Leaving Cert English Paper One

Shahed - Higher Level

The past two years have been building up to this moment and now here it was: the first day of the Leaving Cert! The first exam was English Paper 1. I wasn't nervous beforehand, as it's a nice paper to start off with (usually!) I took some time to read through the paper then dived into the questions. The texts were, for the most part, straightforward, though people were thrown when they saw Seamus Heaney in Text 3! I answered Question A on his essay, which was about the importance of objects from the past. For Question B, I wrote a talk on negative and positive influences, which was without a doubt the best question of all three, in my opinion. Next came the composing section. Luckily for me, there were two short story questions, so I was spoiled for choice. The first was about a ghostly presence that plays a significant role and the other was to be based on "...a new beast, slouching towards us... The beautiful mutant," which was taken from the second text. I chose the short story about the ghost. Over all, I think it was a good paper and am happy with how it went. Here's hoping Paper 2 is just as good!

---

Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Cert English Paper 1

Dylan - Higher Level

 Wow what a day it has been. I woke up greeted by bundle of nerves and a knotted stomach. Today was the day. It was English Paper One!! As I sat down in the exam hall and received my answer book, I started filling everything in and had the page folded open and ready to start. I always jump to Section II first and start with the essay as I find it is the longest and it generally decides your overall grade in English. It has for me over the past six years! I looked at the titles once I received the paper and started to die inside. There's always that sense of failure once you scan through the paper because the questions aren't exactly as you prepared. Having calmed down I realised that the first option which was a speech titled ''We live in an un-heroic age'' was an essay I could write on using the essay I wrote on in the mocks on celebrity culture. I pretty much made it fit anyways talking about how celebrities are considered heroes when they really aren't etc. After finishing my four pages in a record breaking 50 minutes, I no longer felt pressured and started reading the three texts. The first one was horrible, the second one was ok and the third one wasn't great either. Having picked text two I started to write to realise it was a handy comprehension. It was an interview with short story writer William Trevor and his approach to writing etc. I finished all questions after one hour which was a bit too long but I was still on track. I looked at Question B then to find that the best one was on Text 2 but No! Dylan answered on Question A making it not possible to answer the Question B on Text 2. As I started complaining to myself I notice how the other two Question B's were dreadful. An introduction for a book and a recommendation of a place in Ireland for tourists to visit. Neither appealed to me so I sat there for about ten minutes complaining how unfair it was. Time was sliding by and I still hadn't started my Question B. 20 minutes remained on the clock and I did an eenie meainie on the two Question B's. I was left with the recommendation and chose Thomond Park. As I started spluttering out all types of cheesy and cringey lines about Thomond Park and how it was a place where magic happened(Yes, I made it out to be like Disneyland). I really do turn into such a creep when I am writing, effects of the Leaving Cert violating my brain and almost leaving me mentally unstable. As I came to page two of throwing cringey sentences down on the paper, the test had finished and the fun part had come. Oh boy did I like sealing the exam with the sticky bit and treasury tag. That is how exciting my life has been the past month. Can't wait for English II tomorrow. If Plath, Mahon or Bishop don't appear on the paper then I mightn't be mentally available to blog tomorrow evening. If there isn't a blog post then you'll understand I hope! Until tomorrow!!!! 

