Leaving Cert English Paper Two
Shahed - Higher Level
The dreaded English Paper 2, where the questions are either awful or a blessing. Thankfully, the general consensus this year is that it was a nice paper throughout!I opened the paper and quickly read the questions. When I saw the poetry section, I nearly screamed with joy. Thank you, SEC!!For the Single Text, I answered the question about Macbeth's relationships and how they can be seen as power struggles. This was a pretty straightforward question with a lot of leeway for answers, as you could include literally any of the other characters in the play. It was a nice start!For the Comparative Study, I answered the Cultural Context question relating to difficulties that the characters face and how they respond to them. This took some thinking, but once I got into it, it was quite simple.Next was Poetry, the section that everyone dreaded. I turned the page and who was there but Seamus Heaney, yet again! Only this time, for the Unseen Poetry questions, which related to what the meaning of the poem was and two of your favourite images or else to give your personal response.The Prescribed Poetry section was a miracle. Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath both came up, as did William Butler Yeats and Philip Larkin. Despite the fact that this section is worth the least amount of marks, it's certainly the hardest and the one worried about the most. The poets were all what everyone hoped for and the questions were straightforward. I answered about Plath's language and theme.With one subject down, I now have six left to go. Time to tackle some maths!
Nicole - Higher Level
Hi everyone!First off I should say (and this will say a lot about my personality) that I only realised today through no one's fault but my own that I WAS blogging English. So apologies there.So onto the papers. Well I'll say this first because we're all thinking it: HEANEYYYYYY!!! *shakes fist at the sky*Where were you where we needed you? All my very brilliant English teachers in my school and heck, every teacher in the country was counting on him to come up. And he did!...in the comprehension and unseen poem. Err I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say this, that's not what we meant exam makers!Though I must be honest, it was not a tragedy for me as it was for some as I was counting on my gurl Emily Dickinson all the way (see my bio) but still. Cheek.So Paper 1 went alright didn't it? It's nice I think how we have an exam that doesn't require studying (unless you're hardcore) on our first day. I went straight to the back page once the clock hit 9:30 and checked out the titles for the composing sections. I had decided previously that personal essays and speeches were just not for me. Unless I can rant about something I truly am passionate about, I'm pretty useless with them. The title I ended up choosing (and quickly so, though we are warned about not reading the paper properly, lets face it nobody wants to dawdle around) was the ghost themed story. Once that was picked I quickly scanned the rest of the paper (taking a second to appreciate the irony of Heaney showing up in Paper 1) and I went straight into Question A. I chose Text 1 (as did most of my year I found out later) and went straight to work. For some reason I do this thing where I write absolutely loads for the first question of whatever exam I do, and this was no exception. I must have spent over an hour on those silly comprehension questions! Question B I chose from Text 2, a speech on positive and negative influences in young peoples lives. I started writing and I somehow twisted it around to suit myself and made it really about looking out for abusive relationships, that the ones we most love could be the most harmful. Pretty heavy stuff but I was pleased enough. And then my story. Well my story was implying that my character was just after dealing with someone dying but their memory still haunting them. And let me tell you readers, I thought I was the STUFF writing it "Aw yeah this is going to be GREAT!" I was thinking to myself. And of course I was punished for my arrogance when I read over it as it was...well I was alright I guess. In summation I think Paper 1 was grand. Really, to be honest I have no idea whether it went really well or bad, but by talking to others I can safely say I'm not alone in feeling that way.Now Paper 2. How lovely was it to start at 2:00pm? I had attempted to studying yesterday but I only succeeded in organising my notes, watching a John Green live show and giggling to myself at the always fantastic Leaving Cert memes that surface this time of the year (the Seamus Heaney ones; oh LORD people will not let that go anytime soon). So I tried again this morning with about 50 million pages in my hands, reading them over and over and over and so on and just hoped while I could not feel it, that SOMETHING was going into my head.When the exam started at 2, I think I was in shock because everything I was reading just didn't seem to be reaching the part of my brain that y'know, comprehends anything. "Huh?" I was saying, having to read over and over, until I could finally focus. Everyone dashed to the last page to see who the poets where and thank god, the woman herself, Emily Dickinson was there. I was also doing 'Macbeth', and for my comparison essay my chosen texts were 'Wuthering Heights', 'Sive' and 'Casablanca'.The first thing I did was my comparison section, which was on the cultural context because I could never throughout the two years of the Senior Cycle comprehend the order and structure of an essay like that. I caaaaaaaaaan't flip back and forth between texts without getting very confused and structurally diabolical so I literally needed to learn off the order of what I was going to say. Again I spent a good hour or so on it and it was by far my longest piece in the exam (which is fine by me, its a good load of marks).I had to note how the people in the texts reflected the society so I tried by best by mostly repeating the sentence "This is shows how ___ was a reflection of this culture".Then I did 'Macbeth', which everyone thought would be about Lady Macbeth but alas, was not. I find in essays like this, just be really strong in opinion. Say things like "I would argue that..." "Some critics say..." heck even if the critics you are referring to are make believe, it sounds a lot stronger, like you are certain of what you are talking about. Then I went onto poetry which, for future Leaving Cert students I have to say to you, try not to stress about too much because it's not even the biggest part of the exam. But every year people stress (with good reason, don't get me wrong) about this section and you're just going to make things feel a lot worse for yourself. My poetry essay I found out was a lot shorter than what my friends were saying their's was, but even then there is no point on stressing about it now, its over! Lets celebrate! When I finished my unseen, I literally exhaled like the way you would after taking a gulp of a cold fizzy drink "Ahhhhh!" partly because my hand had been killing me and could finally rest, partly because I'd needed to go to the bathroom for over and hour but was too afraid to leave and waste time, but mostly, MOSTLY because I was DONE.Thanks for reading!
Please note: blog post reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Cert Review
Jack
Well, now that Science is done it's... SUMMER!I have now finished my Junior Certificate! Hurray! