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

Hey all! how ye keeping ???  My rant on Irish; Why oh why do we need Irish??????, I mean don’t get me wrong, I dont HATE the subject I just don’t like reading in Irish ,talking in Irish or even writing in Irish! There’s ONLY about 1 million people(i think) who speak Irish fluently! and don’t get me started on the different accents!

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY; Who else agrees with me on shag bands being an immature shambaa?………Have you ever felt like a drop of water dropped on you, only to see that you are either in a building(roof over your head) ,or there is no rain and is very good weather??

Ok the random post of the day was a bit long I’ll try to make it shorter next time …..on other news I have started making flash cards in order to remember things ( I’ll get the result of that test next week :/), oh and also to just keep writing out the solution a gagillion times! so happy its weekend tomorrow!(well the start of the weekend)

I Bid Adeiu To You

The longer I’m back at school, the more blissful Friday evenings are. Seriously, I’m as happy after school finishes for the week as an OAP on pension day!

The downside is the large menacing pile of school books in the corner of the room. Naturally, as a Leaving Cert student (those words still send a shiver down my spine), I have lots of homework and tests to study for. I am quite proud of myself though because I did a big long Irish poetry question on Thursday night that’s not due until Monday. At least that’s that out of the way.

Speaking of Irish, I didn’t mention anything in the last post about my time in the Gaeltacht. I went for the first time (and sadly the last time) this summer. If anyone is looking for a good one to go to, Coláiste Chamuis Camus in Co.Galway is the place to go! Obviously I’m going to be biased when I say that but it has an excellent reputation. They were an amazing three weeks- I met the nicest people and my Irish has improved enormously (it got to the point where I was sleep-talking in Irish). I’m so confident speaking as Gaeilge now that I’m actually looking forward to the Oral! The idea of a French Oral, however, still scares the beyjasus out of me. Anyway, we were doing some Irish listening in class a few days ago and it’s so much easier to follow it all. Fuair mé beagnach gach ceann ceart!

I’ve noticed that nearly everyone here seems to have gone to the Higher Options exhibition and I feel so left out that I wasn’t there! I only found out what it was three days ago so I’m guessing since we’re here in the isolated West of Ireland, my school didn’t bother suggesting it. Reading people’s blogs about it, it seems similar to something I went to last year near my school and am going to again this year. I really just attend those things for the free stuff.

I’m going to keep this short for today because I feel a cold coming on and want to go rest. Eh, I mean, study.

Wow. Just received conformation about 5th year subjects if i do it

( All Honours except for maths )
English
Irish
Maths
L.C.V.P
Accounting
French
Geography
Home Economics

YES!!!!!!!!

I got the 3 I wanted and I like accounting aswell so all is good.

Just results tomorrow now and then whats that book shopping Thursday
Can’t believe I’m buying books again

Oh well
Happy

PETER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Ally xx

Post-mortem starting from Monday

I thought Maths P2 (OL) was really nice=D No surprises! No tricks! Nothing out of the ordinary! The only complaint I heard was that the Q sin2θ wasn’t actually on the course, but it was in the tables… (I had it drilled into my head by my honours maths teacher “sin2A=2sinAcosA”)

Irish P1 (HL):The titles were quite specific and left little room for regurgitating essays! I don’t understand the thinking behind the course at all! One minute they’re telling us we need an in-depth knowledge of the language, its literary content, and its history. The next were given a paper which “encourages spontaneity!” Bhuel, ar mhiste libh insint dom conas gur feidir dalta A1 i nGaeilge a fháil gan aistí nó píosaí eile a bheith ar eolas acu de ghlan mheabhair?? Hummmph!! Despite all my griping, I was quite happy with my paper. I found the comprehensions tough, especially the first, and the end of the second.

The tape was tricky in places…and I thought they played the first section three times… but otherwise twas ok!! EXCEPT the 2nd section (I think) kinda confused me!! Was it just me or did Síle say they had good facilities at Oxygen?? Clean toilets?? A wide range of shops (unless the choice between Bud and Bulmers is what she meant??) A BATHROOM??? Lol!

