Junior Cert - Week One Review
Lorraine
Hey guys! Lorraine here! :)Week 1 was tiring! Every day coming home from the mocks I was wrecked and I can honestly say I'm even more tired from the JC! I find the days where I have 2 exams on the day the worst! On Wednesday when I came home I was sooo tempted to go to bed but I knew I wouldnt sleep that night! I wasnt able to even talk about the exams until I had something to eat or drink I was just knackered! On Friday I came home from maths and geography and slept like a baby till 8pm!Another thing Ive found about the exams is how people react to it! The people that haven't done a thing through the whole year are the ones completely panicking onthe days of the exams and the ones who have worked seem very laid back! :) So if theres any 2nd yrs or anything here reading this - START STUDYING NOW!!Another thing is how encouraging people are! Every day I get home I have everyone asking how it went and facebook messages and stuff and its nice to have the support! :)All in all, week one went OK. I'm a bit worried about my results but thats the way I am! I'm dreading week 2 but at least I'm finished this Friday! :DGood luck everyone!
Jack
Well, that's the first three days (of just six and a half, for me!) done and dusted. It was quite daunting to begin. Once I got over the whole shock of the whole thing, it felt just like the Mocks. My friends agree.Week One wasn't too bad. Wednesday was a bit nerve wrecking, naturally.Thursday was quite a long day. Irish. Not my strongest subject to be honest.Friday was the best day of the three. Geography was a welcome break and Maths Paper 1 was surprisingly nice.Week Two is up next. Maths Paper 2 and CSPE up first. Not too bad, I guess. Business on Tuesday! Business is my favorite subject, so I'm happy about it! French and History come up on Wednesday. I am kind of worried for those two, in particular. We'll see how it goes! And lastly, Science. I feel I can do well in it... after cramming on Wednesday evening!Well, the second (and final week for me!) is coming soon. It seems okay. I wish everyone the very best of luck!
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.
LC Maths Paper 2
Ailbhe (Higher Level Maths)
WHERE WERE THE THEOREMS????????I'm sorry Mr. Chief Examiner but I happily divided my weekend amoung perpendicular distances, angles between lines and cos (A+B), I was not a happy bunny rabbit to see a grand total of zero theorems on the paper after I had so painstakingly learned them.Paper two was definitely harder but that was expected due to the lack of challenge posed by paper 1. In my wisdom I started off with question 3. "You like trig Ailbhe, get that sorted first off, we'll deal with circles, vectors and lines later".Part (a) not a problemPart (b) not bad eitherPart (c) sure I didn't know which way was up in that question In the end I resorted to using some dodgy "area of a trapezium" formula that I came across leafing through the tables for part (i). It's not on the course and I don't think I even did it for Junior Cert, but you know what they say - always trust strangers!I was very happy with Q8 which was my elective. The MacLaurin series and I have never had the best of relationships but we overcame our differences and worked it out in the end.What was most thorny about paper 2 was that it's harder to check your answers. I found that there were a lot more questions in paper 1 where you knew if you were right based on the answer you got. Paper two just left me all adrift!I have been waiting to say this sentence since day 1 of Fifth Year and I'm going to relish it for all it's worth.I NEVER HAVE TO DO MATHS AGAIN!!! EVERRRR!!!!
Owen (Ordinary Level Maths)
Back again after a weekend that could not have gone any slower!!My clock just seemed to taunt me for the whole weekend with its 'tik tok'-ing and believe me, I was not feeling like P Diddy with my head in the books! :(How and ever, the exams are now back in full swing!!Maths Paper 2... well to be honest, it was a lovely paper, couldn't have asked for a nicer more user-friendly paper! I really like the “does exactly what it says on the tin” attitude that goes with it and as for the whole simplicity of plugging numbers into formulas... LOVE IT!!No surprises on this paper I have to say and I, personally found all the questions grand... everything seemed to go well from area and volume to linear programming... however, it left me wondering what the probability was that Irish Paper 1 would be the same!??!
JC Maths Paper 1
Roisin (Higher Level)
Maths was a different story to geography... I was able to answer questions one, three and four straight off, but I couldn't get question two, five are six the first time. When I went back over it, I worked out question four, and most of question six, but question five was hopeless. :( It wasn't just me either... several of my friends came out convinced they had failed (they probably won’t have), having only been able to answer one or two questions.So I guess today was a day of mixed results, but at least it’s the weekend, and I can study hard for paper two and brush up on C.S.P.E. And sleep!
James (Higher Level)
After lunch today, I had Maths Paper 1. This exam was two and a half hours long and consisted of six questions. I managed to complete the first four without much trouble.However, question five and six proved to be difficult and I'm fairly disappointed, as I got a little caught for time. This was the toughest part of the Junior Cert for me so far.I'll continue to study over the weekend and prepare for next week. Talk soon, James.