JC Irish Paper 1 & 2

Roisin (Higher Level Irish)

Today we had Irish, papers one and two. They weren't terrible, but they weren't exactly easy either!Paper one started with the listening comprehension, which I felt went pretty well. It was a nice surprise! The first section of the rest of the paper was the reading comprehension, which was, for the most part, pretty straightforward. I was able to understand all the questions and had a good shot at answering them all! The second comprehension was a little bit harder, and I wasn't sure of all the answers. The question where you got a paragraph and had to transpose it in to a different tense was fine because we just had to change it to the nice, easy past tense! The fill-in-the-blanks question was pretty easy too; I was able to put in a word that made sense each time. For the last section, I chose the story about a party. It wasn't a very imaginative or exciting story, but it was a page and a half with some (hopefully) good phrases so hopefully it'll be fine!Paper two was in the afternoon. It started with the ever-dreaded unseen story. It was hard as usual, probably the worst section of the whole subject for me! I chose B for the studied story, and wrote about 'An t-Adh' under the heading of 'saol faoin tuath'. I think I answered it pretty well because I had a good prepared answer. The unseen poetry was next, and I found it easier than usual. One of the poems was about a poodle! I wrote about 'Subh Milis' for the studied poetry, under the heading 'duine uaignach'. I had a good prepared answer for this as well, and I think it was fine. The last section was the letter. I chose B, the one about being away on holiday. Again, it wasn't very imaginative but I think I managed to answer all the requirements, so hopefully it will be okay!Tomorrow we have geography, which needs some looking over, and maths paper 1, which is definitely the easier of the two maths papers, so it won’t be too bad a night!

James (Higher Level Irish)

Today was the second day of the exams. This morning I was quietly confident that the day would go well as I was happy with my two English papers yesterday. I had my two higher level Irish papers to complete today.Paper 1 suited me and I managed to answer everything well. We had a long break of more than 3 hours until Paper 2 started.I thought that this paper was more challenging than the first paper and with duration of just an hour and a half, there was more to write in a shorter length of time. However, it went well and I answered all questions. I think the toughest question of the exam was the unseen poetry on Paper 2.Overall, I'm happy with my Irish exam.

ISSU Commentary (Ordinary Level Irish)

Today’s Junior Cert Ordinary Level Irish paper shouldn’t have posed too many problems for students with some nice questions based on a very clear delivered aural tape.The comprehension section was also extremely fair with a straightforward matching pictures with advertisements exercise followed by question two which consisted of on an advertisement for the National Gallery of Ireland, a safety notice for Bord Gáis and an advertisement for dolphin-spotting boat excursions and question 3 which required students to answer questions on extracts about singer and actress, Miley Cyrus, and the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne.The final section on composition was very predictable with candidates asked to write a post card home to their parents from a foreign holiday followed by an email to their father about an invite that they had received to a party.All in all, a nice paper!

LCA English & Communication

Rosemarie

First up this morning for me was English & Communication, I wasn’t too nervous to be honest - just wanted to get it over with!The exam started well with the audio visual question on enterprise, it was about a woman called Jill that was trying to set up her own business and was going around trying to get funding and advice for it. She got advice from the guy that set up Hairy Baby Clothing Co. and I hadn’t heard about that before so I thought that was cool!For my first long question, I chose the question on one of my work placements. I decided to answer it based on my placement with Waterford Youth Art. I had to discuss two of my duties, whether I thought confidentiality was important in the world of work, how it helped to prepare for the world of work and suggest advice for other students going on work placement for the first time. This question went fairly well for me... no problems anyway.In the Communications and Enterprise Section, I chose the question on the enterprise project that I did as part of the LCA programme. For my enterprise project, I was involved in organising a car wash to raise money to hold a bingo day for elderly people in the local area. For the first part of the question, I had to describe my role in the project. I liked this part of the question as it gave me the chance to talk about my role as catering manager which involved preparing sandwiches and other refreshments for the bingo day. I talked about a problem that we had with the finances for the project after that. I had a bit of a problem with the next part of the question which was about how we’d advertised our enterprise so that was probably the trickiest part of the paper for me as I found the next two sections grand as we’d covered all the stuff that was on them in class.I was just happy that it was over and I did my best with all the questions so I think it went well enough!

