Junior Certificate History
Shane - Higher Level 
Oh my God, I am still in shock at how amazing that History Paper was! As soon as I got the paper, I went straight to the "People in History" section. I cried some real tears of joy when I saw a medieval monk and Columbus. I had studied about 12 but was still so worried going into the exam that it wasn’t enough. So I speed wrote my two essays (a page and a half and two pages respectively) and answered all 20 short questions and when I looked at the clock, only 35 minutes had gone by! So I slowed down a little and answered the picture question and the documents question. These went as fine as picture and documents questions go, but some questions were a small bit trickier than previous years.As predicted by many students, the mixture of the Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution and the Famine (however minus the Famine this year) came up as the Question 5. This went very well but I was kicking myself that I didn’t know who John Kay was. For the account in that question, I wrote about three quarters of a page on farming in the agricultural revolution and was on my merry way to Q6. I studied Q6 C and Q6 D so I could focus on them in specific and not half study all the possibilities for Q6 A. I was quite pleased with 6 C and answered the accounts on the 1916 "Rising and Civil Rights in Northern Ireland". Then for Q6 D, I answered the accounts on the "Battle of Britain" and the "War in the Pacific". In the finish up, I could not literally be any happier with this paper and I am feeling so, so good about Science tomorrow! Good luck (again)!!!
Kate - Higher Level 
I've consistently done well in history, never producing anything lower than 95% in an exam so I was dreading history today. Our teacher lectured us about how people who do well in the mocks do worse because they get lazy so that was a positive note to enter the exam! I predicted that age of exploration, industrial revolution and reformation would come up. I was fearful about the possibility of revolutions appearing on the paper because I just skipped that whole section of the course.
I opened the exam and skipped everything, didn't even read anything from section 1-3. I started on question 4 and answered the question of medieval monk and Magellan (named explorer). I then moved onto question 5 and felt blessed by the SEC when I saw industrial revolution and reformation side by side. I had spent hours cramming the industrial revolution into my head and thankfully it appeared. I then moved onto question 5 and answered A - Reformation and D - International Relations. The final parts of those questions threw me. The question regarding the reformations impact on Ireland and Britain was not what I prepared for but I wrote about plantations and religious change in Britain. I wasn't too sure about how France was defeated but sure I waffled my way through it. Luftwaffe more like Luftwaffle am I right? I then returned and answered questions 1-3 without a problem.
All in all I believe that the exam went quite well for me and I'm optimistic about how I did.
Philip - Higher Level 
This paper really didn't suit me, if I'm going to be honest. I started with section 3, the short questions. These weren't particularly hard in my opinion and I'd say I got ten at least. Next I went back to section 1 where I struggled with the second question on part A but apart from that I think I managed to bluff my way through. Then I moved to section 2. This was the comprehension question and I think I did well enough in those questions. Next I did the people in history question. This was where I struggled. In part b I managed to do, I think, a good enough account of Christopher Columbus, though without dates. Then I went back to part A. I hadn't studied any of these. I tried at the renaissance painter outside of Italy question on Albert Durer but some of my points were confused with someone else so I'd say I lost a lot of marks here.In section 5 I didn't have much trouble with the comprehension based question in part A and B but part iii in each of those caught me and I didn't know what to put down. Part C was a total mess and half of what I said was made up, but fingers crossed. Finally I did section 6. I started with D as that's usually my best in section 6 and this year was no different. I was quiet confident with my long question answer (for the last time in the exam). Next I did A. I think I did fine in most of them but I struggled to find enough points to cover the effect of the reformation on Ireland and mainland Europe, though I say I picked up at least half the points, maybe more. Finally I had some time left (I thought the exam finished at 4:00 so I rushed and ended with a half hour to spare) so I spent that time doing part B in section 6, which was total waffle.Goof luck everyone in science and religion tomorrow!
Luke - Higher Level 
I was fairly nervous before entering this exam because I really like history, I think my teacher is good and I had done well in my pre so I had fairly high expectations.Before entering the classroom where the exams were being held, I read over Durer and a solider in the D-Day landings. I did questions 1, 2, and 3. And then 6, 4, 5. This was to make sure I got as much marks as I could manage in Q.6 because it accounts for 33% of the exam. I was pretty much under pressure for time from the word go.The short questions were very straightforward, although I avoided all questions on Irish history as I knew that I would be able to avoid those questions on the exam.The night before the exam I looked through studyclix and saw what topics they predicted would come up, and I was lucky as a Renaissance artist from outside of Italy and an explorer came up in question four! I was was happy with that.Question five was the industrial revolution. It was easy, even though I hadn't looked at it in awhile because I didn't think it would come up.Question six. Before the exam I had intended to do part B, Social Change and part A which is usually a topic from the second year course but when I looked at the social change question and compared it to the world war question I decided that the world war question was the better option. I had done a fair amount of study on the reformation which turned out to be part A. of question six so I got a nice bit down for that. Then for D. World War I, I didn't think I had a lot of knowledge on it when I began but as I wrote I remembered bits and pieces of it and when I was finished I was even happier with it than the reformation question. I'm looking forward to seeing the results in September and seeing how it all worked out!Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie