How a typical day's study might look

7.30am

Rise and shine. There is no point in wasting precious hours.

7.45am

Have a healthy nutritious breakfast, followed by 15 to 20 minutes of exercise. A brisk walk would suffice.

8.30am

Settle down in your study with a subject plan for the day. Ensure that you have some drinking water, good light, an open window for fresh air and a comfortable seat. Arrange your materials for the day's work.

8.40.am

FRENCH. Take out a printed copy of one of the listening comprehension tests and, using the CD provided with the past papers, listen to spoken French for 40 to 45 minutes, reading the printed content as you go.

9.30am

Log on to the internet and using one of the search engines go to exercises in any of the five tenses, e.g. passé composé/imparfait. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the passé composé. For each item, click in the box and type in your answer. At any time, click on check to see which of your answers are correct. You can use the internet for exercises in most languages.

10.15am

It is time to take a break and change subjects. A cup of tea and a short walk in your back garden is all that you need to revive and refresh.

10.30am

MATHS. As in all subjects, time management is essential. Twenty minutes per question should be your guide. Take one question from both paper one and two. From your past papers on paper one you could attempt a question on sets, functions, graphs, income tax or percentages. From paper two, you could attempt some geometry or trigonometry questions.

11.30.am

Time for another break for 10 to 15 minutes, for fresh air and a change of subject.

11.45am

ENGLISH: Going back over the essay topics from recent past papers select one and attempt it, paying attention to the time factor. Alternatively, you could attempt one of the past questions on the written comprehension passages. If you are working on paper two, dealing with poetry, novels and plays, be sure that you understand the themes running through each poem, and the meaning of the literary terms such as metaphor, simile, symbol etc. A popular question on any novel which has a young person as a main character is to explain what the character learned from what happened to them in the story. Practise answering that question using the novels on your course.

1pm

You have three hours solid work behind you and it is time to have a proper lunch and relax for a few hours. Following lunch, you could arrange to meet a group of your fellow classmates for some short activity or just to chat and relax. Given the proximity of the exam, it is important that you get in another session of study later in the day.

4.30 to 6.00pm

IRISH : It is important to do some tapework on the listening comprehension section of the examination. At 100 marks, it is a very important section of the paper. Students will have a CD that comes with past papers and they should listen to this for 40 to 45 minutes. The conversation is between three students talking about themselves. Pay particular attention to vocabulary regarding their pastimes, school subjects, occupations/jobs and names of Irish counties and towns.

If you are working on paper two dealing with an essay, check out the basic grammatical rules and make sure that you know the Irish verbs to express a full range of emotions to enable you to write a good essay or story. Concerning the section on plays, short stories and poetry, it is very important not just to retell the story but also to outline the theme of the piece. Many students neglect to do this and lose marks accordingly.

6pm

Parents and other family members have arrived home and it is time to have an evening meal and relax for an hour.

7pm

SCIENCE: There are three sections to this subject - chemistry, biology, and physics. Ensure that you take past questions from each section. Typical revision questions would cover preparation of gases and their properties, the body system in biology and electricity, magnetism and heat in physics. As with other subjects, attempt past questions and watch your timing.

7.50pm

Take a break

8pm

BUSINESS: Following another 10-minute break for a cup of tea and a breath of fresh air it is time for one last piece of revision for the day. Taking past business papers, attempt one of the bookkeeping questions, which could take up to 45 minutes depending on the question chosen. Alternatively, it would be important to revise the many definitions on the business course.

9pm

Time to relax and unwind. Watch television, listen to some music, phone a friend. You can feel pleased with yourself. You have a very short run in to your Junior Certificate examination and you are using your time effectively.

10.30pm

Time for bed, you have a hard day's work behind you and tomorrow is another day.