You are browsing the archive for 2009 April.

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by emerald

Pride and Prejudice and Perfunctory Work Ethics

April 30, 2009 in Study

(Although I respect Jane Austen as one of the few female authors who don’t suck, that title’s meant to be catchy and ironic more than reflect her stuffy overrated novel)

I’ve been thinking hard about taking the ordinary level German paper. That would make the third ordinary subject in my pool (the other two being irish and maths), which is starting to get depressing. I mean, ordinary irish and maths are forgiveable, because Higher maths is a gigantic time sink that you shouldn’t take unless you need it, even if you’re a maths genius, and everybody sucks at Irish. But once you start getting past the two-ordinary mark I start feeling too ordinary. And could there be a more insulting word for it? Ordinary. Way to kick a bastard while he’s down. Even ‘foundation’ has a nicer ring to it than ‘ordinary’. They should call it “Lower-Middle Class Blue-Collar Wage Slave Level”, and even that wouldn’t be as insulting. Plenty of lower-class people who are unique.

So, I’m stuck between my pride and prejudices, and my perfunctory work ethics. On the one hand, you’ve got the humiliating prospect of taking yet another ordinary subject, limiting my potential maximum points from a respectable 560 to 520 (still clinging to the hope that my mind goes into overdrive at some point and I pull everything off with effortless perfection). On the other hand, you’ve got my lackadaisical approach to study. If I tried hard enough I could probably pull off a B in Higher German, or at least a C. Probably. But there’s the ever-increasing risk that I wont. And with the fiasco that was my orals, there’s even a risk of failing it, which would put a serious spanner in the works (seeing as how I’m aiming mostly for arts courses that require a third language). Which gets me started on the overall retardation that is our Central Applications Office.

I prefer Chinas CAO...

(I prefer China's CAO...)

What relevance does German have to a psychology course? Huh? It’s not like Freud himself has risen from the dead to teach it personally. Even if that were the case, everyone knows that the rotting vocal cords of zombies make specific languages a moot point (they speak in death rattles, you see).
The other end of the scale is just as absurd. Take Biotechnology for example. Requirements: 340 points, one science subject, any level. If I got these results, I’d be able to take it:
Ordinary Biology: D3
Higher Art: B3
Higher English: B3
Higher French: A1
Ordinary Geography: A2
Ordinary Maths: A2
Total Points: 345
Imagine that. I’m a guy who lived in France for a while and is good at art. I suck at everything else, barely scraping a pass in biology (and I studied like hell for ordinary geo and maths). And I can do biotechnology, simply because nobody knows WTF it even is (and so doesn’t apply for it/jack up the points). (Note: Hypothetical)

And this is really the ultimate flaw of the Leaving Cert. People talk about “different kinds of intelligence” and how the LC “only tests memory”, and that’s true to a point. Thing is, you don’t exactly want a doctor who can’t remember the right prescription or handle situations under pressure (although 18 is a bit young to be making those judgments about a person). The LC makes sense in a general weeding-out-the-stupid-folk scheme, but then there’s people like me — and I really don’t think I’m alone in this — who work exceptionally well when they give a fuck.

Now, I give a fuck about my future, which means I kinda have to give a fuck about the LC, but I don’t really give a fuck. It’s an artificial fuck-giving. I half-heartedly give a fuck, so the effort I put into it is proportionally half-hearted. And the LC just doesn’t reflect that. If I gave a fuck it’s possible I could be the absolute greatest doctor on the planet, but I never really considered medicine, because I know I could never give enough of a fuck about the LC to get a place in it. And also because it creeps me out. I guess the counter-argument is that people who can’t adapt what they give a fuck about aren’t suited to the important roles in society. You can’t always do what you want. (Maybe I should pull up from this downward spiral of profane rambling…)

Still, something about the system reeks. Talent should be utilised by society, not discarded because the talented person can’t focus hard enough on crap which is completely irrelevant to what they’re talented at.
“I want to do psychology.”
“Okay then. Account for the rise of facism in post-war Germany.”
“Look, I think I’d make a good psychologist if you give me a chance.”
“Answer the damn question!”
“I don’t know. Something about the Treaty of Versaille.”
“Okay then. Enjoy your life as a plumber.”

