SUMMER IS OVER. The schools have reopened. Sixth year, the Leaving Certificate year for a whole new cohort of students, has begun.
For those who haven’t parented a Leaving Cert student before, anxieties can begin at the outset of this final year in school, not least because of the visibility of last year’s students pursuing their third-level choices.
Watching those young people who have secured a place in college raises the question for parents whose child is entering Leaving Cert year this year, as to whether their own child will have this opportunity this time next year.
Parents often feel an acute sense of responsibility to ensure their child does what is required to achieve this.
Students can also have inner fears about their own capacity to cope with what lies ahead, now that the much-warned-about Leaving Cert year has begun.
However, the kind of communication that takes place between parents and students in these early weeks of the first term in sixth year can colour communication for good or ill in the months ahead. It therefore requires consideration.
Communication that warns the student of the dangers of not studying is counterproductive because it frightens those who are already worried, angers the motivated and demotivates the student who has already decided to surprise their parents this year by their studiousness.
Good intentions can be scrapped if they are turned into compliance to a parental command.
It’s a delicate business all round and may be circumvented best by creating conditions conducive to study in a practical way rather than talking about the year ahead.
Organisation is central to study and is the first task at the start of sixth year. Research shows the importance of conditioning ourselves to study in the same place, at the same time, to establish a study routine that suits best. The ideal is a place that is comfortable, bright and cheerful, with good lighting, away from too much noise and with adequate heat and ventilation. Getting down to study is easier if it takes place in the same location. This can also help concentration.
A desk and shelves help to get students organised. A clock near the desk, preferably one with an alarm, is useful. Some students set the alarm for hourly sessions, having decided not to leave the study area until the alarm goes off.
An adjustable desk lamp ensures that light falls on the page and reduces eye strain. The light should be turned on when the student begins to study; otherwise students may continue to study in poor lighting, unaware that darkness has descended.
A large noticeboard should be fixed to the wall above the desk on to which information can be pinned, such as quotations to be memorised, an entire poem that is on the course, maths formulae, or the school timetable with activities for each day clearly marked.
Reminders for PE gear and sports activities should be highlighted. A timetable of the dates on which homework assignments are due should also be displayed prominently.
Dictionaries and a thesaurus are essential. If these are small, students can carry them around to flick through during spare moments during the day. This helps to extend vocabulary.
It cannot be said too often that all subjects should be colour coded, with a different colour assigned to each. For example, students might choose red for maths, green for Irish, blue for French, and purple for science, with all accompany notes organised in matching coloured folders.
Colour coding assists the brain by compartmentalising the subjects. It increases efficiency if one is looking for a book as the search is limited to the subject colour.
Many students also like to have large coloured boxes for their different subjects, each box in the colour allocated to that subject. Newspaper cuttings and articles of relevance to the subject can be collated in these boxes. Notes can also be placed in them until there is an opportunity to file them appropriately.
In other words, the boxes are the means by which a student’s notes are tidy and less likely to be mixed up with other subjects, or lost completely.
At the end of each school day, students can organise the contents of their schoolbags into the relevant boxes before beginning the night’s study, thus reinforcing this filing system for the brain.
These ideas form the beginning of a study plan for sixth year.
- Clinical psychologist and author Marie Murray is the director of the student counselling services in UCD. Her book, Surviving The Leaving Cert: Points for Parents, is published by Veritas