Junior Cert CSPE

Katelyn

Well, as expected, C.S.P.E. was a breeze. The very first question in Section 1 was shockingly easy as it was only matching names to faces. It was plain sailing right through to the end of Section 1 after that. Common knowledge would have got you by on them. 

Section 2 again was effortless. I did question 1,2 and 4. Taking the information from the leaflet was very obvious and the questions about our own opinions were manageable enough. 

For the final section, Section 3, I did question 1 which involved an invitation. The invitation was a piece of cake and I added a lot of colour to ensure I got my 6 marks. The final 2 questions were very straightforward. Overall, it was a very exam that wasn't stressed over and I am proud to say I stayed for the whole allocated time. Time Well Spent!

Mark

 Well there's not a huge amount to say about CSPE, it was short and sweet. Selecting the names of Michael D. Higgins, Barack Obama, José Manuel Barroso and Ban Ki Moon and putting them with their faces was easy. No bother with filling in the blanks full marks their too. The reading comprehensions were very simple although I think some questions weren't exactly about giving your opinion and more so giving an opinion that was deemed appropriate. CSPE as a whole isn't really about educating people in civics and stimulating debate. CSPE is just easy marks and there weren't any surprises, the exam isn't even vital as you get most of your marks for your action project report. At least maths paper 2 (and 1 for that matter) of project maths phase three were easy too. So far it's all going well, business studies tomorrow. 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 Irish Paper 1

Sheila - Higher Level

 The night before my Irish paper one exam I completely neglected all other subjects to focus on it because I felt there are such a random selection of essays that can come up. I woke up three times last night having had nightmares I would go in open the paper and be able to do nothing. Looking back now I realise I was prepared for it.The tape was the first section of the paper. It was far easier than the mocks with only one or two questions proving a little difficult but even then I managed an answer. I have heard from others that they struggled with the tape but all told me they hadn't ever really practised it so it shows that practise is necessary. The only problem with the tape is you only hear it twice but the breaks between each playing are so short that you hardly have a chance to read the questions before the next section starts. I spent some of the first round of listening trying to read the questions which was annoying. Apart from the bad timing allocation it was a great tape.The essays this year were varied and very broad allowing you to talk about almost anything you had prepared. I was so happy when i flicked through the paper and saw eimirce one of the few essays I had really focused on. I was able to bring in all I had done on the total as well so I was really happy. The other essays I wouldn't have been as comfortable with but I have heard many of my friends saying they tackled An Timpeallacht agus Realtai sport so I guess we all picked what suited us.Overall I am delighted with paper one and I think it went far better than expected.Best of luck tomorrow everyone. Here's hoping the Dis does not come up.Go n-eiri an bothar leat.   

Nathan - Ordinary Level

  This paper started off badly as I lost concentration because of a disruption so i was off to a bad start with the Aural but I eventually caught back up and answered the questions.  They weren't the best in the best in the world but they weren't too bad either. then came the Sceal agus Litir which honestly I don't' think I could have asked for a better 2 questions the only things the I studied and hoped that would come up came up. lets hope paper  is as nice in the morning    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 2

Nathan - Ordinary Level

  Well to say that was a horrible paper would be the understatement of the year.  I opened the paper and honestly don't think I've ever felt so nervous about an exam paper it was just horrible.  Project maths why do you hate me!  Thank god I never have to sit another Maths paper ever again wooooo!  