ISSU Commentary

This morning’s LCA English and Communications exam candidates had a nice opening to their paper with an audio visual section based on an extract from an episode of RTÉ’s, Higher Ground, a series focusing on the progress of budding Irish entrepreneurs,. The episode in question featured an Irish entrepreneur who sought advice from the owner of hairybaby.com, a very successful online business which sells clothing with quirky Irish slogans (and which offers ISSU Scholar Card holders a 10% discount!).Questions in Section 2 required students to write a letter of application and CV in response to a job advertisement, to describe one of their work placements and how it prepared then for the world of work, to give an account of their enterprise project and to extract information from a HSE informational poster on swine flu. The final question of Section 2 shouldn’t have left students feeling too much “Under Pressure” as Jedward also had a starring role with students asked to discuss their entrepreneurial characteristics among other questions.Section 3 saw students faced with questions on the takeover of online media, Hairy Baby Clothing Company got another mention with a longer feature question (again, 10% off with your ISSU Scholar Card people!), another question on the lyrics of REM’s “You Are Not Alone” and finally a question on the second Oscar nomination for Ireland’s Brown Bag Films… let’s hope “in the bag” was the verdict to be heard among students after finishing the paper!

LC Home Economics

Ailbhe (Higher Level Home Economics)

Home Ec = General FiascoI think everyone will agree that on opening the paper they flicked to the infamous Q1 Section BWhhhhaaaaaaaaat?No protein? No eggs? No fish? No Meat? What is this vegetarians’ day out?!I like so many others had fallen for the intoxicating charms of predictions. The clever creators of this paper gave me the cold turkey I needed. All i could do was grit my teeth and face up to the reality of the unlikely and much overlooked (on my part anyways) Irish Food Industry taking pride of place in Q1 Section BTurning to the short questions to stroke my hair and tell me it will be alright was not the brightest of ideas. Once again a melting pot of trouble erupted. I saw before me humectants, trypsin and polyphosphates all minor footnotes in the massive tome of the Home Ec book. What was this? An enormous shock to the system for one thing.I would like to extend my deepest condolences to everyone on their recent loss of "prediction confidence". Predictions were a good friend. They lived a long and prosperous life. They were our guilty pleasure. Much like sugary food they gave a high and then leave a bittersweet taste on the palate. Speaking of palate....what was up with "the palatable qualities of fish on cooking?" That was a fishy (sorry for the sad pun) aul question!Anyway due to that stinging blow to my expectations I am going to crack open the poetry book now. Although I am making deals with the devil that Eliot and Yeats will fill the pages of my answer booklet tomorrow, I shall trawl through Kavanagh, Rich and Boland. Although I am hoping for literary genre, cultural context will get a look in and as for our old friend Lear I'm banishing (geddit) all predictions!Good luck tomorrow guys! And don’t worry too much about the Home Ec, you know what they say difficult exam = easy marking scheme! ;)Well actually I don’t know if they do say that because I just made it up!

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level Home Economics)

Two o’clock this afternoon saw Leaving Cert Higher Level Home Economics papers being opened around the country.The short questions brought no nasty surprises with a particularly topical question on consumer credit – this appeared again in Section B with a long question on consumer debt in the current economic climate. Section B also saw students faced with questions on Irish food and drinks exports, nutritional properties of meat and the factors affecting the purchasing of meat, the fish eating habits of the inhabitants of our fair isle, food preservation and the role of the family within the state, something which has also been discussed at length in the media in recent times.Students will have been largely happy with Section 3 if they had prepared their elective well. The recession appeared again in this section under the Social Studies elective followed by a very interesting question on the purpose of education and equality of opportunity in education.On a whole, it was a very fair paper and students will have done well if they knew their stuff!

ISSU Commentary (OrdinaryLevel Home Economics)

Leaving Cert Ordinary Level Home Economics was also a very fair paper with some straightforward short questions acting as a nice warm up for the longer questions.As with the Higher Level paper, the food and drinks industry featured heavily with a particular focus on milk and its nutritional values… students were led into this question with a quote from the infamous National Dairy Council ad that many of us will recall from our younger years… “Dem bones, dem bones need calcium…”The role of meat in the typical Irish diet and food preservation also featured in the ordinary level paper with a forth question on consumer rights and the final question of Section B focusing on the topical issue of disadvantaged children, their rights and physical and psychological needs.Again Section C will have posed no major difficulties for students if they had prepared their elective well – topics featured included energy efficiency, unemployment in Ireland, childcare standards and gender inequality in the home.Overall, a very approachable paper!