Jessica - Higher Level

 As I flicked through the pink pages on English paper one I was delighted! None of the questions that I feared appeared but nothing I was rooting for did either! Where was the usual diary entry from question B?? I was quite shocked at the question A's, they were a lot easier than any of the ones I looked through in panic yesterday evening! The theme of the page was 'story-telling' - a very nice one in my opinion! Text 1 of the comprehension was an edited text based on an article 'Tune in Next Week - The Curious Staying Power of the Cliff-hanger' on my first glance at the title and images I thought it was about death I was awful confused upon reading it to find out it was actually about the cliff-hanger endings in tv programmes! This text was my chosen question B - unfortunately the question B's were not good ones at all. The question was to write the text of a talk you would deliver in which you consider the role of tv and radio in the lives on young people today. It was terrible but I'm not sure rambling on about the development of technology was what they were looking for, I'm quite disappointed to say the least. Text two was an interview with Irish writer, William Trevor, on The Art of Fiction, conducted for the Paris Review by Mira Stout. During the exam I only glanced over this one as I wasn't overly keen on either question A or B and I'm not a fan of interviews! I was delighted with text 3. It was the edited text of an article from the Irish Times by Belinda McKeon ''New York stories on a Perfect Platform' celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the opening of New Yorks Grand Central Station! It's was a really interesting article! This was my chosen question A, I feel it was definitely the easiest of the three. I was extremely happy with how it went, so much better than I expected! Although they weren't horrific, I feel the long compositions were extremely specific. There was a speech, two personal essays, a descriptive essay (never seen that before?!), a feature article and a short story. Usually I would opt for the article, I love writing them but I wasn't keen on it this year at all, it was to discuss the competing attractions of both urban and rural lifestyles, seeing as I've lived near the city for so long I don't think i could have made a good argument for the attraction of rural lifestyle at all! I chose question 7, the short story which was about a reunion. Have to say again I definitely felt it was easiest and after giving the exam a post mortem afterwards with my friends, it was the most popular choice! My essay was loosely based on the idea of the popular show Homeland but of course putting my own twist on it. It's such a relief to have the first exam over with and I'm glad it wasn't too horrific! 

Jenny - Higher Level

 As the examiner told us we could start, there was a rustle of paper as the pages were turned and the texts and composition titles were sought. We were like race horses out of their boxes, raring to go. I immediately looked at the titles and tried to settle down into the first exam which sat before me. I started with the Question A and chose text three as I preferred the Question B from the first text. I had been hoping a letter would come up but a talk on the importance of television and radio in young people's lives didn't seem too terrible. All in all the paper wasn't too bad which seemed to be the general consensus of my fellow students. The composition titles weren't too bad and were quite broad and there seemed to be something for everyone. With paper 1 it's hard to know how well you have done. I'm just grateful for the first test to be done and dusted so we can move on to paper 2 which should be interesting. I wonder if Plath will make an appearance this year... 

Nathan - Ordinary Level

 Paper 1 has to have been one of the best papers I've ever done. Obviously I was nervous walking in this morning first exam I didn't know what to expect but boy was I wrong for being nervous. When I opened the paper I had a quick look through it and read through the comprehensions and decided what Q-A and what Q-B I was going to do.  I soon realised that Micheal McIntyre's autobiography was the Q-3 this made my day as he is my favourite comedian and I have read his book 2-3 times so had a fairly good idea how to answer the questions.  The composition was even better. I'm usually fairly good at writing speeches so the Q-7 was the one for me. so far so good.  I'll blog again 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.

Leaving Cert Maths Paper 1

Sarah - Higher Level

After last years fiasco over the Paper 1, and with the roll-out of the project maths scheme, it is fair enough to assume that quite a few eyes were on the first paper of maths. However, this years paper didn't really throw anything too shocking our way, thankfully. Considering the amount of people who were horrified by the absence of Heaney and Plath in yesterday's English Paper 2, and the Geography paper which I heard threw a lot of people (I don't do Geography myself), it would have been a little too much, too soon for many students.So there I was. Five minutes to two, with my two calculators (I forgot my calculator the morning of Maths Paper 1 in Junior Cert- I was NOT going to get caught again) and about forty pens, I was ready to go. Despite the natural butterflies, most of which were quenched by copious amounts of Rescue Remedy, I was totally ready to go! I knew what questions I would do, namely 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 with 5 as back-up, and I was confident that I could answer them well!As I settled into the paper, my confidence flickered, but nothing too major! I kept my focus on the question I was doing without looking ahead, because I didn't want to get thrown by something unfamiliar. The first question was fine until (c)(ii), which I simply hadn't a clue of. It was only ten past two at that point, so after few attempts I moved on, with the intention of returning to complete it later on. The exact same thing happened in question 2: it took ten minutes to do the question down as far as part (c)(iii), at which point I was lost, so I moved on once again. Now, when the exact same thing happened in my third question, I got a biteen suspicious. So, on a whim, I decided to chance questions four and five (for the craic like)! Although our teacher covered Sequences and Series with us, I hadn't paid attention as I had no intentions of doing the question. I basically made up my own mathematical rules, but from my vague recollection of what we had done in class, I reckoned it'd “be grand”, which is my latest motto. Despite not having much success in any of my part c's, I did the paper, went back and worked on some questions and handed it up at half past four on the dot.Overall, I thought the paper was reasonably fair and well-rounded. Some questions required a couple of readings and a bit of thought, such as Q3(c)(ii) and but in short, this paper suited those who weren't doing Integration, as the (c) part was an unholy disaster of a question! I'm sure the marks will be rejigged for the “bell-curve” because as far as I know, no one could get it out! Here's hoping for a better paper next Monday, I'm optimistic that we'll get a nice paper to welcome in the new system (or at the very least it will be marked fairly). I'll be posting again on Monday about the much anticipated Paper 2, but until then, chill out! The first week is officially over, so reward yourself! :) x

