After a night of sporadic waking, I finally got a glimps of the CAO tables just after four this morning. They picture may have been taken with a camera phone and incredibly blurry, but the fact I was able to make out 545 for Actuarial and Financial Studies in UCD came as a massive relief! No random selection, no 550+, I had just got in with nothing to spare! Nothing, however, quite beats confirmation from the CAO themselves. Despite crashing at 0600 on the dot (Typical Ireland!), I managed to finally accept my offer about ten minutes later!

All last night I had myself convinced it would go above 550 again. In the last 12 years, there have only been three years where it has been less than 545, and considering applications were up 16% this year, I was getting content with settling for DCU. At this stage, I cannot even say it was down to hardwork or intelligence; in my case it was just sheer luck getting the points I needed and for the CAO to work out like that! So it looks like I’ll be starting orientation this day three weeks as a fresher in UCD, as you can probably tell I’m over the moon!

This blog all year has been amazing. Just writing down everything that was going on, even if no one read it, helped to keep the year pretty much stress-free! This website has been a God-send to any LCer looking to do well. I think we all owe its founder, Patrick Barry, a serious thanks. I was lucky enough to meet him during the year, and I have to say, the man is an absolute gentleman. He makes the lives of countless Sixth Years infinitely easier. While the whole blogging experience was entirely new to me, it was certainly an enjoyable one, and definitely worth trying next year! Hearing other peoples’ experiences of what was going on was fantastic and allowed me have a different perspective to the year.

To the class of 2010, congratulations and I hope you achieved what you set out to achieve. Hopefully I’ll see a few of ye around UCD!

To the class of 2011, relax, enjoy your last year of school, work hard and play hard. Don’t become a study slave, get now and again, the Leaving Cert is nothing to be afraid of. What you put in is what you’ll get out of it. I’ll probably write a bit more here later about what’ll help you get the most out of the year, but we’ll see.

So for one last time… good luck people!

Cillian.

After two years of preparation, hours of studying, even more hours trying to avoid it, exams and the like, yesterday finally brought some closure to the Leaving Cert. While the exams themselves seem like a distant memory, the summer has just been eaten up! With time being consumed by work over the last few weeks, results were pushed to the back and left little time for contemplating, thankfully. As a crowd of us gathered outside the school at 10am yesterday morning, the feeling of excitement and nerves was contagious. Trying to figure out what to expect was next to impossible. After each exam, I made a note of what grade I thought I may have got. The best I figured I could hope for about 510. As we queued outside the principal’s office, going in one by one to get the white envelope, I grew more and more nervous until I finally got mine. And then it stopped. Oddly followed by complete calmness. I went to a nearby classroom and opened it up there, praying there wouldn’t be the same pang of disappointment I got on getting the HPAT results. Here’s how it went (All honours… :L)

Irish B1
Maths A2
English A2
French B2
Biology A1
Chemistry A2
Economics A2

I was genuinely shocked when I saw the results. And even more so adding the points up. So much so I was convinced my adding skills weren’t the best (well only an A2 in Maths like!) When I arrived at 545 for the fifth time, I accepted I had done better than could ever be imagined. I mean Irish and English? It turned out to be a day of PB’s! Never before had I got anything great than a C2 in Irish, not even one B before in six years of class tests! Even though French didn’t count, I made and absolute hames of the oral, had a very dogey written paper, and still managed a B2. And then English, what a place to get your first ever A! Despite my bog-standard English and ropey comparative, with the help of bombastic vocab here and there I pulled out an A2! I genuinely would not have got that result without this blog. Six years on and not one class of English grammar, this finally gave me the kick in the arse needed to learn a few of the rules! The only one I wasn’t ecstatic about was Maths. I know an A2 is deadly, but I really felt if there was one paper I got the A1 in, it was Maths. I was happy too with Chem and Economics as despite not having wonderful papers, I managed to pull out the A in both. I know many regarded Biology very easy this year, but after the record I had with a spate of teachers, it was a relief to get the A1.

