Mar ata Seactain na Gaelige ar suil, deanfaidh me an iarract a scriobh mo bhlog i nGaelige! Ta bron orm faoi an litriocht agus an gramadach, tá fhios agam go bhfuil mé cáic!Ar aon nos, tá mo thiortaí ó mo mhocks air ais. Bhí siad….Bhuel…. ceart go leor is dóigh liom. Táim fós ag fanacht ar mo thiortai i mBearla, ach seachas sin, fuair mé 445 phiontaí. Bhí mo aim timpeall 470, agus tar éis na scrudú, chéap mé gurbh é easca i gcompáiroid lena hArdtieste.
Fuair me 66 i Matá, 63 i nGaeilge (sin é mo leathscéal ar mo bhotúiní sa blog seo!) 76 i mBitholaiocht, 71 i Francais, 70 i gChemic agus 77 i Eacnamiocht. Táim dochasach go mbeadh mo thiorthai i mBearla níos mo na 65, ionas go gheobhadh 450 ó mo reamhscrudú… Bhí mé lán sásta leis mo thiorthai i Francais áfach, dá gheobhainn sin sa Ardteiste, bheinn áthas orm! Ní faigh mé B i Francais riomh go deo (Bhuel seachas an Teastas Soisereach, ní fhios agam conas fós!)

Thainig rud maith amahain ó na ramhscrudú, fuair mé kic mór suas mo thóin! Thuig mé an realtacht den saol ar chead uair. Dá gheobhainn na tiorthai seo, gheobhainn ‘offer’ amhain ó an CAO, eacnamiochta i Maigh Nuad. Táim ag cónaí deich kilometres ó NUIM, ach beidh gach waster i mo scoil ag dul ann, agus gach daoine eile a aitint liom. Agus an chursa freisin, meh. Is aoibheann liom eacnamiochta, ach níl sé an rud ceanna le actuair. Ní chaillím dochas a faigheann leigis tar éis an HPAT, ach beidh gá orm a gheobhaidh timpeall 540. Tar éis mo reamhscrudu, ní fhios agam más féidir liom….

An reasuin eile a scriobh mo bhlog i nGaeilge, fuair mé amach go bhfuil mo mhathar ag léamh é. Sin  saghas ait i mo thuarim! Agus mar tír ghrá orm! Is aoibheann liom an teanga, agus ba mhaith liom a bheith liofa leis í, ach bhí mo chaighdean an ísle riomh cúíg bhlian. Ach is laoch í mo mhuinteoir ag an am seo. Tá sí ag toghtha mo rang Gaeilge go dtí Conamara i rith Casca go dtí a Gaeltacht. Tá 24 daoine i mo bhlian ag deanamh ardleibheal i nGaeilge as 125, agus i scoil cailini in aice linn, tá trí ranganna lán le daoine. Mo thuarim, tá buachailli cáic ar Ghaeilge!

Ar aon nos, aon daoine liofa ag léamh seo, tá an bron orm. Tá sé pianmhar a leamh! Dheanfaidh mé tuilleadh iarraht sa chead blog eile.

Slan ar anois!

I’m back! I felt unbelievably stupid for not managing to sign in for months on end but after swallowing my pride here I am! I’m all for technology and progress and all that  don’t get me wrong, but when you see “password incorrect” for the 147th time it’s easy to get disillusioned. I’m happier being a neo Luddite if I’m honest.

Anyway back to the task at hand (which in my case should be my French Mock tomorrow! ) I cannot believe how fast this year is going, one minute its October Tests, then you blink and you’re in the middle of mocks! How did that happen??  From writing this sentence it is only 99 days, 16hours, 55minutes and 29seconds until English Paper One begins on June 9th….. Just thought I’d give us all a little heart attack there (don’t kill me!)

Ah all panic aside I cannot wait to leave secondary school. Im quite young at 17 in sixth year but I’m sure you’ve all looked at first and second years and thought “was I really ever that small??” (and standing at 5′4″-ishI’m hardly Goliath myself!) Seriously though, I can’t help but look at some of them with their teddy key-rings on their schoolbags and little decorated lockers and think “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!”

When CAO deadline came around on the 1st of February it was such a relief, it was like “that’s it! it’s done and I’m not thinking about it until may!” My first preference is UCD for International Modern Languages (DN069) but since it’s only in it’s first year I don’t know anyone who’s taken it. Languages at Third Level are supposed to be pretty difficult so I’d love some advice if there’s anyone out there  who’s been there?!

Anyway for me it’s back to my Jounal Intime

Bye!

Caoimhe

Hello everybody again!

Mocks have come and gone, and not quite as bad as I thought. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best I suppose. It was crazy to see the amount of people trying to find out what was coming up. And I’m not talking about the typical no hopers. Some of the cleverest people I know had seen the papers before hand. What, could they not contain their excitement to see what was coming up? That’s probably not the answer but even still, they ruined the whole point of the mocks in doing so.

