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Irish Aiste - An Gearrchéim Eacnamaíocht

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Last Minute Leaving Cert Advice

It’s been three years since I sat the leaving, and I’ve learned a few things along my way in college that might help anyone currently panicking and trying to cram. ✎ Don’t just sleep enough, sleep early. The night before an exam, and on the nights leading up to Wednesday, go to bed early. If you stay up late cramming, you’ll have no time in the morning to look at anything. Get to bed early, and if you feel you need to look over things, wake up earlier instead of staying up late. The information will also be fresher in your mind. ✎ Study/cram in intervals. If you’re trying to learn something off, or if you’re just at the stage where you feel like rote learning is your only hope, don’t marathon it. Read over the material for 20 minutes at a time, and then take a 10 minute break and do something, anything unrelated to your study material. Play on your DS (Animal Crossing is great for this!) or phone or even go on tumblr or something. Cool your brain down, and then do another 20 minutes after your break.  ✎ Eat well. I know this is an obvious one, but make sure you’re eating breakfast before every study day and every exam. Don’t eat anything too heavy, like a fry, as nerves could make you queasy, or the fat content of the food could make you sleepy. Have toast, cereal, even cereal bars or breakfast biscuits are better than eating nothing.  ✎ Don’t play with points calculators at this stage. Take it from me, these will drive your anxiety through the roof and make any pressure you’re feeling even worse. ✎ Don’t spend all your evenings messing with the CAO. The Change of Mind period is until the 1st of July this year, so you’ll have time after exams to spend a few days thinking about it without the weight of study on you.  ✎ Avoid caffeine like the plague. I know some people can’t function without it, and if you really can’t, then ignore this, but don’t start drinking energy drinks of coffee if you don’t normally. If you’re stressed, it will make you more jittery than anything if you’re not used to it. Limit tea intake as well, I know it hurts, but I replaced tea with a drink of honey and lemon while I was studying and felt a lot better for it. Best of luck out there!

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Irish Aiste - Fadhb na nDrugaí Hi guys Someone messaged me asking for an essay on drugs. I'm leaving the house shortly so I don't have time to type it up but here's pictures of the essay that I learned. I got an A1 on this in my class test. My writing isn't the neatest and some parts might be unclear so if there's anything you're unsure about just drop a question! As always if any of you need any more notes just ask!

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Irish Aiste - An Córas Oideachais

Someone sent in a question about an essay for the education system in Ireland for the aiste portion of the Irish exam. Below is the essay I learned for my exam:

INTRO: Níl an córas oideachais in Éirinn thar mholadh beirte i mo thuairimse. Mar aon le gach tír eile san Eoraip tá trí leibhéal againn - an bhunscolaíocht, an mheánscolaíocht agus an t-oideachas tríú leibhéal. Ach tá easpa áíseanna ag gach leibhéál agus ag leibhéal na bunscolaíochta agus na meánscolaíochta ach go háirithe. Bíonn ganntanas spáis ann ar an gcéad dul síos agus bíonn na ranganna i bhfad rómhór. Conos is féidir leis an múinteoir freastal ar gach dalta go pearsanta faoi na coinníollacha seo? Bíonn na foirgnimh ag titim as a chéíle freisin le seanchórais teasa a bhriseann síos go rialta agus fuinneoga a ligeann isteach an ghaoth agus an bháisteach. Bíonn fíor-easpa áiseanna spóirt i gceist freisin. Ní chuirtear spóirt áirithe ar fáil i roinnt dár scoileanna toisc nach bhfuil na háiseanna acu chun iad a sholáthar.

P1 CORAS NA BPOINTÍ: Tá coras na bpointí ó smacht freisin. Aontaim go bhfuil rogha fhairsing cúrsaí ar fáíl sna hollscoileanna ach muna mbíonn tú acadúil, níl seans dá laghad agat dul in aice leo. Agus ní chuireann na cúrsaí ollscoile scileanna atá ag teastáil do phroifisiúin áirithe san áireamh. Mar shampla, an leigheas. Teastaíonn pointí thar a bheith ard chun áit a fháil ar an gcúrsa. Ach ní chuireann an córas seo scileanna pearsanta atá riachtanach chun obair mar dhochtúir san áíreamh. D'fhéadfá sé chéad pointe a bheith agat, ach má tá tú go hainnis ag plé le daoine, ní dhéanfaidh tú dochtúir maith go deo. 

