Leaving Certificate Irish Paper 2
Liam - Higher Level 
Questions that I did: 1, 2A, 3A and 4A.That was weird. The lack of both Géibheann and Gnáthrud was unexpected, I thought one of the two would make an appearance! The no 'saol & Saothar an file' 9 marker was different. But the no seanra litríochta was nice!I started with my question on 'An Triail' because I liked it least and it was worth most. Don't get my wrong, who doesn't like the aul "Mallacht Dé anuas ortsa, a striapach"! The question was straightforward enough, about Máire's life after meeting Pádraig so it was grand.Next I did the question on Oisín i dTír na nÓg. There were 3 questions and you had to do 2, I did the one on Oisín being loving and loyal and the exaggeration. They were grand like, I thought the only question they'd ask is the tréithe béaloidis. But sure it was alright!Then it was poetry and an tEarrach Thiar. In fairness , the questions weren't bad, owing to the fact one of the questions wasn't the 'guaranteed' one.The léamhtuiscints were actually easy enough. I highlighted the answers in the text first , then copied them into my answer booklet. It was the most efficient way I think. I was delighted that no seanra litríochta came up either. Never really liked them !I'm happy enough with it! I wrote enough for them anyway and it could have gone a lot lot worse. At least we're done with that!!
Emma - Higher Level 
Irish paper two, good lord!! I had expected some sort of difficulty in the exam but not to that extent! However my trauma was short lived when I realised the questions were quite nice on both Oisin and An Tearrach!I began with the them to get them out of the way and wrote tonnes for the poem but a mere 2 pages for the pros! Onto the leamhthuiscints, the part B's were extremely different than other years there was no deciphering types or genres, which was nice. I found I overwrote a lot on those, there was so much to say!! The themes for the leamthuisicnts were very topical and interesting and I nearly forgot I was in an exam! UNTIL that awful Maidhc question came from a "Thig na Tít orm"! Everyone had expected his family life to come up but of course the SEC wouldn't make it that easy!! However with some breaking down of the question it was easy to put together some paragraphs based around key events of his life!! I'm so sad that my battle with Gaeilge in secondary school has ended, but overall the exam as a whole could have been a lot worse!! (Imagine caca milis!)
Cárthach - Higher Level 
One of the nicest papers in recent years, despite the two predicted Prose and Poem not making an appearance. A huge shock to many I imagine, luckily our year had prepared for all of them, since we knew the LC focus was noted on the website to be about losing the LC's predictability. A right kick to anyone who chanced to only study 'Géibheann' and 'An Gnáthrud'...My heart goes out to you!Dom fhéin mar chainteoir ó dhúchas, cheap mé go raibh an páipéar bog a dhóthain do gach duine, in aineoinn don gheit a baineadh as daoine faoin bprós agus filíocht ainmnithe. Bhí na léamhthuiscintí intuigthe go maith agus ní raibh na ceisteanna (6) deacair i comparáid le blianta eile.In comparison to other years, the reading comprehensions and grammar questions were much gentler on the student who struggle with languages in general, in my opinion, as the topics were recent and also covered by essays people learn for Paper 1's composing.This nice paper 2 contrasted greatly what was to come in the afternoon; the absolute slaughter that was the higher level Biology paper!
