Leaving Cert Biology

Sarah - Higher Level

I think I can hear the Hallelujah chorus... I must admit, biology is not my strongest point, so pairing it up with Irish paper 2 was a cruel blow. These were probably my two most neglected subjects, so last night consisted of two years worth of study. After a lot of tears and tantrums, I settled down for a bit of sleep, to be awoken from my rest by the sound of my alarm clock, reminding me that my study wasn't finished yet. I did a very slapdash revision of my beautiful diagrams (on flashcards!) and went to school to get a last minute look over Irish. Then, I spent exactly 85 minutes learning everything I possibly could about biology. Sadly, I only got to cover Section 1 and Section 2, but I figured I'd wing it! I don't really know what to think of the exam itself to be honest! I decided to do every question because I knew I'd have the time. I thought the question on food was nice, as was question 2 on tissues. I completely blanked for the question on the bone, so I made up lots of nice little names to accompany the diagram. I liked the ecology in question four, but I thought it was very much a case of common sense. Again, question 5 was grand, I had been expecting a lot of plants so it was do-able. The question on mutations was horrific, I had absolutely no idea what to write so I put my creativity into action and came up with some random waffling. I thought the first experiment question was mighty, I think I just wrote down the first thing that popped into my head and left it at that. The other two questions were so straight-forward that Section B just flew! After that it all went downhill... I blabbed on about the most ridiculous rubbish, but I'm hoping for pity marks. In genetics, I had a mini panic attack when I saw linkage so I just said SSYY and SsYy or something! It was a case of getting something on the page. I thought the ecology question was crazy and I used my head and wrote whatever I could using the little common sense I possess. Question 12 was lovely, just a bit of reading off a diagram really?! I made a mess of 13. Despite my amazing diagrams, I freaked and everything I had learnt turned into a bundle of confusion. I found a lot of the last two questions quite hard to understand and I didn't really know what they were looking for in some of them. Nonetheless, my biology books are now firmly shut, never to see the light of day again! In short, I found the whole paper a wee bit random. I thought some of the questions were a bit out-of-the-blue, but I must get over all of that now and go listen to some french! Hope you all found Biology okay, and I'll be back next week after Chemistry (my last exam)!! :P 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.

Leaving Cert Irish Paper 2

Aoife - Higher Level

Well that’s it, the last written Irish exam most of us will ever do, an end to the love/hate relationship. After a night full of revising every pros and filíocht, and an Triail I wasn’t too disappointed when I got the paper. It was grand was the general reaction in my school. The comprehensions were manageable; the new format where you can just take the words out of the text makes it a lot easier. However I was slightly surprised to see that they had changed the marking scheme even though they hadn’t mentioned it. Question 6 is now worth 15 marks and questions 1-5 are worth 7 marks. I was delighted to see that Hurlamaboc came up as it’s an easy text to write about. I didn’t feel much the same about an tEarrach Thiar, the questions were still alright. An lastly the an Triail question was good and suited the material that I had. Overall it wasn’t a bad paper it was a long paper however as it’s a lot to write about in the space of time that’s given. I hope it went ok for everyone, Aoife

Hugh - Higher Level

Right, Irish paper 2. Very quick overview:First Comprehension featured an element of the much-anticipated Olympic Games mixed with biographical material. The 6b question asked for your impression of the attitudes of certain segments of American society and the Olympic organisation body towards "people like" the sportsman Jim Thorpe who was of mixed European-Native American ancestry. These were given in the piece so just  required re-phrasing. Verdict = Grand!Second comprehension was a piece by an Irish journalist on life in the favelas in Brasil. Featured personal experiences, reflections and historical information, 6b asked which genre did the piece belong to and to identify two traits of this genre evident in the piece.  Verdict = Grand.Both comprehensions featured grammar questions, nothing too exhausting, it asked students to pick out examples of certain tenses etc.Prose question featured Hurlamaboc, this was widely anticipated and the question focused on the central character of Lisín and the insights we get from the extract into modern life.Poetry was in a slightly different format to the sample papers, but only slightly. It featured An tEarrach Thiar - by Mairtín Ó Direáin and we were asked about 1. The effectiveness of sounds and images in the poem. 2. To write a short biography of the poet, and 3. The effectiveness of repetition in the poem. So no big surprises  on that section.The An Trial question went down well with most students.......except for me....who managed to wrongly translate a word I've come across hundreds of times "fimíneacht"  which means hypocrisy, in my exam addled brain it meant feminism! Oh well, on to history!

