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.
Junior Certificate Religion
Gearóid - Higher Level
I came into the exam after a long science and a two and a half hour lunch, I wandered into the religion exam hoping for the best. I started with the short questions which I found quite simple. The picture question was the same as usual, and the document was somewhat easier than earlier years.In the long questions, I did the Communities of Faith, Question of Faith, Celebration of Faith, and The Moral Challenge questions. I found I had the ability to complete these. Sadly I didn't realise the time passing and I had spent one hour at these.As the long question worth seventy marks, I had only left fifteen minutes to complete this. I wrote slightly over one page on question one on Northern Ireland which incorporated the two Christian denominations of Catholicism and Protestantism.Overall, I enjoyed this paper, not too different to the past papers, I hope it shows in September.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Certificate Science
Gearóid - Higher Level
I walked into the science prepared however I was feeling a little nervous. I started with the biology section. I thought the biology section was like the exam papers I suppose, however I felt question three on the bees and the apple tree was somewhat different but manageable.I went onto chemistry then. The short questions were again not too hard. It seemed that the SEC are trying to be up to date and put a question about water and water treatment on the paper.The physics section went worse than usual. Question 8 on the refraction of light was not easy but I think I got through it. The short questions were good, one or two tripped me up.Overall I did not think the paper was too hard and I hope the marking goes my way.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Certificate French
Jane - Higher Level
I was 4 and half hours into my history cram session this morning when I looked up at my exam timetable and realized, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, that it was French in the morning and history in the evening.I really did my best to look over my letter vocab as efficiently as I could, and because I thought I had two hours of a break before hand, I didn't get a chance to look at any other vocab. I went into the exam pretty stressed because of all this. While I have no great love for the language, I do have a great love of my French teacher, she's such a fab woman and I really really didn't want to let her down. The only reason I do well in French is because I want to get good grades and I confess, part of that is so she'll be happy with me.So anyway, I sit right next to the tape in my exam centre and the 2015 JC French listening comprehension comes on. It's not so bad. I understood the majority of the French, and think I got most answers right, save for maybe one or two. Next was the reading. Again, I liked it, it was easy enough, although I did have the heartbreaking feeling of; I should know this. Then the French note came up. Ugh. I would have preferred a postcard because my note dragged me down a bit in my pre. I thought the letter was grand. I could apply the paragraphs I'd learnt to it. Though the question part where they asked "ask her if she will work for the summer" was hard, I just kind of winged it. Most of the French candidates had left the building by the time it was 12 o'clock, but I never leave early, it's just against my beliefs! I think if you get 2 and a half hours for an exam, you should use them and so I did, and had to ask for extra paper to finish my letter.I'm pretty disappointed coming out of JC French. I feel the work I had done in the past three years, the hundreds of words I had learnt off as vocab, the studying for my letters, hadn't been shown. At the end of the exam, I sat there thinking how much I would have loved to have done continuous assessment for my Junior Cert French. Quel Dommage!
Art - Higher Level
Beginning with the aural, I was surprised how long it took, in comparison to Irish. Forty minutes! Anyway, I thought part A, B and C of this were pretty manageable if I remember correctly, with the exception here and there. Part D was pretty tough I thought. Part E was alright again. Unbelievably, we were informed of the mistake at the end! Overall, I thought the listening was a bit harder than I expected and might have brought my overall grade a bit down.I then did the writing questions to regain a bit of self esteem. I found the letter to be very good and was delighted the holiday in the summer appeared. I used as many useful phrases as possible. The note was manageable too if my memory serves me right. I thought these questions went well.The reading comprehensions were a bit of a mixed bag. Mostly, I thought they were good but I have to say I dropped a few marks here and there. I was a bit surprised I could understand the later ones as well as I did, because I'm usually poor there. Though I can't really be certain how well I did. Overall I was happy with how French went, and I just want to leave it at the back of my mind for the summer.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Certificate History
Jane - Higher Level
This was the exam that I had procrastinated until 24 hours before hand, where I decided to seriously knuckle down and you couldn't tear me away from my history book! I started with questions 4, 5 and 6. If I could ever give someone golden advice, it would be to do this in your JC History exam! People in history though, how weird. Can someone tell me why they couldn't have used a manor rather than a castle? I winged it big time. George Washington I was pretty okay with, I'd revised this one. I was disappointed D Day or Cold war didn't come up though!I could almost feel everyone freaking out around me for Part C of Q5. I did too at the start. How dare they use explorations! Once I got in to it it was grand. I just did P)B and used my own general knowledge about the British Empire. Hopefully my examiner will be impressed that I knew so much about the British economy haha. On to Question 6. well Part a was grand, kind of winged the accounts but they were okay. Very surprised with P6. They didn't us the option of the blockade! If I hadn't studied the entire cold war the night before I would have been snookered!The rest of the paper after this was pretty easy,as it always is.I regret leaving my study so late and hope this does not affect my grade! Certainty it has taken an effect on my mental health and sleep patterns though and I deeply regret that I let that happen.
