Q: I've just got a place in college to study engineering and start at the end of September. I'm really looking forward to being free to manage my own affairs, but I'm just a bit nervous that I won't be able to handle it all. What should I look out for? - Laois student
A: You should have a good time, develop your social and personal side, take part in sports and generally have a ball. But why are you going to college anyway? For an education? A job? Or just fun?
Sooner or later, the fun ends and the real world takes over. Keep an eye on the main issues - educating yourself, getting a degree, progressing to a good job.
Plan from the beginning. What are employers looking for? Consider what your degree will bring - in your case technical qualifications as well as good information technology skills. It would be desirable later on to add business skills and at least one modern language.
Personal qualities such as reasoning skills, flexibility, motivation, discipline, communication skills (written and spoken), ability to work well in a team and good managerial capabilities . . . these will all be in great demand. College will teach you about your own subject area but also will provide the opportunity to study independently and plan your time effectively.
You will have deadlines for projects, you will have to depend on others to deliver their sections of these on time and then co-ordinate the end result. You will have a heavy load of laboratory or practical components in addition to the lectures.
You could learn a lot from college clubs and societies - people often find that they are the areas of college life which prepare them best for the future. They let you mix with people from different faculties, make friends, represent your class or college at various levels, take up some part-time work, perhaps find some holiday job related to your area, if there is none built into your course, or do some voluntary work.
College provides you with the opportunity to do all these things but do plan how you can make the most of them. So, take charge of your life. Make the most of it by structuring your life instead of letting it all just happen.
Q: I read your recent answer to the south Dublin parent - I thought there were no more entrance tests for second-level schools. What is the situation? - Cork mother
A: You're right. Entrance tests are not permitted for any school getting State funding. However, the reader you mention was referring to an assessment test not an entrance test. The Department of Education does not allow entrance tests to select students on the basis of ability. In theory, schools use assessment tests to `stream' or `set' pupils in second level, not for the purpose of exclusion. If you could prove that your child was excluded on the basis of performance in these tests and not for any other reason, you should contact the Department.
There is quite a business going on in preparing pupils in sixth class of primary schooling for such entrance assessments. National school teachers as well as parents object to them because of the pressure put on young pupils to perform well in perhaps several school entrance assessments.
Some second-level schools overcome this whole difficulty by introducing students to many subjects at a common level up to Christmas of first year and then basing placements on performance at the end of that period. This certainly does away with the need for an entrance assessment. Then we'd know for sure if it was an assessment or a test!
Q: My eldest son has applied for a recheck in his Leaving Cert Irish (higher level). When will we get the result? Do you think this is worthwhile? My second boy now wants to have the result of his French Junior Cert re-checked and I just wonder is this possible and how much it will cost? Will the school think I'm mad? I feel the principal didn't really want to have the Leaving re-checked and if I now go about the Junior Cert he will dismiss it totally.? - Sligo parent
A: Your eldest boy should have got a booklet from the Department called Results Appeal Process before the Leaving Cert. This sets out the procedure. For instance, if he didn't sit a particular paper or attend oral or aural exams, the statement accompanying his results will show this. He can check if all relevant parts of each subject were graded and included in his final marks.
For his Irish marks he should have Papers I and II, the oral and the aural and he can satisfy himself that all those are included. The recheck results will be issued to the school on Wednesday, October 1st.
It's difficult to say if rechecks are worth the trouble. Every case is different. The principal may not have considered your son's grade to be "substantially at variance" with the grade expected by the school. This is generally accepted as being two grades below what is expected of the student.
In the appeals procedure, the student's work is completely re-marked by a different examiner but on the same marking scheme as used originally for the exam. If your son achieves a lower grade or the same grade, the original grade stands but if he receives a higher grade, the Chief Examiner for the subject decides on the final grade.
In 1996, nine per cent of re-checks in all subjects were upgraded - the equivalent of 0.25 per cent of the total grades issued in the Leaving Cert. In higher Irish 1996 the result was much more discouraging - 551 reviews and only six upgrades - one per cent of the requests.
An appeal would certainly be worthwhile if both your son and the school think that his exam result was out of line. After all his college place may also hinge on this result, since each grade difference is equal to 5 points up to A2 and 10 points between A2 and A1.
Your other son must apply by Tuesday, September 30th, and pay £20 per subject. The result will be in school on Friday, November 7th. I'm afraid there's nothing for it but to go back and ask the principal once more because each case is dealt with individually. The same principles apply as for the Leaving Cert exam. As a parent you must treat both boys equally. You must listen to the younger boy's reasons for not accepting the lower grade and then talk to the principal who will in turn consult the French teacher. Your son will then at least feel he has been given a fair hearing.
Questions can be answered only through this column and not by phone or post. Write to Sile Sheehy, Education & Living, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 - or by e-mail to education@irish-times.ie