P2 CORAS SCRÚDAITHE: Tá an córas scrúdaithe féin craiceáilte má smaoiníonn tú air. Caitheann tú ceithre bliana déag ag foghlaim agus ag staidéar, agus tá gach rud ag brath ar scrudú amháin a mhaireann cúpla uair an chloig. Céard a tharlaíonn do na daoine atá tinn ar an lá sin?

P3 SAOL: Anuas air seo ar fad, ní réitíonn an córas oideachais in Éirinn tú le haghaigh na rudaí tábhachtacha sa saol.Tá béim rómhór ar ábhair acadúla, nach n-úsáideann daoine sa ghnáthshaol. Mar shampla sa mhata, an t-aon rud atá riachtanach le bheith ar eolas agat ná conas méádú, roinnt, suimiú agus dealú. Cén bhaint atá ag teoirim Phíotágaráis leis an saol? Ach tá crainn é a fhoghlaim de ghlanmheabhair. In ionad na seafóide sea, ba chóir go mbeadh rudaí a chabhródh le daltaí sa saol á múineadh ar scoil. Mar shampla conas an meaisín níocháin a úsáid, nó conas plocóid a athrú. Fiú conas aire a thabhairt do pháistí. 

CONC: Tá sé thar am againn súil ghéar a chaitheamh ar an gcóras seanchaite oideachais atá againn in Eirinn agus ar na fadhbanna iomadúla a bhaineann leis. Ansin beidh sé in am gníomhú ar bhealach réadúil agus na fadhbanna sin a réiteach sula mbíonn sé ródhéanach. Tosaímis inniú. 

When I wrote this essay in a class test my teacher said it was a bit on the short side so just add a paragraph or two from your notes to make up 3+ pages and you'll have a perfect essay :) Again, if any of you have questions or requests don't be afraid to ask!

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Organic compounds summary sheets

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Irish - Gramadaí

I'm taking Irish as an elective in uni so I've decided to write some grammar posts based on the lessons I've done. We'll start out basic enough with the types of words that are present in the Irish language.

1. An t-ainmfhocal = Noun These are physical things e.g. an múinteoir, an síopa, an peann

2. An Briathar = Verb Basic enough again. Doing words such as ag caint/ag scríobh/ ritheann/ ag leamh/ ólann etc. 

3. An Réamhfhocal = Gives info about the time or place E.g. ag, faoi, i, le, mar, roimh, chuig, go, etc. I'll have a whole blog post on these feckers

4. An aidiacht = adjectives Extra information about a noun e.g. nua, mór, ard

5. An Forainm = pronoun Right listen to the following few sentences: Mark decided to go to the cinema. He wanted to see Star Wars. In the second sentence "he" is the pronoun. Its a word which refers to the subject named in the previous sentence (usually). Examples in Irish would be é/í/siad/mé/tú/sí/sé....you get the idea

6. Forainm Réamhfhoclach This is the equivalent of the réamhfhocal PLUS the forainm  E.g. ar + mé = orm        ag + sé = aige        le + sibh= libh        roimh + iad= rompu

7. Dobhriathar = This describes the verb e.g. shiúil mé go tapa        Uaireanta téimid amach

8. An t-alt Basically the "an" and "na" before nouns

9. Réamhfhocal comhsuite These are réamhfhocal telling us about the position of something  e.g. in aice/faoi/bhun/le linn

10. An t-ainm briathartha Basically "ag" + "verb" e.g. ag caint        ag rith 

So they're all the groups I've learned so far. I got an A2 in my Irish in the leaving cert (higher level) so I will say that I'm not a fluent speaker nor do I know absolutely every single rule for the language. I'm just gonna share what I've learned with ye all in hopes that it might help some of ye. As always message me if you have any question or request

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Leaving Cert Maths

We're in the early days of September. To all you new 6th years who keep putting off the work until next weekend or tomorrow or after dinner heres my advice - DO IT NOW. Yes the programme on TV or the match down the road might seem like the be all and end all but if you just put in some hard work in these next 9 months your lives could truly change! Anyway in this post I'll be giving my top Higher Level Project Maths tips and tricks.

1. Chapter by chapter  Here is how I studied Project Maths. I went through an entire chapter using my written notes, my textbook and any resources I could find online. Once I went through each section I did practice questions from my textbook and allowed myself to use my notes. Then after completing the chapter I closed up all my notes and put them aside. I opened my exam papers and tried to do everything question that fell under the heading of the chapter. Anything I was truly stumped on I checked my notes and books and if I was still stumped I brought it to my teacher the next day after class. Simple.

2. Theorems/Constructions/Proofs  I wrote all these out on flashcards and tested myself daily. A quick 10-15 minute test was all it took each day and you'll know them off by heart by June. Make sure you know every part of the theorems and proofs and ensure that you show your construction lines when drawing constructions.