Ellen - Higher Level 
It's hard now to think of that lovely little Irish paper after the events of this afternoon's Biology. The Leamhthuiscints were extremely manageable I felt in comparison to other years, except I felt the q6b's required a lot more comprehension than before. My class was doing the Cúrsa Roghnach and wasn't I delighted last night when I only had 3 poems to study. Even better, in the exam I had a choice of dán nua aimseartha and chose Jack by Máire Mhic an tSaoi. Bhí sé go hálainn. I was even happy with the prós- scéal bealoidis for me meant an Cearrbhach Mac Cába and there was a choice within the question - traits of the main characters, importance of the minor characters and traits of béaloideas, which was also an deas ar fad. Even Gafa (my least favourite part of the whole course) was manageable with a general relationship question between Eithne, Eoin and Breandán. Ní raibh sé ró olc ar an iomlán, but I'm just thinking now, I'll never need to know that much Irish ever ever again...!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 Irish Paper 1
Cárthach - Higher Level
Nach álainn a bhí sí! (Dar liom)!Cheap mé go raibh an cluastuisint cóir, níor bhraith mé go mbeadh fadhb ag éinne le foclóir srl. Bhí cúpla ceist a chur brú orm claoninsint a úsáid, ach ní raibh sé seo éigeantach!The listening comprehension was nice, nothing too technical I don't think, however two places I thought you had to use indirect speech, which is uncommon, but it wasn't necessary!The essay titles were very good, there really was a wide variety of open topics to interpret in different ways and pretty much everyone I talked to before the exams were hoping for some topic in particular and some essay suited them!Bhí dóthain seansanna ann dóibh siúd a d'ullmhaigh ábhair ar 1916, fadhbanna an lae inniu agus gnáth aistí a bhíonn ar fáil i ngach téacsleabhair agus fós a thug deiseanna do lucht labhartha na Gaoluinne a gcaighdeán a thaispeáint!Best moment is when you know the band in the listening and knew how they were busy last summer before the speaker said it, hup An Crann Óg!
Ellen - Higher Level
Finally my prayers have been answered - in the form of an aiste on imirce, would you believe it? Imirce is my jam and the nathanna deasa were flowing. Unfortunately, I had a few mishaps with grammar which I know even now- let that be a lesson kids, don't use the modh conníolladh if you actually don't know how!Even the listening was quite doable this year, with all of the SEC's favourite focail getting a mention - ina measc feachtas, deontas, míle and eagraíocht. Irish paper I was lovely and relaxed, in complete contrast to what's expected tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm off to watch the Euros!
Liam - Higher Level
Táim croíbhriste lads. No more "Léigh anois go cúramach ar the scrúdpháipéar na treoracha agus na ceisteanna a ghabhann le cuid A" or that reassuring beep that prepares you for the banter that's about to unfold. I thought the cluastuiscint was actually pretty okay! Delighted the Donegal only made an appearance in Fógra a hAon too, no offence muintir Dún na nGall! It was a good cluastuiscint. Anyone else like the big where Clíona seemed a big p'd off at Seán for not doing TY..? Only me...? Oh well, at least I enjoyed that cluastuiscint!It took me a good 10-12 minutes to decide what Aiste to do, it's alright guys, you can afford the time on Paper 1. I eventually went with 'Cultúr na ndaoine óga' and planned and wrote the essay about different aspects of a young person's life. I kept an eye out for the grammar when I writing it because again in Paper 1, you've got the time for it! 5 pages later and a last grammatical read-over and 4:20 pm showed up.I'm happy with Paper 1, who doesn't like a good aiste like! Tomorrow is where the fun'll happen, cannot wait! Ubh agus chips to celebrate!
Emma - Higher Level
Irish paper one!! Another dream paper for me!! The listening was very, very simple compared to previous years, with little Donegal accents evident, which is always a good sign! The topics were interesting and relevant like TY, Conradh na Gaeilge and so on!Onto the written paper. I only prepared two essays but a wide range of topics so I felt ready for whatever could have been thrown. Surprisingly the titles were extremely relevant and matched predictions- 1916, imirce and of course the most chosen essay - Daoine Óga! I, like most people, picked the young peoples essays and discussed it with regards to a couple of main topics- the education system and point system, alcohol and drugs, mental health and the implications of suicide, weight issues and unemployment! This essay title was wide open to a lot of interpretation which is always handy! Overall I tipped the 5 page mark and stayed until the very end reading it over and over again. I also did a rough draft of the essay on an extra sheet of paper to ensure everything was word perfect and that my phrasing made sense. Time flies rewriting the essay! I also spent about 30 mins planning the essay, making spider diagrams and signposting each topic back to the title. It is key to ensure your essay is relevant!I can't WAIT to see what's in store for paper two tomorrow! Go bhfóire Dia orainn!