ISSU Commentary

There were some new and ‘tricky’ elements in the higher level Irish paper two this morning; with the much-maligned Stair na Gaeilge consigned to ancient history, the new look Irish paper 2 held no major shocks, although it was challenging. The paper opened reasonably well with a comprehension piece about an Irish American Jim Thorpe Olympian who won two gold medals at the 1923 Olympics. Many described this as interesting.Overall, the questions based on the piece were, “fairly typical,” The final question on the piece was a new addition to the exam this year. Broken into two parts, a grammar question and an opinion piece, the question drew a varied feedback, it was broken into two parts. The grammar segment was “reasonable”, according to many, adding the opinion piece was too taxing. Some raised questions about the amount of time spent learning proportionate to the amount of marks attainable for the ’poetry and prose’ sections. There was a similar line of thought about a ten mark question from the comprehension section Gaeilgeoir Alex Hijmans, a Dutchman appeared in the subsequent comprehension piece which was an excerpt from his book, Favela. Some highlighted that a glossary might have been helpful for some of the more unusual and unfamiliar terms used. Some had problems with question 6, as asking students about the literary genre of the piece was described as ‘”unfair” by some. The prose question, on Hurlamboc, presented no great challenge and the poem, An tEarrach Thiar was anticipated. There were few complaints about the additional literature question.Ordinary level students had a good start with two “very interesting,” comprehension passages. One featured sports presenter Evanne Ní Chuillin and the other presented tennis player Daithí Ó hEithir. The questions on both pieces were typcal. The prose questions on Hurlamboc were uncommon. Students were asked 6 short questions rather than a ‘summary’ type question.The second prose question about Oisín í dTír na nÓg was more like what we have previously seen.The two poems given were Géibheann and An tEarrach Thiar. These were accompanied by short questions and questions on emotions and imagery. There were little or no complaints about these.

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

Sarah - Higher Level

After two years of frantically trying to get my head around the new project maths nonsense, I am so so sooo relieved to say WE DID IT!!! I have to say, this was definitely the exam I was most apprehensive about, but it's such an amazing feeling to have finally gotten the dreaded paper out of the way! I'll admit, I was borderline on having a heart attack at seven a.m., but thankfully, I'll never have to look at trigonometry again! :DSo... the paper. When I actually opened the paper, I was completely overcome by a feeling of disgust. Question 1 is nearly always a nice little venn diagram with some basic probability. How dare they make me write words on my first page?! But after my initial shock and horror, it was just peachy. I liked question 2, mainly because once I realised that the circles touch internally, it was ridiculously simple. Question 3 was the perfect example of the SEC ruining students lives! I was so freaked out by that damned question that I could feel myself getting really panicked, so I took another couple of drops of Rescue Remedy (i can't emphasise enough how important that stuff is for panickers like me) and I moved on to the next question.Moving onwards and upwards, question four was just Bernoulli trials- I hadn't expected such a straight-forward theory question as in part (i), but that was grand. I didn't have a problem with number 5, but I know a few people who were a thrown by it. Question 6 was the “piece de resistance”. I decided I'd do both parts, seeing as I had oodles of time to spare. When I launched into 6A, I knew the question was super easy. However, due to some cruel twist of fate, I had a total blank, and what I did after that was quite possibly the stupidest, yet most brilliant thing I have ever done. Firstly, I extended the line out past B. I bisected that 180 degree angle, and continued to bisect that angle until I got a 60 degree angle. Mad, but still correct. I had plenty of practice bisecting angles for the 15 degree one. The next little (b) part was fine, not a bother. I thought 6B was a bit of a joke for honours maths. When I reached my answer, I thought I had gone wrong as I only used up about four lines of the box under the question, never mind the whole next page.Question 7, anyone? What in the name of goodness was that??? I'm not a business student! Far from it, in fact. So what was the goal of the SEC, flinging a load of totally irrelevant jargon our way, and giving us the most ridiculous questions ever? Had they not been so carried away in trying to turn us into bankers, it would have been a decent topic for the 75 mark question, but I think they lost the run of themselves, much to the disadvantage of every student sitting the paper. So before I combust into a puff of smoke and fury, let's move on. Question 8 made me die inside (just a little). My mind was blown away by everything except for the first part of the question. “What was all that talk of errors and positions and angles?” I hear you ask. Well here's a little secret for you; I have no idea what happened. All I know is I started writing out words, words and more words, and I'm fairly sure none of them made any sense. But it's okay, it's all in the past now.In short, it was a silly, silly paper. Did I agree with it? No. Did I feel I was tested on my knowledge of maths? No. Will I be writing a strongly worded letter to the SEC? Most definitely. So, comment below so I can see if I'm the only one who felt this way. For now, I'm off to go and learn the whole Irish course. I'll be back blogging tomorrow about Biology, so I'll chat to ye again then! ;) x

ISSU Commentary

Higher level maths students banking on getting high marks in their exam will have found some aspects of paper 1 "very challenging", according some yesterday.The general feeling was that while it would be possible to get a good grade, it would prove to be very difficult to get above the average. The final parts of some questions were described as being ‘extremely challenging". Earlier parts of the questions were more manageable and had a student prepared well it would have been possible to get a reasonable grade. Many of the expected topics came up. In general the whole paper was quite tricky and some thought even the (a) parts were more difficult than usual.Question 1 on higher level gave a few people ‘the nerves’ but question 2 would have alleviated these. Parts (a) and (b) were ‘very fair’ while well prepared students wouldhave been given the chance to excel and showcase their knowledge with the (c) parts. 3c was described as ‘tricky’ for anyone uncomfortable with surds. Differentiation by firstprinciples did not come up for the second year in a row, which surprised some.

