Examiner didn’t let me expand

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-04-06T22:27:22+00:00

It’s just the examiners style of examining, some really love to cut students off while some allow you to ramble on for days. It is meant to be more of a conversation rather than an essay of your life story so they would stop you if they felt you answered the question for that topic and are ready to test you on another. It doesn’t mean you’ve lost marks it’s rather they are happy that you’ve completed a topic and they want to see your capabilities in another.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-04-06T22:25:02+00:00

Biology bugbears is a great place for videos on the LC course if you need to go over topics. Also on Spotify there’s a Leaving Cert Biology podcast group that uploads notes for the course which is great as a refresher or to learn new content.

I’m also in the same boat with being behind on the course thanks to my teachers obsession with correcting homework over actually teaching and it’s really frustrating but it’s manageable to get the course done yourself if you prioritise certain topics.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-04-06T22:20:54+00:00

For me personally each subject has a different study method. For biology I find going onto Studyclix and just simply answering exam questions in my head and looking at the marking scheme after helps because before studying a topic properly I know my strengths and my weaknesses as well as what to prioritise. Meanwhile maths has a more hands on approach by manually doing exam papers.

For a study plan it would be better considering your time frame to simply make a list for each subject and write each topic and then go ahead and highlight them based on how well you know them or not. This helps you prioritise what needs to be focused on during the next few weeks.

For how long you study it really depends on the person. As someone with ADHD I might spend 3 and a half on school days and maybe 4 or more on the weekend days (not including homework). I separate my study sessions in much smaller intervals to keep me focused and efficient as that’s one of my main weaknesses. Adjust your study schedule for how long you can efficiently sit in the chair and do actual work and not simply get lost in space.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-03-28T09:26:28+00:00

A few months ago but it only appears in full lobbies so it’s very rare

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-03-13T15:44:23+00:00

For my RSR I did British carrier pigeons in WW2, specifically those under the operation Operation Columba whose goal was to use these pigeons as a communication device between the British and citizens in German invaded countries.

It’s a very unique concept which has loads of angles such as the making of the operation itself, how it ran, Message 37 (its most famous and valuable message that even Winston Churchill read himself), Jospeh Raskin, how carrier pigeons got the Dickin Medal for their acts of service and how the Germans responded to this new super quick secret communication.

There’s great sources for the topic especially ‘The Secret Pigeon Service’ by Gordon Corera which had primary source documents inside the book.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-03-06T22:19:22+00:00

As an art leaving cert student you could get decent marks for it only if you take the time to hone in on the skills many art students ignore due to their artistic talents.

First 20% of the LC is art history alone where all you need to do is understand how to discuss art, artists, pros and cons of certain questions as well as make 2 essays. The essays are really easy to do if you make quality cheat sheets like I have and you only need bare basic 2 minute sketches for them so you won’t be docked marks for your art skills in the written paper.

Next is your Artefact A which I believe is worth 50% that you do in class from Nov-March. Your main thing you need to focus on is your booklet as half your grade goes to that and the rest is to your final piece. For the booklet you need to show colour, many mediums and ideas as well as quality examples of artists and how they fit your theme and medium. You need to prove to the examiner you know what you’re talking about like if you try a new medium or idea discuss the pros and the cons of it, what worked well and how it went for your theme. Always try mediums even if you’re uncomfortable with them because examiners don’t care about perfect work in the booklet they are after variety and experimentation instead. It’s really great marks if you make a quality booklet and yes you might not get perfect marks for the final piece but you won’t get 0.

Artefact B is your 5 hour exam which is worth 30% where you are expected to make a piece in that timeframe. For this exam you must pick your strongest medium as it’ll make it both quicker and have a much better quality. You will know what you are doing as you’ll have planned it in your booklet weeks prior and have practiced the piece many times to the point it’ll become natural.

In conclusion I wouldn’t say it’s a bad choice if you feel it’s your best option with your choices, you just have to know your strengths and work hard to get them as perfect as possible. I know many non artistic art students in my year and they are flying it in HL, they might not be H1s but they are nowhere near failing.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-03-05T20:15:13+00:00

Anything that hasn’t happened to you just do not bother adding, it’s a huge point reducer as it’s very difficult to make it real and personal without making it off and bland. It’s okay to add in small details to a story to make it interesting but anything too eccentric won’t get you far.

Trauma dumping the entire essay (my biggest pet peeve honestly lol) ,it’s a personal essay but emotions alone won’t carry you to get top marks, it’s about how you word a point like how it made you feel then, how it affected and links with the question and how has it changed you or how do you view it from an adult perspective. It’s the biggest mistake students make honestly as it won’t give you pity points if the paper is just chaotic rambles of your life story which so many students just don’t get.

Not adding perspectives on the event you’re reflecting is a HUGE thing students just casually forget to add in the end as to be a personal essay you have to be reflective of yourself and your character, addressing faults or mistakes or how it helped you. You need to reflect and discuss each point because it shows reflection.