Craig - Higher Level 
I don't know why exactly I'm doing this but today I jumped from Ordinary Level of two years to Higher Level. Today's listening test was insane, I'm not sure what happened there. I did the essay on wonder. I fitted the typical gardai sa teach story in and brought in the wonder as to who they where because they'd masks on.Candles welcome of course to pray for what could be joyous or revolting tomorrow. I'm not sane.
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 Irish
Kate - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2
After a surprisingly successful English paper one and two, I was dreading Irish. Irish is not my strongest subject and without the previously prepared essays I wouldn't have survived. My biggest fear approaching the exam was in reference to the aurals. Donegal / rural Irish will be the death of me.Paper One - Paper one started off terribly and it never recovered. My hopes of getting an A rolled down the mountain along with my story. We started 10 minutes late as the examiner played the tapes but did not hand out the papers. The whole class died. I thought that they had changed the layout so you had to remember what was being said. After the disastrous start we began the paper. The aural was worse than I expected, rural Irish is what I hear in my nightmares. The grammar section was great, I predicted that Aimsir Chaite would come up and thankfully it did. I chose the essay title "an incident that happened when you are walking in the mountains" as it was the only title that I understood. All in all, I think I was okay in paper one but it could have been better .Paper Two - Paper two probably saved the day. Going in to this exam I was nervous, if not scared, due to my earlier experience. But when I opened the paper all my worry went away. The unseen prós and poetry was not as hard as I thought and was shocked that I understood the majority of them. The themes for studied poetry and prós were great. I choose 'grá' for poetry and 'duine cabhrach' for prós. Finally I did the letter. My letter was a load of waffle. I wrote about a party but I didn't understand the guidelines very well so I wrote and wrote and prayed for the best.Today had its ups and downs but I'm going into tomorrow on a positive note and hoping for the best!
Philip - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2
Paper 1: Can I start by saying, that was the hardest listening comprehension I have ever done. But apart from that I think paper 1 was good enough. The first comprehension was on something Ihave never heard of but I think I got the answers well enough. Then I moved on to the comprehension on "inside out" which wasn't too hard.(I said alt 3 and alt 4). Then I did the verb question, I think that went well enough too. I guess we were lucky enough with it being just multiple choice. Finally I did the story question. I did the first one which was something like " wait mum you haven't heard my side of the story", you wouldn't believe the amount of people who thought it was "you need to hear the news" and totally messed up the story section.Paper 2: Now this was a hard paper.....ok in the vampire one I answered all the questions just to try and get as many points as possible. As the studied story I answered on "An tAdh" as "duine carduil". I decided to skip the unseen poetry for a while and I answered the studied poetry which I used "Na Blatha Craige" for with "brod". I said they were proud of their cliff. So, I decided to keep going and go back to the unseen poetry in the end. I did the letter about the party, the first one. I wrote about a page including the address. Finally I went back to the studied poetry and did every question except (A iii). I thought that first poem was REALLY bad but that the second one was good enough. So I hope ye all did well and good luck everyone in geography and maths paper 1.
Shane - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2
Paper 1: I went in to paper 1 this morning feeling relatively optimistic. Then the listening started… I was on the brink of tears listening because I am generally rubbish at them. But! Then that ended and the written exam started and my hope returned. I started with the eachtra in the mountains and as usual, I fell and broke my leg. It always works! Then I did question 2 A and was a very happy person at just seeing those 2 words, Aimsir Chaite. Then I did 2B which I feel I did well in. And finally, the comprehensions. I did the second one first (I don’t know what my problem is with exam order but whatever) and lastly, the first one. I feel this went well also! All in all, paper 1 (minus the listening) went very well.Paper 2: Then we get to paper 2… I did the first letter which went well. Then I tried my best to make Pádraic from An t-Adh fit ‘duine cairdiúil’. I did Subh Milis for the studied poetry. Then the prós question 1 and filíocht question 3. As usual, I had a limited concept of what the poems were about and wrote 11 lines on why I enjoyed the vampire story, saying I love vampire stories and the main character (basically anything to stop me from having to read the full thing!)All in all I feel I did well in Irish, with my paper 1 and optional oral being my saving grace. I hope you all did well and I will say a prayer for everybody for Maths Paper 1!!! Best of luck!
