The Leaving Certificate is a long 2-year journey. It’s difficult. But there are tons of study resources online that can help with the journey, and make it easier for you to achieve the top results.
In this article, I will recommend some of the best resources out there. These are resources I used while studying, and these are what ultimately helped me achieve 625 points.
1). Studyclix
Without doubt, this is one of the most helpful services out there.
Studyclix is a leaving certificate resource that is a dedicated Leaving Certificate resource that over 250,000 students use nationwide, and 90% of teachers in Ireland use it too.
This platform gives you access to all past paper exam questions – segregated by chapter. For example, if you are studying probability in maths, you can easily filter all probability questions that have come up.
Another useful feature is that studyclix provides you with sample quizzes on your choice of topic. This is a great way to solidify your knowledge.
The best thing that I found about studyclix is that since teachers use this site, most of your exam questions tend to be questions from studyclix. This is the perfect way to prepare for you school tests, and the LC too. Keep in mind, questions in the LC are quite similar year after year.
2). Exam Finder
If you don’t want to pay for studyclix, but still need to access past papers, trust me use this site. Looking for past papers at the SEC’s official website makes you lose the will to study. It’s too time taking.
Exam finder is a brilliant website which has all the past exam papers. It’s simplistic and intuitive website layout makes finding papers for different subjects from different years much easier.
You will save so much time with this website, trust me.
3). ChatGPT
Now you already know the benefits of ChatGPT, so I won’t fixate on that. Instead, here’s how I’d recommend using this Ai tool to your advantage.
- Research: For subjects that involve a lot of researching like history, business etc, you need to use ChatGPT. It has a new search the web feature too which allows you to scan through different resources quickly.
- Computer Science: If you are studying CS, ChatGPT is a game changer. If you have a bug in your code, paste into ChatGPT and there’s a good chance the problem will be solved.
- Explaining concepts: If you don’t understand a concept, asking ChatGPT will massively help. It gives you an in-depth understanding of the topic you need help with and is really useful for just clarifying some doubts.
When should you not use ChatGPT?
- Maths: Now, it may give you the right answer sometimes, but GPT is more of a language model than a math model. It isn’t super accurate with calculations.
Caution: This goes without saying, but use Ai in general as a tool, not a replacement.
What I mean is taking help from Ai is fine, but don’t become dependent on it.
4). YouTube:
This is an extremely handy resource, especially when it comes to understanding concepts.
In the last few years, there has been a massive emphasis on having a thorough understanding of concepts. This is the case in all subjects. That means, you can’t just memorise past paper questions and hope they come up.
Why? Because questions will not be repeated. The concept will. And that’s where watching YouTube videos on the different chapters is extremely beneficial.
These are some helpful YouTube channels for different subjects.
Maths:
- Math with Mr. J
- ExamLearn (has everything you need in HL maths!)
English:
- The Institute of Education (a great resource for all subjects. They have the best teachers in the country, and they give the most exam-focussed resources)
Irish:
- Studyclix (great for all subjects, especially Irish)
Chemistry:
- The Organic Chemistry Tutor (not everything is relevant for LC, but has a lot of useful content
Computer Science:
Physics:
- Veritasium (not LC focused, but has extremely interesting videos to give you a better understanding of the subject)
5). Student Expresso
This list is incomplete without our website!
We have an entire section dedicated to the Leaving Certificate, and helping you achieve the top result!
Check out some of our LC focused articles:
- How to get 625 points in the Leaving Certificate?
- How to get an H1 in every subject?
- How to study effectively for the Leaving Certificate?
Summary:
These are the 5 best resources for studying for the Leaving Certificate. The entire LC journey is daunting. But remember that you have access to tons of useful resources to make your life much easier.
I highly recommend using these resources as much as possible. This will definitely help boost your grade.
Good Luck!