 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.

Leaving Cert Home Economics

Claire

First day done and dusted and what a relief that is!After the success of English paper one I was (believe it or not) looking forward to home ec.  It's one of my favourite subjects and one I'd like to continue studying next year. I felt like I put a lot of work into it so I was ready to give it my best shot!The short questions were not as bad as expected, one or two caught me out alright but other than that I'm happy.  It's interesting to note however that the short questions were different to usual.  Not much came up about the macronutriets, nothing even about protein which was predicted! To be honest that's not usual at all.I am appalled at the compulsory part one they gave us. It was nothing at all like I have ever seen previously. The graph It was confusing and hard to make head or tails of. The questions following it were very vague and random! I didn't get an opportunity to show my knowledge of the nutrients which has always been the case and I must say I'm dissapointed.The other long questions again were not as predicted.  One or two parts of a question may have been expected but HACCP, sensory analysis, an appliance did not show up. Again I was disappointed!The questions I must say were very vague and it was hard to grasp what the examiner was looking for. You have tonnes to say and not an inkling of what they want!The elective I studied was number three.  The non conpulsary parts were expected and I knew those well so I was happy. The part one on the other hand was too vague. It's a huge topic in the course and the question simply did not specify what they wanted. It was very frustrating!!Overall I am disappointed with the home ec paper, I'm left wondering if a home ec teacher even set the paper?I gave it my best shot though and I'm glad it's over and I can move on through my list of exams!Roll on summer!

ISSU Commentary

Day one is always a tough day for students doing Home Economics and English as there's a lot of writing to be done - thankfully anyone who doesn't do Engineering will have the morning off tomorrow - a welcome chance to recover before English Paper 2!In both higher and ordinary papers, section A (short answer questions) was generally fair with one or two tricky questions, but pretty standard overall so hopefully this helped students settle into their stride for the remainder of the exam.In the Higher Level Paper, the compulsory question in section B was on food-based dietary guidelines.  Most of the questions relating to this really focused on students' ability to understand and use information put forward as against dictate paragraphs of learnt off facts which may have been difficult for students as it can be pretty tough to know how much to write to give a sufficient answer but hopefully everyone managed it to the best of their ability.  The rest of section B had a strong focus on food with a further 2 questions so anyone who had it studied well was well covered, and we were very enthused to see a topical question on the Rights of the Child in the Family ahead of the Children's Rights Referendum which we are anticipating!  The topical nature of the paper continued in section C where there was a question about unemployment for those who did the social studies option.In section B of the Ordinary Paper there were questions on recent nutritional surveys as well as carbohydrates, family law as well as the nutritional needs of adolescents - a gentle reminder to students to look after their nutritional needs during the exams perhaps?  Section C was in line with previous years and topical issues appeared again under various options - including social change and planning regulations.Hopefully everyone got on well and get a good rest in before their next exam.

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.

Junior Cert Students’ thoughts on the eve of the exams

Clara

So,it's the night before the first exam! English Paper 1 looms above the heads of us Junior Certificate students to be tackled at 9:30 in the morning.EEEK! I wish everyone the best of luck to begin with.I'm feeling a little nervous this afternoon because English is one of my favourite subjects and it's one I really want an A in-97% in the mock is hard to live up to.Hopefully the topics I'm looking for in my studied poetry (adresses an issue)/fiction(setting,setting,setting!) come up.I plan on spending my evening cramming a little for geography on Friday and watching lots and lots of television to calm myself down (counts as revision for media studies if I watch lots of adverts,right?).  An early night shall be had by me.Praying that the weather stays like this for the next few weeks-I really don't fancy sitting exams in the blazing heat we had yesterday, particularly because my exams are being held in a kitchen of all places....Wish me luck anyway! I shall be speaking to you soon-blogging about the Irish exam on Thursday.