Chloe - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2 
Paper 1: Listening was up first, I felt these were quite difficult especially having two Donegal accents laced in there making it all the more challenging but aside from that I think it went well.Irish paper one was a grand paper, I thought. The Léamhthuiscints were easy to understand and the answers to the questions weren’t hard to find in the passage, which sometimes they can be. Between both reading passages I did the grammar and briathra questions, with these I think sometimes you just get lucky and thankfully today we had Aimsir Chaite and the grammar section wasn’t too bad either! The essay choices were also really nice and thankfully an essay that I had prepared was able to mix well with the first eachtra choice.Paper 2: This wasn’t as fab….I started with the reading comprehension, yet again and was disgusted when reading the piece about vampírí as the Irish used was so advanced and I found it really difficult to make sense of! I then went on to do the studied prose. Using ‘duine gclic for Díoltas an Madra Rua which I really tried to make work but honestly it didn’t go that smoothly. I continued on with the other studied section which was poetry and I chose grá for Bean tSléibhte ag Caoineadh a Mhic. It went well but it could have gone better. I was really racing against the clock at this stage! I did the letter next and chose the one about the storm, which was really like an essay we had learned in class and so it fitted well. This was the only semi-good section of paper 2 for me ! Lastly was the unseen poem and exactly like the reading passage it was so difficult I’m not sure if what I thought the poem meant is actually what the poem meant but I had no choice but to go with it!Overall definitely a harder year than usual in my opinion!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 Irish Oral
Ellen - Higher Level Irish Oral
I was sort of apprehensive going into the exam as a number of people in my year had bad experiences with our examiner, saying she was staring out the window, chipping her nails and yawning in the middle of their exam. Nothing like a bored examiner to throw you off your flow! Luckily I found her to be really positive, nodding and asking thoughtful questions.For the filíocht I got An Spailpín Fanach, which I was quite sásta with (mainly because I got to say "ach glacfad fees o rí na gcroppies" - what a line!) which put me in a good mood for the rest of it. For Sraith Phictúirs I got Samhradh Iontach, which wasn't bad at all at all. (I was terrified I would get one of the ones from Sraith Phictuir Parodies on Facebook, and would start uncontrollably giggling in the middle of the exam!) I invested lots of time practicing sraith phictuirs until they were on point, because I knew if they went well I'd be ceart go leor.By the time the comhrá ginearálta came around, the nathanna deasa and seanfhocail were flowing. The ceisteanna were most of your basic topics, do cheantar, do theaghlach, tar éis na hardteiste, an scoilp, caitheamh aimsire, which I had all prepared. The only things that I had to make up on the spot were a gnáthlá i mo shaol, the advantages of an all girls school and cúpla ceist mar gheall ar student council, which were easy enough if you throw in lots of 'chun an fhírinne a rá' and 'tá fhios agat fhéin'. I managed to avoid some tricky questions when asked if I liked history by saying I also liked languages, which gave me a chance to talk about stádas na gaeilge faoi láthair.Overall, I was happy with how it went and it gives me a bit of peace of mind now going into the exam in June knowing that's 40% done. The only sad part is - that might be the last time I speak Irish ever again, nach mór an trua é.