Paper 2 was another story altogether…. mainly because of that horror of an An Trial question….. Ok, So I did the Stair first – seemed to go ok – then the pros. Clare sa Spéir had a lovely Q, I just ran out of time a little though!! F.B.F was fine too, just didn’t leave the time for it! Then the fun began: I opened An Trial and automatically looked to the 2nd part to see what characters had come up…. dramatic effects?? What?? That was out since I hadn’t the slightest idea of what it included…. I started reading question 1 and, about half way through, the panic set in…. grow?…main conflicts?…blame?… seemingness of love??? WTF??? Still haven’t a clue what it means.

With that note of panic firming in my mind, I started scribbling down whatever I knew on the first poem I saw – Jack – realised after half a page (sound familiar) that I couldn’t answer any more =( so I started Níl aon Ní which had a lovely question!!

So that was fine, eventually, and so was An Chéad Dráma. I then had 30mins to decipher and tackle An trial. I got 2 and a half pages about not very much. Absolutely gutted because it was my best question in the mocks – I wrote 4 pages and got 38/40!! Ah well shit happens…

French (HL) yesterday was nice. I found the second comprehension quite difficult but otherwise grand. I wrote about a driving test in a car that made a funny noise when it stopped, and wouldn’t go into reverse!! Then I did the e-mail because I knew all the words so hopefully I’ll have scored well on that…. then the question on male/female fashion…. after the exam my friend told me she had pretended to be a boy and just used all her oral material, saying how important fashion was to her /him!! GENIUS!! I found the aural grand, a little tricky in places, but overall fine…

Our biology paper was a beaut!! Couldn’t have asked for anything nicer really… Most predictions made an appearance and there wasn’t anything too awkward. Q12 and 14 were really nice… I didn’t answer very well on protein synthesis, but did an extra Q in case.

8 down, 2 to go.

Accounting and chemistry next Monday and Tuesday so we’ll see how that goes =D

Congrats to anyone already finished… have one for me this weekend =P

Good Luck
Ta ta
Katie

So after a week of exams, I’m officially completely tired out. Thankfully, after biology tomorrow I have a very long weekend until the next Tuesday for Spanish.

It all feels so surreal that I’m doing my Leaving Cert.

English Paper 2 was a hard pill to swallow, as my two favourites weren’t there, but Yeats made an appearance so I was happy enough.

Maths Paper 1 and 2 OL were a bit tricky in my opinion, I found some of the part C’s quite difficult. And Q3 b) and c) in Paper 2 was the one that caught me out the most.

Thankfully, Irish complied with the predictions! An essay that I could fit polaiteoiri into and fiche blian ag fas, cearrbhach mac caba and Jack came up, thank god

However, today I had my first exam that wasn’t Irish/English/Maths. All my option subjects seem to be waiting til later on in the LC to show their faces.

I did the early modern history course today at 2pm. All I could comfort myself with was a big mug of coffee this morning as I wondered what in the name of God I was going to do. I always liked history, but it had fallen by the way-side since I did my research topic and after promising to revise everything I wanted to do for European Topics last night, I failed. This morning I studied 6 topics that I actually enjoyed. And it’s either the candles lit for me back in Galway, the heavy amount of praying and promising to go to mass I did or just the luck of the Irish: women in Gaelic Ireland came up as a documents question, there was an essay on Shane AND Hugh O’Neill so I had a choice. In the European topics I had lovely choices too but chose to go with The Role of Calvin in the Reformation, which was such a lovely and broad essay and then a comparison essay between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici to discuss which one was more successful in the tackling of the religious problems in their country. Clearly Elizabeth I, considering the chapter which Catherine de Medici features in is entitled “The French Wars of Religion”

I came out grinning and laughing, which was a first time ever because normally I am far too tired or disappointed to smile and be cheerful at everyone. My giddy excitedness could have had something to do with the coffee and the lucozade sweets I was eating before I went in. However, I am so satisfied with that paper, now I just have to wait for the results, and I’ll let you know how satisfied I am then hahaha

Anyhow, it is going to be a very, very long night with Biology. Thankfully, it is one of my favourite subjects and I have a few predictions for tomorrow:

Genetics/DNA, Ecology, Human Reproduction always feature in the Biology Paper

The first question in section A is usually in regard to food.