The results in my school were unbelievable this year. In a year of 110, at least 18 got over the 500 point mark, with one guy getting the 600, and another getting 580. Considering just 6 broke the 500 mark last year, it was a serious improvement. I have to admit the competitive nature of us all helped and was probably the reason we got on so well!

So for college, I’ve to await until Monday to find out for certain, but it looks like Actuary in UCD. It was 530 last year, so I have 15 points to spare, but applications for it increased a lot this year. Failing that, DCU seems a cert considering it was 485 in ‘09. When I look back at it now, 5 A’s and 2 B’s was quite an achievement. Despite the whole medicine thing not working out, I think I’m glad it happened. It appears far more glamorous than it actually is in my opinion. If I was to repeat the HPAT, I’d need 170+ points to get in based on last year. But we’ll see. I have the grade requirements for it in most places in the UK so it’s good to have that option open.

For the rest of you, I hope you’re all happy. They’re not the end of the world, but rather a means to an end. At the end of the day, it’s about fulfilling one’s potential. The guy who gets 360 but has been told his limit is 350 has done better in my view than the girl who could get 600, but only gets 500. That’s why it’s unfair to compare people on LC points I feel.

You’ll hear from me once more after Monday, this is the day that really matters. I hope the points don’t go up too much, for all of our sake’s!

Cillian

Well as the title suggests, it wasn’t exactly favourable; a measly 141/300. I kept waking up sporadically during the night, but at 3:40, I got the email. Even in a state of grogginess, I knew immediately I’d no hope. I’ll admit I was seriously disappointed, more so in myself than anything. It was the first test I’d ever scored below average on, but in fairness, that’s below average in comparasion to the cream of the crop. I really did think the test went well on the day, especially Section 3. I mean I actually drew out what I imagined the next box to look like, and most times they were there! I thought it was the one section where you could be sure you had the right answer, but I guess not. I was convinced I got more than half correct, but not according to ACER, as I only got 49. I guess whatever marking scheme they used really messed me over!

Anyway, I’m lucky in a way that I wasn’t hell-bent on doing Medicine. Althought it has forced me to change the ole CAO. I’ve put down BESS and Maths/Economics, so I wouldn’t mind doing them either. Actuary is still the goal however, I’ll be laughing if I get offered a place there. I hope the results went well for everyone else anyway, enjoy the rest of the summer!!

Firstly, apologise for leaving it until now to blog, but oh well! I’ll go through each of them since I was on last.

Irish: In fairness, I thought it was a relatively predictable and straight forward paper, especially after last year. The essay titles might have been a bit specific and bland in that they didn’t suit people with learned-off material, but that suited me down to the ground, considering I’d nothing prepared bar a few phrases. I managed to write an absolute shed load for paper 2, the same as English paper 2 in fact! Somehow I managed a full page on Bealoideas, even though the notes in our book cover less than half of one! Just God help whoever has to correct it, for I’ve no concept of Irish grammar whatsoever!

French: Going into this on the back of an incredibly dodgy oral, the expectations were quite low. I reckon I’m possibly the only one who used the full allotted time, serious lack of time management on the comprehensions left me with forty minutes to do the written part. I spent the first twenty or so minutes writing out three pages of French expressions at the beginning, only later to use four of them, a bit of a regret to say the least, my seventh subject, or so I hope.

Biology: Despite being messed about with teachers over the past two years, the exam proved to be very simple. I did every question on the paper bar the one on Plant Reproduction, and fairly confident I did well. Everyone else I spoke to had the same reaction so I reckon they’ll kill us with the marking scheme.

Chemistry: I always imagined to become an absolute genius over the five days between this and Biology, but no, the World Cup proved far more interesting! Whatever hopes I had for an A have disappeared. I spent the first twenty minutes reading over the paper, only to end up doing ten questions anyway. Every single question seemed to have six marks where you’d feel even with the book open, you wouldn’t get the answers. I mean the IUPAC name for glycerol? It’s actually not mentioned anywhere in our book. Trying to apply what I knew, I stuck down 1,2,3 trihyrdoxylpentane thinking that sounded fairly logical, but no. On wikipedia it says that it’s another name for it, but propan-1,2,3-triol was what they were looking for. I thought the question on Equilibrium was grand, except for the Kc bit. I originally got 0.0225 and thought that was way too low for something that had a 75% disassociation, so I didn’t divide by 100, only later to find out I was originally right. Sickening.