Liam - Higher Level Irish Oral
Now that we’re a few weeks after Irish oral season, we’ve begun to stop worrying about forgetting a séimhiú here or there or forgetting a Módh Choinníollach (trust me, it happens) so here’s some tips and a review of how mine went!In preparing for the oral, I’d suggest writing out things for the beannú and the sraiths and learning them off. The beannú is 5 easy marks. Basically, it’s just telling the examiner your name, your age and where you’re from. You’d be surprised how easily marks are docked from that. “Cad as duit?” - “Is as Cill Airne DOM”, “Cathain a rugadh thú?” - “Rugadh mé ar an gcéad lá de MHÍ Eanair….”. I was conscious of getting that wrong, considering the amount of times that happened to me in mock orals. The sraiths again are something that are worth learning things off for, simply because of extra friotal that could boost your marks, like díltálaire for ‘Tine sa Teach’ or trasrain síogach for ‘Timpiste’. And it’d be handy so you wouldn’t have to improvise the caint indíreach! For filíocht, getting a sheet with all the poems on it, writing in the phonetics, learn it off and bringing it in. BOOM 35 marks! All I can say for comhrá is practice talking in Irish, a lot!Apart from praying the Gods of Westeros I didn’t get Fadhbanna ar Saoire and Spailpín, I just went over my notes on the sraiths outside the exam room. Then I was called in. Beannú went grand, I didn’t forget my name or speak in French which is always good! I ended up getting Géibheann and Gaeilge - Seoid Luachmhar, which meant the praying paid off! Comhrá really went from topic to topic but nothing too difficult. Before I knew it, I was getting a “Go raibh maith agat, Slán”Like everyone, I was overthinking, over analysing and doubting my oral the second the door closed behind me. Did I mess it up? Was my comhrá awful? But at the end of the day, it feels 1000000 times better after doing it! 240 marks, 40% of the Irish course and 45 CAO points done and dusted!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. If you are interested in becoming an ISSU Exam Blogger, contact info@issu.ie with your name, school year and contact details.
Leaving Certificate Irish Paper 2
Rob - Higher Level
Rumours had been going around that we would get a poem or prós that had already been examined, so I spent all this morning learning the facts about the poets of Mo Ghrá-sa and An t-Earrach Thiar, as well as Coldcaradh and Géibheann. I was banking in either Cáca Milis or An Gnáthrud to appear for Prós, it had been a long time since we had studied the other 3 options. I studied A Thig Ná Tit Orm for my Litríocht Breise and I always liked it, except the question in the mock had not been very clear. I was apprehensive going into this exam, as just like English Paper 2, my result would come down to pure chance.I was delighted to see the options come up as they did. I found both of the comprehensions relatively clear and easy to understand. Even the grammar questions were not too hard to find. The topics were interesting and I had followed the "One Young World" conference when it was happening last year, so I knew what the topic was about.The question for Cáca Milis about Catherine was straightforward, as were the three for Colscaradh. While I found the question on Maidhc's interest in football and music to be a bit limiting. In "A Thug Ná Tit Pen", I'm fairly satisfied with the answer I wrote.Overall I'm quite surprised how straight forward both the papers in Irish were his year. Since it seems most people feel the same, I'm wondering now how strict the marking scheme will be. We're past the halfway point, only five more exams to go!
Joanna - Higher Level
I woke up with my stomach in a knot this morning. I was tired and had two tough exams to get through. Thankfully, it was early enough to eat, do some revision and then cycle peacefully to school, so by the time I arrived I was a lot calmer. Many thanks to Rob for his tip on Pros and Filiocht, it saved me a lot of nerves in the morning!I was hoping for a nice character question for "An Triail" and it came up (woo) so I did that first. Then Caca Milis and Colacaradh. I left the comprehensions till last and just highlighted answers in the texts, then re-wrote them in the answer booklet and had just enough time to write out good long answers for the question 6 (b) parts. I was also delighted to see Aimsir Laithreach and Aimsir Fhaistineach in the grammar sections, nothing completely strange or impossible to figure out.Overall, it was a really manageable paper and I was relieved when it was done, although my hand was kinda sore and I was starving!
