4 days until.....

[Babysis]

the amount of times i was told to make a timetable was unreal and i still didn't make one.i'd always plan to have a routine like the one above but failed badly to put it into practice.i'm a disaster.but when the pressure is on like as in the the day or 2 days before the exam i could do loads.i suppose all this just means that i'm a lazy fcuk.

btw what is post 16 education?
and do AS/A level carry the same/more/less points as the leaving cert or whats the craic?

I did my A levels in 2000. It was then that an A=10 B=8 C=6 D=4 E=2 F=0 N and then U .

Then they changed it so they are worth hundreds of points now. I dont understand it cos i cant be arsd too tbh

Think the one piece of advice worth remebering is that your exams are important, but they are not the be all and end all. I failed one of mine, yet still got to my 1st choice uni and just scrapped the degree I wanted. You cant let everything rest on your exam results

[paul_oshea]

i assume when they say post 16, they mean age i.e. what they call "college" over here which is generally from 16 - 18.

from what i gather the AS is like the applied leaving cert. I assume you know the applied leaving cert.

AS/A level carry the same/more/less points as the leaving cert or whats the craic?

A levels are alot easier ( its also a lot easier get to university over here ). Its based around 3 major subjects, however they do those 3 in great detail. no such thing as points just certain courses require certain grades in certain subhects: e.g to get into a science subject you might need 2 a's and one b. so obviouslly at most you need 300 points compared with 600 points. its the simplest way of explaining it, but the english education system is a joke, its getting too much like the american system, whereby its based around the "overall" approach.

most people in ireland do the 7 subjects, some do 8 and do applied maths or whatever.

[jofyisgod]

btw what is post 16 education?
and do AS/A level carry the same/more/less points as the leaving cert or whats the craic?

In the UK, you can leave school straight after GCSEs(ie/at 16)
Post 16 is when you stay on at either a 6th Form (as I did) or a College.
You then follow on to University after 2 years of this.

AS is half an A-Level course. I think it was made so that people leaving after only a year of post-16 would at least have some sort of qualification. It also takes the onus off of one major set of exams after two years. All good, IMO.

I think, from reading Uni Prospectuses and other leaflets, that an A-Level is worth more than a Leaving Cert Pass, hence the fact that Irish students take more Leaving Subjects. Traditionally, AS/A-Level students do 3/4 subjects.I'm doing 5 to AS then dropping one for A2(which is the 2nd year of A-Level!) although i think Uni's only ever look at your top 3 if you get me.

[paul_oshea]

, that an A-Level is worth more than a Leaving Cert Pass, hence the fact that Irish students take more Leaving Subjects

the leaving cert pass is worth very little ( no offence meant ), its about 40 points out of a possible 100. so you cant compare.

in ireland its based around, irish, english,maths and a foreign language to get into most universities, also a lot will require that you have at least one science subject, THEN you have the points on top of that. so say for example if i were poor at languages and wanted to do all science subjects and not do any languages, i might not get into certain unis without the language, therefore i pick a language, already limiting the amount of points i can acheive.

[jofyisgod]

A levels are alot easier ( its also a lot easier get to university over here ). the "overall" approach.

I beg to differ. A-Levels are a fair bit harder I'd say due to the immense detail. A 'joke' is hardly the word either. I feel that specialisation prepares students better for University, rather than heaping an unnecessary amount of work on older students. For example, my cousin (In Cork) wants to do medicine at UCC. He's very handy at schoolwork, yet he has his time wasted on stuff like English Lit. rather than being able to focus on his chosen subjects. Most people at this stage should be able to select their favourite subjects, and should have the oppurtunity to study them in more detail.

To say it's 'easier' is a lazy argument. There are more University's due to historical and Geographical factors. This is good, but it should be noted that many of these are a bit shíte. The top 50 or so are still very hard to get into. eg/ Birmingham wuld not look at Medical students who did not get 6A* at GCSE!That's being overly selective if you ask me.

[jofyisgod]

the leaving cert pass is worth very little

I didn't mean literally a Pass ( I didnt realise that was an official mark ) i meant like an A at leaving is worth less than an A in an A-Level subject, for example.

[paul_oshea]

ya but do you have a higher and an ordinary paper?

i havent seen the papers over here, but having spoken to some who sat exams in teh last few years, the maths curriculum seem the exact same.