Economics: Ah Economics, always something I thought I was guaranteed and A1 in, until the night before the test. Like Chemistry, I stopped studying for it a week before the LC began, major regret now of course. Looking over the course, I realise I’d forgotten almost everything. The only saving grace was that it was fairly topical. The whole “Rent of Ability” thing kind of threw me, and no Oligopoly? Or NAMA? Odd to say the least. I did a fifth question, something our teacher always advised against, but me being an insecure rebel, I had to rush Q1 on demand, and made a pig’s ear of it. Oh well…

It feels weird to say it’s over. No big bang at the end, it just slowly faded out. The ending for me definitely was an anti-climax to the whole thing. While things started off nicely with the three core ones being simple for a change, they lulled me into a false confidence for the last two. The whole build up and suspense for the exams was simply destroyed by the time Irish was finished. I can’t honestly say how the results will go, I’d be delighted to break 500, but I’d swap any number of points just for a place in college. Speaking off that, the ole CAO could probably do with a shake up. I have managed to find one course that is basically “me”, Maths and Economics in Trinity! It was 475 last year, and only 15 points up from the mocks, so provided it doesn’t rise too much, I wouldn’t mind that!

The HPAT results are out Monday, and to be honest, they’ll count for little at the end of the day. Still, I’m dying to see the percentile score and break down of the result, better be worth getting up at five on Monday for! I know most are finished at this stage, and the sites gone quite, but I hope y’all have a good summer! I’ll be back for the results!

Cillian

I’ve done every question from every year back to 1996, but today marks the easiest paper in the 15 years of the course. Reading through the paper at the start, I honestly had to check the front to see if the OL paper had been given to me, but no. The 14% that did take the paper could only have been happy, bar the integration Q, they all looked fairly palatable.

Q1, sequences&series bit probably threw people, but the part B? How that deserves 20 marks is beyond me.

Q2, C(i), again, unbelievably simple, part (ii) may have thrown a few, but very easy to get marks in.

Q3, B(ii) was odd, but just an Argand diagram, straight-forward once you figure that odd. Odd in part C too, with the roots coming in decimal form, never seen it before, but it worked out all the same.

Q4, Easy a and b, induction and algebra for part C, with a sum of numbers squared. Sneaky sneaky people though, the “r=11″ bit on the bottom would have been easily missed by people.

q5, induction, logs and binomial, c(ii) was about the only challenge on the paper.

Q6 and 7, easiest differentiation questions yet, nothing odd bar Q6B(ii) where the “curve” is actually a line.

Didn’t touch integration, horrible looking part c involving logs and trig functions, but other than that, paper 1 was a breeze.
Did everyone else find it that easy? Talking to the rest of the lads after, the feeling was mutual.
Paper 2 has to be impossible, otherwise there’s going to be a ridiculous amount of As given out. It really can’t be as easy as paper 1.

Week 1 over, 3 down, 7 to go.

First of all, hi Mog, it’s not me!

More importantly, what was up with English Paper 2? Yeats, Rich, Elliot and Kavanagh, I don’t even think God saw that one coming. Like half the country, I was praying for Longley and Boland. Ever since the Paper 1 mix up last year, I knew I would do Longley on the day, surely he had to come up? Failing that, Boland was a dead cert, seemingly. At 1:59, I could hear a faint Longley chant starting. You may now open your papers. F*@#. Plenty of gasps around the room. So I checked out my other options. We never studied Elliot in class, I decided last night that in fact I hate Yeats, so that left me with Rich or Kavanagh. Rich’s feministic views are quite insightful and inspiring….lol jk, I’m a man! So it was just me and Kavanagh. Some how I managed to remember my sample answer from Easter, and in fairness the question was okish. Elsewhere, things went from bad to worse with the comparative. Seeing as we ignored Vision and Viewpoint in class(not so clever now), literary genre was my option. Generally with it, you just go in and transcribe eight pages of pre-learned stuff and maybe refer to the question here and there. But not this year. This year you actually has to think about it. How does the “unexpected” add to good story-telling. How the hell can you do that when comparing under the headings of how the story is told and setting? Yuck.
Lear however was fine. I thought this was the only one with potential to be bad before going in, but no. Turns out we did the exact question in class last month on why the bad characters excite us more than the good ones. Quotes glaore, happy out.

