The education system is very different than the United States. Since starting school on January 3rd I have only had two assignments! Three weeks ago I had to give a ten minute PowerPoint presentation in front of class and I had an essay due this afternoon.
I attend all of my classes but unlike Iowa State, I just sit there and listen. There is no need to take notes in class because the final grade assessments don't relate to the topics discussed in lecture.
My classes finish in only two and a half weeks! The last week of class is when I have most of my final assessments (only one in May). I have a couple essays to write, three exams to take, and a presentation to give before class is done. While this is significantly less work than I do at home, the things that I turn in here are worth a larger percentage of my grade. My final exams are up to 70% of my grade, yikes!
While I was at Laura's house last weekend, her mom told us how college admission works here in Ireland and it was pretty interesting...
In the last year of secondary school (high school), students take what they call a leaving certification. This is a test that is only offered once a year. Students may not re-take or re-schedule the exam. They pre-select six subjects to get tested on and after taking those tests they receive one score from 0-600. Occupations in Ireland are ranked with a number. Majors like medicine and law have numbers in the upper 500's where as jam making (no joke...) is 25. After filling out one application, students are admitted to any university in the country as long as they choose a major that's at or below their score. If students don't like their score or overslept that day they need to re-do all of senior year and take the test again the following year! Maybe the ACT wasn't so bad after all...
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