Maths P2 - #JC2017 - Diego Brule
Diego Brule - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayPaper two is the easier of the two, I said. It won't be that hard, I said. Well, this maths paper 2 was just about the most confusing maths paper I've done up to now.When I first opened the exam at 9:30, my sleepy self immediately wanted to cry at the complexity of the questions, even at the beginning at the paper. But I worked through the easy ones first: some statistics, simple volumes, simple trigonometry. I left one or two blank spaces as I moved on.As my brain was getting warmed up, the complexity of the questions seemed to disappear, and I worked through the paper ever so relaxed, until I came to a very difficult trig question and a proof that was easy but I hadn't studied recently so I just skipped it for the time being.11:45: I finish all the simple parts of the exam, having left behind three questions to look over. The challenge had begun. I did the proof which actually was very easy, and I filled in a probability question that I had left blank. Now, to the final boss, the trig question, in which I had no idea what theorem they were asking about (It was a very weird circle)How did I conquer it you might ask? I used the legendary technique of staring at it, as if was going to give me the answer. But eventually, it actually worked. After 10 minutes or so of staring at it, I noticed something that allowed me to do the maths to find out the measurement of the angle they were looking for.After all this was the easier of the two papers, its simplicity hidden away under confusing wording and contexts, and very little information. I'm pretty happy with it, and I guess it taught me: There is no such thing as a question you don't know the answer to, you just haven't stared at it for long enough#StateExams2017
Maths P1 - #JC2017 - Diego Brule
Diego Brule - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayHigher Level
Maths P1 - #LC2017 #OL- Michelle Chiperi Aivazova
Michelle Chiperi Aivazova - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayOrdinary Level
Maths P1 - #LC2017 #OL - Maeve Richardson
Maeve Richardson - St. Annes Secondary School Tipperary TownOrdinary Maths P1-So I'm someone who absolutely does not have an aptitude for maths. It's one of my least favourite subjects. I especially despise paper 1.
Leaving Certificate Maths Paper 2
Craig - Ordinary Level 
For those, like myself depending upon "construct a triangle" to come up - today was a blessing!What a relief! That paper was lovely! I was quite tight on time today as I had Irish paper 2 to study for! I'm pretty happy with that paper, they were kind to us in maths this year to be fair - there was plenty of opportunity to show off what we knew!
Ellen - Higher Level 
Was it just me or were those long questions a blessing? Seriously I was braced for one of the worst exams of my life after those short q's and then along came that beaut of a lantern. I have never loved pythagoras' theorem so much. I actually love sin and cos graphs so I was in my element with that port question (even with a shneaky bit of differentiation thrown in). Stats has never been my favourite but even I could do the final question. With 40 minutes to spare I could go back to those impossible short questions. I was as heartbroken as anybody to find that none of the constructions or proofs we had spent so long learning off by heart came up. I answered all of them, even though I had no clue what to do for some (the cos question anybody?) and how to do the raffle question is anybodies guess.Overall though, I'm quite pleased with that paper, especially in comparison with Paper 1.
Liam - Higher Level 
I must say, paper 2 could have gone a lot worse! I've always been a paper 1 kinda guy, owing to the fact I'm not the biggest fan of Stats, Probabilty or even the circle side of Geometry but aside from all that, I'm reasonably happy with maths.The first section was reasonably okay. There were some parts that were reasonably tricky and needed some time, such as the geometric circle question 2 or the Venn diagram in question 5. Those things I never really had much interest to begin with so I forgot that I didn't know them... oops.The long questions. The place where even the SatNav would get confused and lost at times was actually okay! Usually Stats always put me off but this time they were quite easy. The questions were straightforward and for once... as you'd expect to see them in the textbook!I never seem to time myself for maths, it's usually a case of doing what I like first and then.... the rest. But I figured it best to get the disgusting statistics and probability out of the was as quick as possible too, even there wasn't too much of it there!It wasn't too bad, in saying that, it could've been a lot worse!