Junior Cert English Papers 1 & 2

Roisin (Higher Level English)

That was a long day! Today was English papers 1 and 2, which meant an awful lot of writing! My heart was racing as I opened the paper to my first ever state exam! But I wasn't as bad as my friend in front of me! He had felt sick with nerves the entire morning, and when he was given his paper he looked like he was about to be sick! Paper 1 was definitely easier; I didn't really run into any problems there. The reading section was probably the hardest part of the paper, an autobiography by Edge from U2. The personal writing went well, I think, with a nice, varied selection to choose from, including 'A talent I would love to have’, 'My most useful possessions' and the one I chose, 'The beauty of quiet places'. The functional writing was predictable, there was a choice between an article about a sporting event for a school magazine(I chose this one) and an article for a music magazine about a talent show in no more than 150 words. The last section in paper 1 was the media section and we had a choice of comparing two advertisements or answering questions on one advertisement. I choose the first option! Overall, I think paper one went well!Paper 2 was quite a bit harder and I was tight for time at the end. I chose the 'other drama' instead of the Shakespearean drama; they're always easier to understand! For the studied drama I answered the question on the powerful closing scene, choosing the last scene in Romeo and Juliet. This was probably the hardest part of the exam for me because I find it really hard to remember quotes from Shakespeare! I think the poetry section was probably the easiest part of the paper, the unseen poem was fairly straight forward and I answered the studied poetry question about a poem with an important issue with 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen. The unseen fiction was quite tricky but I think it'll have been alright. The questions for studied fiction were a novel with an unexpected development or how well you would rate a novel you have studied and why. I chose the second one and wrote about 'Of Mice and Men'. I think I answered it pretty well because there was a lot to write about!Irish papers 1 and 2 are tomorrow, which is definitely one of my toughest subjects and I'm pretty nervous about it! I think it maybe a long night with several cups of coffee needed!!

James (Higher Level English)

Well that's the first day of the Junior Cert over and done with. I'm very happy with both of my English papers as they went well and I answered every question required. The nerves were at me this morning but as soon as I opened that first paper I began to relax.While swiftly reading over the paper I grew in confidence as the questions suited me and all the study I had done. I managed all four sections on Paper 1 without much difficulty. I had to write much more on Paper 2 but this didn't prove to be too tough as I had learned off many notes, phrases and quotations. For me, Section 1: Drama, on Paper 2 was the toughest question of the exam, but I got over that one too so happy days!Overall, I'm satisfied with how today went and I hope tomorrow goes just as well. Back then, James.

ISSU Commentary

Coming soon.

Thoughts on LC English Paper 1

Ailbhe (Higher Level English)

Nerves attacked this morning. I didn’t know what do to with myself. Surprisingly Elbow's, One Day Like This, actually helps a lot! Somehow I found myself at the exam hall. My desk was over by the wall. Great something to prop me up and not many distractions. Answer booklet sitting on my desk. Seconds diminishing towards 9.30 on the clock. Students in various forms of panic/calm around me. Get paper. Open paper.Flick immediately to the essays. Gosh darn it I couldn’t conveniently slot in my prewritten composition. I scan the titles muttering prayers under my breath. First one: acting, theatre. Might as well have been on Mars for all I knew about it. Second prospective candidate: neighbors. I'm not even on first name terms with mine. Scrap that. Getting slightly panicked. Third title: short story. Automatic sensors in my brain scream "AVOID AVOID, ABORT MISSION!!".And then the fourth one arrived. The beautiful uncomplicated essay on freedom. Wow perfect!So off I trot a bit of brainstorming here and there, you know yourself! Stick in a few quotes, they'll do the job. Happy out!The question B was even better. The importance of reading. I couldn't have asked for better.Comprehension, little tricky, but I think Al Gore and I saw eye to eye in the end!All in all, finished the paper with an hour to spare. Paranoid I had forgotten to do some vital component I went through the paper in a bit of a frenzy. But no I had successfully completed English Paper 1. I sat there in a vague sense of happiness, pen in hand happily illustrating my essays with comas apostrophes and other fun things like that that had escaped my in my vigour for getting my ideas on the page unscathed.It’s over now. Congratulations!! Here’s hoping for Eliot to pop in for a chat tomorrow!! :D