Paper one was fine, Heaney comprehension, hopes for 2050 and the optimism speech, lovely. Quoted Einstein three times and finished on “Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs” by him. Sorted. 28 A4 pages and half a pen later, the first one was ok.
Maths tomorrow. There’s more riding on this than anything else. No pressure though, paper 2 isn’t until Monday! Hope it’s going well for everyone else!

Cillian

So here we are, nine months on, with one final day of preparation left. I’ve a feeling if you asked 98% of the cohort who are about to undertake the Leaving Cert over the next two or so weeks if they are as ready as they would have liked or originally thought, no would firmly be the answer. I unfortunately fit into this category, but after nine months of slogging, endless past papers, marking schemes, listening exercises and some more past papers, one feels that if one was given another nine months to prepare, one still wouldn’t be ready! There still would be that poverty aiste I wished that I went over, them extra few novels I should have read for English, or regret that I never fully understood chromatography in Chemistry. The one good thing I’ve found about the LC over the past year is that it makes you more flexible. It gives you the ability to apply what you already know to context that you might not. Yes, it does give you a certain ability to “wing” certain things! English Paper 1 being one of them. Despite never being wonderful at the language I grew speaking, I’m actually looking forward to English on Wednesday. It’s a paper where, in fairness, it is very hard to prepare for. You can go in knowing all the terms for the comprehension, but come 10:30 on Wednesday morning, almost everybody will be preparing an essay from scratch. The fact that everyone starts off on an equal pegging is some what relieving. Fingers crossed there will be something decent to write about!

I always figured I’d be pretty nervous coming up to the exams, but surprisingly no. I’ve instead become rather nonchalant and collected. I’ve figured what’s done is done at this stage. For the vast majority, whatever grades I’m going to get have already been decided. All I can do at this stage is to go in and do what ever is thrown at me. What I love and hate about the Leaving Cert is choice. For me, the hardest thing I’m going to have to do for Maths, French, Chemistry, Biology and Economics is pick what questions to do, something which can be either time-consuming, or else leave you in a state of regret after the exam. But still, it’s slightly weird saying I’m actually looking forward to the next two weeks, or well at least to the challenge of it! For me, fifth-year was a write off, but to be honest, I did put the head down for the most part of this year. I recently saw a fb group, “Good grades, good social-life, adequate sleep, if you’re in sixth-year, chose any two!” In fairness, the LC isn’t something that should control your life, it’s possible to have all three with some careful planning, unless of course you’re a complete party-animal who has to go out every night of the week!

I’m conscious most people are furiously cramming so I’ll wrap up soon for I best be joining you; last-minute cramming is most certainly under-rated! I’ll leave you all with a few predictions with what should come up, if trends are anything to go by, just in case anyone is completely lost.

Economics: Oligopoly seems a cert, I reckon a Q on demand and supply, national income, trade and possibly something on NAMA in the latter of the short questions or part of a long one.

Chemistry: For the experiments, I’m going to go with a water or bleach titration for Q1, ethanal or soap for Q2 and the volatile liquid one for Q3. I reckon there’s a good chance of a full chemical equilibrium Q too. It’d be in a state of ecstasy if a full question on the option came up, but I highly doubt it!

Maths: everyone seems to think the Factor theorem, sin(A+B) and one of the rules of differentiation(if you struggle with it, try find out the logs method- it’s a gift!)