Lorraine - Ordinary Level
Hey all! :)Sorry I wasn't on yesterday-crazy day! I woke up feeling really sick and not from nervous unfortunately :P Anyway I thought the papers were really nice yesterday exactly what we deserved so today, naturally enough, they had to be horrible, and I think they were! Irish Paper 2 wasn't an exam I can say that I was worried about but I, like many other ordinary level students, only studied the stories and poems that didn't come up last year. In my blissful ignorance I thought sure why would they trick us into putting last years stories this year? And as usual, I was wrong!:PI had spent a long time going over gnathrud last night because our teacher had warned us it was looking like a likely question and it did make an appearance on both mock papers! I wasn't too worried about the poetry and the reading comprehensions. The first comprehension was about Rory McIllroy and I found it easy enough. Next there was a comprehension on Hilary Clinton which was all grand. I couldn't believe my eyes though when I turned the page and saw Oisin IdTir na nOg and Hurlamaboc...I'm not going to lie I actually did check to make sure my paper was 2015. A cruel trick SEC, a very cruel trick! I decided that I'd come back to it when Id got my head around the fact that I had wasted valuable time cramming the wrong stories and I continued onto the poetry. I found the poetry fine- An tEarrach Thiar and Mo Gra Sa Idir luibini- my other prediction! The questions were very straightforward the usual themes. I turned back to the story section after I was finished the poetry and I started Hurlamaboc, I knew my Irish was bad trying to explain it but I did remember the story. Oisin was another problem though and I feel sorry for the examiner correcting it. At the end of the day, they aren't worth enough marks for me to be super upset about so you win some you lose some!! Once I don't start writing Irish during French tomorrow Ill be fine :D
Isabelle - Higher Level
I found myself quite nervous going in to Irish as, like the majority of the country, I was going in with only 2/5 covered for the prós and poetry! But thankfully, paper 2 had been just as nice as paper 1 and everyone was pleased to find colscaradh and cáca milis just had they had suspected! With very nice questions, might I add.For my studied text I did "A Thig na Tit orm", and I found the question a bit tedious. It didn't leave much room for elaboration, but I did my best with what I had prepared! The reading comprehensions were a bit repetitive, although I found the one on "One Young World" quite interesting as I had followed the story of Yeonmi Park before! I had half an hour to spare so I packed up my stuff and ran off to cram as much biology as possible!Overall, I found this years Irish papers very approachable (and predictable thank the lord).
Leah - Higher Level
Well, wasn't today just completely jam packed! My morning began with Irish Paper II, the same as many people. I was forced to rush my way out of my house when I realised I was almost late for my exam after some intense, last minute, frantic revision.I arrived at school in the nick of time and I proceeded to hesitantly open my exam paper, as I had my doubts that I expressed in yesterday's blog post on Irish Paper I. Anyway, as I opened the paper and began to flick through the paper, my smile got bigger and bigger again until I was beaming.The Léamhthuiscints were each dreamy. They were so easy, compared to my mocks! I didn't even mind the Question 6(b)'s - they were the nicest questions of those kinds I've ever seen. Even better than that was that I, for once, could actually comprehend the comprehensions.I continued on to do the question on Cáca Milis and, let me tell you, I breathed a sigh of manic relief. If the question had turned out to be on Seal i Neipeal, I would've walked out of the exam centre. And don't even get me started on how Colscaradh came up! Of my god, we were definitely one of the luckier exam years :)Finally, I went onto the last page and I wasn't too thrilled about the question on An Trial but it wasn't horrible. I was only sorry I ran out of time. Other than that though, I am absolutely delighted with Irish Paper II. Now I only have Japanese to get through in the language department and then we'll all be free to enjoy our summers! Cheers to that.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Certificate Irish Paper 1
Joanna - Higher Level