For me, it was getting the timing right. I’d never sat down to do a full paper in one go before so it was great to see what timing is going to be like with the LC. I managed to time everything pretty ok, and got everything answered and usually an extra question or two (or even all eleven in Chemistry!). English paper 2 was the only exam that I was writing until the very end, I never thought it was humanly possible for me to 21 a4 pages, but with only two or three words per line, I suppose it wasn’t too difficult! The only exam that went bad as such was Maths paper 2. I started a Biology paper at 7:30 that morning and ran a cross country race in between, so by the time Maths came around I was mentally exhausted! As far as I know I had all DEB papers, how did everyone else find them?

It’s less than a week to go to the HPAT and usually I’d start getting a little apprehensive about such an event by now, but I don’t think I will be. I’m doing it in Trinity which is handy ,seen as it’s closest, but everyone else I know got UCD. As for strategies for the test, I’ve got a few worked out, so hopefully they‘ll happen! I’ve been contemplating lately the thought of if I actually was offered a place in Med school (even though there‘s ridiculously little hope!). I don’t know if it’s something that would suit me. Don’t get me wrong, I love science and the idea of helping people, but the workload I’d be taking on, it’d be like re-sitting the LC another 5 times! If I was to get in though my dream would to end up in the army, that’d be my route in!
So now for the dramatic irony, because I’m not too pushed about doing well in the exam (well of course I still want to do my best!), I’ll end up doing better in the exam than if I was hell bent on getting a place in Med school! (Nerves do get the better of me sometimes!)
So if I do get in, I’ll owe it to the fact I didn’t really mind, I kind of like that!!
It annoys the hell out of me though when you hear ‘Oh well you really have to want Medicine to get it’ comments. Absolute BS! If that was the case there would be a bloody attitude test and interviews, not an aptitude test!

That then got me thinking about my other choices on my CAO, like Pharmacy and Actuary. Frankly, all the have in common is a y of their names. Pharmacy is third and fourth, while Actuary is fifth and sixth. Being pragmatic(I hope!), I’ll end up doing one of these. I’m having serious problems deciding which one however. I went on work experience back in the good old days of TY in the local Pharmacy and really enjoyed it. I mean the guy who owns it is the nicest you’d ever meet, an inspiration of sorts. But then I sat in on two Actuary lectures in UCD and DCU during the week on economics and absolutely loved them. I met up with a guy who got 600 in his LC and he claims to love it. So I’ve been thinking, maths and economics or chemistry for the next four or five years? Hmmmm….

I have my French oral left to do later this week, and to be honest, I can wait for it. I said I’d practice for it over the midterm, but I thought I deserved the week off! I started reading Wuthering Heights again for my English comparative. And when I say again, I mean for about the 6th time, I just can’t read the bloody thing! I’ve lived off chapter summaries from the internet to find out what actually happens because I could never follow. Finally I’ve started to start comprehending what’s going on for myself! I used to love reading but ever since I’ve started secondary, sport has just taken over and I’ve never really had the time to indulge in a good book!

I’ve decided to give up Facebook for Lent, forty days I thought I could handle it. And then I discovered Lent is actually forty-seven days long, never have I felt so cheated! But it’s probably a good thing, there’s nothing worse than spending copious amounts of time on stuff like that and the feeling after. Although I’ll probably just replace it with MLIA!

I reckon it’ll be a while before any results come back, but fingers crossed by Paddy’s Day I’ll have everything back! Best of luck to all of ye doing mocks this week, and the HPAT too!!!!
Slánners!

(Herald 16/02/10) Online forums are giving details of what will appear on Leaving and Junior Cert mock exam papers before students sit them.

Websites, such as boards.ie and allhonours.ie, have become meeting points for desperate students who are seeking the topics and questions that appear on mock papers.

Students who have scanned the papers then email a copy of the exam to others.

Examcraft and Dublin Examining board produce 95pc of mock papers that are used in Ireland’s 700 secondary schools.

Philip O’Callaghan from Examcraft described the practice being adopted by desperate students as “counter-productive and ill-advised”.

“Students who look for the topics online do have an edge but it is not beneficial for them in the long run,” he said. “The majority of schools make mixed orders to try and prevent this activity from happening, so students are unaware of which company is providing the exam.

“Any student that works consistently over the year and practice their past papers will do well. Students that haven’t prepared and are relying on these sites are doing more damage to their chances than good.

“Mock exams are a guide to how they should gear up for the exams in June, using those internet forums is only causing students to undermine themselves.”

The Dublin Examining Board (DEB) refused to comment when contacted by the Herald.

Gemma Duffy, spokesperson for teaching union ASTI said that the association “discouraged” the use of the websites.

Schools hold mock exams at different times and subjects are sat on different dates around the country.