Lorraine

Hi guys!I'm Lorraine and I'm doing my Junior Cert tomorrow! :OI have to admit, I'm a tiny bit nervous. Ive been sent 2 cards with Good luck on them and a Facebook mail and lots of status updates on Facebook but it doesn't stop me still being terrified, but the cards have motivated me!Something that hasn't motivated me? All the people from my year writing on there Facebook's about how they cant be bothered studying and there more concerned about the finale of Desperate Housewives tonight! That definitely puts me off studying because if they aren't bothered why should I be? When I'm like that I look at all the Good luck cards and think about how well the rest of my family done in there Junior Certs and I'm back on track!Tomorrow, I have English paper 1 and 2. I'm doing honours! English is one of the exams I most want to do well in, for the simple reason that I want to be an English Secondary School teacher and it wont look too great on my CV that I failed it in the Junior Cert! I've always done well in English, in the mocks I got the highest result in my class so imagine if I failed it? :OI have to admit, I started studying at the start of third year because I really want to do well in the exams. It might have cost me some friends because I'm such a ''nerd'' but hopefully it will have gained me some great grades!! I probably should be studying more now but I look at weekend's as my day's off but that has slowly turned into any day off being my day off!I'm off to study now! I think this is being published after the exams and if so I hope you all get the results your hoping for! Good luck! :)

Jack

So. Junior Cert, 2012. Three years' worth of hard work boiling down to one week (for me, at least!) worth of exams - day to day, back to back. Let's do this!I've been studying quite hard for the past few weeks. I began studying in September - and I am glad of that. Murphy's/Sod's Law came through, and I've become really tired and lazy in the past two or three days, just before the exams. I'm finding it hard to study in the final few days. Of course that would happen...In terms of subjects, I am most nervous about French and Irish. I am really anxious about them. I feel quite okay with the rest of the subjects. I feel quite under prepared for Irish (mainly, the poetry and letter) and French (pretty much all aspects of the subject!). My standard of French is extremely poor. But, with work (lots of it....) I might be able to nab a B. I got a C at the Mocks, so here's hoping.Surprisingly, I feel quite calm and collected right now. I pretty much guarantee that to change when I walk in to my school and I see all the official-ness of the whole exam process. The fact that I begin my first State exams tomorrow hasn't really set in. Until tomorrow morning. Oh dear... That's something the Mocks don't prepare you for. I guess "Be Calm" by fun. will become an anthem of sorts for the exams! "Be caaaaalm!"Well, now I must go and try fit in a final few hours' of study before the exams. I have much left to do... Irish letter, poetry, listening, English revision... Oh dear.I wish the best of luck to all doing the exams! :33

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.

Thoughts on LC English Paper 1

Ailbhe (Higher Level English)

Nerves attacked this morning. I didn’t know what do to with myself. Surprisingly Elbow's, One Day Like This, actually helps a lot! Somehow I found myself at the exam hall. My desk was over by the wall. Great something to prop me up and not many distractions. Answer booklet sitting on my desk. Seconds diminishing towards 9.30 on the clock. Students in various forms of panic/calm around me. Get paper. Open paper.Flick immediately to the essays. Gosh darn it I couldn’t conveniently slot in my prewritten composition. I scan the titles muttering prayers under my breath. First one: acting, theatre. Might as well have been on Mars for all I knew about it. Second prospective candidate: neighbors. I'm not even on first name terms with mine. Scrap that. Getting slightly panicked. Third title: short story. Automatic sensors in my brain scream "AVOID AVOID, ABORT MISSION!!".And then the fourth one arrived. The beautiful uncomplicated essay on freedom. Wow perfect!So off I trot a bit of brainstorming here and there, you know yourself! Stick in a few quotes, they'll do the job. Happy out!The question B was even better. The importance of reading. I couldn't have asked for better.Comprehension, little tricky, but I think Al Gore and I saw eye to eye in the end!All in all, finished the paper with an hour to spare. Paranoid I had forgotten to do some vital component I went through the paper in a bit of a frenzy. But no I had successfully completed English Paper 1. I sat there in a vague sense of happiness, pen in hand happily illustrating my essays with comas apostrophes and other fun things like that that had escaped my in my vigour for getting my ideas on the page unscathed.It’s over now. Congratulations!! Here’s hoping for Eliot to pop in for a chat tomorrow!! :D