I was very anxious when we were handed the exam paper. My teacher gave us so many essays to prepare and I had so many coloured cards with all sorts of vocabulary for the exam, I knew it was all too much and reading over it was driving me crazy. I wanted to get the exam out of the way. As much as I tried to relax, I couldn't help but tremble a bit as I could finally turn over the exam paper to start the tape exam. The CD was already playing, and there was little time to read the questions. On top of that, the recordings only played twice. Thankfully, most were easy enough to get, and some of the answers were repeated two or three times within the one recording, so we had many opportunities to listen back to try and figure out the right spelling. I'm not good with accents, so I'm not sure if it was Donegal Irish or something else, but the whole middle section was definitely more difficult to understand. However, I left no blanks and think I did okay. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself to stay calm ahead of the big essay.I was relieved when we could finally look at the essay titles. I went ahead with the one about new technologies since I was looking over cyber bullying just before the exam and could only really talk about drugs and alcohol in terms of sport, which I didn't feel would be enough. Anyway, I think the amount of time given to write that one essay (compared to how tightly packed the second paper is) is ridiculous and although almost everyone was finished long before the exam, the extra time that I had left made me particularly anxious. I finished and had almost an hour to look over. On the one hand, it was nice to have time to read over my work for once during these exams, but on the other, the longer time meant that I wrote more and I'm worried that I made more grammar mistakes than I would have made if I had tried to be more concise.Caithfidh mé admháil, tá mé ar mhuin na muice anois agus an chead páipéir críochnaithe, ach tá imní orm mar i mo bharúil, tá an dara páipéir níos deacra. Beidh an scrúdu bitheolaíocht ann amarach freisin, cinnte go mbeadh sé an lá is measa de na scrúidaithe! Ach tar éis amarach, tá dhá scrúidaithe níos éasca agam, agus níl aon scrúdu agam dé hAoine. Tá plean agam dul go dtí oifig an ISSU chun dearmad a dhéanamh ar na scrúdaithe ar feadh lá amhain agus béidir dul go dtí Stephens Green ag am lón le mo chara. Ansin, caithfidh mé a lán obair a dhéanamh ar feadh deireadh seachtaine, ach beidh mé beagnach críochnaithe, mar sin, tá mé ag súil go mór leis an seachtain seo chugain! :)
Rob - Higher Level
I was apprehensive going into Irish, I had really being focusing on maths over the weekend and only knew a few main phrases for the essay. We had prepared an essay on córas oideachais as well as timpilleacht, and I had written out a piece on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean a few weeks ago.I'm quite happy with how the listening went, the accents were overall easy to understand and where I didn't know a word I just wrote what I heard. On opening the page with the essay titles I couldn't believe that Córas Oideachais had turned up again as it did in the mocks. The other essay titles were also very broad and what my friends had been preparing for, táillií uisce fit in nicely to one title I remember. There was loads of choice, I think everyone was happy with what they received.As today was my only double day of exams, I'm glad its over. It feels good to be happy with a paper, especially compared to last Friday after maths. Now for Paper 2, hoping the Prós and Dánta that are expected to come up make an appearance!
Isabelle - Higher Level
After the most horrible start to the morning with Maths 2 I found this Irish paper such a treat!The listening was by far one of the easiest I have ever done (please god don’t let it affect the marking scheme!), and the essay topics were so broad that you could nearly fit anything you had prepared in! I panicked a bit when I saw córas oideachais had appeared in the debate section as I have never written a debate before but I was banking on that education system question! However it was quite a relief to have seen that in fact it wasn’t looking for a debate as such but a “píosa caint” for a radio station! Feel slightly better about probably not counting maths now!
Leah - Higher Level
Hello and welcome one and all. Wow, I must say, Irish Paper I was extremely generous! Almost too generous, some may say... Did anyone else get a sense that Paper I was a little bit too easy? Honestly, Paper I for Irish was extremely very kind.Of course, the paper began with a good old fashioned listening - which I, for one, am grateful for. It spoke at a slightly faster than moderate pace and the different accents weren't too hard to decipher. I found part C the most difficult but it wasn't all too bad at all.The Aiste titles though! Oh my god, Question B made my day. Since Fifth Year, my Irish class had a running joke that we were all too focused on the negatives in today's society. One of those negatives that we spoke about at length were alcohol and drugs. You can imagine how happy I was to see "Alcol agus Drugaí: na fadhbanna..." come up as a topic. My one problem with it though was the fact I had so much too say that I crammed it into my first few paragraphs, leaving my conclusion somewhat dry rushed.I thought that Paper was quite a nice on to get, I'm just praying Seal i Neipeal won't come up now. I suspect it will though, seen as the first paper was so broad and nice.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.