ireland vs America

hello to all.
this blog is mainly focused on the amercian students. and i think this will get alot of the students talking. im writing about the irish american education system so we can find out what the amercian one is like ok. lets start
first of all, most of us start in "playschool". but its not cumplosury, so some kids dont go. we go to this school when were really young. about 3-4 or 5. after were done with that we attend " primary school" this school we attend for 8 years. it starts off with junior infants then senior infants. then first class, second class, third class..etc until we get to 6th class and we leave primary school. i cant speak for all students, but because i went to a catholic school, in 2nd calss i recieved my first holy communion and in 6th i took part in my confirmation. these are both catholic traditions which all catholic students take part in. when we leave primary school we go to "secondry school" which is the school, we the irish students are currently in.
we go to this school for 5 to 6 years depending on wether we choose to take part in transition year or not. there are two major states exams that take place during secondry school. they take place in 3rd year and 6th year. the one in 3rd year is called the "junior cert" this exam is to basically prepare us for the exam in sixth year which is known as the "leaving cert".  there are alot of debates on the junior cert as some people think it is a waste of time but others think it prepares us. the leaving cert is the final exam we take and detremines if or what college we will attend. there  is a certain system of marking these exams. although in the junior cert we are marked with As Bs or Cs etc. in the leaving cert we are marked with points. there are 6 subjects in the leaving cert and the highest amount of points we can get is 600. these points are detirmind by how well we do but, ( this is the confusing bit eeeeeeeek) sometimes if a student struggles with a subject they can do the subject in "ordinary level" while the rest will stay in "higher level" . however just because someone is in ordinary level does not make them supid. for exaple. in maths, the ordinary level exam will not be easier then the higher lever one, they are both just very different papers. all of this basically means that in ordinary leverl and A is the equivalent of  C  in higher level. thus, you will not be able to get the same amount of points in ordianry level then you will in higher level. ( if that is confusing im so sorry......but trust me its just as confusing in real life also)
the of course there is college. im hoping to study law at trinity and the points for that are 520......oh dear!!!

blogger out xx