John - Higher Level

 Despite the controversy, I see no-one’s blogged on this paper here yet. Well, better change that, eh? So, the teachers get their revenge on project maths. They took their punishment over the last couple of years. They had to teach courses that were totally foreign to them. They scratched their heads like the rest of us at the bizarre questions that were thrown up, while trying to reassure us that ‘nothing like that’ll come up on the leaving cert’. And now that the enemy has displayed a chink in its armour, they pounce. In the SEC’s defence, the error in Q8 (a) would have had a minimal impact on any student’s approach to the exam (I certainly didn’t notice it, nor did any of my friends). The way the question was set up, you used your trigonometric ratios/sin rule/cosine rule to find the missing sides and you moved on. Only if you were paranoid enough to attempt to verify your calculations using an alternate method would you have discovered any discrepancy. I had more of a problem with how part (i) was phrased. Without the word ‘perpendicular’, there were a range of distances possible. Still, it’s sloppy. If the SEC can’t design a triangle that can exist in the real world, it hardly fills you with confidence, does it? Apart from that, I thought it was a fairly nice paper. I think I managed to conquer ‘that fecking arbelos’ (as it’s now affectionately known), and the long stats/prob question was almost therapeutic. That wasn’t my opinion exactly when I opened the paper however. The very first question had me cursing the new course. ‘Explain a sample space.’ Well, it’s kinda......y’know... To add insult to injury there was a perfect example of what I was trying to define staring at me from the bottom of the page. I think I ended up writing something along the lines of ‘that yolk down there’ to supplement my shaky definition. Question 2 on plants and growth hormones was typical of project maths: weird. It was less than crystal clear what they wanted you to do with their normal distributions, but I think I gave them what they wanted. Overall, I’m delighted with how the two papers went, and I must admit, a small part of me will be sad to see the back of the weird and wonderful world of project maths. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see the question in the edco sample paper on the cup of tea/telephone).  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.

Junior Cert Maths Paper 2

Asha - Higher Level

  A great finish to maths after that paper 1, it was even better. Not a single theorem came up, I had to check, double check and triple check before I was sure. Annoying the way you got a fraction of a person but meh. It was so easy I finished in an hour and a half and looked over it for an hour. :)  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

John - Higher Level

 What a relief! This was the unknown element, the paper that had never been examined before, and that never will be examined again in this exact format. Thankfully, and somewhat unusually for Project Maths, the SEC decided not to serve us any curveballs in what I found to be a very approachable paper. The material matched that of the sample papers (apart from one sequence/series question), which was fortunate.Any initial nerves I had were settled by a fairly straightforward complex numbers question, which helpfully asked you to verify provided answers, rather than find your own. This was followed by questions on algebra and logs that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the junior cert a few years ago.  Many people (myself included) were apprehensive about financial maths, which reared its ugly head in q4. This surprised me, given that the sample papers appeared to point to it being examined as either q5 or 6 (which are worth twice as many marks as each of the first four questions). As a result, it was a reassuringly basic task that didn’t ask too much of the student. The two questions in the ‘Contexts & Applications’ section were on algebra and sequence/series respectively, and required significantly more attention than the other questions. The first required you to examine the effect of ticket pricing on attendances, and went some way to explaining why Croke Park keep their prices so high at the expense of empty seats. I managed to battle my way through that one (was it me, or did we need to use differentiation there?), until the last part, which I came frustratingly close to working out before the time elapsed. The sequences question required some looking at from various angles, and I was delighted with myself when I finally cracked parts (c) and (d). The calculus section of the paper was quite friendly (I thought so anyway), particularly the integration.Overall, I’m delighted to have paper 1 out of the way, and I can only hope its relative lack of surprises doesn’t mean we’re in for a stinker of a paper 2! 

Sheila - Ordinary Level

 I felt that I needed to blog about the Ordinary Maths paper because to my absolute shock I was able to answer every question on the paper. As maths is my only pass subject I completely sidelined it for the past two years doing minimal work and just counting on my junior cert honours maths knowledge to get me through. But some one out there was feeling very nice this year. Not only were the English style question approachable but they often spoon fed you formulas and offered alternatives to attacking the question if you were unsure. I really felt quite spoon fed. I'm not complaining though the easier ,the better, for all of us ! I only need to pass maths but if paper two is as nice as paper one I may do a lot more than pass it as I'm sure many other people will. Please be nice to us in paper two, some constructions would be great! Fingers crossed.  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.

Junior Cert Maths Paper 1

Asha - Higher Level

  Quite enjoyed this paper. Maths being one of my favourite subjects and all I was glad to start it. The parts a were well easy this year a percentage to start! And c was a good old start interest and end, question 2 I got through fine, 3 and 4 as well as 5 and 6. Although I'm told that some found 6 difficult not sure why, it was straight forward really. 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.