Although pupils could not remove papers from exam halls, they could memorise the questions and then post them online.

Published in the Herald today – http://www.herald.ie/national-news/pupils-warned-on-exam-mocks-leaked-on-web-2065277.html

Hello again. I think it’s time I stopped letting this blog gather dust and returned from my cyber-wilderness. I shan’t make excuses, in truth I have no justifiable ones, but I shall resolve to update this more often.

Oh dear, there are only two or so weeks left until my mocks start. Fantastic.  I think the panic is starting to set in just a little bit. Only a little bit though, I’ve done this before so you can trust me on one thing: the mocks are not very important. Grades wise, I mean. They do have their uses: they are a wonderful eye opener for those students who have yet to “wake up and smell the coffee” as my teacher put it the other day. And He’s right.  If you have yet to get stuck into the books, don’t panic.  Much. Panic a little bit, then take that horrible sense of dread that you will probably get as you walk into your mocks and get very familiar with it. Now try not to forget it as soon as your two weeks of fake-exams are done. Hold on to it. Channel it into some…and there are those of us who may not be very familiar with this word…s-t-u-d-y.

Seriously.  I’m not even joking. I’d never felt so scared in my life when I went to do my mocks last year, but unfortunately I forgot all about that horrible feeling as soon as I handed up my last paper. Consequently, I had to experience it all over again in June. For the non-fake-exams. Which was even worse..

Let me know how you’ve been getting on with the aul’ LC, whether it’s take one or take two (or you’re Laura Brady and doing it for the 57^th time).

Good luck with your mocks!

Sinéad.x

Hi everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonne chance ^_^

Hey peoples!
I hope everyone’s well and, ya know, not freaking out or anything! So Mocks are here again! Everyone excited?! I’m not for one.
Is it only me that thinks the mocks are more intimidating than the actual LC? I freaked out completely last year about them and then by the time June came around, I was way past caring.
Tip for this year…save the mental breakdown ’til 9 June.
The timetable for the mocks is quite nice actually, Business and French on next Friday, mid-term and then back to it on the Tuesday…plenty of time.
It seems everyone and their mother is applying for college this year anyway so unless the Government finally decide to do something productive for this country…I’d say they’ll be fun times ahead.
So I’ve made sure that there is no space on my CAO application and have applied for every course relevant to journalism and business so here’s hoping I get into one!
I’m kinda kicking myself I didn’t do my CAO properly last year. It turns out I could have got into quite a few courses….bummer anyways!!
I’m off now to stare at my English notes and TRY to get some of it to stick in my brain!

Chat yaz!

As the title suggests, the mocks season is quickly approaching! Judging by the amount of mock related questions on this site, you’d swear it was the end of the world! It really annoys me that everyone is looking to find out what’s coming up on the different papers. Like seriously, what’s the point doing them if you know what’s coming up? The whole point is that they’re a run through of what’s coming up in June. And if you know what’s coming up in June, we can talk more

I start mine this Wednesday. My timetable isn’t too bad, I suppose, three full days and four half ones. There’s none I’m really dreading, usually it would be Irish and French but I feel I’ve done enough for them this time. I probably should feel a little bit more worried about the exams, but any fellow sixth year I’ve talked to has proclaimed they’re screwed, so I suppose I can take some comfort in that.

I had my mock Irish oral during the week. After spending 3 weeks in the Gaeltacht over the summer, I didn’t think too much preparation was necessary, so much so that I lost my sliochtanna the weekend before and read it for the first time in the exam! Needless to say it didn’t go half as well as I thought, I most certainly won’t be trying to wing it come the real one. I still managed to get 99/150 for ten minutes of awkward conversation so I guess it wasn’t all bad! French orals are the week we come back after mid-term however; they are one thing I am not looking forward to! Speaking French has never been a strong point of mine, and never do I regret not going on a French-exchange back in TY more so than now!

I was fortunate enough to attend an Open Evening in UCD a few weeks ago for people interested in Actuarial and Financial Studies. It seemed pretty good, I got to chat to one of the lectures about the course and it seemed pretty interesting, the only think is they expect the points to rise this year so that’s a bit of a bummer seen as they were 530 last year.

Sport seems to be one thing that’s going right this year. Tomorrow our schools in the Dublin Colleges football final, so with a bit of luck, we’ll bring home some silverware. This is my fourth final with the school, and yet to win anything, so fingers crossed, it would be nice to leave the school with something! Cross-country season is back in full swing. We were up in DCU last Wednesday for the annual invitational, and our Senior team came 3rd so all in all, a good day out. The West-Leinster event is on this Thursday however, so that means I’m in school at 8 in the morning for Biology, off to the race, and then back to start Maths paper two in the evening, fun or what!

Thursday week I finish with Economics and then off for a week. No plans as of yet but looking forward to it immensely!

Best of luck to all doing exams, remember, come August they count for nothing! Bon courage!