Emma - Ordinary Level 
Maths paper two was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be!! For a girl with little mathematical capability I flew through the easier parts and like everything the harder parts took more time similar to paper one. Although it would not be right to say that it was EASY, I found it more manageable than the past few years exam papers!! Perhaps it is being in the exam hall which makes you concentrate more than at home when you are trying to figure out difficult parts!The questions on the line, the circle and the triangle caught me because it is something I failed to revise properly, but I attempted everything. I found section b much more manageable and had severe trouble with drawing that pie chart, which took me over half an hour!! Classic pass maths.Overall my final experience with maths was positive, but I was thrilled to dump the exam papers and put the maths set away!!
Cárthach - Higher Level 
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 Maths Paper 2
Kate - Higher Level 
I was somewhat dreading this paper due to my experience in maths paper one. After a disastrous maths paper one, paper two was delightful. Paper two is my stronger paper and I surprisingly dint' struggle with any of the questions. I answered the theorem question first (as it I would forget it if I didn't do it straight away). The theorem was wonderful, 'prove that all the angles in a triangle add up to 180'. Next I went back to the start and answered everything. The first question, I answered using trial and error so I may lose some marks but sure what can you do. The question on the inter quartile range threw me a little and I ended up doing two or three graphs to display my data. Other than that the paper was great. Compared to the difficult paper one, I was glad to have an easy paper to save my grade. All in all I thought this paper was wonderful and a nice follow up to paper one!
Philip - Higher Level 
I opened this paper and went straight to the theorems while I still remembered them. I have to be honest here, I almost laughed when I saw what theorem it was. I don't think anyone would disagree that we got the easiest theorem. I mean, what are the odds? (Ok its like 1 in 5 but most of the teachers in my school were predicting the pythagoras theorem proof). Anyway I think that's enough about the theorem.After that I went back to the start and worked my way through. The paper over all went well enough, there were a few questions I found though but I think they were only five markers (but it was an irrational panic because I finished with time to spare). For some reason the graph question went against me, it just didn't seem to be working out, but I think I got most of the answers on that question. I think most of the other questions were in the log tables!
Shane - Higher Level 
So, Maths is over! I could not be any happier to tell you the truth (that is until I finish TG). I feel fine about this paper. Some parts were easy, some weren’t. I was going fine until Q4 on co-ordinate geometry. I spent a lot of time studying it but still just couldn’t do it. Anyways, things picked back up after it and I was working away well. The whole feeling of this paper was also different. I sat down and started it, but everything felt quite slow. I felt like I sped through Paper 1 on Friday but this felt much longer and drawn out. I was also extremely annoyed they put the easiest theorem on the paper because I invested a ridiculous amount of time studying theorem 14 (proving Pythagoras) and then the one one the angles in a triangle adding up to 180 degrees comes up instead? Honestly, I still feel I did well but I didn’t like the format of this paper.It felt different to other years and just weird. Fingers crossed that I got the B! I will be glad to see the back of an exam year Maths class for another year. I hope you all did well in this paper and are feeling very optimistic!
Chloe - Higher Level 
Well I can start by saying I am so happy that theorem of Pythagoras didn’t come up as I was dreading its appearance and thankfully to prove that the 3 angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees did. This was my first question and it was also the beginning and end of my happiness in paper 2.I can honestly say that I couldn’t answer one question with a full notion of getting it right. I was scanning my brain for inspiration and it never came. I began with the idea that paper 2 was my ‘favourite’ but that was slowly crushed as I delved into the pages. So much for relying on it to push up my grade, now that I look back paper 1 was much more straight forward!That’s my opinion, but most of my friends were the contrary I think it was just one of those exams where things just weren’t ‘clicking’ if you know what I mean.Overall paper 2 was a disaster I stuck at it though and didn’t give up with questions easily, which I’m proud of but overall I’m disappointed with it….to say the least!!
Joe - Higher Level 
After doing poorly on paper one I was not looking forward to this exam.The exam itself wasn't as difficult as I had feared. I understood most question bar a few parts. The exam went well and the paper had no nasty surprises. 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