3. Speak Up In many schools there will be a lot of spare books from the year before just left on shelves in your classroom. I asked my teacher if I could take a few for the year and she was more than happy to give them to me. This goes for anything. If you need to see a marking scheme ask your teacher. If you need extra help ask your teacher. If you don't speak up she won't be able to help you.

4. Invest in your grade As I was repeating I naturally had a second set of exam papers to spare but if you're not like me just pop into your nearest book shop and grab a set from a different company with different questions. Maybe even ask students from the year ahead of you. The more questions you answer the more prepared you'll be for the exam. 

These are all the tips I could think of at the moment. If I think of anymore I'll be sure to let you know. 

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5 posts!

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Congratulations!

I hope all of you got offered what you wanted from the CAO! And if you didn't remember this: THERES ALWAYS ANOTHER ROUTE IN! I didn't get my first choice and at first I was sad but now I'm thankful that I got offered my second choice which will allow me to get into my first in 4 years. Everyone is different! If you are really distraught then maybe consider repeating. I did it this year and although I still got offered the same course as last year I don't regret going back. It teaches you so much about study techniques and your confidence will grow like crazy! Never give up working towards your goal. The time will pass anyway and at the end of the day your happiness is the most important thing in life! Best of luck with your future lads and ladies :)

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Leaving Cert English

This is a subject which in my opinion is marked very vaguely. Its not like maths or any of the sciences where you’re either right or wrong. Half of you mark is simply down to the examiner that gets handed your piece of work. Its not the fairest system but there are ways that you can manipulate it. Here are my quick tips:

1. Learn your quotes Learning quotes is essential for 3 sections: the comparative, your studied text and poetry. In sitting my first leaving cert our teacher told us learning quotes for the comparative isn’t essential once you know the key scenes. However the teacher I had in my second sitting told me learning the quotes looks impressive and shows the examiner you’re a hard worker which in turn gets rewarded with higher marks. The comparative texts we studied were Bladerunner, Sive and My Sister’s Keeper. Here is my main tip if you are going to learn the quotes for your comparative: you do not have to be exact. No examiner in the country will know every quote for every text in the course. They will know the studied text (depending on your choices) and they will know the poetry quotes but they cannot possibly know all the comparative ones. Learn the quotes vaguely. For texts like Sive which are popular maybe know them a bit better but if your text isn’t commonly studied you could nearly make up a quote on the day once its relevant to the plot and makes sense! If you’re unsure in anyway just learn them word for word. 

2. Improve your vocabulary This tip is essential for Paper One in particular. In this paper I focused mainly on the short story question as it was the one I felt I could answer the best. If you prefer the personal question or the speech it makes no difference During 6th year I’d advice you to write a minimum of 5 essays in the style of your choice and get your teacher to correct them. When you’re writing them a thesaurus is absolutely essential. When using it literally sit there for 20 minutes when you’re finished your essay and learn all the new words you’ve obtained. Then once your teacher has corrected them learn the gist of the ones which you obtained the highest mark in. The night before paper one go over the new words once again and make sure you’re familiar with them. If the examiner doesn’t know the meaning of a word because its so profound then you’re doing well. 

3. Research your poets When studying each poet type their name into google and learn about their life. By doing this you will get a deeper understanding of their poetry. My favourite poet this year was WB Yeats and by googling him I learned all about his involvement with figures from the Irish civil war. The year before that I liked Sylvia Plath and I watched the film ‘Sylvia’ and learned about her depression as a result of her failed marriage with Ted Hughes. By going that extra mile I became more involved with the poets work and as a result I found it more enjoyable to study. Also if you mention acute details about the poet in your answer the examiner will be impressed and more likely to give you a better grade. 

4.Comparative Mindmaps Mindmaps are critical for the comparative section of your course. In 2014 there were 3 sections: Cultural Context, Theme/Issue and The General Vision/Viewpoint. To minimize my workload I learned 2 well - Cultural Context and Theme/Issue. In 2015 I know Literary Genre is present so perhaps 3 will have to be learned. In learning these questions I gave headings for each paragraph I planned to deal with. I put these headings in columns along one side of the page and then the titles of my texts in columns on the other side. I then wrote bullet points for the main idea of my paragraphs for each section. I'll upload some of these mindmaps so you can see what I'm getting at. 