Irish: Praying for an essay on politiocht or spoirt, I doubt the recession will come up again. For paper two, Clare sa Spéir, An Bhean Óg and Fiche Blian for the prose; Jack, Nil aon Ni and Bimse for the OL poetry and Uirchill an Chreagain and an tOilean for the HL. Really can’t see them putting any of the poems from the last two years up on the HL, not after last years infamous “fiasco”.

Biology: Horrible feeling protiensynthesis is coming up, photosynthesis too, wouldn’t be surprised if the osmosis exp came up with it. Ecology with the food tests is what I’m going with from section one. As for the three questions from section three, they are anyone’s guess!

English Paper Two: I had to laugh when I seen Paddy Power have offered odds on what poets are coming up. Longley and Boland are dead certs apparently, but expect a nasty question on Longley, as just about the entire country is expecting him! Yeats and Kavanagh also seem probable. A question on Lear himself hasn’t been asked in a while, so that would be most welcome! Literary genre and Vision and viewpoint are most likely for the comparative.

French: I really hope the France-Ireland incident comes up for an opinion piece, just about all the country will slate Thierry Henry and his famous hand! The economy too I reckon has a fair chance.

Having said all that, it’ll be interesting to see what eventually has made its way onto the paper, chances are I’m completely wrong, but I’d say I represent the hopes and views of most!
I’ll probably blog Friday to let people know how it has gone. Until then, if you’re finished your exams, I hope you’re enjoying this horrible weather. If you’re like me, the very best of luck over the next two weeks, and remember, there’s no points going for being nervous! The exams themselves are just a means to an end, and by end, I mean a whole new beginning.

Cillian

Apparently it’s been a month since I wrote here last, it really doesn’t feel that way though. The orals seem like something from a distant past, despite the days flying by. A lot has happened since then. As the title suggests, everything is drawing to a close. We’ve had our last Sports Day, last T&F competition, our last PE, our Ceangail dinner night out, a form class trip to Leisureplex for bowling and quasar(I guess we never really grow up!) and our Grad Night, which was basically a “glorified piss up,” as one lads defined it. Our actual Graduation from school is this Thursday however. We’re all going out to the pub with the teachers after so there’s one last time to head out before the serious studying starts. Our Graduation songs are Save Tonight, Better Together and Light and Day which are pretty cool. We’ve been told we’re finishing Wednesday which leaves us with two full days left. Nostalgia is starting to set in a bit at this stage. After growing up with the same lads for six years, it’s going to be strange not seeing them around every day. School has been real good to me over the past few years, and I can actually say I was one of the few who enjoyed the experience.

We’ve an awards night in school tomorrow night. I’m one of the four nominated for student of the year which is up for grabs. I know I haven’t a chance of winning it as the other three lads are like Gods, but I was really honoured as it’s sixth years who get to vote for the nominees. Apparently I’m getting an award for not missing a day either which was a shock when I heard it, swine flu effectively halved the number of students in school for over a week back in November! It’s kind of like that now again with most sixth years staying at home for study. I know I’d get a million times more work done at home, but I wouldn’t miss the last few days for the world!

Another last I was especially sad about, Lost! Yes, after six years, it’s finally over! I was one of the mad people who actually got up at 5 am to watch it, but hey, it was well worth it, just so I could ruin it for the lazy people who didn’t bother getting up!

The old study has been put on the back burner of late. I’m unfortunately one of those people who seem to have taken the pedal off the gas in the last few week, but I’m adamant on getting stuck in once Graduation night’s finished. There’s been so many distractions the last few weeks, it has been virtually impossible to get any work done. And now with this heat wave, it’s become even harder. I’ve made a study up in the attic which is great, but this time of year it’s a nightmare. I actually sweated more yesterday while studying than while out for a jog! I reckon I’ll stop studying for Chemistry and Economics soon enough, I’ve a four day gap between Biology and them so I reckon I’ll be fine. My Chemistry teacher reckons I should ‘rattle an A’ on the day, which means a lot coming from him! I did an Economics mock paper from 2008 and managed to get 99% which I could only laugh at. Albeit an easy paper, but my teacher is an advising examiner for the LC so I was pretty proud!

