Junior Cert Home Economics
Lorraine - Higher Level
Hello All!Lorraine here and this is the last ever blog I'll be writing about my Junior Cert :O Today I had Home Ec! Im honours :)The exam started at 2pm so I had all morning to study! It finished at 4:30pm! I went into my area at around 20 to 2 and It was all girls studying and gossiping!! I sat down with some friends and My home ec teacher came up to us and just asked us how we were feeling, any questions we had for her etc etc :)I can honestly say My home ec teacher is the best in our school, she genuinely cares about her students and she reminds me of a second mammy!I walked into the exam at 2pm and I was raring to go! I had studyed all morning andI just wanted to get it over and done with. The short answer questions were brilliant! For the first time ever, I looked at them and thought 'I know how to do you!' - They were really handy and bar the last 4 queestions which were on sewing skills which I have to be honest, I hardly looked at.Then I was onto the long questions and my god they were brilliant!! Q1 was the nutritional information of a fruit smoothie and I have to say I found it very easy to do. Then Q2 was on breakfasts and in one part ofit we had to do out 3 different breakfast menus for a school going teenager so I did 1 coeliac breakfast menu, 1 normal teenager brekfast menu and a low fat brekfast teenager menu. Q3 was all on consumer studies and Q4 was on the Family which I was delighted with!Overall, I found the exam very doable! I just worried that I'd run out of time. I was writing literally til the last minute and I was the only one left in the room with my examiner. Im very happy with the paper and Im happy to be finished!Good luck to everyone with more exams to do and thanks for reading all my boring blogs on the exams! :)
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 Religion
Lorraine - Higher Level
Hey guys!Lorraine here and I'm just home from my Religion Exam which started today at 2pm and finished at 4pm!I was feeling positive going into the exam and the minute I got the paper I got myself stuck into it! :)I felt the Short Answer Q's were very much based on Christianity which is grand :) I did 18 of the 20 short answer questions and we were told to spend 15 minutes on that question but to I was done within 10 minutes!The next bit I thought was handy! It was all about forgiveness and how it can be seen within a world religion youve studied so I was delighted with that! I know youll kill me for this but I cant remember much of the questions I did! We were told to do 4 out of 6 but I did 5 out of 6 because I felt Id messed up on an image of God question.I think the questions were very easy to answer - alot better than science this morning!!Finally I was onto my last question which is worth 70 marks So I knew I had to do a good job on this question. I picked a question on abortion in my mocks and I was really hoping it would come up for the JC but it didnt! I done a question about how things affect our questions of meanings and gave a great example!Im very happy with Honours Religion and Im delighted that tomorrows my last exam!! :)Roll on summer! Good luck to everybody in the exams and COYBIG!!
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 Business
Emmet - Higher Level
Oh wow, the business exam wasnt too bad at all! It started at 9:30AM & finished at 12:30pm. I was really happy with this paper overall. the short questions were generally easy with a break even chart thrown in, handy marks may i say. The ABQ was realy nice, it was about RIM LTD which was kind of a community development project which did really well, where it facilitated market stalls in a factory vacated by a GMNC. Questions included, choosing suitable finance for the local business people in financing the project and for stall holders, and another on evaluating their promotional campaign. It must also be pointed out that it was the easiest ABQ to get relevant quotes from, which was a help. the ratios question was very easy and gud for catching up on lost time on the ABQ! Q1 asked about proceedures an employer should take when dismissing employees, and evaluating role ofthe NCA. Q2 looked at how reduction on public expenditure and taxation impacted on business, which was tricky enough and Q7 looked at factors to consider when choosing channel of distribution, evaluate product design/packaging etc and reasons for an Irish toy company wishing to expand. I did find however that this years paper had very specific questions, which did make the paper challenging. but i was quite impressed to find mini case studies to help you answer the question as it helped ground your answer into real life. Hoping to come out with at least a B3 fingers crossed, we were very tied for time in exam. Nearly finished now, economics and thats it!
ISSU Commentary
The tendency of Leaving Certificate exams demanding students to simply regurgitate what they have learned seems to be a thing of the past. They now are being asked to apply their knowledge, this was especially obvious in today’s business examination according to many teachers and pupils. Some parts of the higher level exam were challenging, which was expected to a certain degree. The choice element was again a major positive, and there were no immense shocks to be found. There was a change in thee ‘ratio’ question. The short questions were ‘typical’. Question 1 (A) of the long questions were very specific and challenging which focused on a fairly precise area of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 – 2007. Question 5 (B) the ratios were satisfactory. However some had difficulty with the Return on Investment (ROI) calculation. Students were asked to compare the ratio with industry averages, this might have surprised some, as it was the first time for such a question to appear. The paper was overall ‘absolutely fine, consistent with past papers, with plenty of choice’. Students reaction with the higher level exam was mainly positive, while the ordinary level had a more varied response. Many higher level students found the Applied Business Question (ABQ) to be particularly challenging. Some ordinary level students found the short questions to be difficult.
