont be studying in RCSI this year…sickened. Ill also miss the Debs in my school. I don’t even know how to tell my friends yet,,that will come eventually. The only decent thing aboout this whole mess is that i no longer need higher level irish,,well at least im telling my self that. So im thinking of dropping to pass for the simple reason that I cannot be bothered. Correct,Irish at higher level is far too long of a course, requiring me and my little, easily distracted mind to overwork and melt. Strange , as i know im able for it,,,im even applying for a gold fáinne next week,no big deal but still. Anyway, if a dwell on this too much ill probably be causing havoc around my house and people will end up shooting me for moaning 24/7. According to my mother and younger sister (who are annoyingly alike) i let out my anxieties on others..ok so what if i do. (I did warn you guys:()

On a happier or rather not as worrying note; as Cillian blogged, the HPAT was…an experience. Overall i thought it was alright,totally guessed half of section 1. I was happy afterward and thought i did my best…that’s all you can do. I was in the UCD exam hall, i thought at first it was quite intimidating,,1000s of people all wanting the same thing..Thats another thing, im not even going to be competition for most you guys now,seeing as im jetting off after the actual LC..Arghhhh!!:K

My french mock oral is on the 22nd so i should be working towards that. I said id make a new study timetable for this month, that has yet to happen. Cleaning my study room has also, yet to happen. Ive started reading though,to calm my nerves again ‘The curious incident of the dog in the nightime’ and ‘The Road’. I finished the first one on Monday,after starting it, well on Monday.  Really interesting,something i wouldn’t normally go for,,good though.I was sitting, roasting and burning away living on dairy milk bars from the vending machine in the waiting room in Crumlin Hospital from 6.30pm to 11.25pm,watching little kids from about 1-4years of age,playing in a corner with a ‘little tikes’ kitchen,half of them had the tummy bug and one girl’s nose was in bits, like it was spilling blood but that child was kissing and hugging every other kid in that room. My brother walloped his knee off the stairs at school and fractured it,now he’s got a lovely red cast and crutches for a week.

We should have most of our mocks back by this week,something im kind of neutral about. I prob could have done a bit better on some of the papers..but ive got the LC for that I also feel as though i should say that ‘Valentine’s Day’ has GOT to be the most cliché film about love EVER..so what if Patrick Dempsey is in it ? I was wrong,  so wrong,such a waste of my time.

Btw, i was wondering if many people are using a document in their oral (French),is it a photo or an article or..? sorry im just curious:) You all prob know im using a photo.

Bonne Chance!

-Ally XD

I’m hoping to keep this blog short since I’m in the middle of learning my Irish notes for ‘an t-oiléan’. Anyway, so, iIhope that whoever has finished their mocks that they weren’t too bad and that we kept our cool for the most part (yeah easier said than done). For all of us, including myself who have yet to even BEGIN, hang in there! So yes,I basically had biology and L.C.V.P. on Friday and now I have a week of studying to do and then a week of mocks. Great stuff…:( I’m not going to give anything away about the biology paper but tbh I loved it. I mean, it was such a lovely paper, everything I learned came up, t’was a great feeling L.C.V.P. on the other hand.  Let’s just say a person can only talk about crap and lie for so long. I kept repeating myself and made no sense about what I was trying to say, I dont’ know, maybe it was just me,but iIvery much dislike that small subject, I’ll thank it if I actually ended up needing the 70 marks in the end…if i even get a distinction that is!

I got an email from HPAT Ireland this week. I am delighted to have gotten a place in the Dublin Centre. I’m in UCD,in some business school, not Quinn though. I still have to print my ticket out and I think I’ll bring my driver’s licence for the photo identity (don’t forget that!!!!). Let me just add that I am now insured to drive But something much greater  is lingering in my mind atm….the actual HPAT itself. I have slacked off the sample papers and haven’t done a question since 2 months ago, terrible I know, I’m going to start again tonight.  I have another week anyway..its on the 27th sooo….yeah.

