Junior Certificate Technical Graphics

Luke - Higher Level 

I have been studying for Technical Graphics all year long, doing a little bit here and there. I used to be quite slow at doing the actual drawing (I'm a perfectionist) so I have had to speed up. I have a drawing board in my room so I have been able to practice. If you choose Tech Graph to take as an exam subject, you definitely need a good quality drawing board at home.The best thing you can do to study is complete practice exam questions. There are also videos on YouTube which explain some of the different construction techniques used. I would recommend these two methods to revise leading up to the exam.Yesterday I revised Solids and Contact, because I was pretty confident with everything else.I wasn't that nervous this morning because I knew I had everything covered. Being prepared is a good feeling, although I was still a little bit jittery just because I wanted to do well.After looking through the exam paper, I was relieved to find that it was no more difficult than any other year. Solids and Contact came up!There were 15 short questions, you had to answer 10, and 6 long questions, and answer 4. You literally only have time to answer this amount of questions, if you get time to answer more than that, you're not taking enough time!Overall it was fine, I reckon I got an A or B! 

Kate - Higher Level 

Tech graph is possibly my favourite subject so I had high hopes for this exam. I want into the exam well prepared and had enough materials for the whole exam centre. I started the exam and did the short questions first. These were great, I can confidently say I did well in these and scored a high mark. Next I moved on to the long questions. My tape did not work. My page would not stick to the desk. This was a disaster. I continued on, stressed but had to keep working or I would run out of time. I answered the orthographic question, the development question, the isometric scale question and the transformation geometry question.I felt like this exam was a lot easier than exams in previous years and I am optimistic about it! One more exam to go! 

Philip - Higher Level 

I'm going to start by saying this: I'm finally done, hell is over. I cannot wait until TY, its going to be great. Anyway, Technical Graphics. I started with the short questions. I didn't think these were too hard compared to other years and I'm pretty confident I got at least ten. Then I started the long questions. First I did question 1, when I first looked at this question I thought it looked pretty hard but as I did it I think it wasn't too hard and I think I got most of the marks. Then I moved onto question 2, the rotations. Usually I don't find these questions too hard but I thought this question was particularly difficult. Drawing out the plan went fine, it was the rotation part that was the problem. I did the left side of the gate easily enough, the side with the star. My problem was with the other side. Any time I tried to bring it over it went to the same place as the left gate.Anyway, before I had time to do anything else (I probably would have brought it up to the other side) the time for that question was over so I had to move on. I moved to question 3. I'm usually pretty good at these questions and I think I got most of the marks from it. I got this done in more or less the half hour. Finally I did question 4, solids in contact. I'm pretty sure this went well and I got it done with time to spare. After this I went back to question two but I didn't have time to do anything,really.So that was Technical Graphics, my last exam. good luck to everyone still doing exams!! 

Shane - Higher Level 

It actually pains me to write this (sob).So. I was dreading this exam. However, to my surprise, it went worse than I possibly thought it could of. I started out on a high note. The short questions were fantastic and I did 12 (I think it was 12, but I am not sure). Then I did Q1 on orthographic projections. This was a nice question and I flew through it, finishing just on time. However, things took a bad turn for question 2. I spent so much time trying to draw the pentagon, and when I did, I moved on to rotating it. This was a nightmare. I had never seen a question like this before and I  could not make it work. When I saw points going onto the wrong side of the gate, and starting the rotation after about 40 minutes, I jumped ship and said I would go back if I had time. Sadly, I didn’t.Moving straight to Q5, I had my hopes lifted when I saw that this question was one that I could manage just fine and surprisingly finish on time (I always go over time on this). Then I got to the ellipse. I had thought Q2 was bad for me. If that was bad, this was apocalyptic. Sadly for me, we had not done the method to finding the major axis when given the minor auxiliary circle (we did do how to find the minor when given the major auxiliary circle and a point) so I was scratching my head in dismay. Then I just gave up hope and guessed my way through it in the hope of getting random marks.Honestly, I could be overreacting but I think this could have gone A LOT better. I am hoping for a B, like what I got in the mocks but I can’t tell if that is feasible. Anywho, I am delighted to be finished the exam and subject I personally found was created by Satan himself to make people (by people I mean me) cry. I have one exam left and I wish anyone and everyone the best tomorrow in Spanish and Metalwork! 

Joe - Higher Level  

I knew timing would be my biggest opponent for the exam as in the mocks I had struggled with the time restrictions. Despite this, I enjoy the subject and have a fairly good knowledge of it.I started on question six aka the pig, it was an interesting question on circles, parabolas and ellipses. I was pleased with how it turned out.  I then moved onto question five, it was a transformation question. I had scored well on similar questions in the past and thought I did well.Then I did question four, where you had to draw the plan and elevation of a strimmer guard then draw two surface developments. I was unsure how well I answered it.Then I moved onto question three on axonometric projection. I used the axonometric scale method and it was going well until I noticed I was running out of time and still had the shirt questions left. I got most the question done and then had to move on.I rushed through the short question and got 10 done just before the exam finished!

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