so yeah,Section 1 was,as we irish like to say,grand. Had enough time to check over it even. Not so sure about that question with the mosquitos and their wing length though,that was just plain bizarre! Section 2 was slightly harder then the practice test,I thought, but all in all it seemed to go relatively well pour moi. I actually got to check over it TWICE,I thought the clocks had stopped or something. Then it was time for the bane of my existence, section 3. I had expected to stare blankly at it for about 20 minutes before guessing every single question and seeing if my guessed answers spelled any funny words on my answer sheet,but was I the only one who found it suspiciously easy?? Like was I just delirious or did it actually make sense?? I was starting to think that my reasoning was just a tad too abstract when i looked around the hall and saw lots of people scratching their heads and giving up early but I think I might have actually gotten A decent score on that. So needless to say I left ucc with something of a spring in my step. Hopefully it wasn’t designed to be deceptively easy because that would suck with a capital PH. There’s aboot 6 days between the closing of cao and hpat results though so there’ll be time to change choices if necessary.(which hopefully it won’t be!) Oh great hpat god,please let me have done well…and if you could,would you please put a word in with your son leaving cert christ?

Well now that that’s over I guess I’m out of excuses for not really caring about the pres,oh dear…. seriously though,pres are pretty amusing in pobalscoil. I find that just sitting back and watching other people stress out is kinda fun,I’m even thinking of inventing an exam time barbie based on my friend’s hair after exams(yes I am referring to YOU sinead!). The only exam which has managed to upset my calm dispsition was maths on thursday. All was going well,english was a doddle and chemistry and french were both oddly easy so I nearly cried when I got into maths and realised that I didn’t have a clue! I Attempted 6 questions but they were some pretty feeble attempts. Afterwards I couldn’t figure out if the questions were weird or if i’m just a total dunce. Hopefully I can make up for it in paper two tomorrow but i highly doubt it. I’m starting to wonder if i’ll even manage to scrape a pass. I think this week in general might just be shit,based on the fact that I have maths 2,history and irish 1&2. It’s one saving grace however is biology which I find i’m actually looking forward to(that’s not weird is it??). I suppose that’s my cue to end this since sadly i have to study for each of the previously mentioned exams.

Hope you’re all as happy as I am with the hpat!

Annah

I have made changes to my courses, just before filling my CAO.  When my career guidance teacher asked me had I my list ready today, I was very quick to reply yes indeed. My first choice is Electronic Engineering in Letterkenny and my second choice is Electronic Engineering in Sligo.  I’m more than likely going to get the electronic engineering course. So all’s good.

But yea, CAO is like, “OMG I’M GOING TO COLLEGE NEXT YEAR”  – a gentle reminder that there’s work left to be done.  As a politician once said  “a lot done, but a lot more to do”

I still cant imagine myself studying for the leaving cert. And I’m actually starting to worry. Studying was just something I never done. I never learned off my multiplication tables (don’t know em to this day),  never learned off my Irish vocabulary and as for spelling? heh!

Indeed its going to be a fun time. 5 weeks until my engineering project is due, and I’m waiting on parts coming. Typical! Not to mention you can never get onto the lathes in the class. I’m resorting to getting my practical subjects done by spending extra time in the classes during frees etc.

As for the folks who always comment negatively on my posts: Sorry, I didn’t really make any highly controversial comments this time. Maybe next, eh?

Until next time, happy studying

But not to dwell on the past. Allot of weeks are gone in the leaving cert, good riddens i say. The time of the year where companies attempt to market their products heavily upon us is here. And were nearly on the home run to the leaving cert. Personally i haven’t opened a book yet, my ability to study hasn’t appeared yet and frankly i don’t think i actually have one. i guess i have nothing really to add with this post, but to make people aware of how frigging lazy i am!! I also have a bot of a cold starting, and more often than not, I’m coming home, and having a good ‘ol nap.. which sort of eats into your study time. I’ll start tomorrow, i swear.

its just a pitty school takes up so much of your time, that’s all..

Discuss the leaving cert in the forum

So here it is, another evening spent on the computer. Working away, tirelessly procrastinating the leaving cert, and planning my plot to take over the world, as such…

Okay, let me introduce myself properly.. I’m Paul, as you may have gathered. At this stage I’m planning on doing a BEng Electronic engineering in letterkenny. Forecasted points for that is something like 270 points, so achieving a certain amount of points in my leaving cert is the least of my concern. I see the leaving cert as an exercise, the education system constantly trys to funnel my way of thoughts into its fine line, and any deviation creates a lot of friction, we Physics students are taught that friction will create heat, us computer geeks know that heat is bad for your computer.

The underlying theme that I’m trying to get across here is, well, what is the leaving cert? I study and study (well, theoretically, I don’t, but some do) and I work and work towards this final exam, a climax, this is what your 5 years of secondary school has led to, this is what your life is about. and then BOOM, the intense vacuum created by the transient paradox of what turned out to be one of the biggest Anti-Climaxes of your life evacuates all knowledge and creates a void, a void left to be filled by third level education.

