Junior Certificate Music

Jane - Higher Level

After being delighted with my music practical I had looked at my whole music situation fondly, that was, until I walked out of science on Thursday and didn't open a music book until last night. I think everyone else being on their holidays had definitely made me feel less stressed about music.After a big study session I went to bed last night very worried. I didn't want to let my teacher down who I get on very well with. It wasn't that bad, I have to say. Set songs were fab, the William tell overture came up, which I kind of rambled with when talking about what made the music sound like rain drops and wind. (Study the hell out of set works second years!!)Irish music was okay too, although again I kind of stretched it when talking about The Corrs, because I literally don't know anything about them. Dictation was well, dictation. It's never been my favourite question and I bet I did horribly in it but anyways. I haven't looked at a book for choice works or songs since about may I'd say but I actually got it right (miracle) the listening part of 5 was pretty hard too. The rest was a breeze, I was happy with all the melody writing etc.If I could do it again I definitely would not have left it until the night before, I hope my procrastination doesn't drag my grade down on my practical.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Design & Communications Graphic

Rob - Higher Level

And so my final exam came. I've always liked DCG but skewed lines and dihedral angles can give me trouble sometimes, and these were all over the paper today! I only managed to get three of the short questions done and I know I didn't do one fully correct, so I'm a little worried I may have lost a grade there.The roads question was straight forward enough, however I found the part saying two lines were level confusing. We're they just level individually or both at the same level? I chose what was easier to draw so hopefully this will pay off.I found some of the final parts in the other questions challenging. I managed to do 5 long questions altogether which I'm quite happy with.After an absolutely diabolical chemistry exam, I'm glad I finished my leaving cert on a more positive, reassuring note. Overall I'm a little disappointed, I feel I was really burned out this week in particular. If ever there is proof that our current system needs changing, it's after seeing the amount of stress the current leaving cert causes. If continuous assessment was more widely used, I know I would have gotten better grades and more points.Let's hope we're all happy in August!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Chemistry

Joanna - Higher Level

I don't want to say cram, but I definitely did some intense revision this morning. It felt good, got a lot of higher level experiments refreshed and definitions that I knew but just needed to go over. I always get this good feeling going into chemistry exams and then I open the paper, realise that I can only do like 4 questions (we need to do at least 8) and then panic sets in. This afternoon, I decided not to look at the whole paper until I had the 3 experiment questions done to reduce the possible panic.Well, the experiments were predictable. Sodium thiosulfate titration, the new experiment on the course and water. Grand. I found question 4 really nice and loved question 5 which is always kinda about the history of chemistry and Bohrs atomic theory. I can't remember all the topics, but as I flicked through the rest of the paper and realised I could make a reasonable attempt at a total of 9 questions, I was chuffed.I went on, skipping the organic chemistry which I didn't like and I found the options in questions 10 and 11 really manageable, especially the atmospheric chemistry question which I was a little nervous about.Overall, I know I didn't ace this paper, but I don't need chemistry for points or as an entry requirement, so I'm looking for an alright pass in it. After today, I feel I will be happy enough with whatever comes out in August, so fingers crossed! :)

Dáire - Higher Level

I spent all morning revising, or at least attempting to revise. My concentration was broken by the thoughts of the post leaving cert celebrations. I got to revise a few key topics.The paper was rough enough. I wasn't really prepared very well for the experiments that came up, and the rest of the paper was dodgy enough to be honest. I had been anticipating an A2, but given how that exam went, I'll be lucky to scrape a B, I think.That being said, there were simple parts to every question that I enjoyed, but there were other parts that were rotten. I attempted every question out of desperation, I didn't feel comfortable doing just the bare minimum because I wasn't sure of any of them.Obviously I am delighted to be finished, but my happiness is kind of hindered by how badly the exam went. I'm looking forward to getting my results in August, and I hope that the exams went better than I feel they did, especially chemistry. As one of my 'strongest' subjects, I'm bitterly disappointed with it.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate Accounting

