Hi My internet has been down for the past few days so I couldn’t blog. In the aftermath of Maths Paper 1, I eventually calmed myself down enough to have another look at the paper. I think i may have been a bit hard on myself in the exam. I did a lot better than I thought in the exam, so I’ve just forgotten about it now

So heres how the rest of the exams went

Maths Paper 2- I thought it was a lovely Paper. A few difficult c parts but nothing I shouldn’t have been able to do. That doesn’t mean it went perfectly, far from it. But I hope I managed a nice C grade

Irish I do pass so after 5 years of honours I found it a bit of a doddle. I was finished both papers after an hour so I’m not too worried about the outcome of them

French Je l’ai adoré Moi, j’adore francais donc je ne pense pas que cette examen est trop difficle. Maleheuresement je sais que ma production ecrit est faible. J’espére que j’ai gagné une b

History- Even typing this has me in tears. I cannot describe to you my disappointment in that exam. I had worked so hard all year. And not one of the essays I had prepared came up. I was just distraught. I started to panic and had to leave the exam hall. Anyone who does history knows how challenged we are for time but if I’d stayed I would have passed out. I managed to do two and a half pages on each question but it just wasn’t enough. I hopefully passed but I really cannot expect anything more than that. It was just heartbreaking. It was like Maths only 10 times worse. God, even thinking about it sends me into the depths of depression. So I’m not going to

Biology- What a weird paper? Like none of the usual things came up. In saying that, I thought it was pretty good There was alot of “from your knowledge of biology” type questions which is not how we’re trained to think. Couldn’t believe it when I seen plants in question 11 as well?

Just one more left; Physics on Monday. Overall the whole “Leaving Cert Experience” feels like its lasted forever. It seems like a year ago since we sat English paper two but we were actually in it this time last week! Crazy really. I’m just ready for it to be  over now and to start my summer I’ll blog again Monday after my LAST LC EXAM (I refuse to repeat )

Till then,

Niamh

Hi

So we’re in the teens now, counting down the days. Can’t believe it’s gone so fast? 3 days left in school EVER and 27 days until I finish the LC. People always say that 6th year flies. In one way I completely get it but on the other I feel like I’ve been in LC forever.

What did everyone think of the Queen and Barack Obama’s visits? Some brilliant quotes for Paper One methinks. I honestly don’t think either one of them could have went better. The Queen’s visit was so symbolic, and helped to begin “a new circle” as Enda Kenny put it yesterday. “Didn’t he do well” a la Gay Byrne :L I was completely enthralled by Obama’s speech. The twittersphere went crazy with #IsFeidirLinn . I really wish I could have went but standing in the rain after travelling for two hours to see a dot just wasn’t appealing enough. If it was a nice day I definitely would have went. Knowing my luck if I went, I would have gotten a cold from standing in the rain, and then be sick for the exams. So couldn’t take that chance.

How’s everyone feeling in the run up now? Everyone is taking days of school (Like me today) and the year is getting seriously depleted. The tears have already started. I know i’m a sap :L All my friends laugh, but I’m genuinely sad. It’s not my friends I’m gonna miss, I know i’ll see them, and keep in touch. It’s all the acquaintances, girls who’s number’s I don’t have, girls who I’d meet in the hallway and have a bit of banter with, the random times our year goes mental.

Last Friday, we all dressed up as farmers and played a soccer match against the teachers. I wasn’t really looking forward to it but honestly, it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in school.

We finish this Friday. Traditionally we play some prank or go mental but there’s nothing planned yet. In the morning we have our awards then we spend the day watching Public Speaking Videos, Talent Show Videos, Our Fiddler on the Roof and possibly our Form and Fusion. Unfortunately, I make an appearance in all of these Sure it’ll be a piosa craic?

So on the actual study front I’ve decided I’m not writing any more History or English essays. Anything I have at this stage I’ll learn and hopefully that’ll see me through. I’m coming to the end of the Maths Papers and they are getting seriously difficult. I’m gonna go back to 2010 after I finish 1997.

