I know this was supposed to be a continuation of the Orals but I’ve been advised by a friend (after a year and a half of blogging on this, I’ve finally entrusted two friends with my URL. Who knows, by June I may have told three more!) to stop dwelling on the past. I agree with her-if you thought I had a lot to say about the French, the Irish would have been akin to a postdoctoral thesis in length.

To summarise though, the Irish Oral was a low-key affair. I wore navy, as I am obligated to do in keeping with the school’s dress code. I made the mistake of dragging myself out of bed at six in the morning to look over notes on the economy and this was my downfall. By nine a.m., I was too sleepy to be nervous about the exam. By twelve noon, when some Second Years walked down the off-limits corridor that was being used for the Orals, I was too tired to shoot them with a disapproving look. By the time the examiner called me in, I was exhausted. She was nice but made a lot of notes rather than eye contact, which put me off a little. In my fatigue, I kept forgetting simple words and used “deas” three times in one sentence. Grabbing at straws, I shared my poor French Oral joke with her about my lack of exercise but she merely replied with a “I suppose that’s how it is”. I know my consumption levels have increased twofold since the start of Sixth Year but even that was uncalled for, surely! I’m not going to sugarcoat it (even though the examiner seems to think I enjoy sugar quite a bit)-I’m disappointed with the way this Oral went. However, the eternal optimist in me knows that things could have gone worse. I could have fallen asleep.

Before we got the holidays, I finally completed my History RSR. Anyone who does History will understand the rush of emotions involved in handing up the project for good. Having worked on it since the start of Fifth Year, I no longer felt like I was submitting a simple project for a State Exam. I was giving my baby up for adoption. Hopefully the Department of Education can give it the care it needs, and the examiner the grade it deserves, whatever that may be. Sadly, I didn’t get my Geography Field Study completed yet but there are still three days to finish my graphs when we go back to school.

I’m not sure if anyone noticed but there seems to have been some form of a royal wedding taking place. Of course I’m joking, one look at the internet on Friday was enough to inform me that seventy-eight of my Facebook friends are going to marry Prince Harry. Should I start looking for a hat? What made me laugh was the fact that prior to the wedding, when criticising it was the fashionable thing to, most of these people sounded like they were going to resurrect the ghost of Thomas Clarke to ruin the occassion. Then come Friday afternoon, suddenly they were in love with the dress, the bridesmaids, the happy couple and the British public in general. It was hypocrisy at its finest but at least it was a break from the “passed my theory test” statuses!

I watched a few minutes of the ceremony in the morning and some highlights later on (together with the live commentary it makes it sound like a soccer match) but I was reaching a breakthrough with a History essay at the time so I returned to it after hearing “I do”. Kate Middleton wisely completed her education before settling down with William, after all. Although they first met at university, I highly doubt there’ll be any royalty attending NUIG this autumn.

That reminds me, the CAO Change of Mind form is opening soon (5th May for all those who lost the handbook) and indeed, I have had a change of mind. I couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm for my first choice and after a long think about it, I’m almost sure I now want to do Public and Social Policy instead. It seems to be a combination of all the courses I’ve considered in the past, although I’m a bit wary of the Economics element. That being said, I always would have liked to have studied Economics for the Leaving Cert if my school offered it. I guess I won’t know until I’ve tried it! My problem is that I know the career I want and have a list of others that I would thoroughly enjoy, yet I’m finding it hard to pick the course that suits me. Most of the girls in my school are the other way around, as in they know a lot of courses they would like to do but don’t have a clue where to go from there. Sometimes I don’t know which is worse.

I hope everyone had a good Easter and took the chance to take a rest as well as get some revision done. My better teachers set some work to do, which was great because it prevented me falling back into lazy habits. I’ve also noticed how considerably relaxed I’ve been without the company of a hundred stressed students the past two weeks! I would generally deem myself a laid-back person but I’m sure you all know how capable exam stress is of having a domino effect. One person gets upset about a Maths result and by the end of the day, we’re all pulling our hair out and swinging from the lampshades. Well, it hasn’t gone that far yet but with three weeks until graduation, it’s only a matter of time!

Okay, so when I set out writing this post I intended to cover a number of topics. However, I got totally carried away and managed to only cover my French Oral before taking a look at the word count. At least this will give me the push I need to blog more often because I have plenty more rants in store! My teachers always say my answers aren’t long enough anyway.

