Junior Certificate Home Economics

Olivia - Higher Level 

This is one of my favourite subjects but was still nervous about what questions were going to come up. I think I had done OK in the practical/project which I believe and hope accounts for 50%  of the exam.

I started with the short questions which I must admit I found more difficult than the mocks. These were a little different to other short questions in different subjects because we had to answer 20 out of 24.

On to section B, I started with question 4 about the heart. I found this easy enough because luckily i had studied the exact question for science. I then went on to question 2 which wasn't too difficult. For question 1, i hadn't really studied the topic on cheese but i got through it fine. I found question 5 a bit tricky in particular  the part on water pollution. I left question 3 and 6  because i hadn't studied question 6 and question 3 seemed the hardest out of the rest. Overall I thought it was a fair paper.

I wish like others I was finished today but unfortunately I have one more left on Tuesday.

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

Leaving Certificate Home Economics

Cora - Higher Level Home Economics

So my exams began today and after the not so great start I had with paper one in English, I couldn’t explain to you how nervous I felt before home ec. It's a subject commonly thought to be easy, and the answers are easy most of the time, that is if you can figure out what the questions want you to say. But I needn't have worried. Home Ec was a dream, well as dreamlike as leaving cert exam could be.There were very few nasty surprises. The short questions were as always picked from random and weird parts of chapters but they weren’t the worst short questions I’ve seen either.

Question 1 was lovely, fibre. Even if you hadn’t revised it after a quick brainstorm the answers would surely come. Question two was a nice one on fish, something my teacher had predicted and it was a nice one too nothing too bizarre or out of the ordinary, they combined that with vitamin D. Question three was a bit weird, food processing, but it wasn’t your standard question I’d never seen so many marks go for naming a freezing method and its description.  To tell the truth I’m doubting myself on that one so I did an extra question. Question four was a really lovely consumer question and thankfully no laws came up, it was just about supermarkets and an agency, lovely jubly. I didn’t do question five and I don't remember what it was but what I do know is this, if you even had a night before cram with a little bit of prediction you would have been well able for this exam, even the elective seemed doable and that's something I’ve always struggled with!

Home ec really lifted my spirits after paper 1 in English and has given me hope for the rest of these exams. I’m so delighted I have one exam done and dusted, only another eight to go! 

Ellen - Higher Level Home Economics 

I could not believe my eyes when I read through that home ec paper - literally everything my teacher predicted came up - fibre, fish, poverty, even the short questions on textiles and the environment! I chose to do the question on fish first as I felt I was strongest in that, although usually I always start with Q1, I just didn't like the look of that graph! I ended up doing the consumer studies question, something which I did not anticipate going into the exam! But the questions were nice enough- shopping patterns and merchandising techniques for 20m each.The social elective was fair as well, although I struggled a bit with the poverty definitions. I hadn't studied education much but I was able to wing the functions of education for young people. Then I looked at my watch- I only 40 minutes left for Q1 and half the short questions I'd left earlier!That table was the literally my biggest fear - no graphics and so difficult to decipher. I raced through the fibre questions, I don't know if I even answered them correctly or not, my main goal was to finish it. I was a bit thrown by the 'strategies' to increase fibre intake but I just said nuts & seeds, wholegrains etc, with a bit of public awareness campaigns thrown in for good measure. All short questions answered and it was just time to finish up. There were bullet points and tables go leor, but Home Ec is finally over!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

LC Home Economics

Ailbhe (Higher Level Home Economics)

Home Ec = General FiascoI think everyone will agree that on opening the paper they flicked to the infamous Q1 Section BWhhhhaaaaaaaaat?No protein? No eggs? No fish? No Meat? What is this vegetarians’ day out?!I like so many others had fallen for the intoxicating charms of predictions. The clever creators of this paper gave me the cold turkey I needed. All i could do was grit my teeth and face up to the reality of the unlikely and much overlooked (on my part anyways) Irish Food Industry taking pride of place in Q1 Section BTurning to the short questions to stroke my hair and tell me it will be alright was not the brightest of ideas. Once again a melting pot of trouble erupted. I saw before me humectants, trypsin and polyphosphates all minor footnotes in the massive tome of the Home Ec book. What was this? An enormous shock to the system for one thing.I would like to extend my deepest condolences to everyone on their recent loss of "prediction confidence". Predictions were a good friend. They lived a long and prosperous life. They were our guilty pleasure. Much like sugary food they gave a high and then leave a bittersweet taste on the palate. Speaking of palate....what was up with "the palatable qualities of fish on cooking?" That was a fishy (sorry for the sad pun) aul question!Anyway due to that stinging blow to my expectations I am going to crack open the poetry book now. Although I am making deals with the devil that Eliot and Yeats will fill the pages of my answer booklet tomorrow, I shall trawl through Kavanagh, Rich and Boland. Although I am hoping for literary genre, cultural context will get a look in and as for our old friend Lear I'm banishing (geddit) all predictions!Good luck tomorrow guys! And don’t worry too much about the Home Ec, you know what they say difficult exam = easy marking scheme! ;)Well actually I don’t know if they do say that because I just made it up!

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level Home Economics)

Two o’clock this afternoon saw Leaving Cert Higher Level Home Economics papers being opened around the country.The short questions brought no nasty surprises with a particularly topical question on consumer credit – this appeared again in Section B with a long question on consumer debt in the current economic climate. Section B also saw students faced with questions on Irish food and drinks exports, nutritional properties of meat and the factors affecting the purchasing of meat, the fish eating habits of the inhabitants of our fair isle, food preservation and the role of the family within the state, something which has also been discussed at length in the media in recent times.Students will have been largely happy with Section 3 if they had prepared their elective well. The recession appeared again in this section under the Social Studies elective followed by a very interesting question on the purpose of education and equality of opportunity in education.On a whole, it was a very fair paper and students will have done well if they knew their stuff!

ISSU Commentary (OrdinaryLevel Home Economics)

Leaving Cert Ordinary Level Home Economics was also a very fair paper with some straightforward short questions acting as a nice warm up for the longer questions.As with the Higher Level paper, the food and drinks industry featured heavily with a particular focus on milk and its nutritional values… students were led into this question with a quote from the infamous National Dairy Council ad that many of us will recall from our younger years… “Dem bones, dem bones need calcium…”The role of meat in the typical Irish diet and food preservation also featured in the ordinary level paper with a forth question on consumer rights and the final question of Section B focusing on the topical issue of disadvantaged children, their rights and physical and psychological needs.Again Section C will have posed no major difficulties for students if they had prepared their elective well – topics featured included energy efficiency, unemployment in Ireland, childcare standards and gender inequality in the home.Overall, a very approachable paper!