5. Write poetry This may sound very weird at first but believe me it helped me so much in understanding a poets work. If you search poetry here on tumblr you'll get an idea. Basically what I did was at the end of the day when I was in bed I would put in my headphones and listen to really chill music. I'd open my phone and just write about a particular incident that happened to me or about some struggle that I went through. Not only is this somewhat liberating and healing but it aids your understanding of poetry greatly. I'm not saying its an absolute essential but if you have the time and an urge to do well just try it. Post some on tumblr and see what kind of feedback you get. You may be surprised to see that you could rival the greats of Dickenson or Yeats! 

So they're my 5 tips. I tried to think of all the unusual strategies I used because you all would have heard the basics from your teachers. Again if anyone has any questions or would like some notes on a topic or a text just message me. I did Macbeth as my single text. My poets over the 2 years were Yeats, Heaney, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Dickenson, Plath, Rich, Bishop, Kinsella and Mahon. My comparative texts were Sive 32A, My Sisters Keeper, Translations and Bladerunner. 

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Leaving Cert Irish

Right, here we go with my first actual subject based post. I've decided to begin with Irish as its a subject the majority of 6th years complete.

There are many aspects to the subject:  Oral/Bealtriail                                   40% Tape/ Cluastuiscint                          10% Essay/ Aiste                                     16.67% Comprehensions/ Leamhthusicints  16.67% Prose/Pros                                       5% Poetry/Filiocht                                  5% Studied text                                      6.67%

Today I will be talking about my approach towards the 'aiste'.

Right so in my folder I have 16 essays but for my actual exam I had 4-5 learned off by heart. My teacher's technique in preparing us for this portion of the exam was excellent. Throughout 5th and 6th year we were given roughly an essay every 2 weeks or so. She would go through the essays in class and translate any new terms and she would also point out any phrases which were impressive and of the 'ardchaighdeán'. Then she let us pick and choose the paragraphs we wished to learn as long as the essay was a minimum of 3 pages. 

Here was my technique: I would read through the essay again and highlight the paragraphs which dealt with clear, straightforward ideas. For example in my essay on 'Sport' I had 9 paragraphs: Introduction, peoples interest in sport, sport in schools, the skills and escapism involved in sport, positivity and health, lessons one learned, link with money, link with drugs and finally my conclusion. By dividing the essay into paragraphs it made it much easier to remember come exam time. I would then learn the essay paragraph by paragraph. Each time I learned a paragraph I would try to rewrite the whole essay again. So say I just finished learning the 3rd paragraph, I would try to write it out from memory and if I succeeded I would try to write out the 1st, 2nd and 3rd paragraph from memory all at once. 

How I learned each paragraph: I highlighted any words or phrases I didn't know and learned them by using flash cards. Once they were known learning the paragraph was much easier. 

I then wrote the translation of the paragraph in English on a page and tried writing it out in Irish from looking only at the English version. When translating it from Irish try to directly translate it. For example if the Irish is 'Bhí dhá fón pocaí acu' I would translate it as 'There was 2 phones had by them' instead of 'They had 2 phones' as when I'd write it in Irish I'd know the 'had' came at the end of the sentence. Little things like that helped. 

By using these techniques I got an A1 in all of my tests bar the 'Future of Irish' one. I got an A2 in that as my essay only hit 2 and a half pages instead of 3. The addiction of another paragraph would have improved my grade. 

I would repeat this process until I knew the paragraph without reading the English. Repetition is essential when learning Irish. If you're fluent of course you won't need to use these tips but for those of you, like myself, who are not from an Irish speaking area, these tips can be really helpful. 

Also, by learning the essay off by heart for class tests you're constantly learning the structure of the language and it will greatly improve your grades in all other sections of the course. You won't be overwhelmed come exam time then and all you'll need to do is read over each essay 2 or 3 times! Happy days. 

Right so these are the essays which I have in my folder. If any of you want me to upload one just say the word! 1. Violence/Crime 2. Students' lives 3.  Education System 4. Sport 5. Alcohol 6. Drugs 7. Health 8. The Recession/economy 9. Poverty 10. The Environment 11. Future of Irish 12. Religion 13. The 2013 Gathering 14. Technology 15. Nelson Mandela (topical this year) 16. The General Essay 17. Debate format

I think that's about everything I did to learn the essays. They really are handy marks as you're more or less guaranteed that one of them will come up and even if they don't you should be able to pick and choose from the paragraphs you've learned from each essay. If any of you have any more questions just feel free to drop them in the ask box! 

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Leaving Cert Tips and Tricks

Here are my top 5 tips to defeat the leaving cert. These may not work for everyone but I feel they are what got me up to the A1 standard in my repeating year. 