The Irish Medical Times recently published 3 articles on the HPAT,including sample questions. They looked at the controversial suggestion that the test was introduced to balance gender in medical schools.  However,it proved to be incorrect. Then David Ball (from the Institute of Education) gave some last minute tips on how to prepare for the HPAT.

He said that the most important thing is to test yourself on some sample papers and if you want to be comfortable going into the test that morning you need to be aware of the format of the exam-what kinds of questions are going to be asked and how to approach them. The more you know about the format the better you will feel when it comes to sitting it. He continues to say that you should know before you go into the HPAT centre, that your not going to get everything right. The test is designed to put pressure on you and as a result, nobody gets a perfect score. So don’t beat yourself up about it if your not sure of an answer. Importantly, unlike other exams, you will be taking in your final year in secondary school,there is no point reading though your section before starting, simply get in and begin with Q1, then work your way through the rest. David also says to make a time plan for each section and then stick to it. Don’t waste time on questions you don’t know,take a best guess and move on. You can make a quick note in the marking booklet and come back if you have time in the end. Make yourself familiar with the marking booklet. Make sure you enter the answers into the correct corresponding place. If you accidentally answer 2 questions in the same box it could make the rest of your answers incorrect. Just like every other exam, rest well the evening before the exam and eat a substantial and healthy breakfast prior to the exam also. Bring a reliable watch with you and a bottle of water to keep you hydrated, a pencil and an eraser (get an e-mail on things like that from HPAT Ireland). Ball concluded that one of the most important things is to bear in mind that the HPAT is just one component of your application to med school. Familiarise yourself with the papers and do your best. There are a lot of other exams just over the horizon!

I found those little tips useful so I thought id share them:) Just stay positive and all you can do is your best. In a way I cant wait! Its going to defo be an experience I wont forget, yet, I still get anxious at times thinking about it too much. Iknow I’m not the only one though:P ’Il faut que tout le monde vive’; Live and let live, whatever happens, happens. I should really get back to Irish, so much for a ’short’ blog, hope everyone’s enjoying their midterm break so far and I wish all you HPATers the very best of luck in the exam, I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about in a week or so

I’ll see you there!!! Bonne chance!!

I can’t believe i haven’t blogged in weeks. I personally apologise. I do, really. Sad as it sounds, nothing seems to have happened this month. I don’t even know where to start. Well the mocks have started in some counties already and to you I say bonne chance. I however, start next week on the Friday with biology and L.C.V.P not bad at all if i do say so. I have to agree with Cillian. I think the point of the mocks is for us to see where we stand. So knowing whats gonna come up on the paper is just pointless unless unless you want to lie to yourself about how well you performed in that test and fail epically in June. I know it sounds like the easy way around but believe me, testing your self will have much more rewards later on.

The subjects I’m most worried about are Chemistry and Irish. Both have GIANT courses that seem impossible to revise. Irish has to be my weakest for the simple reason that I never did the work in 5th year and regret it now, although, I am making progress.  Chemistry is just strange in the way that I have gone over the whole ‘chemistry live’ book twice, read my notes many times and still seem to have to check the book for answers when I do papers. Maybe I just don’t get chem.  Well I’ll be telling myself otherwise until it sticks Our teacher is making us come in tomorrow at 2pm for extra classes since she missed so many (we get a half day on Fridays @ 12.30pm). I must also say that art is another one I’ll dreading. “Yeah history of art is so easy, omg what’s so hard about it?”, you who said that or thought that, good on you. Although, the fact that my teacher lost my hardback with some of my essays in it from 5th year makes it slightly more fair for me to cry about it. My drawing is weak too, so … why choose art then!!? Well seeing as I got an A in the J.C (with a crap project) I thought, why not? I’m not doing home ec. or geography anyway! So art it was. Man do i regret it. My friend submitted her portfolio last week to NCAD (talented girl!!!). We went there for the open day and its seems like a nice place, not for me obviously,but a great school for Arts and the like.