 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

Aoife - Higher Level

After the news that there was a mix up with the Irish Paper 1 I wasn’t too sure what to expect. The “back up” was deployed. Ach sin é.  When I first got the paper I was a bit apprehensive not sure what to expect. I was just worried that I wouldn’t understand the titles.The tape was difficult in some parts, with the new formatting of only hearing each piece twice it adds an extra bit of difficulty. It had the usual phone number, place names and Irish from all over Ireland. I was surprised to hear a mention of Dáíl na nÓg as I am a past member and it helped me in answering one of my questions!Next it was onto the Aiste/Scéal. I chose to do the Aiste titled “Eire an lae inniu: Tír fháilteach ocailte í.” This title was the most suited to the material I had learned as I was able to talk about both the positive side and negative using other essays and adapting the points. The other parts of the Ceapadóireacht section didn’t seem too bad, there was an Agallamh with the GAA that would have been ok also. However with the tape finished at half two that left us with just under two hours to write the Aiste etc. Most people in my year left early proving that we don’t need that amount of time for one written task.Tonight's task is revising all the Prós, Filíocht agus an Triail. Oíche mhaith! 

ISSU Commentary

Today Leaving Certificate students had Irish paper 1. Some described the topics presented on the higher level paper as ‘’uninteresting, unimaginative and, in some cases unreasonable’’ Among the essay titles was one asking students to come up with a solution to the problems in health service. and some felt that this would require very specific knowledge which many candidates simply do not have. The debate question was to many not really a debate ‘’Irish People Should be More Moderate in their Consumption of Drink and for obvious reasons would have been difficult to argue against.  However the ‘Crime’ essay suited a lot of students and was something a lot had practised. This was the first year that this type of paper was presented to candidates, with the aural element of the exam now forming an integral paper of Paper 1.The ordinary level paper was described as generally student friendly. It included an essay asking students to write about “A wonderful holiday I had”, which overlapped with a letter subject, about a holiday with your family in Australia. Other essay topics that students enjoyed included, “My days at school” and “Television – I love it”. These topics invited students to elaborate on topics that many would have discussed in their oral exam. This link is viewed by many as a major positive, and in general the paper was ‘challenging but manageable. The ‘Simpson’s rule question challenging students particularly, while the ‘survey and bar chart’ were ‘the easiest’.

 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 Geography

Aoife - Higher Level

The day after the storm arrived, after yesterdays shock on the English Paper we were left wondering would there be any surprises on the Geography Paper today. I felt prepared before I went into the exam; the countless numbers of SRPs were learned and ready to be used in whatever way possible. Also the fact that the written paper is 80% of the grade eases a bit of the pressure!When I first got the paper and looked through it I thought it was a fair paper, there were a few questions that were tricky but achievable. In the short questions the Aerial Photograph seemed to throw a few people as you had to turn it upside down and work on it from there relating to the Ordinance Survey Map of Carrick-on-Shannon. Other than that the short questions were straight forward and approachable, no surprises.The Physical Geography questions covered a wide variety from earthquakes, folding to the ever present mans interaction. However to the dismay of some of my classmates there was no option for geothermal or for the well rehearsed feature of erosion of the Waterfall. I answered question 3, it was a question about how chemical weathering creates a limestone pavement in a karst region and how folding creates a distinctive landscape.Next it was onto the Regional Geography, I was surprised to find that there was no Sketch Map of the Ordinance Survey Map as that is usually a very attainable 20 marks. In the Regional I did a question on how the physical landscape can define a region and how a primary economic activity, location, or transport has affected the development of an urban area in a European Area outside of Ireland. I felt that I was able to adapt material I had to these questions as they were quite broad.I then had the Elective to choose from, we did the Patterns and Processes in the Human Environment so I had the lovely task of choosing between 10-12. I chose to do the question which was to pick out three functions of Carrick-on-Shannon from the aerial photograph and how the development of Technology has led to the growth of population. This was a very interesting question and after a quick brainstorm I found I had plenty to write on the subject.Next it was onto the Geo-Ecology for me. The dreaded 80 marks. I was delighted to see that question 17 was asking how mans interaction has accelerated soil erosion. I had this essay in particular well rehearsed and I was very content as I finished up on my paper.

ISSU Commentary

The Euro crisis hit the Leaving Cert. yesterday as students were asked to explain the problem to examiners of the higher-level geography paper. Nearly half of all Leaving Cert students took geography at higher or ordinary level yesterday, and most reported satisfaction with the paper.In the Higher Level Paper, the regional geography section was more specific than previous years. The elective section also saw the examiner depart from the usual treatment of regular topics, the question on European Union policy and its influence on regional development required very specific knowledge, according to many. The popular geo-ecology option also featured a slight departure from the norm. There were longer sections on trade and economics, the euro crisis, greenhouse gases and geographical history. There were also several map-reading and graph-analysis exercises.Ordinary level was described as ‘as expected’

 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.