My teacher said to never ever leave a blank in section A, because it is definitely worth the guess.

Over the years: either photosynthesis or respiration or both have featured on the paper.

There is usually a question regarding micro-organisms. Some people are predicting viruses due to swine flu last year, and other people are predicting bacteria.

Of human reproduction, my teacher said that she reckoned the male reproductive system or the embryo, but I’d have a general knowledge of the female, just in case.

I also found a link to this man’s youtube page. He is doing predictions for every leaving cert subject. He has apparently been bang on for irish and home economics, and did a very good job with my history (pretty much everything he predicted came up on the paper )

http://www.youtube.com/user/LeavingCertificate

he’s predicted topics for biology and experiments that he feels will come up

Happy Studying and Good Luck to Everyone!

Aims

xoxox

Sorry for my absence on this for the past few…I don’t even want to check how long it’s been since my last post! But really, as a Fifth Year student on a website mostly visited by Sixth Years, I felt that as exams are approaching, the last thing they want to read are my minor complaints! I’m just after reading the others’ recounts of the orals and now all I want to do is go study for them! I’m going to the Gaeltacht this summer so that should be a help but as for French… I have never put on a French accent once in class because I can’t take myself seriously with it. It’s a bit unfair, expecting us with our rural Irish accents to suddenly become Audrey Tatou for twelve minutes!

Okay, so I’m going to jump right into this. I’m sure like most of you, I’ve had this thought for years but it was only when I changed my Facebook language from English to Gaeilge (after a pretty hilarious/confusing period of using Pirate language) that I thought to myself:

If methods of learning were a little bit more fun, I think I’d do a lot better in school!

Over the past few years attending secondary school, I’ve tried to make learning stuff as easy as possible. The methods varied from the common acronyms to composing a song about the rock cycle. Revision books are handy to concise facts and carry home instead of the 10-tonne Business book but are much the same as your actual textbook. Here are some of my ideas:

Irish- introduce newer and more modern stories and poems. Some of the ones on the course are good but others are quite pointless. A 21st century romance novel as Gaeilge? Yes please! Until the department takes my ideas on board, try some fun ways of enhancing your Irish. Foinse comes with the Irish Independent every Wednesday and there’s great articles to suit everyone. I love the fashion column personally. There are some great songs in Irish too that will get you in the right mindset. Des Bishop’s Léim Thart, The Corona’s Heroes or Ghosts, Mundy’s Mexico and Galway Girl can all be found on Youtube as Gaeilge, along with some others that may appear in the sidebar while you’re watching. And if all else fails, follow every muinteoir Gaeilge’s favourite tip: Watch TG4!

French- many of the same pointers here. Popular culture is the greatest learning aid for languages, I think. For music, I love Carla Bruni, especially Quelq’un M’a Dit. I don’t know much about French films or TV but I’ve seen Entre Les Murs and Les Choristes in class and loved them! Coco Avant Chanel is on my must-see list too.

English- seeing as we speak English all the time, that’s most of the work done. Reading and writing regularly will of course enhance your abilities for Paper 1 but as for Paper 2 all you can really do is study what’s in the books. I did find, however, that watching The Simpsons’ version of Hamlet many times in my youth helped me when we were doing it in class. You may laugh but I knew what was going to happen before anyone else and the teacher thought I was some sort of psychic!

Maths- there’s not much you can do here but even simple changes in the books could make a difference. For the Area and Volume chapter, Find the volume of a cylindrical rod is just plain boring. Find the volume of a cylindrical tube of Oreos, however, is more appealing!

Business- I don’t have too much of a problem with the Business course because the exam gives you room for creativity already. You know the questions that say ‘illustrate with a product of your choice‘? I love picking the craziest products for them because as long as you answer the question properly, you can waffle on about pooper-scoopers and tricycles all you like! Shows like The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den give you a basic knowledge of Business skills and we often discuss them in my class. I’d love to see a question such as Write 100 words on your favourite Apprentice character.

History- movies are great for this subject and of course documentaries. Michael Collins, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Downfall… there are ones to suit nearly every aspect of the course!

Geography- this is a tricky one. All I can really suggest is, go outdoors!

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!

Hi guys,

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!!