What else..this is terrible I feel like I HAVE to blog at this stage,which I do but anyways

I got an email from HPAT Ireland just more details and stuff, I really hope (like many others) that I get the Dublin centre…imagine going to Waterford in the morning:( I feel as though I should reccommened this amazing revision book…’rapid revision french’ by Cian Hogan. I bought it because he’s my teacher at the inst. on Saturdays and he is prob the best french teacher I’ve ever had or will, so I bought the book online to see what it was about. It has a study guide so you do the course in 10 weeks.  I just use it occasionally though, for grammar and oral pointers. It really is great and I’m finding it very useful. If you have it, you know what I’m talking about.

I also got a student card…pointless though, as after I leave secondary school it’s not valid..but I do get discounts at the cinema and topshop,BT2 and tons more places sure its great! Speaking of films (we all need breaks!) am I the only teenager who ACTUALLY wants to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D?? Please prove me wrong..oh and eclipse comes out in June!!!

Back to school related issues. There’s a huge hype about the point system& courses etc lately. Yes some are increasing and its harder to get in…so what? Let’s take the positive message out of it and not whine like every other teenager and young adult in Ireland. Its just a reason for us to work even harder! If we sit around telling people over and over and over again about the points and such what are we gaining from it? Whoopie my anxiety levels are up, I’m going to go study now…can you contradict yourself anymore? So please, for all of us, for the people who don’t let these little impurities get in the way of their goals, ambitions and desires, lets get back to work and keep our eyes on the prize.

As for the mocks, same advice, you can only do your best at the end of the day. Its better to screw up in the mocks and learn from your mistakes than totally mess up in the actual thing. So take every subject as it comes, day by day. Don’t analyse what you did, could have done or should have done. Move on. Move forward and prepare for the next thing, don’t dwell on a topic like most of your peers will be doing; “OMG, what did you write for Q2?? I said Anaphase…OMFG it was Metaphase wasn’t it…WASN’T IT!!!!!”, “lads,that was qwer hard like!!”….don’t be like that please? And if your one of those people who thinks that cramming will work, think again my friend, oh how wrong you are,,how very, very wrong. I laugh at how wrong you are! get up, wake up and look at a book, even for five minutes, better than nothing. In the end its the things you put in that will be the ones that come out!

So. That was my great piece(s) of advice for maybe the next few weeks or so. We’ll see how things go. hope all goes well for everyone!!!!

Bonne chance ^_^

hi guys, hope this week back wasn’t too stressful. I am so glad i revised my chemistry course because we got back and jumped straight into a new, difficult chapter with a substitute teacher. I have yet to make a new timetable but I’m sticking to my old one which isn’t too bad I suppose. I’m feeling more and more nervous about the HPAT exam though,which is on the the 27th of next month, time flys I guess. I was reading in the Irish Medical Times that this year (2nd ever sitting of the exam!) students can ask for rechecks of their answer sheet if they feel they may have been incorrectly scored. You have to pay a €90 fee though. To be honest I wouldn’t really mind, what’s done is done, unless I really get a bad result,seeing as im practicing every few days id be shocked to see a really,really low score. Just if anyone wanted to know Btw, how was the final HPAT practice course in the IOE today if anyone attended? iId love to know what you thought! Also, HPAT registration closes on MONDAY, so get your CAO code and sign up ASAP if your thinking of doing medicine.

