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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.

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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

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Junior Cert Maths Paper 1

David - Higher Level

Hi all, I know paper 1 was on Friday, but I wanted to leave my Maths blog until I had done them both!Paper 1 was the hardest paper one in my opinion so far. I had done all the exam papers from 2011-2004, and I had even done the 2012,2009 and 2007 mocks and I thought this paper was the hardest, but I suppose it goes by your strengths and weaknesses'. Q1 Went grand and there were no surprises - I flew through it.Q2 and Q3 Were harder for me, I'm good at algebra but I thought these questions were more complicated than usual. Q4/Q5/Q6 were tough, but nothing out of the ordinary, I don't mind functions so it wasn't too bad, but these questions I took the most time on and I think, did the worst on, for me they were just harder.

Jack - Higher Level

Maths used to be my weakest subject (well, among them anyway) but after today I feel really proud! After a quick read of boards.ie, it seems I am one of few who found the Paper easy.When the paper was handed out and I had a quick scan. Not too bad at first glance and I headed straight in to Question 1. Part A was quite easy, as A parts tend to be. Part B was also fairly easy. Part C, (i) and (ii) were very easy. However, (iii) caught me out. I just tried it and left it. Attempt marks, for the win!Next came Question 2. To my delight, Venn diagrams were not a C part! Part A was very easy. Part B... Venn diagrams... my old enemy. I've always struggled with them, but this felt like something out of Ordinary level, to be honest. Next came Part C. I needed a while to get it around my head, but after that it was grand.Next came Question 3. Part A was a tad confusing and I ended up guessing in the end. Scientific notation isn't my strongest part of Maths. Part B was fair enough. I made a very foolish error in (i). I thought 3 x 3 = 6! I was stumped for ages until I realized my error and fixed the question. Part C. Ah, Question 3, part C, how I hate thee. It turns out (after asking on boards.ie) that I was sooo close. I used - instead of +. Attempt marks shall do. I spent a good 45 minutes in total trying to work that out!Question 4 came next. Parts A and B were generic and quite easy. Part C gave me some trouble but after trying multiple times, I got it! I continued on to Question 5. Nothing I had not seen before. I flew threw Parts A, B and C. It was all very familiar.Question 6 came up last. Part A was grand. Part B was difficult to begin with but once I got my head around it, it was grand. Part C was a little confusing. I kind of made some educated guesses on how to do it!Overall, Paper One was quite easy, in my opinion. Maybe that's just me. I see a lot of people found it very hard... Even a friend of mine who loves Maths found it hard. So maybe it went well for some, horrid for others. Now to chill out for this weekend! Well... cram for French, I guess!

Lorraine - Ordinary Level

Hey guys! Lorraine here and I'm just home from doing Ordinary Maths Paper 1!The Exam started at 2pm and it finished at 4pm! I went in to the exam confident, I much prefer the topics on paper 1 to those on paper 2! Now? I'm in between! :P I found some of the questions really hard to figure out how to do, and for the life of me I could just not figure out how to do Q4 C - parts i and ii! It was all about - Conor bought a book for y and a jersey for 4y+6 euro. His total sum was 61 euro. I just couldn't figure out how to do it and I went over it a lot! I finished the exam at about 10 past 3! A few people had already gotten up and left but I was determined to leave feeling satisfied so I kept going over my paper.Instead of a bar chart or line graph we had to do a graph of a function question. There was only a small question on tax that I found simple enough! My graph of a function for Q6 did not look right so I re-did all of my functions and they were all right, then I re-did the graph on the spare sheet you get and it was still the same as the other graph so fingers, toes and legs crossed that it was right!Overall, I found the paper OK. I'm hoping I at least got a C in it! I'm not looking forward to paper 2 but I have the whole weekend to practice for it! I know I wasn't alone in finding paper 1 hard but lets hope that paper 2 is better! :) The weather definitely helps in the exams, I feel so much better knowing that even though I'm stuck doing exams I'm not missing out on much outside because no body else can go out either! :)I hope everyone thinks they did good in the paper 1 and Good luck for Paper 2 :)