Now it’s time for a post-mortem of the Orals. As much as relatives and teachers advise against replaying exam experiences in your head like a catchy Vampire Weekend song, it’s the very same people who are waiting around the corner saying “how did it go?” and “what did they ask you?” They didn’t ask me anything harder than what you just did, that’s for sure! I mean, how can you compress over twelve minutes of one of the most unnatural conversations of your life into a satisfactory summary for people who haven’t gone through something similar in over thirty years? My standard “it was grand, just happy it’s over” and “there were no surprises” replies have become monotonous by now. For this reason, I am going to be honest with you.

The French went well. In fact, it completely exceeded my expectations. I’m not saying I walked out of there with a spectacular mark but the time went so quickly that I worried the examiner had timed it wrong. She did say beforehand, “les maths, c’est ma bête noire”, when calculating how long to keep me in there (to my utter dismay because I had prepared that exact phrase and would now just look like I was copying her). While we’re on the topic, the examiner was a French native and one of the nicest women to grace the littered halls of my school. When she talked to the year as a whole at the start of the week and asked who her “première victime” would be, I gathered that she didn’t take herself too seriously. Or us either, I discovered, as the week went on. It became common knowledge that this woman liked to laugh. A lot. Hopefully not at the standard of French though.

Although the examiner’s kind disposition should have been reassuring, it did little to put me at ease as I waited outside room 20, with nothing but her muffled laughs to keep me company. I skimmed over notes for my favourite TV show, Gossip Girl, before the door opened and I quickly decided that confidence was key, despite the fact that I had none. Admittedly, I felt like Blair Waldorf incarnate as I strutted into the room, signed the register and took a seat. Yes, I strutted into the room. Convincing this woman that I was self-assured had made me believe it too, so even if an A is out of the question perhaps an Oscar is in order?

The tête-à-tête went nicely and I felt more like I was in a café chatting to an overly friendly waitress than in a classroom being recorded through a microphone. Knowing that the woman enjoyed a joke, I ensured that I went in there with some material. When she asked if I liked sport, I said that I keep in shape by running to the fridge. A belly laugh ensued on her behalf, although I don’t think The Comedy Roadshow will be calling me anytime soon. I was also asked about myself, my family, school, pastimes, college and my document, which posed the most problems.

Bringing in a photo of the Gaeltacht for the French Oral was not the greatest idea but not because I was tempted to speak as Gaeilge. It was because her desire to know of a typical day there required me to use the imperfect, which really is my bête noire. The worst thing was that I had planned to cover this question the previous night but ran out of time. Merde! Anyway, my newfound WWBWD (What Would Blair Waldorf Do) attitude encouraged me to carry on and pretend I knew what I was saying. I hoped she would lead on to the future of the Irish language but it was all in vain. Overall though, there were no major blanks and I got to use all the main tenses, albeit they may not have been conjugated correctly. Alors, c’est la vie!

If anyone is thinking that an overdose of energy drinks and a popular American sitcom suddenly transformed me from a very average Honours student to Audrey Tatou, I have to stress that I put a lot of study into this Oral. I know, I know, I’ve just broken rule #1 of being a cool Sixth Year- never admit that you’ve studied, ever! It’s not all sunshine and Easter eggs for me (although I’ve just eaten a nice milk chocolate one for breakfast) because my fear of the French Oral pushed all other subjects to the side for two weeks. Unfortunately this resulted in a disappointing Irish Oral…

To be continued (for anyone who actually bothered to read this one).

I decided it was about time I updated this blog, considering the orals are over and the Easter “holidays” have started, so really I’ve no excuse not to drop by and keep you all posted

News? Well, the orals are over (in case you didn’t guess from the title….) and I still can’t fathom the fact that they’ve already finished. It’s unbelievable to think that one moment they’re weeks away and next thing they’re a thing of the past. I’m saying it again for sheer emphasis – the orals are OVER. Finished. Done. The relief, as I’m sure you can all relate to, is immense.