We were given an Irish essay to do this weekend “what would Ireland be like in 2050″. Our teacher based it on a book of a similar title. I really enjoyed writing it actually,,scary that i just admitted that but yet, it’s true. I must say though, Foinse is amazing! iIve been buying the Irish Independent for the past few weeks every Wednesday just for the Foinse supplement. They have published so many articles in Irish about the ‘Tuilte’ or floods and the snow, new year, movies, concerts  and loads of other worldly topics, it really is helpful when it comes to composing. Last week in ‘Foinse sa rang’ they had a sample Oral convo about the Irish point system which i cut out and stuck in my oral copy:) My other secret weapon to getting As in Irish essays is a lovely little book my Dad got as a gift from his colleagues who bid him farewell from his post in Cork by saying “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí”. An almost perfect seanfhocail as gaeilge for a child psychiatrist. At the time i thought, who in their right minds gives someone a book of proverbs? why? it frustrated me at the time and my young 12 year old mind just failed to accept such a ‘useless’ present. Today however, I thank those people,wherever they are for this magnificent piece of work. It has over 200 proverbs and sorts them out into categories, like ‘happiness’, ‘patience’ or ‘love’. I use about 10 or more in each of my essays and have some for my orals too. Simple, old, traditional ones. They boost your marks so the more the better, obviously you shouldn’t saturate your essays with just proverbs, but it’s clever when used correctly.

Did anyone go to the RDS for the BT Young Scientist competition? I hoped to, but i had my ‘Gaisce’ work experience that day. My brother went (TY) to support his two friends,who,were as a matter of fact, featured on news2day on RTÉ, “excuse me,would you like a rose”,yep those guys Fair play to them for representing their school I guess..I really regret not trying out for the competition when i was younger and had more time..its seems a great experience. Richard O’ Shea’s project i thought, was deserving of the win. He even said he’d prob donate the money to charity. His biomass fired cooking stove was thoughtful of the current time, third world countries could really make use of his idea, especially Gaza and now,unfortunately Haiti. I wrote in my Irish essay that Ireland would most definitely produce some of the world’s brightest scientists, our country really does embrace this subject and offers kids of all ages the chance to experience it in some shape or form,that i think, is commendable.

Mock timetables are up…Biology and L.C.V.P on Friday then a week off then back again. Thank God i did Business in J.C and actually got a B to my surprise! i always hated the subject, boring and irrelevant (well to me anyway), it was prob the hardest subject i had to do for the J.C,,,L.C.V.P is basically business for dummies,so i love it! (no offense intended). I got free, extra English notes today in I.O.E because my french teacher (also teaches English) had a few extra notes left over. What a legend ^_^

Anyway, i felt i had to blog, ill get back to my studying now, or rather have to

Bonne Chance mes amis! ^_^

Overall I thought the day lived up to my expectations. I thought the lectures were really well done, kept us interested whilst at the same time informed, the students’ attitudes were just brilliant, they were probably the NICEST people I will ever have met, they were so enthusiastic about the school and remained realistic about the whole experience, outlining the pros and cons, these students really put it into perspective,a lot of them first did different courses and then decided on medicine, their opinions really gave me at least, an insight into what the school really has done for them…I’ll always remember those students if nothing else, they were just…it’s like unnatural how nice they were!!! ha:) A 6th year med student and 4th year med student highlighted the different clubs and societies the school offers, wow…there’s such a variety of crazy, funny and basically any and everything known to man…there’s clubs for it…the latest: The friendship club, the gourmet food club and much more, RCSI is competitive in sports too, having a current student represent Ireland in the winter Olympics is something alright!

Something everyone seemed to mention was the fact that the school was very inter-cultural (and extremely proud of it),as in they have students from all over the world, the 6th year med student stating that he was of Indian descent, from Austria and spoke french,another student was from Finland and said that approx 19% of students are not from Ireland..one student commented “You see? You’re all white!!” his fellow classmate replied “Uhhh yeah, were in the minority guys…but that’s the beauty of it..” There was defo a lot of positive energy in the room.The junior doctor’s talk was really informative, gave us a realistic idea of his actual job, he strongly said that it’s nothing like Grey’s Anatomy or ER (some ppl seriously think you get to work with amazingly handsome(P.Dempsey *cough*) doctors whilst keeping interesting relationships with different people etc, etc, he works on average 65-100 hours/week. The students actually continued to commend their teachers, saying they are the best in Europe and they are insanely talented and in general very nice:) I also loved how the school was quite small,apparantly everyone knows each other and its really tight unlike a campus in UCD/TCD etc, that stood out to me i think:)

