CSPE - #JC2017 - Luke Casserly
Luke Casserly - St. Mel's CollegeSo CSPE was nice and handy like I expected! The short questions were very simple. The first buildings question was linked with the pillars of CSPE which I think threw a few people off. The rest were grand, except for a fill in the blank question asking for the second name of the new UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, I was happy to get it after seeing him on the news a few days ago, but Ban Ki-Moon lovers were heartbroken.The next section involved answering questions on various documents, which again were handy.For my long question, I chose question one which was based around Age Action Ireland. I felt this was the easiest one to choose and worked out really well because it was very like ones we practiced in class.Overall I'm really happy with CSPE and hoping for the A!
CSPE - #JC2017 - Kurt Scott
Kurt Scott - Ratoath CollegeI think we were all thinking the same thing when we left our CSPE exam today, "Who the hell is the UN General Secretariat?"In all seriousness, the CSPE exam was pretty much exactly how I had expected it would be. Anyone who has practiced using the Junior Cert papers from the previous years should not have been majorly surprised with this exam.A bit of State, Explain, Example, and this exam should have been a good shot at an "A" for most of the students taking it.
Junior Certificate Civic, Social & Political Education (CSPE)
Kate - Common Level 
CSPE is such a great exam. I love CSPE as you can actually show up to the exam with an honour grade (due to the action project). I answered every question on the exam for section one and two and did the question on voting for section three. The picture questions were quite unusual and I only recognised the Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan but I guessed the rest (quite successfully I would hope). I continued the rest of the exam and answered everything. I chose the question on voting as it had a poster and I am quite passionate on the issue of voting so this question suited me perfectly. This exam was a lovely end to my first 8 exams and I have a day and a half off to recover!
Philip - Common Level 
The picture questions came with their usual clues. The girl from the Garda was in uniform, the person from Northern Ireland had a crown pin and the youngest paddies day parade leader was the only young person in the four pictures, which left one left making it obvious enough (God after describing it like that I hope I'm not wrong!). The questions with the missing words seemed perfect for me, with the only ones that weren't common sense being the ones I'd glanced at before the exam. Finally the last question on the second page was matching letters to the type of right type of energy (you know, you should probably just take the last brackets for the whole exam).So then I did the comprehension questions, doing every one instead of three and answering in full sentences to not leave myself open to being docked any marks. This was all the usual stuff, the only surprising thing was not finding a question that you could answer with "poster campaign" until the last comprehension!In the long question I did the third one, on visiting the council offices and the youth café, unlike most of the people in my school who saw the word "poster" and jumped at question four before reading the rest. I did a page on each of them and ended up asking for extra paper to do part C.So that was my CSPE exam. Now that its over lets get down to business (that is hilarious and no one can tell me otherwise).
Shane - Common Level 
“I studied really hard for CSPE yesterday” - said nobody ever. I don’t know what there is to say about it. CSPE was a nice exam and it went amazing. There is something very reassuring about walking into an exam knowing you have around 60% already in the bag. I was not worried for this exam in the slightest, I got 99% in mocks and put a lot of work into writing up Darkness Into Light as my Action Project. I sat down and did the first section (which was much easier than some years). Then I moved on and did Section 2 questions 1,2, and 3. That was grand. Then I had to choose a long question. I did Question 1 on the 1916 Rising Commemorative Event because I love history and I’ve been to several 1916 events. I actually had to ask for more paper for this section which I thought was weird. Anyway I hope it went as well for all of you as it did for me and to everyone else doing business tomorrow, good luck!
Chloe - Common Level 
Well after that horrific maths encounter I was glad that CSPE was next in line! It was good, I guess, to see very different faces on the first page that we wouldn’t have come across before, they were easy enough to make a stab at even I you weren’t 100% sure with one or two.The advertisements were a breeze as usual although I must admit some of the questions on raising awareness for different topics were slightly trickier than usual, maybe that’s just me though! I did questions 1, 2 and 4, skipping the refugee crisis one.Next was the long question, I was glad to see a 1916 question up and I tackled that one without a doubt. I did read through the others but they didn’t appeal that much to me. For this I basically regurgitated what my school did for the rising.So that was CSPE, way harder than maths paper 2 (joke). On to business tomorrow whoo!
