Junior Cert English Papers 1 & 2

Roisin (Higher Level English)

That was a long day! Today was English papers 1 and 2, which meant an awful lot of writing! My heart was racing as I opened the paper to my first ever state exam! But I wasn't as bad as my friend in front of me! He had felt sick with nerves the entire morning, and when he was given his paper he looked like he was about to be sick! Paper 1 was definitely easier; I didn't really run into any problems there. The reading section was probably the hardest part of the paper, an autobiography by Edge from U2. The personal writing went well, I think, with a nice, varied selection to choose from, including 'A talent I would love to have’, 'My most useful possessions' and the one I chose, 'The beauty of quiet places'. The functional writing was predictable, there was a choice between an article about a sporting event for a school magazine(I chose this one) and an article for a music magazine about a talent show in no more than 150 words. The last section in paper 1 was the media section and we had a choice of comparing two advertisements or answering questions on one advertisement. I choose the first option! Overall, I think paper one went well!Paper 2 was quite a bit harder and I was tight for time at the end. I chose the 'other drama' instead of the Shakespearean drama; they're always easier to understand! For the studied drama I answered the question on the powerful closing scene, choosing the last scene in Romeo and Juliet. This was probably the hardest part of the exam for me because I find it really hard to remember quotes from Shakespeare! I think the poetry section was probably the easiest part of the paper, the unseen poem was fairly straight forward and I answered the studied poetry question about a poem with an important issue with 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen. The unseen fiction was quite tricky but I think it'll have been alright. The questions for studied fiction were a novel with an unexpected development or how well you would rate a novel you have studied and why. I chose the second one and wrote about 'Of Mice and Men'. I think I answered it pretty well because there was a lot to write about!Irish papers 1 and 2 are tomorrow, which is definitely one of my toughest subjects and I'm pretty nervous about it! I think it maybe a long night with several cups of coffee needed!!

James (Higher Level English)

Well that's the first day of the Junior Cert over and done with. I'm very happy with both of my English papers as they went well and I answered every question required. The nerves were at me this morning but as soon as I opened that first paper I began to relax.While swiftly reading over the paper I grew in confidence as the questions suited me and all the study I had done. I managed all four sections on Paper 1 without much difficulty. I had to write much more on Paper 2 but this didn't prove to be too tough as I had learned off many notes, phrases and quotations. For me, Section 1: Drama, on Paper 2 was the toughest question of the exam, but I got over that one too so happy days!Overall, I'm satisfied with how today went and I hope tomorrow goes just as well. Back then, James.

ISSU Commentary

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