I was sitting in the theatre with 500 other people wanting the same thing as me, we all thought the same! So as you can prob guess, man were we motivated, hearing people next to me whisper to their neighbours “I’m gonna go home and study now”, “year right” were the replies..it  felt as though i was thinking aloud..over 3000 people apply for med every year, less than 40 places are available for undergrads in RCSI and its random selection…so,like I usually do, I got really nervous and started predicting the future, “omg I’ll have to repeat..how am I gonna get in…seriously though..me? I don’t study! ahh God!!!!”, I gave up though, there was no point having such a negative attitude, I can only do my best right?

We then got a tour of the college, I loved the little community-like facilities and lounge rooms, but my favourite part was the anatomy room…omg…the smell of formaldehyde was just unreal! Bodies were covered in thick white plastic and laid out in a linear pattern on metal tables, there was over 30 bodies I think….just being there was so cool..ha..i get amused way to easily:(

Anyway, I thought the day was great, I really recommend going next year if you want to do any of the following: RC001 Medicine,RC101 Graduate Medicine,RC004 Physiotherapy,RC005 Pharmacy..They like to have an idea of numbers so around about September 14th 2011 make sure to get a ticket (just check out their website and follow links). I’m more than 100% sure this is the college for me and its #1 on my CAO right now..if anything I’m motivated to study more, really am:) Hope i haven’t bored you to death at this stage, if you couldn’t make it iIhope you got an idea of how it went down, most people enjoyed it too, not only was the school of medicine well presented the other school of Physio and Pharmacy were also well introduced.

It was funny,we were eating lunch in St. Stephen’s green shopping centre and I was telling my mum about the day, she got really enthusiastic! Ha, it was funny, I was just like “Hmm,yeah pathology and forensics seemed really interesting, but then again, Dr. Hugh didn’t like it, now he’s in Psych now!”, she replied by going into detail how pathology is lab based and kind of boring if you prefer more interactions with patients and then started talking about how she loved doing the forensics module and seeing if it was animal/human blood, which way the knife went in of how the bullet cracked this and that…it went on for a while and I just sat there, listening, eating my soup and brown bread, nodded every now and then, looked up too actually…she was just so happy, so I let her proceed, recalling her time in the good ole days. Good stuff:)

Anyways, Bonne chance for now, I shall and will see you all soon =)

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

Hey my fellow leaving certs.

I haven’t blogged in ages! I have honestly been so busy. These Christmas exams can be really time consuming. All week I’ve had tests and today was my dreaded Irish oral. I ‘ve never had an actual oral test in Irish,so I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, I rock at the French oral, ask me anything…no nerves at all. However, today was different. I was sick to the stomach thinking about the possible questions and if I was even prepared enough..but thankfully it was pretty good. It took me a while to get into it and loosen up but I got a good result. The teacher said I would get a high enough mark and if I added the odd seanfhocail I nGaeilge I’d be sorted. So you can guess that I was really proud of myself after that. I honestly sickened the teacher. Her face when I started talking about the sharp economic crisis and racism. It was like she didn’t know I could speak Irish at all, she just smiled at me and widened her eyes unknowingly… I was laughing on the inside, I really was.