[Babysis]

ya but do you have a higher and an ordinary paper?

i havent seen the papers over here, but having spoken to some who sat exams in teh last few years, the maths curriculum seem the exact same.

you do at GCSE. Foundation and higher. Higher - you can only get A-C then fail Foundaton, Fail - D (or maybe C) (bit bleeding pointless, but there you go)
Im feeling really old, and it was only 5 years ago i was doing My A levels

[paul_oshea]

He's very handy at schoolwork, yet he has his time wasted on stuff like English Lit. rather than being able to focus on his chosen subjects. Most people at this stage should be able to select their favourite subjects, and should have the oppurtunity to study them in more detail.

i have to say, if i were to go to teh doctor in the morning i would be happier knowing that doctor had become a doctor from the current situation i.e. if you are good enough you can do it.

i do beleive however for other courses such as the course i did needing (honour in all mandatory subjects) a language and a science subject is ridiculous as i never used either of the latter two in my course. so i think an approach where you could focus yourself on what you want to do in college would be a better idea for the mid to higher scale courses if ya know what i mean.

[MariborKev]

I did my A levels in 2000. It was then that an A=10 B=8 C=6 D=4 E=2 F=0 N and then U .

Then they changed it so they are worth hundreds of points now. I dont understand it cos i cant be arsd too tbh

Think the one piece of advice worth remebering is that your exams are important, but they are not the be all and end all. I failed one of mine, yet still got to my 1st choice uni and just scrapped the degree I wanted. You cant let everything rest on your exam results

Old skool!

I did a load of modules for my A-levels in 2000. Given that I was heading to Euro2000 the day the exams finised I predictably did woefully, then did the same in the "repeats" of February, leaving myself with 16 module papers to sit in May/June of 2001. That was some few weeks! Pulled it out of the bag though

Chris,

Quantitative Techniques? I have "Advanced Methods in Quantitative Economics" tomorrow- four hour exam

[MariborKev]

ya but do you have a higher and an ordinary paper?

i havent seen the papers over here, but having spoken to some who sat exams in teh last few years, the maths curriculum seem the exact same.

Paul,

Maths A-level is harder than the Higher Level.

I know as I did A level maths and got exemptions for modules when I got to UCD.

You also have the option to do "Further Maths" which is just mental

[harpskid]

Quantitative Techniques? I have "Advanced Methods in Quantitative Economics" tomorrow- four hour exam

Buck, good luck with whatever that is.

I've my last one on Monday - it's on "Principles of Economics"

Can't wait to get them over with

[jofyisgod]

I had Eng Lit AS this morning, went really well although i now have a blister on my finger, as i wrote about 16 sides .

Geography Physical paper was a challenge, but the Human one was nice and straight forward.

[hamish]

To think that standards in education were supposed to be higher in most subjects in my time. NOT from what I've read above.

I was almost a fulltime and diligent member of the Cellar Bar Faculty in UCG and went to a few lectures and read the notes/books etc. A few, I stress but not a huge amount TBH

I and my mates were more into the...er....social education provided by third level - yet we got through with pretty good results without killing ourselves and worrying was banned.

A lot of others spent hours upon hours in the Library but seemed to spend more time whispering and chatting to each other rather than actually studying, I was told. Ironically, far too many of that crowd failed - they were basket cases just before exam time. The two times I ventured there, I felt they were getting a form of group and false comfort by just being there,

It seems to be very technical now and definitely high on stress levels.

Relax a bit and don't be worrying yourselves into early ulcers - that won't help you.

Finally, the very best to you all.

[harpskid]

Yay - finished today

[aberharp]

Yay - finished today

me too!! i'm in a great mood!!

[aido_b]

Graduating tonight lads, wish me luck!

[liam88]

Graduating tonight lads, wish me luck!

good luck mate abnd fair play to all who've finished hope ya did great! WIll prey for somr good results for yeez!
Got Politics Tuesday and History wednesday then that's it for me

[sligoman]

I'm finished tomorrow(just Business Studies left). Wooooooohhhhhhooooooo!

[liam88]

I'm finished tomorrow(just Business Studies left). Wooooooohhhhhhooooooo!

Nice one! Good luck-sayin a prayer for ye!
Finsihed mine

Sumamry:
English-fine
Politics-fine
Geography-a bit dodgy
History-fine except for one question which was not on the syllabus and had to write a 2 page essay on it!

So generally great! can't wait to get the results now