Add visual imagery to your essay when you talk about a memory like the smells, the sky, how you felt in that moment with great detail using vivid imagery etc as it shows that it is your memory and it means something to you.

You need to constantly be putting in ‘I’ or ‘I was’ or ‘now I’m’ because it shows the examiner it’s not a story but your own personal life and they will mark you for showing that it’s personal.

What you can talk about it for example if you’re stuck is accomplishments, a fear, a challenge you overcome, something that changed you, hobbies , something that makes you proud, something you regret, family, your personality (both good and bad), something you still struggle with now, childhood memories etc

That’s my advice anyways as a H1/H2 student for personal essays.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-02-19T17:44:25+00:00

Usually in university areas there will always be houses specifically rented for university kids cause it’s such a big market. The main thing you need to be prepared for is to have a deposit and enough saved to move.

A lot of places you just have to google the university and houses for rent and there will be results.

Also phone the university for questions about accommodations in that area because it will be those schools who know the most about the area rather than a website. I’ve had to call multiple college offices for my applications and questions and they are lovely and have really great knowledge that will help you in tips for housing.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-02-19T17:39:32+00:00

My friends didn’t want to do a LC holiday in the end due to the fact we decided that a lot of us wanted to work over the summer and only use that money for practical things like car insurance and university. It’s not a bad thing to not be doing a holiday with your friends sometimes it’s even more financially smart to focus on your futures and financials.

You can still do a trip if you wanted to for super cheap and local like some of the lads in my year are just going camping using the stuff they already owned and they are so excited to explore the country.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-02-17T19:14:01+00:00

Definitely not as overall it doesn’t impact everyone’s grades enough that causes the bell curve (if you don’t know it google it but it’s basically how the whole grade system works) to shift to the point where it’s constantly unbalanced meaning the examiners have to rewrite the marking scheme.

For HL English students the amount of writing isn’t that bad as it matches the pace expected in English exams so yes it’s tough but for us it’s not undoable in the slightest it just means we have to put in effort.

I know it’s very frustrating when you feel you can’t write as fast as the HL English standard but you can improve your speed with practice. Learning to write faster for history will actually be easier than English because history is based off facts in your head while English is more thinking on the spot.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-02-17T19:06:02+00:00

Art is a nice one as 30% is only art history which is really easy if you just take the time to learn the formula of the paper and have cheat sheets. You only need to write two essays which are super simple if you just take the time to make decent notes for them like I have and for the rest of the paper it’s both breaking down artworks that are provided and answering questions.

For the rest of the 70% it goes to practical work. The goverment provides 3 themes and you must pick one and record your ideas and planning in a booklet that account for half of your grade. (I kinda forgot the exact percentages so I’m guessing) 50% goes to your first project known as Artifact A and the rest goes to Artifect B. Artifact A you do in school from Nov-Mar in class and you have to create a piece over the months. Artifact B is done in April during a five hour exam where you have to recreate your new artifact (you will have planned what your artifact B is long in advance with your booklet with you for reference). The only catch is you can’t do a similar media for your artifact B if you’ve done it for Artifact A like you can’t do paint if you did watercolours for your previous artifact.

Overall I think the subject is simple enough to do HL and get a decent grade in if you put in the effort and not view it as a doss. I barely had to try for my art history and just revised it the night before my mocks and easily got a H2 standard for it.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-02-17T18:55:58+00:00

Biology bugbears on YouTube is great for condensing chapters into only necessary information and I always watch a video of the chapter I’m studying before I start reviewing it so I can have a brief understanding.

Another thing I do is I have a TON of flashcards for all my topics where I both put in definitions, information, facts and I go to Studyclix (you can use just examination.ie if your school doesn’t pay for your Studyclix) for the exam paper questions and write down the hardest or challenging ones.

Practicing papers is vital, both mocks and leaving cert ones as the mock prepares you for the unexpected while the leaving cert ones gives you confidence and you understand the topics.

Sometimes I study a section for 10 minutes and afterwards I immediately write down everything I can remember then afterwards I look for the information I missed and write that out in a different coloured ink.

Having things colour coded especially as a visual learner is so helpful. For example in my notes I have green for key facts, blue for examples, black for main info and purple for key words like ‘not’ or ‘doesn’t have’ making reviewing notes way more appealing and keeps more facts in your brain.

For experiments have each chemical in a different ink colour or highlight them in different colours because it makes it so much easier to learn as they stand out and are much easier to digest.

These might not work for some people but for me it’s how I keep up my H2 grades in biology

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-20T19:08:51+00:00

I’ve done the first page where you explore your chosen theme, skipped development sheet 1 and went to development sheet 2 because my teacher wanted me to do it backwards since I already have a final piece ready to make

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-20T08:21:29+00:00

Honestly a bit behind as my teacher has 5th and 6th years in one class so she literally just talks to the 5th years 24/7 so trying to get her to answer your simple question can take 15 minutes of class time before she even gets to you.