Joe - Common Level 
This exam was one of least concern I had done well in the mocks and was confident. The short question went well and I did question 4 in the long questions on the voting awareness event. It was an interesting question and I enjoyed drawing and designing the invite! 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
Junior Certificate CSPE - Civic, Social & Political Education
Art - Common Level
The relaxed attitudes of students across the school, coming up from a lunch time game of football spoke wonders in itself. ''Oh sure it's only CSPE...''. The exam paper itself reflected this I believe. Four pictures of buildings; Áras an Úachtairáin, The Four Courts, The Central Bank and Leinster house appeared and students were to match them to the provided images. Very handy I thought. The short questions were also a bit too manageable. The Document Questions included a piece on recycling and the water charges which was naturally was a bit of fun to argue out on the page. UN Peacekeeping, The Nobel Peace Prize and European Elections also came up. For my long question I decided to write about the Ombudsman for Children. Two pages in I had just finished the six mark letter question. With time to burn I managed another two pages on the extra sheet provided.The second part was on reasons why it is important for children to take part in appointing the ombudsman. Finally, you had to give 3 ideas on promoting Children's Rights. Easy! Was very happy with it I must say. Though I am a little concerned about the reputation of the subject and lack of challenge behind it for the most part!
Helen - Common Level
I like it when you can walk into an exam and know that you have 60 per cent of it completed already. The short questions were a mix between organisations and your European studies along with a few others. I did questions 1,2 and 3 which were about Malala, Aid etc. For the long questions, I choose to go with Question 1, which was centered around the Special Olympics. I felt happy with how this paper went.
Jane - Common Level
Ahhhh, CSPE. After getting full marks in my pre I wasn't too stressed about my junior cert, and we already had 60% of the exam done so I was pretty happy going in. I love CSPE, due to my involvement with student politics and Comhairle na nÓg, so when most other people had left the exam centre an hour in, I was on my sixth A4 page of my long question! (Yes I wrote eight A4 pages on the ombudsman for children).It might sound totally ridiculous, but I am really passionate about children's rights and really value the presence of the ombudsman, so I enjoyed talking about my feelings towards the role. I'm very happy with how the exam went, and looking forward to receiving my result in September. All I'm hoping is that my examiner is equally passionate about the ombudsman, and doesn't mind reading eight pages of my scrawled handwriting on a hot summers day!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
CSPE Action Project Initiative : Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland
IHRC invites CSPE students to submit human rights and equality images for national exhibition
Ensuring that everyone can live "equal in dignity and rights" is at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Young people can play an active role in making this principle a reality and in doing so help build a culture of respect for human rights and equality in Irish society. The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is inviting CSPE students to promote human rights and equality in Ireland through images, words and action. We are asking you to use your CSPE Action Project to demonstrate what human rights and equality mean to you and to display your work in your school or community for others to see, and at Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights and Equality in Ireland, a national exhibition organised by the IHRC at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield Dublin 7 from 25 March to 4 April 2014. The Express Yourself! initiative is being organised by the IHRC in collaboration with the Association of CSPE Teachers (ACT); Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU); the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST); and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). See last year’s exhibition and find out more about human rights and equality in Ireland at www.ihrc.ie/cspe. Closing date for entries is 29 January 2014. For further information please contact Fidelma Joyce at the IHRC. Tel: 01 8589601 or email: expressyourself@ihrc.ie 
Junior Cert CSPE
Katelyn
Well, as expected, C.S.P.E. was a breeze. The very first question in Section 1 was shockingly easy as it was only matching names to faces. It was plain sailing right through to the end of Section 1 after that. Common knowledge would have got you by on them.
Section 2 again was effortless. I did question 1,2 and 4. Taking the information from the leaflet was very obvious and the questions about our own opinions were manageable enough.
For the final section, Section 3, I did question 1 which involved an invitation. The invitation was a piece of cake and I added a lot of colour to ensure I got my 6 marks. The final 2 questions were very straightforward. Overall, it was a very exam that wasn't stressed over and I am proud to say I stayed for the whole allocated time. Time Well Spent!
Mark
Well there's not a huge amount to say about CSPE, it was short and sweet. Selecting the names of Michael D. Higgins, Barack Obama, José Manuel Barroso and Ban Ki Moon and putting them with their faces was easy. No bother with filling in the blanks full marks their too. The reading comprehensions were very simple although I think some questions weren't exactly about giving your opinion and more so giving an opinion that was deemed appropriate. CSPE as a whole isn't really about educating people in civics and stimulating debate. CSPE is just easy marks and there weren't any surprises, the exam isn't even vital as you get most of your marks for your action project report. At least maths paper 2 (and 1 for that matter) of project maths phase three were easy too. So far it's all going well, business studies tomorrow. 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.