MAKING CENTS: You don’t have to pay over the top for extra tuition

Most Leaving Cert pupils have completed their “pre-exams” in recent weeks, with results due shortly, writes Gráinne McGuinness 

This will give students, and their parents, a good idea of how ready they are for the real thing and highlight problem areas. Many will be considering some extra help to address any issues.

Easter revision courses are a perennially popular option, with any number offered throughout the country during the final school holidays before the exams.

However, there are other less conventional and in some cases, free ways to up your study game.

If budget constraints mean revision courses or grinds are not an option there is still help available to students. Based in Galway, ALISON is one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms, with six million learners and 750,000 graduates worldwide.

They have a dedicated MathsHub, offering courses at Junior Cert, Leaving Cert and university level. Both higher and ordinary level Leaving Cert students are catered for, with an overall revision course available, as well as shorter courses dedicated to individual topics such as algebra, geometry and statistics. They suggest that the overall revision course takes 10-15 hours to complete, so students could commit to 2-3 hours per day for a week of their holidays and thoroughly revise the syllabus. The ALISON courses also include assessments so pupils can check their own progress. This is a superb resource that is completely free and available to all. The quality is top notch!

Help for other subjects is also available online. Designed for geography students at Presentation School, Wexford, www.lcgeography.preswex.ie is available to help all students studying for their Leaving Certificate.

The site covers many areas of the Leaving Cert course and includes notes and sample answers. Similarly leavingcerthistory.net was created by Mr Haugh for the students at St. Patricks Comprehensive School, Shannon. It includes detailed notes for all the major topics covered in the syllabus and also includes links to other online resources. Www.studynotes.ie is another free site dedicated to providing extra help for Irish students. Revision notes, video tutorials and quizzes are provided for a range of subjects.

But if you want the assurance of the proven track record of the grind schools, book early and consider the value in taking a number of subjects.

Their Easter revision courses are not cheap but vary a lot in price — you can pay between €85 and €195 per subject for a week of classes. In Dublin, The Institute of Education on Leeson St offers three subjects for the price of two, for €475, if you book by March 1.

Both The Dublin School of Grinds and Ashfield College offer two subjects for the price of one. In Cork one of the best known names is Bruce College. One subject with them costs €195, with two for €325 and three for €415.

The Limerick Tutorial College has a special offer available to those who book by Saturday March 5 — students can book four or five subjects for €340, normally the price of three subject.

Yeats College offers revision courses in both Galway and Waterford, priced from €100 per subject. For many students the value of these courses is not just the lessons themselves, but also access to top-class detailed notes they can use for the revision in the run up to the exams.

Another revision option that is increasingly popular is preparation for the oral exams. The orals are a source of stress for many students and a lot of grind schools offer one-day courses to provide intensive tuition for these exams. Also if you have a family member or friend who speaks a particular language well, try practising with them too. The oral is really just a conversation.

In general, if you think one-to-one tuition is the best option for your child, you can expect to pay €20-€25 per hour for help from a local teacher. Canny parents are also tracking down college students who got A1s in a particular subject as they tend to know the courses inside out.

DEAL OF THE WEEK

Permanent TSB are targeting the used car market with their latest offer — €200 cash back on car loans of €6,000 or more. The offer was launched last week and is available until May 13. Traditionally February, March, and April are busy months in the used car market.

The offer applies to loan amounts of €6,000 or more on cars registered in 2009 or later, so is also available to those buying new cars. The cash will be paid directly into the customer’s loan paying account within 30 days of the loan being drawn down.

Their interest rates vary depending on the age of the car you are buying, from an APR of 8.8% for cars registered from 2014-2016 to 10.4% APR for cars registered in 2009 or 2010.

To sweeten the deal they also offer a free car history check upon full loan approval with www.Motorcheck.ie.

Anyone interested in applying should call permanent tsb on 1890-500165 or visit www.permanenttsb.ie.