Let the arguments begin. The leaving cert is just to give you a foundation knowledge, a generalized view of everything, third level then takes one particular subject, and expands on it, expands on the “general knowledge” gained from secondary school. STOP! you’re wrong, I simply cannot accept this as fact. Let me give an example; I recently started a little project in my spare time – to build a Quadcopter, without going into much detail a quadcopter is simply a square with a rotor blade at each corner. To keep the device stable in flight requires the input of data from accelerometers and gyroscopes, and to make this data usable requires a mathematical algorithm called “Kalman Filtering”. Now, I’m no math wizard, but I know my way round a bit of programming, so in theory I should be able to pick up an algorithm relatively easy. I started reading papers on it and wiki pages and whatnot, it started to talk about derivatives. That’s right, its on the leaving cert course. So I read into the derivative heavy part and what did I find out? THE EDUCATION SYSTEM HASN’T THAUGHT ME A THING ABOUT DIFFERENTIATION.

Hmm, but what happened to the 2 weeks in which we were covering that section.. oh, OK, I was taught how to answer a very specifically worded problem, I was given lots of word associations and other USELESS RUBBISH in order to answer one dumb question on some exam I wont care about in 12 months.. That’s two weeks of my life wasted, 6+ hours of math class gone, and no life skills to show for it. in fact, I could have spent those 6 hours teaching myself, and given myself a really good understanding of the concept. But no, I sat in a room, had my mind channelled into this way of thinking about one exam, held at gunpoint and told to answer the sums this way. What – I ask, is the point in that, I’m not going to ever do any of those specifically worded problems presented to us on the leaving cert in my life, no matter how complex my algorithms get.

So I guess what I’m trying to say, is that in my opinion, the education system has its elbow where its arse should be, and doesn’t know which way is up.

This post was to be about me so lets get back on that train of thought, I work as a freelance photographer, doing work for the local papers and sometimes the national press. On busy days I’ll make more than any of the teachers preaching from someone else’s knowledge in front of me. It infuriates me when teachers degrade me, act condescendingly, immature or teach a subject they have no overall understanding of. How can you expect a student to mature when they are treated like thirteen year olds from 1st year to 6th, treating a 17 year old like a 12 year old causes them to rebel, to prove they are mature! It’s one of the fundamental psychological concepts teachers seem to have a hard time grasping.

Yes, its true, I hate school, but not for no reason, I don’t hate school because “I’d rather be in bed” or “shur none of this is of any use to me“; I hate school for its narrow-mindedness – its failure to see the wider world, the wider view of a subject; I hate it for the stint in peoples personal development that condescending staff behaviour poses on students, I hate the concept, the method and how there is no way to fight it.

The leaving cert is going to be an interesting journey, latest forecasts put my points at around the 440 mark, we’ll see how that works out. frankly, I would settle for a nice meal.

I hope you’ll enjoy my posts, its a great outlet for my frustration that has built – apparently teachers don’t like this kind of thinking. Oh well. Until next time, WATCH OUT!!

Discuss the leaving cert in the forum

With little or no study done at all, I now sit here and contemplate while enjoying a hot mug of tea. Had I been more motivated or caring, would I have done more study?. And for some reason I doubt it. I have never really agreed with the schools system, which resulted in a a rather negative approach to school. School for me, at this stage, has turned into some form of G.A.A sport for me. I want nothing to do with it. Right now I just want it all behind me, so that I can move on with my life, regardless of the outcome. And if I don’t get my course, than so be it. Its never the end of the road. Never.

Its hard to know what to say at this point. But all this worrying and stress aside, not that I seem to be haunted by either, I have to say that I had the best fun of school in this year. Sitting by the lake, enjoying the sun, taking photographs and enjoying the company of school friends.

Time to finish up this mug of tea and head into the real world. Leaving cert in three days.

Shall we?

• LCVP – Written
• Construction – practical
• Engineering – practical
• Art – practical

Although many of these seem very daunting at times, they’re actually not that bad. If you’re doing LCVP then it might be wise to check out the 2007 paper along with the older ones.

Engineering and Construction are basically applying skills you have aquirred over the years. So theres little that can be revised for that. And as for Art, just keep drawing!

I’d like to wish everyone the best of luck in these ongoing/upcoming exams.

Here comes the sun. And here comes the orals and practicals. 4 weeks. 4weeks.

But not to worry 4 weeks to learn off by heart, every possible answer to every possible question we can be asked and to learn off all music pieces to the point of an exceptional ace. Not to worry. 4 weeks.

I got thinking, time is resourceful and of the essence; 672 hours in 4 weeks. IF I spend this time wisely, I can take the strain of the government’s educational programme off my shoulders. 4 weeks.

19th of June; Free from the system. Just 100 days. I will be open to the world, free to do as I please, almost free… for a while. But now, I have 4 weeks.

Colin.

Here at leaving-cert.net we have set up an exciting new forum where you to talk with your fellow learners.

• http://leaving-cert.net/forum/
• http://forums.theleavingcert.com/ (added 6th september 2010)

After a few simple steps in registration you can get posting with other like minded students or otherwise about all aspects of student life and the leaving cert exams.

Enjoy,

Colin.

This was my method up to this week, yes I had a good idea of what questions would come up in each paper but I have entered a whole new realm of problems- Study. I can fabricate half a strategy, but it’s useless without a second half of genuine revision. My slothful behaviour has been induced by hundreds of hours of nonstop TV and gaming. Sinful.

Male, 17, seeking antidote to laziness.

How can I be upset about something I’m not willing to put effort in… Why am I pissed off about pres? I want answers, answers to life!

Over and out,

Colin.