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Junior Cert Geography

Clara - Higher Level

This paper was a huge relief if I'm being perfectly honest! After being stressed to the maximum about it last night, ("Oh no-there's too much to study!"), I was so happy when I opened this paper.Short questions: These were fairly simple and it was the usual format - ie 20 questions with choices between two for 3 of the questions. There were only 4 short questions on the map/aerial photograph and they were easy. No curved line distance or anything!Long answer questions: When I first look at these I almost cried and then had heart palpitations! BUT, after reading through all of them twice I calmed down and circled every section I knew I could do well then chose from that. I answered Q.1, Q.4 and Q.5 which was about rainfall, freeze-thaw action and volcanoes. The only part that threw me a little here was the question on rainfall as I wasn't expecting it to come up, and I had anticipated that if it did the question would be on relief rainfall. I used my common sense though and I could remember the basics of it.Q.4 was a nice little one with mostly opinion-based writing. It was on world cities, industrial activity and the north-south divide. I loved that it asked about the "changing role of women in industry" as I meant I could just have a rant! A very enjoyable question indeed.Q.5 was pretty much what I had expected for the aerial photography and maps question. The sketch map was basically OK, I knew what I was looking for when they were asking for evidence of historic settlement and I was pleasantly surprised that a question on the reasons for tourism in the area!Overall a pretty agreeable paper and I hope everyone feels they did quite well on it. Good luck with maths!

Lorraine - Higher Level

Hey guys! Lorraine here just talking about the Geography exam because I have the spare time and I'm actually happy with it! :) I actually found the Geography exam grand! I was a bit worried going in because I did want to do well in this and there is a lot to learn for it!I went over all my notes a lot last night! I got 63% for this in the Mocks which is good for me :D I'm hoping to get the same again if not more! The Short Questions?! These are the ones I'm always hopeless at! I'm used to getting zero on these and for once I am very happy with them! I could answer everything and I was delighted! I found them great this year- Thank the lord!The short answer questions took me 30 mins to do so I felt the pressure to get my 3 long questions done in an hour and a half. I made myself stick to 30 mins each for these, 10 mins for A, 10 for B and etc :) The Long Answer questions?! When I first opened them up I have to admit, I did panic. I could do bits of almost each question but not a full question if you get me? In the end I looked at each question and I ticked off the bits I could do on each and started. Question 1 was grand I could do the whole lot it was just like volcanoes and frost mechanical weathering! I was very happy with that! Then I skipped straight to Q5 and did my ordnance survey map - I had to sketch it and I am not great at that but I actually for once think I did a OK job on it! They asked us about 3 tourist attractions for Carrick on Shannon (that was the map we were given) and we could choose from the OS map and the aerial map which was grand! There was a lovely little port function! :D Then I did Q4 which was grand too! It was about the roles of women and overpopulation and 2 results of this and all!

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Leaving Cert English Paper 2

