Junior Cert History

Shahed - Higher Level

Ahh, history. Probably my most dreaded exam, which is quite strange.I was anxious before this exam. I had studied, but I hadn't studied all the chapters. Thankfully though, it worked out in my favour.The first section was picture questions. These were easy for the most part, but I panicked when I saw the two Irish History questions. It was one of the chapters I hadn't really studied, but I managed.Section two was documents. One was about Magellan and the Incas, the other about Hitler. These were also easy, with nothing difficult. Next was the short questions. There was a wide range in these and I was able to do most.Next, People In History. I looked at the choices and I cried tears of pure joy! The accounts that I had learned well all came up! I chose to write about the work of the archaeologist and a factory worker during the British Industrial Revolution, both easy choices.The next question was about the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Nothing difficult here, though the mini account threw me off a little, as I hadn't focused on the Counter-Reformation, but thankfully I remembered it from studying it before.For question six, the questions were about the Middle Ages, Social Change, Irish History and International Relations. I chose the Middle Ages and International Relations; we hadn't studied Social Change and Irish history and I didn't get along very well. But the questions were easy and again, like in French, a question which I had studied right before going into the exam came up!In general, I was pleasantly surprised by this paper. All the frantic studying payed off! Now, two more exams, then SUMMER!

Clara - Higher Level

Woosh, what a paper. I don't think I've ever written so much in the last five minutes of an exam as I did on this one. I’m surprised I can even write this-my hand is so sore! As I was entering my centre all I could think was "Oh my-this is my second last exam!" I felt the rush of hope and got that good feeling you get when you feel like you're well prepared and should do well in a test as I entered my centre and I hope it was right..!History is most definitely one of my preferred subjects so I was pretty happy taking this exam-even so, I think it was not only me who taught this was a really fair and good paper. After speaking to many people in my class who took the paper, we were all agreed! So, more details, yes?Section 1, 2 and 3: I flew through them at breakneck speed. I always try to do them as fast as I can while getting them right because it gives me more time to focus on the bigger sections. Section 1 was the usual, simple common sense stuff and section two was pretty much the same-looked for very little real information. The short questions were basically ok also. There were a few little unusual questions here and there but I answered 17 of them so I'm hoping I'll get my 20 marks.Section 4 :( A) Essays... *shudders* HATED it. Absolutely everything in history that I really dislike and never really study ie. archaeology, plantations and renaissance painters was on. Nooo! But, I told myself to cop on and be brave and made a reasonable attempt at the question on plantations. (B) I was so much happier with-I knew a factory or mine worker well, so I just morphed it into an owner with some jigging around of vocab.Section 5-I almost cried with happiness when I saw the reformation had come up! I was silently preparing myself to be asked about Political Revolutions or even Plantations that I wouldn't be able to do but I got lucky and this was almost exactly like the question from my mock. I knew what I was doing!Section 6-Challenging again! Personally I read through all of them and found that I could quite happily do (A) and (D).I had prepared for a stab at (C) but it seemed like a rather difficult one-the fact that it had lots of parts turned me off it at lot and I hadn't studied Irish history as I hate it so I was delighted that the Middle Ages was (A).I know that well! I did the little questions and then the longer questions on the life of a lady in a castle and the life of a serf. (D) was good aswell. The format was unusual but the questions were reasonable-the usual choice between 3 topics and a few on war history.Good, good paper! Science tomorrow morning is my last exam-cannot wait to have it over with. Good luck everyone!

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.