Geography - #LC2017 - Maeve Richardson
Maeve Richardson - St. Annes Secondary School Tipperary TownGeography as per usual involved a lot of writing and very little time to think. It was a generally alright paper though.
Leaving Certificate Geography
Cárthach - Higher Level Geography 
Not fully functioning at 5:30am, I looked at YouTube videos which really helped recap on things that I had forgotten, with loads of videos on Regions-type questions...This made the early start easier!!Luckily, the last few points I had looked over in the exam regarding the geo-ecology were useful, as I decided to do a question on A Biome and choose the three aspects, Fauna, Soil and Climate.I did feel panic when I felt blanks coming, but I kept breathing, which helps...and I managed to keep writing and continued to the next questions...as I always struggled with time (like in English).I felt it was unfair to put several air photograph and map related time consuming short questions, that I had no choice but to skip over, and made significant ground by doing so.However, time was still against me, and I had to rush my last two questions, and didn't manage to get back to do the last 5 short questions apart from one...but I think overall the paper was much nicer than I had presumed it would be, nicer than the pres/mocks, take note 5th years!It could have been better, could have been worse. It was draining and slowed me for Maths Paper 1, but that's a different kettle of fish writing-wise...Not as straining on my painful (painfully slow) hand, maybe a bit more straining on my head!
Liam - Higher Level Geography 
Questions that I did: All the short Qs, 2, 4, 12, 16.Geography, geography, geography. The paper wasn't actually too bad, you'll be sad to know Mr Highlighter didn't make much of an appearance because after the mocks, I knew timing would be an issue.I did it kind of awkwardly, from the back to front. Our teacher give us Geo ecology essays and I knew the cramming I did 5 minutes before the exam would wear off, so best to do it ASAP. Soil characteristics and general composition came up. Brown soil it was.I figured after this I'd keep the good mojo going and do the short questions, cause everybody knows getting one short question out of the 12 right gives as much satisfaction as getting the A1. They weren't too bad, in saying that, I could have made a complete balls of it and never know! Thanks SEC!12 was next because I wanted to get my human population out of the way because it's the bane of my existence. I choose not to think of it because the SRPs certainly weren't flowing there!Then I went into question 4, regional geography! They were mad into Brazil this year. I figured I'd compensate for not doing a sketch map and draw out Brazil. And by that, get the general idea of what Brazil looks like from the world map on question 12. Overall that question wasn't too tricky.Then there was question 2. Who doesn't love talking about a good delta. The colouring pencils came out ladies and gents and I've never seen the "Mississippi Crow Foot Delta" looking so magnificent.Overall I thought it was grand, but with geography, one doesn't really know cause of those SRPs. Little buggers!!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 Geography, Environmental & Social Studies
Joe - Higher Level
I have done consistently well with geography through out the junior cert cycle so was confident about this exam.The exam went very well. I started on the short questions and had them done in less then 20 minutes. I then did question 5 on the ordinance survey map. I spent a long time drawing the sketch map and doing the question but I gave a solid answer. I then did the question on limestone , underground feature of a karst landscape and peat. It was straight forward and I felt like I answered well. My final question was question two on ocean currents, irrigation and desertification. I was a small bit rushed to complete it but finished just in time.I feel the exam went well and it was a fairly easy paper!
Kate - Higher Level 
Geography went great! I answered all the short questions with ease and moved on to the long questions. The long questions were good. I answered question one, question two and question five. Question one focused on karst landscapes, limestone and peat. I found this question manageable but the question about technology and peat was unusual. The second question I answered was on irrigation, desertification and ocean currents. I loved this section as it was simple and I thoroughly enjoy the section on ocean currents.Finally I answered the OS Map. I originally did not plan to answer this question but I had no choice. The map was odd and I found it tricky to draw what was required to scale, but the questions were great. A question about traffic congestion and tourism. Overall I think the exam went well for me. The questions were quite broad and I'm optimistic about how it went!