From this moment on, I need never speak Irish or French ever again.. It’s yet another chapter in the Leaving Cert cycle closed. And how’d they go? Well, pretty much as expected. French was basic enough, all text book, nothing random, but Irish was a little challenging. I didn’t get asked anything related to the Lottery or Taoiseach.. but merely to describe the weather, the room I was in and to talk about my family and friends. The questions were ridiculously basic – which of course then had me on nerves waiting for something drastic to happen.  I couldn’t believe that the examiner wouldn’t throw me a curve ball, so as a result I spent the whole 15 mins waiting for a bomb to hit. It didn’t really come. Lesson? If something’s working in your favour, just let it go. Enjoy it. Don’t always expect the worse – you’ll just stress yourself. I came out of the room absolutely delighted with myself but also partially on edge thinking I didn’t get a chance to “show off” everything I’d learnt. Truth is, I doubt anybody went in there and got everything they wanted said. It’s all a load of improvisation. Oh and a little bit of an act too! A teacher of mine described the experience as a performance.. and she was completely right. Dramatise everything. Be an actor; add emotion, expression, even just a smile – it makes the whole thing so much easier. Trust me (It’s a bit late for me to be saying that now, granted, but maybe someone from class of 2012 will pick up on it ). So yeah, that was my orals in a nutshell, a pleasant surprise if anything. Though I can’t be cocky either – I was extremely lucky with my examiners. They were brilliant and did everything to help me instead of catch me out. I can only imagine the horrors of a bad examiner, and so I express my deepest sympathy with everyone on that front. Moving on…I don’t believe I recorded my mocks results on this blog yet… have I?

Well in brief, I got 505. A1 in Biology, B1 in Irish, B2 in English, B2 in Business, B1 in French, B1 in Home Ec, A1 in (pass) maths and distinction in LCVP. I’ve no idea how I managed to get that B1 in Irish, so I’m knocking myself back 10 points for realistic purposes. Sounds stupid, but I don’t want to set myself up for something that won’t be attained in June… still, I’m working on it  I’m delighted all round, though I know I made some stupid mistakes in English and Business around timing. They’re the typical exams where knowledge isn’t enough to win out – it’s all about the hackneyed “exam technique” these days. You either have it or you don’t. Again, I’m working on it guys.

Anyhu, the easter holidays are some light relief too. I took this weekend off just coz’. To be honest, I felt I deserved it. All work and no play makes Sorcha a very dull girl indeed… you physics students should know better than the rest of us that it’s all about the equilibrium between study and the social life. I’m happy with the way thing are playing themselves out too.

Til next time,

Sorcha 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.

Clock ticks. Pen down. Silence.

Then its all over.  I could almost feel all the definitions, diagrams, quotes and experiments spilling out from memory as I left my script on the desk and headed into mid-term. The feeling of being finished was absolutely surreal.

I made the decision not to study over the break and to be honest, it was the best thing I could’ve done for myself.  For the first time since September, I had the chance to properly relax without the twinging guilt that I should be studying. See I figured that being through the wars was enough, the brain needed “me” time. So yeah, midterm consisted of lie-ins and socialising, nights in and nights out.. reading for the sake of reading (something I’d missed more than I had thought!), etc. The thing I enjoyed most though was simply the opportunity to switch off. I allowed myself to be bored for the first time since God knows when! I can only imagine how good June 17th will feel – I can’t wait!

Naturally, it flew in. A blink, and suddenly we’re back to normal. Mocks are now unfashionable, orals are this seasons must-have. I’m not too worried as of yet, but since these are the first brush we’ll all have with the “real deal” I’m predicting some sorta panic attack between now and April. Whats left, four weeks or so? I’ll take bets for the 3 week breakdown. Probability means its more than likely gonna be a Monday. Just sayin’

And to distract us from this oral pressure, we have the return of the mock papers flying round. In some cases, they even provided a little comic relief, but that aspect of things is definitely best left behind us.

I’m still waiting on a few, but I’m pretty pleased all round. A1 in Biology, B1 (84%) in Home Ec, B2 in Business and English, Distinction in LCVP. I’m still awaiting Irish, French and Maths, which are the ones I’m most interested in… but I’ll keep you posted.

I know I made some stupid mistakes in the mocks, timing being one of them, but I guess that’s the whole point of them in the first place – its a clock based race, so we need to pace ourselves.  The teachers kept telling us all that for ages remember? Lesson learnt. They must love this smug time of year where their cautionary speeches come back to haunt us. But don’t worry, we’ll have our moment soon enough!

Best get back to the desk .. I’ve Irish notes to do. If anyone has suggestions for what they would do if they were Minister for Education/Finance/Taoiseach, it would definitely be appreciated. Can’t get any more topical than that guys.. It’s oral gold.

Sorcha x

Hello everyone =D

I’m sorry that I havn’t blogged in so long, and that my blog as Gaelige didn’t happen…… I was cramming and panicking!!

Despite having a bit of a last minute pre-oral breakdown before French (I was nervous about being nervous!!) it went ok. I wasn’t asked anything too complicated, and nothing I couldn’t answer, just the regular bits about family, friends, sport etc. Despite this, I came out the exam feeling slightly disappointed! Maybe it was because I had learned so much and didn’t get to use most of it…. Anyway, I felt that I hadn’t done enough to make French into an A1 subject and so proceeded to pile on the pressure for Irish!

