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Archive for November, 2008

Why I like the Leaving Cert

I hear a lot of people complaining about the Leaving Cert: “it’s too many subjects!”  “it’s just regurgitating information!”  “It doesn’t prepare you for life!”. Well I can happily say that I quite like the Leaving Cert. I suppose I’m lucky in that I can learn lots of information quickly and remember it well (but not names, or things to get in the shop, oh no). But what I really like about the Leaving Cert is it’s almost like a game, a large part of doing well is exam technique. Of course in theory that means we should all be getting A1s left right and centre, but I suppose so much exam technique comes down to a teacher’s skill, and thankfully I have some excellent teachers who know the Leaving Cert inside out at this stage.

What I don’t like about the Leaving Cert is that it’s constantly breathing down my neck. I have done no proper work (apart from a pathetic attempt at some chemistry and french) since Thursday, if I make this a habit I’ll be lucky to make it into a PLC. Because of dress-shopping and  babysitting on Friday night, birthday-present shopping and wrapping (ok and about five episodes of Southpark) on Saturday and being slightly hungover (and curling up to feel sorry for myself and watch Burn After Reading with my boyfriend) today I’m trying to cram all the homework I have for the weekend (this is thankfully not an awful lot) into the few hours before bed.

Tomorrow is another day though, and another week to try and make myself work consistently instead of having the attitude of “Ah I did 4 hours yesterday, I can afford to take the next 5 days off”. Tomorrow also heralds the launch of Operation Put Santa Hat on Skeleton in Biology Lab. Stay Tuned.

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Introducing Jennie: An experienced Leaving Cert-er.

Today, I registered myself to vote. It didn’t exactly seem like a big deal; I was neither sat down and lectured about how much of a privilege it is to live in a democracy nor told about the plethora of people who died for my right to have a say in the running of the country I live in, but I’ve been delighted about it all day.
A vast array of my peers couldn’t really give a toss about voting, current affairs, politics, or even this recession thing they’re hearing so much about and I’m sure readers of this very blog are rolling their eyes and thinking “Less boring drivel, more hilarious rants”, but I have a point, I promise.

I’ve no idea why some young people see these things as a matter of complete unimportance, but there’s certainly a parallel between this apathetic attitude and the attitude a great deal of people take towards the Leaving Cert.

“Ah sure, it’s only the Leaving! Who cares, no big deal.”


Well, here’s where I get to introduce myself. I genuinely do care about things like voting. And the Leaving Cert.
Hello, I’m Jennie, and I’ve absolutely no problem admitting to you all that I’m taking the Leaving Certificate completely serious. Now.
For you see, I can identify with both parties. As I’m a repeat student I’ve been as aloof and lethargic about the Leaving Cert as I can be and now, I couldn’t care more about it. I’m actually a student who’s genuinely concerned about results and the likes! I’ve learned my lesson: Do not take the Leaving Certificate lightly.

Last year, admittedly, I did not doss and/or scoff at those who were aiming for high points as I was in fact one of these aforementioned students who was aiming to take over the world, one A grade at a time. My primary problem was that I lacked some vital components for a perfect student- maturity, determination, enthusiasm- almost everything but intelligence to be honest. I sailed through sixth year as if in a tumult of fascination, leaving everything until the last minute and epitomising a procrastinating student. You’d hardly believe me if I told you all that the first time I looked at Atomic Theory in Chemistry, which comprises the first eight or so chapters of the book and is guaranteed to come upon the paper, was the night before my Leaving Certificate exam. There was a lot of coffee consumed that night.


I suppose now is the time to tell you all what I did achieve then? Well, 550 points actually. Usually when I announce this I hear a resounding “guh???” from all those assembled, followed by an extremely sarcastic “Yes, you really were apathetic towards the Leaving Cert, weren’t you?”
Well, everyone has different expectations and mine were, rather lamentably, much higher than this. I’m aware of the fact that my points were pretty damn good, but they clearly weren’t sufficiently so if I didn’t get enough points to do my course of choice- which is medicine. I hear it’s not very nice but a spoonful of sugar helps.

I’m sitting the same seven subjects as last year, namely Irish, English, Maths, French, Biology, Chemistry and Geography, and I’m doing more than ever before. If I don’t get to study medicine next year I’ll be devastated, and I now know that high points involve effort, dedication and commitment.


I just started in De La Salle College in Waterford, which may seem slightly strange to those of you familiar with the place, seeing as it’s an all boys’ school and I’m not, well, male. The school is, however, aware of this mild technicality and I can assure you that it’s not a problem in the least. There are in fact a rather small number of other females who are sharing in my situation- they have a co-educational repeat year it seems. The ratio still looks a little something like this though:
Boys : Girls
100 : 1
I’m clearly in a rather unique and interesting situation, how many girls go to an all boys’ school after all? I used to attend a ridiculously small all girls’ school not far from where I live, and now? I’m in this huge school full of testosterone and hilarity! I love it, and I’ve got a feeling many of my blogs will be intrinsically linked with the strangeness of it all.


I won’t give away all of m
y amazing plans for this blog just yet, mainly because I’m not organized in the least and haven’t a clue what’s to come.
I can, however, tell you all that they won’t be as drab and informative as this one. I’m really more of a hilarious ranter, so feel free to check back regularly and leave me some feed-back.