Luke - Higher Level 
Initially I was quite nervous going into the exam because I have quite high expectations for myself when it comes to this subject. I was worried population would come up because I hadn't studied them in depth. Once I got into the exam and opened the paper I gave the long questions a quick read through and I realised that it was grand. The short questions... Easy. Blew through them. 60/60.I did long questions 1,2 and 5. I dodged the population questions! I hear a lot of people were thrown by the question on Irish bogs. I manged to cram fishing, bogs, and the karst landscape before I went into the exam and thank God. The OR map was easy. I'm looking forward to continuing my study of geography for LC. Looking forward to taking a breather this weekend!
Shane - Higher Level 
I went into geography with buzz words for beaches, cliffs, soil creep, freeze thaw action and karst landscapes buzzing in my head. Of all this, I would only need one. But, it didn’t really matter. I did the short questions first. I felt these were by far the easiest compared to any year. Then I did question 1. I got a shock when I saw economic activities. I always thought (among with every JC student) that question 1’s were STRICTLY physical geography. I didn’t mind however. The questions in question 1 were very do-able and I felt as if it was a great question.I did question 2 secondly.This was the best out of 2, 3, and 4 in my eyes. I would have been rewriting Q3 part B and D (I think they were the parts) and I couldn’t do Q4 because my geography teacher didn’t do urban geography with us. I did find Q2 to be my weakest question but I did’t feel it went too bad. Then I did good ole question 5. I found this to be a good question, but I took so long to draw the coastline on the map. In the finish up, I think Geography went very well and I am over all very pleased with it!
Philip - Higher Level
So this went ok. I admit I panicked, there was about five subjects I didn't know well in the entire course. Guess which subjects came up? But after the exam I talked to a geography teacher in my school and they said they thought my answers was ok (I told them what I said). Anyway,I didn't find the short questions too hard. I'd say there were a few I got wrong though. The long questions I did were question one. The karst structure I did were pillars. Then I did question three A, B and C. Finally I did question 5 with the maps. All in all I think the test went pretty well!
Chloe - Higher Level 
Let me start by saying that the majority of my time studying prior to the JC was dedicated to geography and I still didn’t know every single thing entering this exam, its so difficult to contain everything in your brain on the day and the cramming session we had an hour before the exam I think was the making or breaking of it. I began with the short questions, usually I can find these to be sometimes slightly awkward but they were actually grand yesterday and I had them done within 20 minutes.I opened the paper and not one of the questions from 1-4 appealed to me fully so I decided to begin with question 5 (which I don’t normally do) I found the questions on the OS map relatively similar to those that had come up before and the question about traffic circulation wasn’t a regular but it was doable. I then went on to do the question on ocean currents, irrigation and desertification, from this I was only fully confident with irrigation but managed to make a good enough stab at the other two thankfully enough as we had recently studied them in class.I finished with the geographical mix question and left out the question on polders. I felt this went quite well although I was definitely waffling for some parts to fill out my answers. Overall geography went reasonably well for me and I hope my studying for this subject pays off!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 Geography
Gearóid - Higher Level
I started with the short questions as I often find that they give me confidence. I didn't find these particularly hard, as they were not that different from other years.Onto the long questions, I started with question 5, the map one. I didn't find this particularly hard, nothing too difficult. I was only surprised that they asked us to draw an aerial map rather than an OS map. I went to question 4 next on Economic Activities next. I done a lot of work on these topics so I thought it was easy enough. Finishing with question 1, I understood volcanoes and earthquakes, I wrote about flood plains on the rivers section, which I should of wrote on waterfalls in my opinion. However overall I thought that this paper was not too difficult and no major surprises came up.