You see, I’ve figured that either Irish or French needs to be an A1, and the other an A2 for me to get the points…. Lovely positive thoughts to have right before heading into an exam huh? So, as you can guess, I was a nervous wreck going into Irish. I got through my sliocht (uimhir 5) without any problems. Then the fun began – I couldn’t remember how many people were in my family (I knew how to say it but if you’d asked me in English I still would have been like uuuuuuuuuhhhhh…). If first impressions really count that much I’m screwed!!! =( After that I suppose it got better. I wasn’t asked a modh coinnealach question, lots of people weren’t, but I managed to squeeze some in somewhere. Anyway, they’re over, and I’m just praying they went ok.

It’s amazing how much more time and energy I have now to do actual proper study- not just going up to my room, wandering around for a bit, coming back down and pretending I got “loads” done!! (Please tell me I’m not the only one who did that…) I think it might have something to do with “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” or one of those clichés. Anyway, motivation seems to come a bit more easily now. After all, 7 and a half weeks and it’ll all be over. SCARY thought!!

We had our yearbook photos taken last week (on the windiest day EVER) and that just made it all seem a bit more real- the whole leaving the school thing. I kind of grasped that fact that the leaving cert was coming (to get me!!) a while ago, and yea college and parties as well as hopefully studying what I want. It just hit me then, the whole sentimentality aspect of it all, “there are people in this photo with me now that I may NEVER see again.” Ok, we mightn’t get on. We may have had our differences, but if you are used to seeing the same faces 5 days a week, about 35 weeks a year for 6 years it gona be a bit of a change (tear!). I’ve been in school with a few of the girls since junior infants :O crazy huh? When I said this to a friend in school, she simply replied “well, if you want to see some people again, you’ll make the effort. If you don’t you won’t!” Still, what if I’ve shared “the best years of my life” with people I’ll never meet again?

On a similar note, we are also preparing for our graduation. The songs are amazing!! My friend made up her own words to a song to make it applicable to our school. I don’t know the original name, but it goes like “Follow me and everything’ll be alright….” (I think!!). So, like thousands of girls up and down the country, as well as worrying about exams etc. I also have to find time to shop for a dress!! Gawd I say it like it’s a chore lol!!

Well I had better get back to the books for now.

Hope everyone is getting on ok, and not over stressing.

Ta ta

Katie

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!

Well hello my fellow Leaving Certs. I’d like to introduce myself, I’m May Wong. 17 years old. I’m unfortunately repeating the leaving cert this year. You just couldn’t tell me last year, i was too busy wasting my time on the net, and doing nothing really. I’ve to go through the same old jazz, ucas, cao, grade predictions, studying, continuous test, orals etc all over again, and this time i think ill really prioritise my time.

Since i came back, all I’ve heard is MOCKMOCKSMOCKLEAVINGCERT. Most people are either giving dig’s at me and the rest of the repeats because they presume we failed everything or were too stupid to get our points, but I won’t get into that rant today

We have 7-8 months till the leaving again, and roughly around 3 months till the mock, actually isn’t too far away. Now the pressure and the stress starts to commence. I wish I would of listened to my parents about studying earlier, suppose it’s true you can’t put a old head on young shoulders..

I have the relief of dropping honours English and Irish this year. Never had they weight lifted off my shoulders, but in saying that I have taken on honours music this year and I’ve put myself in the deep end as I didn’t do it in the junior either.. haha, so I’m just holding onto my practical for dear life and going on intense music grinds and math grinds.

Wondering why I’m repeating? And no I didn’t fail anything, I got my points 385 with my lack of study, I was so disappointed with myself at the time, it’s not that bad, but it’s nothing to be proud of, I actually did get my second choice BUT I didn’t get the honours language requirement of a C3.  I got a D1 and when I viewed my paper? 3% off from the C3.  Sickend.  So I’m back for that C3 this year, and I’m going to put all my effort into it this time. Maybe go from 385 to 485? I really got clean up my act though and stop playing pet society and poker on Facebook! It doesn’t help in any way for the leaving cert but I gotta say, allhonours.ie saved my ass last year, was the best online help I could get and the best feedback for answers.

Please remember, cramming does not work 100%. Start now, bit by bit you’ll get there!! Study, Study, Study!!
Just think, the more you study, less chance you’ll be back repeating the leaving, when you could be at college

College in UCD or DCU next year, hopefully Anyways, better get a start on all my weekend homework….wooo
Toodles everyone
xx