Art - Higher Level
For some reason or another, maybe because it gives me a bit of confidence, I like to start with the short questions in history. To be safe, I answered around 14 to assure full marks. Then onto the pictures question. I wasn't very confident on what Picture A was, but I wrote something down. The black death and Mary Robinson were both pretty easy then, I thought. The Documents questions didn't seem to be too challenging. It's really just a matter of getting the answer from the source for the most part. I found it interesting however. If I'm honest, I think I spent a bit too long on the beginning of the paper. For any 2nd years reading, don't spend much over a half an hour and all of these.Then onto the more important ones. I decided to begin with the Long Questions on Q6 because I was most confident here. I did international developments in the 20th century and the Irish history one. Overall, I was pretty happy with both. I'm worried I wrote a bit too much in places though. One or two of the small questions on Ireland were a bit harden than usual. I then did Q5, the source questions on the age of exploration. For the most part, I was pretty happy with all of these. Finally, I left little time for Q4. I wrote up a good answer on George Washington I thought but Michelangelo was a little bare as the clock beat me.Overall, I thought it was a bit trickier than most years. I think I may have gotten a high B, but I doubt I got the A, which I'm sickened over as I love history!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Certificate Business
Art - Higher Level
Business Paper One: Beginning with the short questions; overall they didn't seem to be too challenging. Common sense and a hint of good memory would get you through I thought. For those trying to avoid accounting, there was no chance in section one! A nice bit of explaining was needed too but honestly they were pretty nice to us.On to section two (long questions). I gave myself two hours to do these and lads, believe me I needed it. I began with the household budget (Q1) which seemed a bit shorter and easier than usual. More of your own calculations were needed however than reading straight from the paper. This was followed up with some general questions on budgeting. Not too bad I thought. Then I moved onto Q3, all about the national budget and expenditure. This was very doable I thought. A simple T shaped account, a bar chart and a few explanations were needed for the 40 marks. On to the consumer question. This required a firm knowledge on insurance which fortunately I was ok with having studied it the previous night. Consumer rights seeped in there too if I'm not mistaken. Finally, I went on and did question 6 on People at Work. This was all about explaining terms, the content of CV's and trade unions. A fairly handy question.Overall I was really happy with paper one, though I may have lost a few easy marks here and there. A fair paper nonetheless.Business Paper Two: For some reason or another, maybe all this warm weather I went into paper two feeling like I was fit to sleep for a week. However, I pulled myself together and at two o'clock went straight down to business (pardon the pun). I was most confident with the final accounts question and immediately submerged myself into the figures and thank God had a balancing balance sheet within a half an hour. Then we had to explain carriage inwards, which seemed pretty easy. I then went at the report writing/business insurance question which seemed to be a bit too similar to another long question on paper one. Anyway, three quarters of the marks for that were writing up a report on suggested insurance which wasn't overly challenging. Though I went slightly blank when it came to explaining one or two of the five principles. The final ten marks were for explaining adequate insurance and a simple calculation of compensation.I then tackled the chains of production question. I thought this was tricky in parts as I hadn't covered it in a while. This was my poorest question overall. However I persevered and jotted down as much as I could. Hopefully I'll pick up a good few of the marks. Maybe it was my choice of questions or the relaxed attitude of males but at half three when I was going onto my final question I found many of my classmates were wrapping up entirely. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign! Anyway, I concluded with the cash flow forecast which I was so relieved worked out perfectly, as one figure throws everything out and you're often left painting the page in tippex. A couple of unusual questions followed this up and I'm not certain if I explained them correctly as we were only given one line to. I'll try not to overthink it.Overall, paper two seemed pretty good. A bit harder than paper one. Hopefully between the two I can pull in an A or high B, with the help of God!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.