The CAO system: even more retarded than this tiger.

The CAO system: even more retarded than this tiger.

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by marie

Summer’s Coming…

April 29, 2009 in Study

Okay, I am perfectly aware of the fact that it’s cold, rainy and all in all very grey but think about it guys, there’s not much time left until we’re finally free. It’s an utterly unbelievable thought and it makes me do that girlish squeal in my head as just for a while I manage to forget that I have exams and instead I concentrate on the fact that I will have time… Time to just hang out. Time to go out. Time to waste and use productively alike. There’s a beautiful freedom in that.
Unless you can’t tell I’ve just finalized some of my summer plans hence the unbearable excitement. I’m am ensuring that this is the best summer yet, rain or shine I’m making the most of it. I have such a list of things to do which I will finally be able to get on top of; learning how to drive, reading a book or two a week, knitting myself a cardigan.. Just really simple things which I can’t do right now because every second I have is immediately drained over to either “Study” or at the very least “Think About How I Should Be Studying”.
I am not ready to sit the exams but I am not going to worry too much about that, I can say with ease that I’ve been working since September (and a bit last year obviously) so I’m going to hope that my efforts will be rewarded in point form, or at the very least I will pointed in the right direction and end up happy and all that jazz.
Anyone else out there started planning their summer and basked in the imaginary sunspot of their mind as they think about things like sunshine, picnics, leaving on a jet plane, sleeping in until 4pm or getting to bed at 6am. Fellow leaving-certers right now I am very very happy and I hope that if you find yourself in the “WAH WHEN WILL IT EVER END?” state of mind that you flick to your calender and look at all those long empty days. What recession? What swine flu? What wars? We are young. We are beautiful* and we will be free. (All sappiness is intended for corns sake I’m not that bad ;) )

*Disclaimer you may not in fact be beautiful.

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by marie

Back and (not) ready for action

April 27, 2009 in Study

This time yesterday I was in Stockholm.. Now I’m sitting at home after a day at school, a day spent realizing how completely screwed I am for June but also how even the last ten days wouldn’t have helped. My options for tonight are sleep, eat or study. But I’m on facebook. Reliving the past ten days like a mad woman. And it’s quite enjoyable.

I have noticed a slight change in the air, so to speak, at school. Homework is being given by the crate load, without consideration for our own personal well being or anything like that. Also it seems to me that people are somewhat more focused. At that I am very glad.

Okay, slight change in the format of todays post, short and not even hard hitting. Unfortunately the only thing that’s hard hitting these days is my head with my desk. This is a short catch up and I don’t even have the energy to proof read it very well, my bad. I will post again in the next day or two, right now I’m recovered for surviving on about three hours sleep a night for ten nights, whoo!

Marie
x

ps, welcome Emerald! :)

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by emerald

Finishing up the RSR

April 27, 2009 in Study

The Research Study Report. 20% of the marks for History. And a taste of what’s to come with writing college papers. Tomorrow, April 28th, is the official deadline to have it in, written into an official booklet under official supervision in an official school. Most of you have probably already done it and handed it in. Some of you probably did it in fifth year. To be honest, I did most of it over this weekend :P But If you’re in one of those schools who’re waiting until the last possible second to get it done, this post’s for you.

It pissed me off how little advice there was for writing this. It’s like trying to grocery shop without a shopping list. You end up with three different bottles of ketchup (although that was mainly because I wanted to do a taste-test). However, I found this guide fairly recently, which turned out to be very very helpful. (You’re wanting to download “b. Student Guide to Research Study Report “) Thanks to the good folks at scoilnet.ie! Ya’ll saved my ass. That file is basically a shopping list of everything you need to have done in your Research Study Report.

I’m going to assume here that, by now, you have it all written up in a handy .rtf document (Rich Text Format is what all the professionals use. Just sayin’) and now it’s time to sweat the details. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably written too much. At least in the Outline Plan and Evaluation of Sources sections.

You see, there are three sections. The above two, and the actual Extended Essay. The booklet has 16 pages. Excluding the front page, the title page and the two back pages, that leaves 12. One for the Outline, one for the Evaluation, ten for the essay. After printing out the booklet and writing into it, I’ve determined I can fit about 8 words per line, totalling about 240 words per page. (And my writing is pretty big. It has a certain whimsical flair to it that I just can’t seem to restrain. Also, I use long-ass words…) Bottomline, is that if you keep your Evaluation and Outline sections to less than 250 words you should be perfectly a’ight.