I had a great experience today. Great i tell you…it was of course the much (or so I thought) anticipated event that is non other than crazy sock day. Oh yes, students are entitled to wear any socks of their choice, be it primitive, casual or wild’ ou! Any..all for a great cause. Saint Vincent de Paul of course! We raised €715 which I think is an amazing accomplishment…I felt great, wearing my old pink tights with purple polka-dots,blue ski-socks with navy polka-dots and a white and pink snowflake pattern pair of socks over those. I surely got enough attention anyway! Is it my fault for going all out in my last year? No. So there I was, a passionate young 6th year trotting around wearing three layers of brightly coloured socks, her green plaid skirt contrasting totally,yet I was smiling happily, not having a care in the world of what boring,mediocre,plain,simple,people with regular bottle green socks and tights thought. It was great…:D

I have so much homework to do this weekend and I have a french oral to prepare for now too..Monday morning I have to talk my way through the basics in French whilst also having prepared my document. My bowling trip with the french students should help doubt it. I got a surprise (as in I didn’t know about it) Art test again today, this time on early renaissance paintings. so I failed that,,or so I think at the moment..

I have also, oddly enough, been sticking to my HPAT study plan, every morning I do 3 questions from each section. Sundays, I do 10, after school study I do as much as I feel like at the time:) it may or may not help, but I’m not taking any chances. A lovely Chemistry test awaits me on Monday morning too, naming organic compounds…easy enough.

Strange, this week I’m actually positive for a change…I like that feeling.

My friends are going to the Paramore concert Saturday,,jelous much? yes:( This Saturday is the last week I’ll be in Leeson street until after Christmas,then it’s the RCSI open (so excited!!) and then I’m back to the institute:)I hope Olly (murs…walls…sorry I’m such a nerd when it comes to french ) wins I honestly think joe might,,but he’s great too ^__^..Which reminds me, my teacher asked me in the oral, do I watch TG4? Sure didn’t I say yes..so now I’m like the number one ‘an jig gig’ fan out there…love it !

Anyway, I’ve wasted enough of your study time…ha:)

Bonne chance !! XD

Hi all:)

Short, quick and sweet.That’s how I thought this week felt. Once again I went to sleep last night patronizing myself for not studying all weekend. So today after school I made a study timetable. Man am I proud:).. it feels amazing to finally feel that; ‘yes I do want to do well in the Leaving cert…hey here’s an idea..why not study!!!!?’ so I did infact do just that. I spent two hours of my time today studying stoichiometry and doing exam papers, it’s sickening to know how crap I actually am at those darn questions but atleast I know where im weak..ha,yeah lets try and make that sound optimistic:)  Anyway, my younger sister is doing the junior cert too this year and she’s one of those kids that always gets 100% in her tests, that learns paragraphs and paragraphs of utter nonesense that is so unnecessary for all her exams. At the moment she is sitting next to me muttering something about Hitler’s youth policy. Im laughing inside I really am. She’s making it harder for herself…or so I thing, But she is learning everything word for word,reading it all aloud, and when that dreaded question comes up in the JC she will just have to re-read that certain paragraph in her head and pick out the answer. I almost envy her because this method ALWAYS seems to work for her. All through primary and even the early years of the junior cycle, she would ace her tests by just memorising EVERYTHING! My brother did his JC last year and got mostly As and the rest Bs. I did the worst out of everyone so far, achieving 3 As, 2 Cs and the rest Bs. My brother and I both know that our sister will most likely get all As in the JC, she’s one of the studious types, who is always organised, always studying, but suprisingly enough she actually has a pretty decent social life too. ok yes, in other words. I am jelous. Jelous of the fact that she too wants to do medicine and will probably get it because she has the talent and gift of memorization. Me? I learn by writing. writing everything down. highlighting. in other words I spend AGES revising! Some people have it all *sigh*.

Anyway…thought id stick that in there UCD should be good friday…if I can get a mode of transport over there! I dont think our school is taking a bus up anymore because of a certain incident that took place during the week involving certain immature fifth years who have a tendency to set off fire alarms and ‘mitch’ classes 24/7. Thanks guys. I really appreciate that… so, no UCD for me…im raging, I know it’s only my second choice but still. So hope that you’ll all enjoy it! Im taking a few of the french students bowling this weekend I think,, either that or monday since were off, should be fun, plus a great way to improve my already average french skills. I have most of my christmas shopping done, I think its the earliest ive ever have actually! And omg I agree with Ian about Johnjoe…..what a kid…we should all applaud his mad literature skills, I mean, at that age I think I was reading ‘guess how much I love you’ for the tenth time, I then slowly moved onto a lovely collection of winnie the pooh short stories. I salute you johnjoe,we all do. May you have a bright future ahead of you, http://www.johnjoe.com, that is correct readers…johnjoe has a website, future horologist or what

That’s all for now…have a good week

Bonne Chance =)

Good I hope. I’m just going to be honest. I did barely anything Tuesday. I went to watch new moon again, yep again.