I’ll probably do another blog soon with a few predictions for each subject. Till then, enjoy your last few days of school, if you’re not already finished!

Cillian.

Today marked the last of my orals with my weaker of the two, French. For the past two weeks, questions have been flying around the year such as ‘What’s she like?’ and ‘What did she ask you?’ with people trying to get some last minute prep on each exam. I’ll start with Irish. Over preparation was my only downfall here. For months, we’ve been bombarded with notes on politics, the recession, the education system and just about everything else topical that would make for an intelligent conversation. Us being the Higher level class in the year, we thought we would try steer the conversation towards these topics and try sound bombastic as Gaeilge. But no. Instead, the examiner just happened to be the nicest woman in the world. She point blankly refused to talk about any of this stuff. Walking into the room, I was surprisingly calm. I happened to be the last person in for the day, but being greeted by an ’I’m knackered’ from the examiner was the last thing I wanted to hear. Her laziness at that stage came to the fore when she asked me to read the sliocht I had facing up. I looked down and to my horror, Peig Sayers, my least favourite starred back up. Bad planning I figured. It went well however and gave her my ‘Oh Mo shliocht is fearr!’ fib. I’m pretty sure I saw her scribbling down 30 across the desk. Or 20. Maybe she could smell the lies. All I got was a ceart go leor. Thanks for your indifference like, every pass guy got an ‘Ar Fheabhas!’. Funny enough, both orals started with ‘Have you any brothers or sister….’ Although any time I threw out these ‘nascanna’ for my prepared topics, the next question was always something simple like ‘Inis dom faoi do chaiteamh amisire?’ It’s quite hard to show off whatever Irish you have when you’ve to deal with this. I came out of the exam thinking ‘great!’, but as I aptly walked into Irish class, I thought ‘Súcra, forgot to use the Modh Coinnealeach!’ I managed to use the gnáthchaite a few times, but with an Irish teacher who is actually in love with the tense and continuously talks in it, I feel ashamed of how I managed to not use it! The only consolation is that the majority of my class was relying on reeling off notes, but from trips to the Gaeltacht, I’m able to make up things on the spot fairly easca. We did a few mock orals before the test and I was always hitting the 70ish mark, so hopeful it was in and around that on the day!