Also important: I’m told that adding two or three lines onto the end of the page (there’s a blank margin at the bottom) is acceptable, so it’s a good idea to bring a ruler and pencil (eracing the lines later). Also, if you have long-ass URLs, one trick is to use a site like http://tinyurl.com/ to reduce their size.

Another thing to look out for is verbosity. Being more concise is almost never a bad thing, especially in this kind of scenario. I reduced the Outline Plan from 400+ words to 235 (including the citation of a fourth source) just by changing phrases like “Second Lieutenant William Laws Calley was the leader of 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, the unit responsible for the brutal massacre at the My Lai hamlet of Son My village” to “Lt. Calley led C-Company into My Lai”

I think sometimes people can equate being wordy with being smart. Which as any decent writer will tell you is complete bullshizzle. Good writing is about conveying your message with as few words as possible. (Which is why I believe poetry should be considered a whole other artform, seeing as how most of it can be summed up by a couple words: “I’m sad”, “I think I’m gay”, “He doesn’t love me”, etc.)

Overall, the RSR seems like a fairly easy 20%. It’s basically just an extra-long essay that you have months to write (which is thousands of times longer than the essays on the exam, which are only a bit shorter). Although part of it might have been the fact that I picked a project that was interesting enough to research without it feeling much like work. (Note that although it’s an interesting insight into the dark depths of humanity, the My Lai Massacre is not for the faint of heart. You’ve been warned.)

(P.S. Heinz is still the best)

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by grace

Is This It?

April 27, 2009 in Study

There are now officially thirty seven days to the Leaving Cert. Thirty seven actual calendar days. If I were to revise a full chapter of biology every day until the start of the leaving I still wouldn’t get as far as viruses. I’d be completely omitting reproduction, which is almost guaranteed to feature on the paper. All things considered, I’m still not apprehensive. Nonchalant is the word I’d like to use, however ignorant, careless and perfunctory may also apply. The question remains as to whether I’m actually prepared for this thing or not, but I’m guessing that most of us are in this place at the moment. Having completed a good night’s study it’s easy to think “man, this won’t be as bad as I thought after all”. Conversely, the following night mightn’t be so great leaving said student alone to despair in a downward spiral of exam guilt. The leaving cert knows not a happy medium. Another thing the leaving doesn’t know is illness. Or weakness of any sort really. I’ve currently got the flu (no, not the swine flu) and have missed a few days of school as a result. One might think that all of these school-less hours would provide the perfect opportunity for some good undisturbed study, alas they do not. The hours and days fly by quietly, I’ve taken to waving at them as they pass. Instead I fill the hours with…I’m not sure what I fill them with, actually. I seem to be very busy for a person who doesn’t do a whole lot. Perhaps it’s the tea breaks. They’re such a chore.

One thing that I keep meaning to get round to is learning that dreadful “stair” business. It looks to me like that section of the paper started out as a good idea, a way for us to learn more about the history of our language. In reality it seems to be an inconvenient after thought, a footnote defiling the face of the Irish leaving cert paper. I got a substantial mark in the stair on my pre, which amused me as I made it all up. For “Béaloideas na Gaeilge” I paraphrased Cearrbhach Mac Caba, “An Ghaeilge sna meáin” prompted some sort of spiel on the utter importance of TG4 in our day to day lives, and so on. Such fun. If only the whole paper was like that. Is anyone else planning on relying on Cúlú Eacnamaíochta alone for the essay? I’m sure I could tweak it to fit some other topics…perhaps young people are drinking more cause they’re bummed about the recession. Spóirt? No problem! Schools are losing funding cause of the recession and so sport is falling in their list of priorities. Bochtannas sa Tríú Domhan could spur some sort of warped first world comparison. I could do this all day. Hopefully this new-found false confidence will work out for me in June.

The latest blog post just informed me that the CAO change of mind facility opens on May 5th o____O I thought all along that the date was June 1st, giving me a month long excuse to not decide on my choices. Damn.