Helen - Higher Level
I was a bit apprehensive before the geography exam as the course is so expansive with great detail. However, I went in with an open mind! I found that the short questions were quite straight forward. I think it helps that most are multiple choice answers and an optional question here and there. The short questions featured topics such as, limestone rock and carbonation, climates, rivers, population density and features of coastal erosion. Overall I was happy with the short questions.Whilst doing my long questions, I'd thought I'd be stuck for time but fortunately I wasn't! I decided to do questions 2, 3A/B/D and 4. Question 2 was all about the atmosphere such as, relief rainfall, global warming and acid rain. Acid rain coincides with chemical weathering to a certain extent so I was able to write all about it. Question 3A was about Fold Mountains and I had to draw, label and explain the diagram. Unfortunately, I was blissfully unaware that I had written all about mid-Atlantic ridges but I'm confident that I got the next part of it correct!3B was about Population and 3D was about Traffic Congestion, so I felt that section went well. Question 4 included topics such as Farming, Tourism and Fishing. All parts were looking for either 2 reasons, measures, inputs, etc.Overall I was happy with the geography paper.
Art - Higher Level
After two endless days of major exams, in English and Irish, and a two and a half hour long maths exam in the evening, I was almost looking forward to geography... Beginning with the short questions, they seemed to be slightly more narky than usual. For example, my class hadn't covered the named river's location. There also seemed to be one or two new styles of asking questions, like with the ordnance survey early on, they printed the graph in it. Other than that they weren't too challenging. At least I hope they weren't!On to the long questions. Personally, I believe the combinations fell nicely. I answered questions 1, 2 and 3. I normally do the ordnance survey but I couldn't resist the geographical mix when I read it. They were very nice to allow us to write about any river feature in question one. What else was there; explaining fold mountains, traffic congestion, relief rainfall and a few other handy ones. Overall, I seemed very happy with it.
Jane - Higher Level
I was crazy nervous before this exam! I have a really great geography track record, and because I did very well in my pre I had kind of neglected it, that is, until five o clock on the morning of my paper! I crammed loads of information into my head (always a bad idea guys) and was ready to word vomit all of my answers I had learnt on weather, climate, and population, only to see they hadn't come up in the long questions!!! I was distraught, and opted to do Q1 Q2 and Q3. I would have done Q4 but I hadn't revised first year geography before the exam (I've always hated 1st year geography). I completely finished my exam script paper with pages and pages of descriptions, and I left my diagrams until the end, as my teacher had told me to do if you're tight on time. I ended up not doing either of the two diagrams, but I'm not worried about it as they're only worth one out of ten marks, and if you get 9/10 in every long answer question, and do well in the shorts, you'll still get your A. I found though, I was stretching myself a little when I had to write copious amounts of information on acid rain, and ended up putting a lot of my knowledge about acid rain from science in there.Hopefully my examiner will be impressed with my effort, because I really put everything into that exam!!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Certificate Geography
Leah
Well well well. If that Geography paper did not just kill me, nothing will! I remember the days at Junior Cert level, where Geography was focused on Economic activities and the Physical Geography and that was all. Ah, I miss those days.The paper began with possibly the worst set of Short Questions I have seen in a long time. I spent much longer than I should have on them but I knew that the remaining questions weren't much better so I bit the bullet and got on with the questions. In fairness, there may have been a few questions that I may have answered 100% correctly, but I definitely did not get my 80 marks I could've gotten there.From then on the paper was nothing more than a farce. On the Physical Geography Section, I decided to do the first question because I knew Karst surfaces fairly well and how a waterfall was formed. That got part A & B out of the way fairly sharpish. However, C blew me away. I am not going to lie - I may have totally waffled my way around that question.After that question and the Shorts, my pride in my Geography knowledge may have been hurt and so, it's no surprise that I did not do too well on any other question in the exam. I didn't have enough time to even attempt the Electives on Section III and I recall writing about The Mezzogiorno for a Manufacturing question but all the rest was a blur of scrawled writing and panic.I only hope I did well in the Field Work Project now because it may very well end up being my my saving grace. It wasn't all bad though, I did give it my best shot and I was glad Processes of Erosion came up on the Physical Geography so I guess every cloud does have a silver, Geographical lining.
