The exams: how to make the best use of next week

With just over a week to the start of the Leaving, how should students plan their final revision? Brian Mooney offers some tips

You won't thank me for saying it but this is a time for calm nerves. The main body of work is behind you, now is the time to pull it all together. The old rules still apply.

1 Study in a comfortable, well-aired environment with good light by day and a desk lamp by evening.

2 Don't exhaust yourself with six and seven hour, unbroken study sessions.

3 Continue to eat and sleep well and remember to take some exercise each day. It helps to keep your body in good shape for the marathon ahead.

4 Focus on past exam papers. They are the Bible for every student, setting out the structure of questions to be attempted in the weeks ahead. Familiarise yourself with the structure of the paper, the percentage of marks available for each section, which sections are compulsory or any other aspect of the paper. All this information is readily available before the examination starts and if you don't already understand everything clearly, you should use this week to sort it out.

The simple rule for the coming week is to harvest the fruits of your two years' work and apply it to the specific exam papers.

How does this translate into individual subjects?

Maths

The first point to note is that the course is quite wide and at this stage you should work hard to master a number of specific areas at this stage, rather than try to cover the entire course. I would advise spending an hour per day between now and the maths exams doing two questions per day from past papers. Furthermore, you should write down on a single page the various maths formulae and read them once daily between now and exam day. It should be the last thing you read before entering the exam hall and the first thing to be written on the rough work page of your answer book once you are given permission to start writing.

Finally, there is a lot of very useful information on pages eight and nine of your log tables which you can use during the exam. Familiarise yourself with this information.

Irish

It is important, over the coming week, to practise writing in Irish to sharpen your focus.

As in maths, there are aspects of the exam you can prepare for over the coming week. You may have a number of essays written which could be adapted to titles that may appear in the exam.

Practise rewriting a number of essays this week. It will improve the flow of your written work. You should definitely practise your tape work for the aural aspect of the exam. Many students have CDs of past aural material that can be both listened to and read from the screen of a PC at home.

Practise this at home over the coming week.

The same rule applies to comprehension work; practise past questions to sharpen your use of language. Ensure that you are familiar with the compulsory poems from both the higher and ordinary courses.

English

Over the coming week, you should revise the key moments in this year's play. You should also revisit the three comparative texts and practise questions on them. In poetry, you should revise the work of the five poets you have studied.

There can often be a misperception that there is no need to practise writing out questions from the English paper, because don't we all speak English. This is a fatal error, as written expression always improves with practice.

Languages

Give some time over the coming week to practising your written skills in the language in question. Listen to past aural work in order to attune your ear to the spoken word and practice past questions so as to familiarise your self with the paper.

History

Having completed your general revision, you should concentrate on drawing up outline plans for specific essays, chosen from past papers, reinforcing the work already done.

Geography

Put particular focus at this stage on ensuring you are familiar with all the symbols that are used in Ordnance Survey maps, contours, roads, rivers etc. You should write up your fieldwork to familiarise yourself with it again, as you will be examined on it. You should also practise sketching maps of various countries, filling in the various geographical features.

Science subjects

Revise your practical work over the coming week. Chemistry students, for example, have a mandatory two-year lab book recording their practical work. This is vital as up to four or five exam questions will be based on this work.

Biology students, on the other hand have last year's examination paper - the first one on the new curriculum - to guide them. As in chemistry, revise the mandatory practical work you undertook over the last two years. Know why a particular piece of work is undertaken and the precautions you took in conducting the practical.

Home Economics

The written paper will question you on food, consumer studies and resource management. In particular, you should revise the food section of this course, where an exact knowledge of the composition of various food products is essential for a successful result. You should also revise your elective course.