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 Science
Clara - Higher Level
I was convinced this was gonna be a fail - it was my last exam (yay!) so all I was focusing on this morning was the sweetness freedom would bring. I couldn't wait for those two hours of my life to be over! I just had one hurdle left-scienceIt was a pretty fair paper to be honest-with some remarkably easy questions. I mean two safety precautions in the lab? They're throwing marks at you with that one!Biology: This section was probably my second best section after chemistry - I found the questions unsurprising, they seemed to be similar in format to previous years. The question on food at the very start (the one with the eggs) was a nice way to warm up and I was delighted to see no trace of ecology! Not even the breathing system. The only thing that was unusual about this section was the question on the kidneys. This was odd - I'd never say a question asked in this way before, they rarely give a list and ask for functions of parts. Thankfully I knew them! The experiment was also a challenge for me - I had really disliked that particular one!Chemistry: This section was by far the easiest in my opinion. The same basic idea as biology ie. mainly some pretty basic questions (the one about safety precautions was in this section for example) and the a few toughies to keep you going.Physics: This was the most challenging part of the paper and I think most people will agree with my there but to be perfectly honest it wasn't overly stressful. There was one stupid little question that I was just puzzling over for 15 minutes at the end but eventually I came to some sort of a logical conclusion and answered it-not sure how correct it was but!Anyway, overall not too bad a paper. With a decent knowledge of science and some common sense (combined with the 30-ish percent we already have!) everyone's a winner and has passed so not much to worry about. Now, excuse me while I go burn my books. State exams and FINALLY over for me - out for good! Good luck to everyone with the remaining exams. Viel glück (hope that's right) to everyone doing German in the morning, all those in religion later, home-ec kids and everyone with exams next week too. Soldier on with pride and knowledge!
Jack - Higher Level
My final exam!So, I went straight through Biology. There was nothing unexpected in this. Some questions caught me but over all it was okay.Next came Chemistry. Not my strongest part of Science. I managed, though.Last came physics. No calculations this year. A bit odd. Overall, Physics was grand. Some confusing questions, tho.Overall, Science was a good paper. No surprises on the Paper! It was manageable and fair.Now, SUMMER!!
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.
Think of the Students. It's real life, not just a timetable
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Leaving Cert History
Hugh - Higher Level
Ok first things first, document based question, as anticipated we had the Indian independence case study thrown at us. Questions 1-3 contained fairly basic questions on the accompanying documents, which consisted of an extract from a Cabinet Mission report on the situation in India and a Daily Mail cartoon. The questions tested students ability to comprehend, compare and critically analyse the two documents, with the 40 mark (out of 100 for the section overall) question asking about the difficulties associated with British withdrawal from India. Overall this section was, as usual, very student friendly.The second Irish topic, Movements for Political and Social Reform, 1870-1914 was generally well received, with questions on the Suffrage movement, the strengths and weaknesses of Parnell as a leader, an interesting two part question on the Ulster Question and the development of Unionism, and a question on the contributions of the GAA, the Gaelic League and the Anglo-Irish Literary Revival to Irish cultural revival. I had a go at the Ulster Question/Unionism 1870-1914, which was unusual in that it asked for an explanation of a concept-the Ulster Question in conjunction with an element. This type of question is rare but regardless shows that the key political concepts on the course can't be ignored.The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition section was absolutely off the walls, opening with a question on the impact the threat and use of physical force had on Ireland, this question was unusual in its format and had a very broad scope, including the formation of the Ulster Volunteers, the formation of the Irish Volunteers, the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil war. All of which would usually form a question in their own right! I tackled the most straight forward question there on the significance of the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, though I was tempted by the question on the security policy of the Northern government 1920-1945 which could be combined with economic policy. Anglo Irish relations 1923-1949 was also asked.For the Dictatorship and Democracy section I did the question on the extent to which Hitler's foreign policy 1933-1939 was responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War. There were also some straight-forward questions on Stalin's rule in Russia, the challenges facing France 1920-1945 and a slightly unexpected one on Anti-semitism and the Holocaust, 1920-1945 something most students wouldn't have had an awful lot of material on.Overall this was a very mixed paper, with some straight-forward questions coupled with some surprises. As in all History exams timing was very difficult. The amount of material expected from candidates in such a short space of time is a bit unreasonable, an extra ten minutes on this exam would have been very welcome!
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.