Leaving Cert German
John - Higher Level
No major surprises here in a pretty fair paper. As usual, the reading comprehensions were abstract to say the least. The extract from a literary text concerned an overworked journalist falling in love with a life-sized stuffed pig she sees in a toy shop. Those Germans! In the final question, we were asked to explain how the narrator's outlook on life had been changed by the pig. Really, who writes this stuff? The journalistic text was banal in comparison, merely trying to promote the idea of house-swapping holidays. Although the first half of the grammar question was straightforward, the section on adjective endings (which appear to be governed by an infinite number of rules) caused me a fair bit of head-scratching. While the general themes in the letter weren't anything out of the ordinary, the way they were presented was somewhat awkward. Interestingly, I was asked if I blogged, although my limited German vocabulary meant I was forced to lie to my imaginary German penfriend. I didn't find the tape too bad, but unfortunately it wasn't quite as easy as last year's. Ah well, eight down, only two to go. Freedom's getting ever closer! 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
Jenny - Higher Level
Business went better than I had expected. The short questions were a bit tricky in some parts but as soon as I saw the applied business question I was in heaven. I had been dreading the ABQ as I wasn't as strong on unit 5, 6 and 7 than I was the earlier units but all the answers were clearly seen in the text. It was just a matter of picking the links out one line after another. The general questions weren't too bad either. There were a few parts that I found myself making up as I simply could not remember all the points, but overall it was a very pleasant paper! Now just one more exam to go and I can finally say goodbye to the Leaving Cert for good! 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
Asha - Higher Level
Hi again peoples. I love science so I was quite looking forward to today. Apart from the biology. That's always a nightmare with all those learnt off words. I was happy to see though that they made us think things through logically (Qt 1 a. on genetics), rather than give us only leading questions. Still though I may have mixed up the leg bones with the arm ones... oh well! Chemistry was a lovely little section with the chemical equation quite fair. No they weren't looking for the chemical equation for acid rain they just wanted you to use an equation you know that involved calcium carbonate and balance it. Why were people asking for graph paper? The question specifically said the solubility of salt was to be on the same graph. Am the solubility increasing? Physics was great. Really enjoyed it. The electronics question was lovely, just a variable resistor. All in all I am pretty confident I did quite well and there is still Coursework B and the experiment book if I am deluded. 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 History
Sheila - Higher Level
Well that was an intense 2hours and 50minutes. I was so nervous for history today it was the subject I was praying the right questions came up and I was having visions of going in and not being able to answer a thing. On top of that I got caught in traffic and got into the hall at 3 minutes to 2. Any way, The document question as hoped and expected was Katanga and I'm sure it was such a relief not seeing Race Relations on the paper. The cartoon was easily deciphered and the questions were all manageable. I did struggle with the strengths and weaknesses of a visual document but overall it was good and the context of the question was easy. Then Northern Ireland, I chose the Welfare State. Thank god I had looked over it well because I would have struggled with the other questions in that section as Sunningdale did not make an appearance. For Topic 3 I chose the De Valera question which I assume is what a lot of people did ? I found it okay and was happy with the essay in the end. I don't do Dictatorship and Democracy like most , we studied America and the questions were challenging. Everyone was banking on the moon landing McCarthyism and maybe Detente none of which made an appearance. The normal standard Johnson was teamed with Truman this year which will have definitely have thrown people off. I chose that one as the best of a bad lot. I'd love to know what other people thought because some friends of mine thought it was awful and others said it was great. What do you all think ? 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
Sheila - Higher Level
So Irish paper 2... Well what a great paper. I have never been happier with an Irish paper I thought the comprehensions were surprisingly easy. They were so easy I was sure I had missed something but there you have it they were generous with the comprehensions this year. The only difficulty I had was the grammar question on the second comprehension. The Pros question was Oisin. I'm sure a lot of people were delighted with that because every teacher seems to have drilled Bealoidis into each students head. The twist was the second aspect to the question however that too was manageable. Mo Ghra Sa is one of the harder poems I think but the questions were easy to understand and they even put in a question on the poet which is great because its something you would have learned off. Then An Triail, which had the added twist of having to talk about Padraig which was the last thing I wanted but they allowed you to show his influence on her life so you could continue on speaking about Maire once you explained his relevance. Hope every one is doing well and the exams are flying by. 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 History
Katelyn - Higher Level
History was very good this year. The first three questions were grand and handy. I was very pleased with question four, the people in history question. Martin Luther and Columbus came up and I knew them inside out. Happy out. Question five was fine. It was on the Plantations. Nothing too challenging there. For question six, the Renaissance and WW2 came up so that suited me down to the ground. Overall, a good paper. 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.