1. Get into a routine/habit early The sooner you settle down to study the easier the year will be. If you keep putting studying off until after Christmas or after Easter you won’t be used to actually doing it when it comes to it. During my school year classes finished at 3:45 and then I stayed back in the school until 6pm for supervised study. I had 2 hours study in my back pocket before I even walked through my front door.

When I got home I’d take 30 mins to an hour to have my dinner, maybe a cup of tea and to relax a little. Then I’d do another 2 hour block from 7-9. Not every single night panned out like this due to varies factors such as sports, family events, etc but about 85% of my school evenings were spent like this. The sooner you start, the more used you’ll be to it and it won’t even feel like a chore after a month or so. 

2. Exam Papers are your best friend This tip is crucial for subjects like maths, biology, ag science, chemistry and accounting. When I was studying these subjects I’d revise a chapter thoroughly with all my books, notes, etc. I’d quiz myself as I went through, shutting my eyes and repeating facts, stuff like that. At the end I’d close up all my study notes and any books I had. I’d find questions about the topic and test myself.

LEARN VIA THE MARKING SCHEME. Anything I got incorrect I wrote in red and learned. I got the answer from the marking schemes, as they were always in the simplest form as opposed to my books. By learning from the marking scheme I noticed that in the science subjects in particular you won’t get marks for having big long paragraphs but rather for key words. 

3. Websites, websites, websites  In my repeating years I’d honestly say I used the majority of the leaving cert websites out there to aid in my studies. StudyClix was really handy for me. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow my sisters tablet to use StudyClix as opposed to using a big chunky laptop.

The main thing StudyClix has going for it is that is divides up the exam paper questions into the topics for you. There were a few aspects about it that I didn’t like. The questions only go back to 2005 which may seem like a long time but most topics tend to come up every second year so thats only 4/5 available questions. Also, on the site half of the questions or answers were cut off at times and sometimes the marking scheme didn’t match the questions. It was handy for 80-90% of the time though.

Other sites I used were as follows: examinations.ie isfeidirleat.ie leavingcertenglish.net clevernotes.ie A handly app for Irish was Pog Mo Fon You can easily find other sites/apps using our good pal Google. 

4. Discipline Sixth year is a tough one, theres no denying that. Before you begin I’d advise you this. Sit down with yourself. Grab a refill pad and a pen and write down what you want to achieve out of this year. Are you looking for 625 points? Or are you aiming to pass your subjects? Whatever you’re aiming for it will require work. Write down the points range you’d like to hit for your pres and maybe aim to get an A in English by Christmas, things like that. Then, when you have all of these goals written down I want you to go to google. Type in “inspirational quotes” or “motivational quotes” or even search for them on tumblr. Write your favourite 10 down and look back to this page when you’re getting frustrated and tired from studying. These goals and quotes should relight your determination once again. 

5. Be clever…but in a sly way.  Now I know this tip may not be well received but I’m going to be honest. Any extra/handy information I got I shared with my close friends but I wouldn’t go around screaming it to everyone. Essentially these people you meet and chat to everyday are you competitors. The grade you receive is not only based on how well you do but also on how well everyone else in the country does.

If you have a handy way or remembering something, don’t tell the whole year about it. Tell those close to you, if you wish. Some students take this tactic to a whole new level and fill their competitors with false information about predictions and what not which is something I believe is disgraceful. Keep the handy stuff to yourself, thats all I’m saying. 

So there they are, my top 5 tips. I didn’t want to give the usual ones you read every day in magazines or in the front of exam papers. They’re well known at this stage. These tips are ones I used in 2014 and not in 2013 and they made a huge difference in my grades. Once again, if any of you have any questions just drop a line in the ask box and I’ll be sure to answer. Toodles

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Hello !

To all the students across the country who will be sitting their Leaving Certificate in June 2015, hello. This blog is here to supply you with any tips or tricks I myself have picked up through studying for the Leaving Cert.

I am a student who has sat the LC (we'll abbreviate it to this from now on) twice, firstly in 2013 and then again in 2014. I am a repeater. I therefore feel I know both the right way and the wrong way to approach the LC.

My aim for this blog is to provide you all with general tips and tricks in sitting the LC but the subjects which I have sat and which I will be discussing in depth are English, Irish, Maths, Accounting, Biology, Chemistry and Agricultural Science. I sat all of these subjects at higher level. 

I'm going to try to upload as much material as possible here in the coming months as I don't know how much time I'll have to do it after September with college and what not (fingers crossed!)

If any of you have any questions or want me to zone in on a particular topic just let me know and I'd be happy to do so. Best of luck :)