All Irish did however was give me a big head for French. Maybe arrogance is a trait of the French, but not a good trait going into the exam. So for the following few days, I was convinced all I could do was wing it. That was until I did a mock oral with a friend. And then it hit me, I’m gonna have to learn this stuff… Me and French have never really got on well. It has always had its ways of annoying me. Not being particularly blessed with great teachers for the JC, and finally when we get a good teacher for the Leaving, she decides to leave us two weeks before our Orals to adopt a baby! Granted she hadn’t planned to leave so soon, but we’ve now had three different French teachers in three weeks, with our current one only staying if they cannot find a replacement! So with no teacher pressure, preparation kind of slacked off. I can honestly say I learned to speak the language in five days. Writing a language will only get you so far, but you really have to be speaking it regularly to get any sort of fluency going. So for five days I studied nothing but French despite Economics and Chemistry tests in between (still got 91 and 95 respectively!) I threw together some brilliant notes. I had sentences prepared using all the irregular subjunctives and what have you. Everything learned of to a tee on any subject. I still felt apprehensive about the whole thing, as I had only ever spoke French once before to a fluent speaker, while with Irish I had countless encounters. Reports said she was nice, and spent up to six minutes on the Document with some people, I had ten minutes prepared on it. Before going in, I downed half a bottle of Rescue Remedy. For those of you that don’t know what it is, It’s a whiskey-like substance with much the same side-effects I suppose. So I strolled into the room, reeking of alcohol. In hindsight, not clever. I think she knew something was up. I started with a warm ’Bonjour Madame, ca va?’ to which I just got ‘Bien’ back. Grrrrr. What about me and my ‘Je suis trés nerveux madame, c’est eprouvant!?’. That kind of set the tone for the exam. She sounded exactly like the woman off the SEC listening tests. She was a native French speaker and that worried me a little. Within a minute of the exam, she asked me if I liked ‘to shoot birds’. What the hell! How do I know this is what she asked? She turned to the side the imitated someone shooting a recoiling shotgun, I kid you not. I tried not to laugh, and began to wonder if I was drunk and hallucinating things. I muttered a childish ‘Euh…. Non, j’aime les oiseaux’. Thanks. That wasn’t the end of the bizarre questions, out of nowhere, I got a ‘So why do young people today not go to mass?’. That really threw me. I ended up giving a conflicting response and at that point I truly felt like a French man, like giving up that is. Thankfully this women picked up on a few hints. I managed to talk about the economy and NAMA for a minute or so and that was my saving grace. I weakly managed a regular subjunctive and that was it. I always thought that getting these questions during an Oral was a good thing and a sign you were doing well, but in my case, unequivocally not. I really came across as being a weak higher level student when really I am normally one of the better ones in the class. The standard is poor enough as it is and French really was my place to shine. I guess not. I would have hoped for a B from both. Irish I’d imagine so but in French, a very mediocre C. It annoys me because it’ll be a toss up between the two for my sixth subject on the day, and seeing as I got a B in the mocks in French, it’s looking less likely that it’ll make that B category come August.
If I can give any tips to fifth years, it’s to get cracking on the Oral section as soon as you return in September. Try hold a conversation in whatever language and it’s amazing how it helps. All this year there has been people I just spoke Irish to and it really gives you the confidence speaking it on the day.
I’ve decided to take the evening off as a reward, not that I’ve done much, but with 47 to go, I’m taking one last break before tearing into it for the last six or so weeks. Instead, I’m writing articles for our School Magazine, or prep for English Paper 1 as I call it. We just got our student profile forms for the yearbook, so that’s a sure reminder that the year is quickly coming to an end. With just over four weeks until we graduate, one feels that the Leaving Cert is just around the corner.
I hope the Orals went well for everyone else!
Aurevoir!

Two weeks ago I came across something incredibly worrying. The Marshall Lerner Condition. According to our book, it states ”That a devaluation will only improve  a countries balance of trade if the sum of the elasticities for exports and imports is greater than one in absolute terms’. After pondering about that in a class test, I though to myself ’wow that means that they could both be inelastic and improve the BOT’, but then it hit me, that’s rubbish. How could it work for two that are inelastic. So instead of sum I wrote down average. And lost marks. I questioned my teacher about it (an absolute genius) and even he was baffled. I tried a few examples with the PED at -0.6 for both, (which are greater than one in absolute terms) and predictably, they dis-improved the balance of trade. Marshall and Lerner, you pair of gimps. That fact that I’ve thought this probably means there is a logical explanation, but I dare any Economics student to try it, the results are quite shocking….

All Ireland Senior B Colleges Semi-Final. Last Saturday. Two points. Two bloody points off a schools All-Ireland. Beaten by a team from Tipperary no less. Tipperary? I didn’t even think they knew what a size 5 was down there. Seven points up at one stage, and thrown away. Their Machiavellian approach to sport is comparable to that of Edmund in King Lear, les grosse legumes (had to keep it educational)! Imagine getting to an All-Ireland final in football, it would have been a class way to end school. But hey, I still have a Dublin and Leinster medal in my pocket. Anyway, that was my crappy start to the Easter break. I probably should start with an apology for the damage I inflicted upon our belle langue, Gaelique. Even reading over it I felt like throwing up. What it did make me realise is that my Irish grammar is like that of Shakespeare, utterly non existent. So I did a bit of research. Apparently this guy, Da Animfhocail, is going around making lots of extraneous rules about when two nouns come together. Fourteen years I have studied Irish. Not once has this guy ever been taught to me. For fourteen years, I have been convinced I was rubbish at Irish. Don’t get me wrong, I probably have the best Irish teacher in the country. But if you saw one of my Aistí, you would understand. There must be a good litre of red ink used per page with corrections, lots of slight spelling changes, sheimius and úrús. I took it upon myself to actually find out when to use these grammar points, but the use of an úrú after ’na’ was never mention. Baffled so I was by things like ’fadhb na ndrugaí’ yet ’na bhpaistí’ was mícheart. Me being Mr. Logical and all that. Baffled that is until today. Fourteen years this T.G guy has escaped me, until I accidentally stumbled across him today. I’ll admit, we touched on it in the Gaeltacht last year, but like Organic Chemistry, you’re not going to get it the first time around. So fun times ahead over Easter getting to know this T.G guy…

