Irish Paper 1

Tammy

Higher Level

St. Augustine’s College

I have to say I’m pretty happy with Irish P1! I had an awful morning with maths p2, and so a lot of time I had between the exams was spent worrying about maths instead of fine tuning my Irish, which I was worried would affect me, thankfully all went well!

The listening comprehension, worth 60 marks, is always the section I do worst, but I really think that this one went very well. The speakers seemed very clear and I managed to understand a good bit of what they were actually saying!

Finally I got onto the written section, the dreaded aistes! In the middle of my maths worries, I had a good look over the díospoireacht layout, and I was so thankful to see a díospoireacht pop up that I enjoyed : Tá rialtas éifeachtach againn sa tír seo faoi láthair.

I felt very relaxed through writing my debate, I had plenty of time to really think about what my next words were going to be, and made sure to use plenty of nathannas! Overall I found it a very fair paper, and I hope that paper 2 is equally as fair!

Jane

Higher Level

St. Mary’s Secondary School, Wexford

If there was ever a paper that struck fear into the hearts of Irish teenagers, it’s unquestionably Irish Paper 1. Admittedly only two hours and twenty minutes, in that time you’re expected to comprehend the intricacies of the various dialects in the Cluastuiscint, before tackling the terror-inducing Ceapadóireacht.

That’s why I’m absolutely delighted to have made it through today safely! I think I did even better in the Cluastuiscint than normal, an inexplicable feat which can only be explained by saying that the recordings are luck of the draw, year-by-year. 

Moving onto the Ceapadóireacht, I was incredibly nervous before reading the titles. I knew I’d be doing either the Aiste or the Dióspóireacht/Óráid, so ideally I could have had the choice of 7 topics to work with. I was over the moon, then, when I saw the fantastic options available to me.The ever-popular “Saol an Duine Óig” made an appearance, as did the expected one on “Gaeilge agus cultúr Gaelach”. 

I chose the debate on the efficiency of the Irish government, and I’m really happy with how it went. There was definitely an option for everybody on that paper - I didn’t see a single unhappy face post-exam. 

I’m delighted to have got that day over with, as sitting exams in both Maths & Irish isn’t many’s idea of a good time. I just hope Paper 2 goes as well tomorrow morning!