Oh and I decided not to sit the Applied Maths exam. I know some people think I’m crazy but honestly, I’ve never really given it the time it needs, I was probably gonna fail it again and I get to finish four days early, and I was never gonna count it for points. I still have my 6 honours subjects so it’s all good

We got out 6th year hoodies yesterday. Love mine so much And Spectrum (our yearbook) is coming on Friday. Loads of “Miss You, Good Luck” jobs. The sixth years get a booklet of profiles which our friends have written about us. Its basically

<insert student name> love to <insert embarrassing moment> with <insert boys name> and <insert another boys name> while saying <insert silly quote>

Ah it’s all in good fun. When we were writing them the whole 6th year was full of “OMG that’ s funny” and “Are we being to mean? No? Okay ” Anyone who takes them seriously needs to learn how to take a chill pill

That’s all for now I’ll be back again before the exams

Till then,

Niamh x

The ‘How Many Days Until’ Calculator that I lazily Googled has just informed me that there are twelve days until the French orals start in my school. And what am I doing? Revising tenses, learning vocabulary, preparing my document? No, I’m playing air guitar to French songs that I found on Youtube.

Today my English teacher was stressing the importance of anecdotes in our writing so I’d like to share one with you. I discovered a charming little French song in an episode of Gossip Girl that I proceeded to look up online. I have listened to the song over twenty times since then and only recently did I venture to look up the translation. I thought that if I sung along and knew what the words meant in French it was bound to help me in the oral. However, to my utmost surprise, the song’s title actually translated into a dirty word. A dirty word which, if I were to use in the oral or any French class, would get me thrown out of the room. Well done Ciara, you sure know how to pick them. The song is called ‘Petite Pute’ by Austine – I think I’ll let you Google translate that in your own time.

I might as well touch on the mocks while I’m here, as they seem to be as talked about as Rebecca Black’s song ‘Friday’. I had a pretty generic experience of the exams and have gotten all of the results except for History. We did it on the 10th February, there are only twenty people in the class and yet, it’s the 23rd March and they’re still not back. What’s up with that? I was satisfied with my results but know there’s still room for improvement. The award for Most Pleasantly Surprised Result goes to Irish with 84%. Most Disappointing was Business at 57% (so much for being my best subject), while the award for Percentage That Made Me Laugh Immaturely was 69% in French.

I did nothing for St.Patrick’s day, in keeping with my reputation as a Leaving Cert recluse. It usually rains, the parade contains one million brass bands and you can’t walk without getting glass in your shoe that day, so I wasn’t too bothered. I actually got a bit of study done over the long weekend, although it’s gone down the drain this week as I’ve been continuously exhausted since Monday. The hardcore party animals that went out for the four days know how I feel, except at least they have an excuse.

In other news, if my Maths class gets one more person seeking refuge from the horrors of Higher Level, we have to move classroom. Just another part of the exciting tale that is my life.

Sorry that this post lacks any structure and is really just a flow of random thoughts. Also, please forgive me if I seem alarmingly bland and pessimistic today, I’m tired and wanted to clear my mind.

Well. That was a stressful weeks. Mocks suck. Remember the JC mocks that were actually a bitta craic cause you got extra long lunches and no homework, all you had to do was show up for two hours and maybe do a bit of study in between (Well that’s how it was for me anyway). Well in the LC mocks, you get shorter lunches, early mornings, late nights and a nice dollop of stress. Sounds fun, right?

I won’t go into any serious details with each exam incase someone reading this doesn’t want to cheat but here’s a basic summary of how my week went.

English Paper One Alot harder than I expected it to be. I kind of just expected it to go alright tho, but that was not the case. The three texts weren’t that straightforward but that’s nothing compared to the essays. Normally, one essay just jumps out at me. But nothing was appealing. About a page into it, I freaked and realised I had no more ideas. But I only had 40 minutes left so I had no choice but to ramble on for two and a half more pages. Not impressed by its shortness either but hey, we live and learn.

English Paper Two Was B-E-Autiful. Everything I wanted to came up so was delighted. Tough paper in so much as its 3hr20mins of solid writing. And you really do need that time. Exhausting stuff.