Owen (Higher Level English)

Wow finally D-Day has come... the official start to exams, now one step closer to FREEDOM!After having a slightly restless sleep due to the nerves and excitement of finally getting started, I was up early and raring to go.I had myself focused and was feeling confident about millin’ these exams out of it! All my hard work had come down to this, now it was time to show them what I was made of... although of course the old nerves were still in there somewhere!Well em… so I had a bit of hiccup with the paper, I was given paper 2 instead! Haha... only joking we all got paper 1 and a fairly nice paper it was too, I have to say and so everyone who sat the paper in Lucan Community College would agree. I found it had a great deal of variety that left plenty of room for your own individual take on things.I, myself chose the Section A about Al Gore, as I find myself experienced in speech writing having taken part in the Concern Debates for the past 2 years. I then moved on to Section B of Text 3, the radio talk about the importance of books in our lives and today's world. I enjoyed this piece as it gave me a chance to add in some humour. Lastly, I chose the composition piece on the speech to one’s graduating class which required me to encourage my audience to be optimistic about the future, again putting my debating skills to good use so I thought it went fairly well.Timing seemed to be a bit of an issue and I gave myself a little fright when I ended up only finishing my Section A at 10:45! However, I did manage to make up time and finish the exam with just enough time to give the paper one quick read over and correct any mistakes.The overall consensus from my exam centre was one of satisfaction, self-confidence and success... a good start to the Leaving Cert of 2010, I think. Well, so I hope anyway!Now off to study for paper 2.... my poor hand!:(

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level English)

Thousands of students across the country can now breathe a sigh of relief as many have at least one completed paper under their belts.Higher Level English paper 1 was handed out FACE-UP in all exam centres this morning thankfully avoiding a repeat of last year’s exam leak! Its theme, "The Future", could be said to have instilled a feeling of optimism in students as they began to tackle the paper, giving them some indication of light at the end of the tunnel and life after the Leaving Cert. The first comprehension text was based on an interview with Seamus Heaney; the Nobel Prize winner was tipped to appear on the paper in some form following the celebrations of his 70^th birthday in 2009, while Al Gore’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech and an extract adapted from Ray Bradbury’s, Farenheit 451, featured in the second and third texts respectively. The Section A questions were definitely manageable although tricky in places while the Section B questions were very approachable across the board with students given the option of writing a letter or the text of an interview or radio talk.The composition section had some comparatively difficult titles to offer students when past papers from recent years are taken into consideration. However as usual students were given titles that spanned various writing styles so there was bound to be something to suit everyone.Keeping in mind its theme of “The Future”, students that may not be so sure that their efforts will be as fruitful as they had dreamed shouldn’t lose hope – no matter what happens over the next few weeks, with perseverance and determination, goals can still be reached!

ISSU Commentary (Ordinary Level English)

Students up and down the country sat down to “Facing Danger” glaring up at them as the theme of this morning’s Leaving Cert Ordinary Level English paper 1 – they couldn’t be blamed for feeling slightly uneasy about what kind of questions faced them over the page with a title like that greeting them! However Section 1 brought comprehensions on the adventures of international athletes, an extract from Tim Severin’s, The Brendan Voyage, and a question based on four images without any particular deadly surprises. The Question A parts of all questions were straightforward providing students engaged well with the texts so nothing too alarming here or in the Question B parts which gave students the option of writing the text of a talk, a competition entry or a promotional piece for a website. Having made it through Section 1 unharmed, students were left with the choice of seven titles for the composition section. However this shouldn’t have proved to be too treacherous as a nice variety of titles were given allowing plenty of scope for the imagination. Overall, students should have made it safely through paper 1 and will just have to wait and see what dangers face them on paper 2 tomorrow….