Guess who turned 18? Little old me? Yessum

Apologies for the lack of blogs so far, computer was on the fritz and the only access I got to computers was the one in the 6th year area. I felt like people were watching me writing so I decided to wait till I got the computer back in the comfort of my own house

My first month(feels like a year) of 6th year has been relatively uneventful.

I dropped to my first ever pass subject two weeks ago, Irish. I was kidding myself thinking i was going to find the time to do 8 honours subjects so I decided to give HL Irish the boot. Nothing against the language but it was either maths or irish and I love maths so it wasn’t that difficult a decision.

I went to Higher Options on the 16th. Thought it was definitely worthwhile though not to future 6th years : BRING A SCHOOLBAG. I thought my arm was going to fall off after a while. I got all my prospectuses:) At the moment I’m veering towards Physics and Biomedical Science in DCU or Physics and Medical Physics in NUIG. Or General Science in either of these universities. In saying that my mind changes every month but sure we’ll see:)

Anyone going to NUIG on Friday or Saturday? I’m going on Friday. we don’t have any school so I won’t be missing any

My absolute pet hate at the moment is circular motion. “It’s a circle Niamh!” “You know a round thing!?!” “Yeah?!” “And it moves” And then i get lost.. jUst the bane of my life at the moment.

Anyways, 3 Eavan Boland personal responses await.:/

Niamh

Right, I’ve just finished my third week of 6th year, and I have to say I’m getting back into the groove of the whole school routine . It’s Saturday and despite having an uncomfortable case of a cold, I managed to revise a whole maths chapter (applaud now).

Went up to higher options on Wednesday, and it was exactly as I expected. Loud. Too warm. Packed. And I got the feeling that people were laughing at my blazer. So we went outside for a while, up to the Spar, then came back and relaxed on the grass for a very brief spell of sunshine. When we went back inside we found that most of the rest of the students had gone off smoking or whatever it is young people do! So I seized this opportunity to actually get close to some stands. Apparently there’s no jam-making course in DKIT this year! Looks like I’ll have to aim for higher than 60 points. I got some useful info on the old personal statement from Mr. Cambridge and Ms. Brighton, before going to Newcastle, admittedly to find out its proximity to St. James’. (I’m a less than avid Newcastle fan). Then we trotted home, bags bursting with prospectus, counter-slagging girls who didn’t know the difference between a suit and a blazer. I also learned that ‘The Times’ is a far better paper than ‘The Independent’, partly thanks to some quite juvenile writing by a certain sports journalist, who shall remain nameless! Did anyone else circle 8th June on that DCU wall planner? Scary stuff. Brings a sense of reality about this whole LC business. Like the fella once said, reality’s ok for a holiday, but you wouldn’t wanna live there.

15 As in junior cert?! My 10 now seem negligible .

I’d like to take this chance to publicly welcome a new blogger to allhonours.ie. Many (2, his own opinion on listenership) of you may know him as the voice of DundalkFM’s ‘Comhairle na n’Óg’ based radio programme, discussing topics varying from ‘shag bands’ to underage drinking. As a team, Andrew and I hope to entertain and inform you, reminiscent of two of our favourite ‘Sesame Street’ characters! (See profile photos).

Ah music! I’ve just joined the class this year. I’d like to say I took advantage of the free periods last year, but sadly not. Who knew that German is such an eloquent language! Cheers, Bach. I’m enjoying melody writing, as I find it pretty easy. Also, Andrew and I will be competing in lyrical competitions to accompany our melodies. Topics covered so far: ‘Spar jingles’ and ‘woes of 6th year’. Any suggestions for future topics will be greatly appreciated! On the subject, following our highly successful musical production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ last April, we are putting on another, modernised adaptation of a Shakespearean drama. Let me know if you’re in the northeast region from 19th-22nd October and I’ll sort you out with tickets.

I’ve booked my UKCAT exam for 28th September. (Any tips?) I’ll let you all know how that goes. Not expecting great things but if anything it will give me something to base my HPAT prep on.

Good luck with the study this week guys, and remember, if you’re feeling stressed out yet, pressure’s only for tires!

Adam out.

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

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