Maths Paper One Disaster. Epic Fail. Impossible. More depressing words. It was horrendous. Algebra was terrible and even my bankers (Q6,7 and weren’t that straightforward at all. Hopefully I scraped a pass.

Maths Paper Two Another awful paper. You’d swear they were trying to scare people into dropping to pass. You could just see all the honours students looking at the paper dumbfounded (or maybe that was just me). Was nicer than paper one, but still harder than any paper I’ve done before.

French Lovely. Easiest paper I’ve ever done. Was finished in an hour. Reading comprehensions were really easy and the questions were great too. The listening was a great deal harder but still very manageable.

Biology Another nice paper. Very manageable. No major complaints

That’s all I’ve done so far. Irish Paper One and Two, History, Physics and Applied Maths next week. History is gonna be hard. Timing is ridiculous. 2hr50 to write 4 essays. Impossible!

Then Mid-Term Excitement )

Niamh xx

Happy Halloween everyone

How was everyone’s midterm? Mine was alrightish. Didn’t get half as much work done as I had planned but as they say “The best laid plans of mice and men often go a rye” (Keeping in tune with the quote theme lately )

Only 7 weeks till Christmas if that’s any consolation! I keep looking forward to Christmas then I realise that after Christmas its only a month to the mocks. I do not feel mature enough to be in 6th year, never mind sitting my mocks/actually doing the Leaving Cert!.  But sure all we can do is go with the flow I suppose.

During the midterm I did manage to get some Maths Paper questions done which was a shock to the system when I realised how little Algebra I remember. Or any early fifth year stuff in any subject at that ? Revision will be needed :L

Also I did a French reading comprehension. Alot more complicated and nothing like the ones in our book. #epicfail me thinks.

Time to get serious from tomorrow onwards I guess. I’m of the belief that if I do small bouts of revision, often, and until the mocks/leaving cert, it will suit me better than big panic filled marathon study sessions. But hey that’s just me, each to their own.

Anyways, must go prep the schoolbag for the morning.

Till next time,

Niamh

Had a little bit of a crisis last week. You know one of those “I can’t do these maths, I’m wasting my time and I need to drop to pass to save myself the stress” moments? Well, in brief I had a revision test of 5th year work and I got a C. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but I put so much effort in, I wanted something a little better. I’m in half a mind to drop to pass. Anyone have any opinions? So far 6th year work is easy enough, circles and complex equations aren’t exactly rocket science, but the more I think about pass, the more the pros outweigh the cons. Less homework, less stress, less effort.. At the moment it sounds pretty appealing. Only downside is I’m guaranteed an awful teacher – his is the sole class that has space. Not surprising really, but that factor alone might be enough to keep me slaving away in honours!  I genuinely can’t make a decision.

In other news, we had a French theatre company perform for us today! The plot wasn’t exactly riveting, but for the first time in my six years at school, I understood every word. I actually spent the time playing translator for my friends in pass.. I loved it! The highlight was watching the French actors trying to sing songs they had learnt from watching Juno… For anybody who plays guitar, G C G C G C x the whole song and you can play “Anyone else but you” down to a T :) At this point I spose I should mention that I spent my summer in complete French immersion. I went to France alone on an exchange and attended school there for a while (their summer holidays are so short – never complain about ours guys, we don’t have a leg to stand on in comparison!) Anyway the whole thing resulted in a huge transformation in my French. It wasn’t an easy summer, but definitely worth it.. now I’ve one less subject to worry about and thankfully I can safely tick off the oral and aural boxes on that note. Study done.

UCC open day is coming up – I really want to attend! Please give me your feedback folks, I’m going to be missing the whole thing. Open days are so much harder to attend when you live in Donegal Everywhere is hours away! It isn’t helped by our lack of trains or decent bus routes.. But complaining about that would take another blog all to itself. *sighs* Time to switch over to Home Ec notes… Remember everyone, Omega 3 is brainfood!

Sorcha x

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

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!