Time is quite literally flying out the window. This time two weeks, my scrúdubhéil (imagine, prime example of the T.G, I mean, wtf is a bhéil?) will be thart. Three weeks et mon francais oral sera fini. Eight weeks and I graduate. Imagine, no more school? Ten weeks, English Paper 1 will be completed. Twelve weeks and I’ll be re-capping on my last Economics paper. Not. I shall be getting rather merry with a few friends!
It really does seem like only yesterday I was going in to help the incoming first years acclimatise to secondary school life, and the day before that, as if I were a diminutive first year with my oversized bag. Funny how the bag condition has reappeared in sixth year. My current one could probably hold a decent sized first year. Discontent with getting a bottom locker this year, all my books remain in the bag. Couple that with a few days without shaving, and my friends claim I could pass as a suicide bomber, a disguise to go with my explosive personality. Ok, awful pun I know, but sixth year really does drain all humour from you.

As for the whole study situation, it’s going ok I guess. I haven’t really started killing myself just yet. We’ve had great weather of late. Great weather for study that is. I’ve been getting the Exam Brief supplements in the Irish Independent of late, and while I admit their useful, all I have managed to read so far is the student profiles. One girl claimed that recording all of the Chemistry definitions onto her iPod helped her remember them all on the day. So me being me, I copied her style for Chem. Biology and Economics too. And sure hey, if they are going to work for those, I may as well try it for my oral work. I’m not sure how successful it has been so far hearing myself ream off notes about A l’étranger, but it can only help! One thing I’ve noticed from doing masses of exam papers in Maths is that the exam is getting bloody harder each year. Algebra for example. Take any of the questions from the past three years. Easy? I shall think not! Now have a look at 1998 Q2. 5 minutes it took me to do the entire question and get the 50 marks. So to all of you who claim the Leaving Cert is getting easier and think ‘oh how hard it was back in the day,’ f!@# you! Your A1 in 1998 wouldn’t get you a C3 now!

Now that the hype of the mocks is dead and buried, it’s time for post mortems. English my best result? It’s probably evident from reading my blogs that it’s not my thing. Still, 78 left me over the moon. If I got a B2 in the real thing, I would be rather satisfied! My B3 in French is another thing I laughed at when I saw the result. Albeit a four year old mute could answer the comprehensions and get full marks, I was still pleased. Again, a subject I expect to see a C beside in August. As for the other four. I know in my heart and soul I am capable of getting A1’s in Chemistry, Economics, Biology and Maths, but a serious amount of work needs to be done. A serious amount of work = time, and well time, it’s something we’re all running out of. I got 460 in the mocks. I set that exact aim last October and thankfully I reached it. Looking around and seeing some people not even reaching triple digits is worrying, I have a friend who improved by 250 points from his mocks, albeit he 90 in them. But I really have to break 500. It’s not like I’ve a choice. Actuary was 530 in UCD last year and 485 in DCU. With applications up by 10%, it’s going to rise. Being honest, I’m not sure if I would be happy doing Primary Education or Economics and Finance in NUIM. It’s not that I think they are below me, but I love a challenge. I like to think of myself as a bit of a workhorse, and frankly, those courses are quite laid back. So how fitting, I’ve to work my socks off to work my socks off for the next four years, or I can take it easy, and take the next four years easy! Some reward eh?
Anyway, I shall wrap up, I’ve a date with this Tuiseal Guinideach guy, I’d hate to be late!
Enjoy your Easter, well except for those in sixth year, as that would be awful advice! As a learned man once told me,
‘Avoid present pleasures for future happiness’
Bon(ne) chance