Susanna
Having had no time whatsoever to revise, seeing as English 2 had used up the last of our energy reserves, it wasn't a surprise that nerves today were all rather frazzled. 9:30 arrived and there was a collective frenzy to the back of the paper - I was absolutely delighted with the Plant & Animal adaptation biomes question, and having prepared that exact essay, it certainly got the exam off to a confident start. I can imagine that there was a quiet country-wide celebration upon seeing that glorious waterfall question, and having written about under cuttings and overhangs in every geography exam since first year, it was a delight to see a familiar face. Unfortunately I had to compromise by attempting an unfamiliar tectonics question, but I trudged through that regardless. Besides, the Karst part A was a beaut! There were some rather off-putting human environment questions in my opinion, including an industrial decline essay and a vile part A - a misleading and badly phrased immigration vs emigration question. Anywho, regional proved reasonably manageable, with a reassuringly open question about climate which could be adapted to any region, and a glorious primary economic activity essay in which I could talk about soya, fazendas and cattle ranching to my heart's content.While the predicable classics such as land form development, human interaction with the rock cycle and sedimentary rocks appeared, overall in my opinion, it was an exam of unexpected challenges.Well done to everyone today! Time to enjoy our well-deserved weekend. No more isostasy for us!
Donagh
Opening up the exam the first thing I did was jump over to the geo-ecology section to see had I gotten lucky. I had (I think). The biome question that came up seemed to be ideal, although the underlined use of the word "specific" will bug me till I get my results. I decided to get this out of the way and do it, I then went and did the short questions. Unlike the last few years these were the hardest part of the paper in my opinion. There were a lot of difficult questions that haven’t been on the paper before. The second OS maps question was also really hard to understand. I could not for the life of me figure out from what direction the picture had been taken. I moved onto the physical geography doing the old reliable features of erosion question. Regional was not too bad I did the question on industrial decline and tertiary activities. There was also a sketch map of a European region which I dreaded, although for the first time ever I was happy with my sketch of the Mezzogiorno. Then all that was left was the economic section which was tough enough. I picked the question on environmental impacts of economic activity and colonialism. These went alright for me although I ran out of time and didn’t get to say as much as I would’ve liked for colonisation.All in all I think that it was a fair paper giving a good choice of questions and as long as my answer for the biomes question works out I think I’ll be fine.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Cert Irish
Mark - Higher Level
So I came into the school this morning to start Irish paper 1, which I felt confident in. The aural went great overall and thankfully there weren't any issues such as heavy rain! So at least we're getting something from the good weather. After we got the listening art finished I skipped through to the grammar questions, changing a paragraph to the aimsir chaite was beyond easy :)I then chose to do an essay on an incident that happened when you were working in a shop (In my case this was a fire, which I had prepared loads on so I jumped with joy to see that it was based indoors). I began planning it out and writing down a list a phrases that I should include in it and I managed to get more than enough of them into it. Then I came back to the reading comprehensions, which I usually dread, but fortunately they were manageable and I think I did great in them. So I was entering into paper two very confidently, even if Irish isn't my strongest subject.Now I really dislike paper two usually but that's mainly due to the unstudied poetry and unstudied story. So I decided to get the studied poem and story done first and the choices of themes and type of people suited mine perfectly. Then of course we had the choices of letters to do, where I chose B which was about you being a member of a band. That was no big deal and was a bit too easy really. And then came the unstudied questions... Not the best part of the exam. But I gave it a good guess anyway so hopefully it didn't do too much damage. Then of course I have the marks from the oral too. Overall, I'm feeling confident with my Irish exam. Geography and Maths paper 1 is next up
Katelyn - Higher Level
This paper wasn't a bad one. The tape was reasonable and the reading comprehensions were manageable. The Aimsir Chaite came up for the blog. It made my day. The scéal options were very good as-well. Overall, it wasn't a bad paper. I was quiet pleased coming 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.