There’s plenty more I’d be only delighted to write about right now but I’m off to the pub. Even apparent nerds (
√16 life) need a break.

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An Introduction - Let The Anarchy Begin

Paul Sinclair leaving cert

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!!

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I need Medicine! and a Leaving Cert

Dear Internet,

Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a girl of wealth and taste.

Well of taste anyway.

You’re probably all sick of reading about another South Dublin girl who wants to do medicine, so anyone who read Laura Brady’s column in the Irish Times last year do feel free to ignore me.

My name is Elizabeth. I like lie-ins, wooly socks and a warm bould of soup. I dislike rudeness, swearing and any time before 11am in the morning. I’m in 6th year in Muckross Park College in Donnybrook, Dublin, and someone tells me I have some sort of Summer Quiz to do in June. (Denial: It’s not just a river). I filled out my CAO form last week, and at the moment it looks something like this:

1. TR051 Medicine (Restricted)
 
2. DN002 Medicine (Undergraduate Entry) (Restricted)
 
3. RC001 Medicine - (Undergraduate Entry) (Restricted)
 
4. TR056 Human Health and Disease
 
5. TR073 Human Genetics
 
6. TR071 Science
 
7. TR075 Medicinal Chemistry
 
8. DN037 Biomedical, Health and Life Sciences
 
9. DN008 Science
 
10. DN036 Neuroscience

I’m hoping with this new entry system to medicine that it will be a little easier than getting 600 points, but really I don’t have my hopes up that it’ll go much below 540 or so. I got a sample booklet of the HPAT during midterm and went through the questions and it really doesn’t look that difficult. It does test different forms of intelligence and reasoning than the Leaving Cert though, which may level the playing field somewhat. The most annoying thing about this new system is that we, the class of 2009, are the guinea pigs and have no way of knowing what points to aim for to get medicine. I’ve decided to try to forget we have a new system and pretend like it’s an intense competition between me and the rest of the would-be doctors and try to get the highest points possible.

There’s only one slight problem with this though…

I’m so goshdarn lazy.

I live by the mantra “never do today what you can put off until tomorrow”, but I’ve a feeling the Leaving Cert is not something you can study for the night before and do well in.

When I’m not being lazy I’m busily cramming for a music lesson the next day. I play the piano and violin (for the violin I use “play” in the loosest sense of the word as I just took it up this year) and I also do singing. On top of this I have LC music on Monday evenings, so much of my weekday afternoons are spent at a music lesson, or travelling to/from the music lesson. Already this eats up a huge chunk of my time, and that’s without even doing any practice! (of which I naturally do the bare minimum).

When I finally get around to doing homework (not even any study, just homework) a fair amount of it is spent on maths, usually about an hour a night. Ironically, the subject I spend most time on is the subject I’m least likely to use for points.

Aside from maths i’m doing: English, Irish, French, German, Music, Biology, Chemistry.

For points I’m planning on using French, German, Music, Biology, Chemistry and possibly English. The English exam can be a bit hit and miss so banking on that for points might be a bit dodgy.

So that’s a bit about me and what I hope to get out of the LC, if I manage not to die of exhaustion before then. As I said before, if you’re sick of hearing about another girl going for medicine then close your eyes until you click on another blog, If you want to hear me whine about how fat the Leaving Cert is making me and rant about the ridiculous things they expect us to remember then do keep reading!

-Elizabeth

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College & University Open Days 2008/2009

Open Days 2009

I have compiled a list of the main University and College open days. Note that not all collges/universities are listed here as some have not yet stated a time and date for their open days. If you become aware of more open days or would like to see another college or university listed here, contact us.


National College of Art and Design

4 December 2008 9:30am-3:00pm

Athlone Institute of Technology

4 and 15 November 2008 10.00 a.m. - 2.00 pm

Cork Institute of Technology

22nd November 2008

Dublin City University

Fri 21st Nov 10am-3pm. - Sat 22nd Nov 11am-3pm.

Dundalk Institute of Technology

Fri. 17th October 2008 9am - 2pm

Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Friday, 21st November 2008 (10am – 4pm)
Saturday, 22nd November 2008 (11am – 4pm)
Wednesday, 14th January 2009 (5pm – 7pm)
Thursday, 15th January 2009 (5pm – 7pm)

Dublin Institute of Technology

Saturday, 6th December, 2008: 9.30am to 2.30pm

National University of Ireland, Galway

Thursday, 9th October 2008

University of Limerick

14 & 15 October 2008 Tours every hour from 10am-2pm.

Graduate Entry to Medicine (LM101) will be having
an Open Evening on Wednesday 26 November 2008.
(At Aungier Street Campus, Dublin 2)

National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare

Friday 28th November 2008 9:30am to 3pm
Saturday 29th November 2008 10:30am to 3pm

University Days:

Saturday 25th April 2009 10:30am to 3pm
Saturday 20th June 2009 10:30am to 3pm

Carlow College

November 20th 3pm-8pm

Institute of Technology, Sligo

Thursday 13th November 2008, 10am – 2pm

Institute of Technology, Tralee

Monday 17th

Marino College of Further Education

28th January 2009 11 am to 4 pm

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In preperation for yet another year of excitement in the blogesphere, we have launched our new forums.

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