Owen (Higher Level English)

Wow finally D-Day has come... the official start to exams, now one step closer to FREEDOM!After having a slightly restless sleep due to the nerves and excitement of finally getting started, I was up early and raring to go.I had myself focused and was feeling confident about millin’ these exams out of it! All my hard work had come down to this, now it was time to show them what I was made of... although of course the old nerves were still in there somewhere!Well em… so I had a bit of hiccup with the paper, I was given paper 2 instead! Haha... only joking we all got paper 1 and a fairly nice paper it was too, I have to say and so everyone who sat the paper in Lucan Community College would agree. I found it had a great deal of variety that left plenty of room for your own individual take on things.I, myself chose the Section A about Al Gore, as I find myself experienced in speech writing having taken part in the Concern Debates for the past 2 years. I then moved on to Section B of Text 3, the radio talk about the importance of books in our lives and today's world. I enjoyed this piece as it gave me a chance to add in some humour. Lastly, I chose the composition piece on the speech to one’s graduating class which required me to encourage my audience to be optimistic about the future, again putting my debating skills to good use so I thought it went fairly well.Timing seemed to be a bit of an issue and I gave myself a little fright when I ended up only finishing my Section A at 10:45! However, I did manage to make up time and finish the exam with just enough time to give the paper one quick read over and correct any mistakes.The overall consensus from my exam centre was one of satisfaction, self-confidence and success... a good start to the Leaving Cert of 2010, I think. Well, so I hope anyway!Now off to study for paper 2.... my poor hand!:(

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level English)

Thousands of students across the country can now breathe a sigh of relief as many have at least one completed paper under their belts.Higher Level English paper 1 was handed out FACE-UP in all exam centres this morning thankfully avoiding a repeat of last year’s exam leak! Its theme, "The Future", could be said to have instilled a feeling of optimism in students as they began to tackle the paper, giving them some indication of light at the end of the tunnel and life after the Leaving Cert. The first comprehension text was based on an interview with Seamus Heaney; the Nobel Prize winner was tipped to appear on the paper in some form following the celebrations of his 70^th birthday in 2009, while Al Gore’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech and an extract adapted from Ray Bradbury’s, Farenheit 451, featured in the second and third texts respectively. The Section A questions were definitely manageable although tricky in places while the Section B questions were very approachable across the board with students given the option of writing a letter or the text of an interview or radio talk.The composition section had some comparatively difficult titles to offer students when past papers from recent years are taken into consideration. However as usual students were given titles that spanned various writing styles so there was bound to be something to suit everyone.Keeping in mind its theme of “The Future”, students that may not be so sure that their efforts will be as fruitful as they had dreamed shouldn’t lose hope – no matter what happens over the next few weeks, with perseverance and determination, goals can still be reached!

ISSU Commentary (Ordinary Level English)

Students up and down the country sat down to “Facing Danger” glaring up at them as the theme of this morning’s Leaving Cert Ordinary Level English paper 1 – they couldn’t be blamed for feeling slightly uneasy about what kind of questions faced them over the page with a title like that greeting them! However Section 1 brought comprehensions on the adventures of international athletes, an extract from Tim Severin’s, The Brendan Voyage, and a question based on four images without any particular deadly surprises. The Question A parts of all questions were straightforward providing students engaged well with the texts so nothing too alarming here or in the Question B parts which gave students the option of writing the text of a talk, a competition entry or a promotional piece for a website. Having made it through Section 1 unharmed, students were left with the choice of seven titles for the composition section. However this shouldn’t have proved to be too treacherous as a nice variety of titles were given allowing plenty of scope for the imagination. Overall, students should have made it safely through paper 1 and will just have to wait and see what dangers face them on paper 2 tomorrow….

And so it all begins....

English Paper 1, 9.30. It's started, the tables are in nice neat lines, the clocks are set - papers have been handed out, the work is done - best of luck to all examination candidates from the ISSU team. :) You can do it, just remember you goal and never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about it..... everything always falls into it's place "eventually"..... remember issu.ie is the best place to stay up to date with all the exam news and goings on.

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