Hugh - Higher Level

So, the dreaded paper 2. My single text was Hamlet; comparative texts were “Dancing at Lughnasa”, “Casablanca” and “The Kite Runner”. In terms of poets I prepared Heaney, Larkin and Plath, in order of preference.I answered on part 1 of the Hamlet question which required a discussion of “Hamlet’s madness, whether genuine or not, adds to the fascination of the character for the audience.” This meant combining previous essays on Hamlet’s madness and his appeal and was relatively manageable. The second part required a discussion of techniques employed by Shakespeare to convey a world of corruption; in short it was a horrible question that most students seem to have run a mile from.The comparative was interesting this year, with a much more prescriptive set of questions than previous years. That said the first question which dealt with how the reader’s attitude to a central character can shape the general vision and viewpoint wasn’t that bad in hindsight, it just required tweaking of material most students would have covered at some point. Part two of the general vision and viewpoint was an “aspects of narrative” question, in other words literary genre dressed up as general vision and viewpoint. This sort of question seems to be the way the comparative is going, it caused a slight hiccup the last time it came up but hopefully people were able to handle it because after the prescribed poetry shock “I’m getting to it” we needed something to keep us going! Unseen poetry asked for an interpretation of the title “The Beautiful Lie” and to choose one image that appealed to you from the poem. The second part was a straight-forward personal response question.Prescribed poetry was the biggest shock since the “Boland episode” of 2010. Most students had anticipated Plath and Heaney, Heaney hasn’t been on for nearly ten years everyone said, Plath is definitely due to come up. Unfortunately far too many people fell into the trap of just preparing the two most anticipated poets, in the end neither of them came up and we were left with a choice between Thomas Kinsella, Adrienne Rich, Phillip Larkin and Patrick Kavanagh. The questions themselves were again much more prescriptive than previously. Overall this was a much more difficult paper than we would have seen about 10 years ago, with prescriptive questions almost eliminating the possibility of just producing a learned off answer and an unpredictable prescribed poetry section. In short, the minister got his way; the exam is no longer “student friendly” the S.E.C. has put an end to “playing nice” with students.Now on to Maths!

Katarzyna - Higher Level

Well... English is finally finished. My arm is very sore but I suppose that it is a good sign as it shows that I gave it my best shot!Yesterday, I listened to the radio and all the students that were questioned expressed their hopes that Plath would come up. My friends were almost certain that Plath and Heaney would be on. So today when I got the paper, the first thing I looked at was the prescribed poetry. Kinsella, Rich, Larkin and Kavanagh. I looked around and was horrified by the responses of some of the students sitting near me. However, I was lucky because I love Adrienne Rich but I felt so sorry for those that miserably stared at the paper as if they couldn't believe their eyes. The poems that I referred to in my answer were "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers", "Storm Warnings", "Living in Sin" and "Power". The question was quite nice and suited the poems that I had learned.Then I moved on to unseen poetry which was very nice. The poem was called "The Beautiful Lie" written by Sheemagh Pugh. It was a very accessible poem and the questions were also fine.Next, I looked at the single text. I studied "Dancing at Lughnasa" written by Brian Friel. The two questions were quite fair, but the second about the male characters in the play suited me better. I discussed Gerry Evans, Father Jack and Michael Mundy. I did not fully agree with the statement and I gave my personal opinion on each character. I studied this play a lot and I really knew it inside out so hopefully I will have done well in this section!Lastly, the comparative. 'General Vision and Viewpoint' and 'Literary Genre' came up. I answered Question 1 on General Vision and Viewpoint. The question asked us to discuss how the attitude towards the central character shapes the General Vision and Viewpoint of the texts. The texts that I had studied were "Inside I'm Dancing", "Hamlet" and "Oedipus the King". The question was very fair and I was glad that I managed to answer it in the time left. Timing was very tight and I wish that I had a little bit more time to think. I can't write really fast and an extra half an hour would definitely have taken some of the pressure off. However, I still think that over all it was a nice paper, with the exception of the poetry, which disappointed many people.It's done now. We'll never have to do it again. Recently I learned that it is better never to look back so if any of you are disappointed, don't let this one paper influence the rest of your exams! Best of luck to all sitting maths and geography tomorrow!

ISSU Commentary - Dylan

I think the exams have started off well. With no hiccups on the distribution of the paper one or two, most students found the higher and ordinary level papers fair, although most students were expecting Plath to appear on paper two which may well have caused difficulty for a large number of students. On the whole, there seems to be a trend towards more directed questions to prevent students using prepared answers in anticipation of more general questions. While this presents a greater challenge, that challenge is experienced by all students so hopefully across the board people will still get the grades which they are aiming for.

