Leaving Certificate Japanese

Leah - Ordinary Level

Ah yes. The sweet thoughts of my final exam. Actually, no. The Japanese Exam itself was not sweet, in my opinion. However, the thought of it finally being my last and final Leaving Cert exam was sweet like honey. I was very unlucky in the fact that I would have not one, but two exams on the 19th but I chose to grin and bear it.It was an extremely long day today for me which seemed to also be running out of time - especially when it came to my Japanese exam. I know for a fact that if I had chose to take the Higher Level Paper, I would be kicking myself in the shins right now. So I am glad I dropped down only a few weeks ago.The Japanese Paper consisted of a lot of Katakana, which was to be expected. The first two comprehensions weren't too difficult, I didn't think. Most of the answers you could almost guess. The Grammar section on Question 2 was also somewhat easy and the culture question was the usual level of ease.When it came to the remainder of the paper however, I was challenged. I gave the third Comprehension my best shot but I could not answer the last parts without putting Hiragana where Katakana was supposed to be - or vice versa.By the time it came to the Aural Exam, we had reached the home stretch. This part of the exam was easy, but I was tapping my foot, begging for it to be over. When it hit 5, I ran out the door fairly promptly. I was free!All in all, the Leaving Certificate is a pain for 2 long years but when you're finished, it's almost as if it didn't happen. I hope everyone gets the results that they're hoping for and remember: if it's important to you, you'll find a way. These head-wrecking exams do not and will not define you. Everything seems impossible until it's done and until then, we may as well enjoy process as much as we can.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Religion

Leah - Higher Level

Hello hello, long time no see! I expect you're all feeling well and happy today because it is the final day of exams. I realise that the vast majority of you may have been finished for quite some time. For me on the other hand though, I had 9 days leading up to the final day. As the 19th got closer and closer, I could feel my skin crawl. I was itching to be finished with the aul' before it even started.Anyway, so I woke up this morning with just under 2 hours sleep under my belt and I could tell that today was going to be both the best day of my life and worst. Note: this may or may not be a bit of an exaggeration. Anyhow, when I got to my exam centre, I could feel all of my nerves in the pit of my stomach, lying in there like a pile of rocks. When I finally opened the Religion Paper, however, I felt a bit of relief.The paper itself was tough - I'm not going to lie. I mean, the way I look at Religion as a subject is that the questions are always disguised as fact-based questions but all they are truly looking for is for you to praise some higher being. That's just my opinion though, I could be wrong. I'm not an examiner, after all.For me, the questions were a bit confusing so I started on what I thought I knew best - Unit Three. I did Section I: The Irish Experience as my elective and that question was fairly handy. I then moved onto Unit Two and that one was somewhat more difficult. I got through it though and finished Unit One by the skin of my teeth. I really was blessed, in that sense.I remember when it came to my Religion Mock Exam and I was so tight on time but I felt really comfortable time-wise this time around. I'm just praying I got at least a C2 now. I did a good project though so that will help. It's all in God's hands now though.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Applied Mathematics

Asha - Higher Level

Finally done! Today was the last now I can proceed to hibernate for a while.I have to say, after all the hype it was an extremely nice paper. I did questions 1-5 and 10. The part A of qt 1 was either deceptively easy or just easy and B was not much worse. Considering the advice not to do qt 1 first I thought it was fine so I did. As for two I will admit to having been thrown off a little by part B but you couldn't have asked for a nicer 10. Both A and B were reasonably handy.I didn't think there was anything spectacular about the other questions. If you knew your stuff but I guess all we can do now is wait! I'll see you all on the other side in August!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Polish

Joanna - Higher Level

Polish was making me nervous. It's one thing being fluent when chatting with friends, its another writing essays and stuff. I practiced essays with a friend until late last night and then again this morning, so going into the exam I felt ready but a bit drained.The topic for the comprehension was a surprise - fanaticism, all about extreme states and opinions, but not about terrorists and ISIS as you'd imagine, it was more an analysis of the psychology of satanist teens wrecking graveyards and football fans getting into fights after matches, ready to die for their team. Not really a topic I'm comfortable in English, but thankfully the questions were easy enough and most answers came straight from the text.Then the 100 word opinion piece, that was okay. I partially agreed with the quote that was given so I had a lot to say about it, being careful not to directly translate from English but to formulate grammatically correct Polish sentences. Then the 300 word essay was next.The topic that I did was a quote from "Socrates" about the richest person being the one who has the least. It wasn't too bad, just chatting about living in a materialistic world and how we need to appreciate things that we take for granted, like family and friends.Overall, I took my time and wrote enough to feel happy handing it in. My written Polish isn't the best, but I think the exam went well. Walking out of it felt surreal.It's all finally over! Woo!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Junior Certificate Music

Jane - Higher Level

After being delighted with my music practical I had looked at my whole music situation fondly, that was, until I walked out of science on Thursday and didn't open a music book until last night. I think everyone else being on their holidays had definitely made me feel less stressed about music.After a big study session I went to bed last night very worried. I didn't want to let my teacher down who I get on very well with. It wasn't that bad, I have to say. Set songs were fab, the William tell overture came up, which I kind of rambled with when talking about what made the music sound like rain drops and wind. (Study the hell out of set works second years!!)Irish music was okay too, although again I kind of stretched it when talking about The Corrs, because I literally don't know anything about them. Dictation was well, dictation. It's never been my favourite question and I bet I did horribly in it but anyways. I haven't looked at a book for choice works or songs since about may I'd say but I actually got it right (miracle) the listening part of 5 was pretty hard too. The rest was a breeze, I was happy with all the melody writing etc.If I could do it again I definitely would not have left it until the night before, I hope my procrastination doesn't drag my grade down on my practical.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Design & Communications Graphic

Rob - Higher Level

And so my final exam came. I've always liked DCG but skewed lines and dihedral angles can give me trouble sometimes, and these were all over the paper today! I only managed to get three of the short questions done and I know I didn't do one fully correct, so I'm a little worried I may have lost a grade there.The roads question was straight forward enough, however I found the part saying two lines were level confusing. We're they just level individually or both at the same level? I chose what was easier to draw so hopefully this will pay off.I found some of the final parts in the other questions challenging. I managed to do 5 long questions altogether which I'm quite happy with.After an absolutely diabolical chemistry exam, I'm glad I finished my leaving cert on a more positive, reassuring note. Overall I'm a little disappointed, I feel I was really burned out this week in particular. If ever there is proof that our current system needs changing, it's after seeing the amount of stress the current leaving cert causes. If continuous assessment was more widely used, I know I would have gotten better grades and more points.Let's hope we're all happy in August!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.