I have an art test tomorrow. History of art question on one of the Irish art chapters. All I have prepared is the Iron Age and Bronze age jewelery, Ahenny and Moone crosses and High Christian Ireland metalwork. By prepared I mean I have notes written out on them and have yet to go over them! I’m terrible I really am:( I’ve been so down lately:( I’m starting to get worried about it. You know. IT. The Leaving Cert… I thought I was an A standard English student. Ive been getting Bs lately which i just can’t deal with. Don’t ask me why, I’m just starting to get paranoid. Irish sucks, like I honestly can’t do it anymore. I can’t! is it just me or is ‘ An Triail ‘ not the most unrealistic, depressing, down right thick Irish play ever? (please just nod happily and smile:)). King Lear is annoying me too. Just saying. Oh and we can’t forget about the comparatives. I keep getting B’s in my essays!! (sorry, this just frustrates me as I usually get A’s..:() my comments from the teacher always say ‘ your not comparing them enough..don’t be afraid to really dissect the texts!’…and there’s me a night before, beaming proudly at my attempt at answering a literary genre question,also known as impossible and mind twisting pieces of utter nonsense! I’m really pessimistic today. The school recently put up photos of girls who achieved like 7 A1’s in there L.C in 2009 and 2008 too. Jealous much? Yes actually.. very.

The moral of the story you ask? I suppose i realised not to be getting aggravated or bogged down on everything,to take it easy and not look at what others accomplished..I seriously need to make a study plan too Man does it feel nice to vent.  Oh and I got Foinse today (thanks Ciara!) its great!! I’m glad they’re up and running again ^__^

That’s all I think, sorry if i got you in a crap mood:( Thanks for putting up with me:)

P.S this is actually really funny:) I’m so against it but seriously…:D hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqvg0C90FhM

So Sunday was my last HPAT class with John Maher. What.A.Ledge. That guy is probably the most supportive, enthusiastic, motivational and genuinely most suited man to do the job. What we did yesterday was our practice test, i scored 54/110 so I got 49.09% which was average on the day, man was I disappointed, I guess I’ll have to practice every week,,,one person got 77%! Basically he just said that the score we got on the day can defo be improved and we shouldn’t linger on it. I thought the whole experience was great, I timed myself perfectly and had about 5 minutes at the end of each section to look over my work. I found Section 1 to be the hardest, 2 was tricky but 3 was my strongest. I honestly gained so much from this course I can’t even explain. I am way more confident in myself and know I can perform well. I would totally reccomend this course to anyone who wants to do medicine in Ireland and needs to do well in the HPAT. Most people won’t get the 600 points (my self included) so the HPAT is a great thing and it could be the reason you enter med school. So really just again, stay positive, buy the HPAT practice booklet online (ACER/ HPAT website) practice every saturday morning to get your mind set on that certain time, time yourself, see where your weak and work on those parts. Make sure to build your aptitude,read more, do more puzzles etc that test your mind, silly and basic things that make the difference. All in all I wish you all the best of luck doing your HPAT and hope you get into the course you want Its a competitive choice alright but if you work hard at it im sure it would be much easier…

And on that note … have a good week enjoy your Tuesday off, lament the fact that Jedward have gone or in my case have a party and celebrate ( hey maybe they’ll go back to school now and i might see them on Saturdays…FAT CHANCE:D).

and… I’m seeing new moon again tomorrow :):):):)