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Junior Cert Irish

Clara - Higher Level

Paper 1

Well, actually it wasn't a bad little paper in my opinion! The underlying theme seemed to be the Olympics in London this summer with the grammar section (A) being all about this and there was a further mention in the aural test. Steaming right on ahead though...Aural: I found the first and last sections to be a lot easier than the middle section. I think Cuid A was very well answered on my part and I reckon it wasn't too hard. Cuid B was by far more difficult, but not completely impossible. Cuid C contained one fine piece and one that to me was almost completely incomprehensible - I am dreadful with Munster dialects.Comprehensions: To be honest it was pretty much the same as any year so far and the Justin Bieber one was fairly similar to my mock so I was ok with them. I found some of the language difficult in both pieces but didn't seem unreasonable - it is Higher Level.Grammar: This was again, predictable.I hope every one guessed and studied the Aimsir Fhaistineach as it was Laithreach last year and Caite the year before! I was silently rejoicing at section A therefore although the irregular verbs were... well, irregular! Section B was something I was less prepared for. I've had little practice but think I've made some sensible guesses and will pick up a few marks at least.Ceapadoireacht: I glanced over the page here, taking heed that I would be writing this when I got home even though I knew going into the exam the only ones I would be attempting were scealta or an eachtra.I found the essays (Section A - Aiste) a little challenging, as with Sections C and D but I supposed this is not a format of writing I've ever used and if you were prepared it was probably quite simple and accessible.Overall, a good and fair paper. I hope I'm writing the same when I post about Paper 2 tonight... wish me luck!
Paper 2

I genuinely thought this paper was quite difficult.Why you ask? Well: Pros: The unseen was complete double dutch to me! Fortionately I at least understood all the questions and was able to go through the piece searching for key words from them and make reasonably sensible guesses. I was much happier with Section B here and had enough knowledge to write a summary of a story that fit one of the topics well.Filiocht: Again with the REALLY difficult unseen section! I had even more difficulty with this than the pros but again... some sensible guesswork was done and I'm hoping that it wasn't dreadful. Studied section was fine yet again.Litireacha: Actually,this was the easiest part of the paper in my opinion! Although the topics were nothing like I had prepared in class or studied at home I was able to use my own head and come up with the Irish I needed. I think B was a bit more difficult than A, the one I chose, but overall this section was not offensive and I reckon most people will be pretty happy with it.I'm glad that his paper is behind me - overall I was not expecting it to be easy. As I said earlier - it's Higher Level and it "does what it says on the tin" so to speak. Go n-eiri an bothar leat with the rest of the exams! Talk to you guys tomorrow :)

Lorraine - Ordinary Level

Hey guys! :) Lorraine here! I did Irish this morning! I'm doing ordinary level so I only have one paper thank the Lord!The listening competition was grand! For pass there is A,B and C. A was just 2 boxes with i,ii,iii on each and you just had to answer the questions in Irish. B and C was grand! Its literally where you write a,b,c or d into a box and then the second bit is ticking which word you hear! :D I was delighted with that it seemed easy enough! The listening only lasted 15 minutes! Then it was quarter to 10 when I started all the comprehensions and stuff!The first bit on the paper was the match all, simple! The next few bits was the reading comprehensions- Jedward and Trappatoni came up, a summer camp and piece about a shopping sale. The postcard was on the Gaeltacht and the letter was about a summer job you got. The Alt/Cuntas I found pretty impossible. I couldn't understand what I needed to do and the pictures were about a boy and a girl running for the bus when the school bag splits and they miss the bus because there picking up the books and then they walk home and get soaked. I just didn't have the vocab to answer it!I had a blog to do then which I wasn't expecting as the only things we've done for that section in class is ''I was doing my home work when Una rang me. She invited me to.... I have gone. I will be back at...'' but the blog was about a girl coming over to your house and you watch TV and listen to music etc - I just wasn't expecting it! Overall, I definitely think I passed. There were 18 in my room and at the end there were 2 of us left.The exam started at half 9 and ended at half 11. I stayed till the end and so did a girl out of honours but that was it in our room! From speaking to others about the exam, I know I'm not alone in thinking the exam was pretty doable. I finished it at 10 to 11 and I just kept reading over what I had wrote fixing mistakes and such till half 11. Pass Irish = a very happy student!