Rob - Higher Level

If there is a way to NOT do a Leaving Certificate exam, I did it today. I was revising theory up until twenty minutes before my exam and on reaching my exam centre I saw a big group of third years clutching T-squares. Presuming they were now using our exam centre, I moved down to the other sixth year centre and sat down with my classmates. The paper and exam booklets were handed out, I skimmed through the pages and was happy enough to see the topics I had revised were there. It was then I was called out of the exam centre as I was in the wrong one - 5 minutes into the exam. I raced down the hall with the stationery I had on my table (including a biro running tediously low on blue ink) and then had to restart the exam in this exam centre. Great start Rob!I decided to start myself off on depreciation, a topic I've always liked. This year the question had a few extra parts including having a scrap value of 5%. I took this into account and filled out my table and in my exam state I began to convince myself I was going wrong somewhere. Even though it said to round to decimals, I convinced myself I was going wrong and so abandoned the question.I was now 20 minutes into an alright tight time-wise exam without having a single question done. I ended up racing through the rest of my questions. My cash flow didn't balance and I ended up doing Question 5 (which I usually avoid like the plague).On a more positive note, I was quite happy with my tabular statement and question 9. The theory on all questions was what I had been expecting, so hopefully I've gained marks there.Overall I'm quite disappointed with this exam. I knew the information but on the day I made bad choices and panicked under time constraints. I had been looking for an A1 with Accounting, but right now I'd be happy with a B in any form.2 more exams left, I'm feeling a little disheartened and burned out after all that. Let's hope Chemistry is nice (it never is!) :)

Dáire - Higher Level

The accounting paper was okay. I answered questions 1, 5, 7 and 9.Question 1 was a company final account, I was delighted when I saw it, being the easiest. That being said I still didn't get it to balance, I was a fair bit off. The interpretation of accounts question, question 5, was standard enough. Nothing unusual about the cash budget, question 9, or the incomplete records, question 7.I started with question 9 to build up my confidence because I'm not great at accounting. I like the cash budgets. I then did question 1, I still have never balanced one on my own. I took a good while to do those questions and I put myself under pressure to get the last 2 done in time. Thankfully, I got all the questions answered and hopefully mostly correct.I feel the exam went well, but I would advise for prospective students to set a time plan and follow it. There really isn't much time to spare in the allocated 3 hours. I was flat out until the end, and I was conscious of being the only person in the room for the last hour.I was prepared for everything that came up, which was relieving, to say the least.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Leaving Certificate German

Rob - Higher Level

My final language exam! I had prepared what I could going into the exam, revising some vocabulary for each topic. German has a habit of being notoriously difficult to predict, and this year was no different by any means.The first comprehension was surprisingly accessible, describing an old woman who has a dream of flying. Usually this is where I lose marks, however I was quite happy with it. On reading the second comprehension I was surprised to find it harder than the first, I couldn't translate all the vocabulary for the English questions. The grammar question was straightforward enough and a repeat of what we've seen in previous years.I chose the Außerung sum Thema about your friend wanting to be a pop star. I said he should follow his dream but maybe get a part time job too! The follow on questions I linked into what I had learned about engineering for my oral, so I'm happy enough with how I did here.The letter. Where did those topics come from? I found myself borrowing a lot of vocabulary and verbs from the letter itself, especially about the second hand clothing. The SEC really did choose random topics, bringing in a bit of feminism to the sports question and asking which country out of Germany, Austria and Switzerland I'd prefer a language assistant from and why. I have never seen a written paper like that before, and so am not sure how well I did.The listening test was completely different to what I've heard before too. I was shocked to find myself with just 3 answers written down in Section 1 after the second listening. Thankfully the other parts were a bit easier than this one, but overall I'm a little disappointed with the aural.It'll be interesting to see how they vary the marking scheme!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Junior Certificate Religion

Gearóid - Higher Level

I came into the exam after a long science and a two and a half hour lunch, I wandered into the religion exam hoping for the best. I started with the short questions which I found quite simple. The picture question was the same as usual, and the document was somewhat easier than earlier years.In the long questions, I did the Communities of Faith, Question of Faith, Celebration of Faith, and The Moral Challenge questions. I found I had the ability to complete these. Sadly I didn't realise the time passing and I had spent one hour at these.As the long question worth seventy marks, I had only left fifteen minutes to complete this. I wrote slightly over one page on question one on Northern Ireland which incorporated the two Christian denominations of Catholicism and Protestantism.Overall, I enjoyed this paper, not too different to the past papers, I hope it shows in September.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.