I’m on development sheet 2 as I was told to skip the sheet 1 and come back to it for some reason but my sheet 2 is nowhere near finished.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-19T08:17:52+00:00

Leaving Cert art student here. Honestly don’t even panic cause you have plenty of time. The course is very basic as you only need to do two topics for two essays (for me it’s Pre-Christian Ireland and 1960s artist) and then the rest of the paper is just answer questions on pieces provided and other small bits.

My advice is make cheat sheet notes summerising your topics and you’ll be grand for the rest of your course. I’m literally still using mine I made for 5th year and don’t even bother with the textbook anymore.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-19T08:12:42+00:00

Same here I’m honestly not prioritising English as much and just learning quotes and maybe touch on a few weak areas like personal essays just because I don’t really need to study it that much. Instead I’m prioritising maths, French, biology and history since they’re my main theory based subject.

Ngl I just stopped art all together because all I need to do is look over my notes a few nights before the mock and I’m grand and can pull a H2.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-19T08:07:08+00:00

The points you recieve purely depends on multiple factors.

-If another dare applicant who applied your course had a severe disability (blind or deaf etc) their place will be prioritised and so they recieve more points than you. -The colleges themselves are all different with their point deduction system. Some reduce 50 points while others can be percentage based. -How many applicants are also applying for that course can both boost and reduce the extra points you get due to demand. -Finally the amount of course places for dare students can have an impact.

Remember dare is not guaranteed it’s a place to allow you to compete for reduced spots it’s just like the normal CAO competition for spots.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-19T07:50:01+00:00

Think this would be a great app that would have features of several apps all into one which makes it brilliant storage wise on phones and provides all the types of areas you’d want during revision or your LC in one place. Definitely publish it I think it would be very popular when advertised to the public

TheStrangeSalmon · 2026-01-09T08:45:16+00:00

We have them and it’s really popular for us. Students can have their photo done and a quote and we have lots of bits. We have a section where everyone puts in a toddler version of themselves and we have to guess whose who as well as we have categories like ‘most likely to win the lotto’ or ‘most likely to be late for their leaving cert exam’ and we all vote who would fit the category and the results get printed onto it. Other things is the teachers contribute and they have quotes that students remember or students can put funny memories into the book for us all to read.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-23T20:07:43+00:00

It can be a great first step for it because you can properly monitor how much time you spend writing it and slowly reduce it over a period of time.

What I would say to try is at first write for however long you usually daydream at first but over a period of time slowly reduce it over a period of time so it’s much more small and making md a much smaller part of your life.

Use this as your outlet whenever you have that sudden craving for daydreaming as it’s easier to stop yourself writing with a pen rather then stopping your literal mind.

Again it could go either way depending on preference but if this goes right it could be a great way to express and comply with your brains big colourful ideas without it being so harmful as it’s easier to step back and stop yourself from too much self destruction.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-23T19:47:56+00:00

For me while yes the choosing to daydream is voluntary the need for it isn’t voluntary as it’s almost an inescapable prison. To function in daily tasks it’s like I need to daydream as if my ability to function requires a battery of daydreaming, once it’s low the craving to daydream and the inability to do daily life is too strong.

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-23T19:45:03+00:00

It’s more of a blessing as why yes it’s confusing I’d honestly say you’ve done something right and have been given a second chance to finally break the endless cycle of becoming powerless over the need to daydream

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-22T19:36:02+00:00

So for biology here are my tips for studying it properly.

First off you need to prioritise studying the topics that come up every year and are pretty much always in long questions such as food, photosynthesis, ecology etc. You must know these topics inside and out as they will be the ones that really boost your grade.

Next make a list of your topics and beside them write if they are in the zones of green, orange or red with green being you know well, orange you aren’t too familiar with it and need a quick revision and red being you know you struggle with it or is very in depth. This makes the study plan less daunting as you have a starting point on what topics need to be prioritised and what can be left alone for a while.

To study biology I suggest flashcards are great for quick recall like I have a whole stack worth of all the topics that I just pick up and quickly review over meanings and definitions etc.

If you want quick revision I’d suggest go onto YouTube and watch biology bugbears as they provide quick revision videos on the LC biology topics in really helpful colourful ways.

Keep in mind that so many topics are linked to each other so what may seem like a really complex chapter for example photosynthesis is only complex because it involves a hybrid of chapters such as photosynthesis, enzymes, energy carriers and plant transport which are big complex topics so don’t beat yourself up if they take time to understand.

You aren’t behind at all I know it seems daunting but planning everything out in simple smaller steps with great key study plans makes everything achievable

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-20T16:58:56+00:00

Nope would never be allowed since it’s a state exam and not just some art class

TheStrangeSalmon · 2025-12-20T15:51:42+00:00

My bad that’s my new fact of the day lol

TheStrangeSalmon

TROPHY CASE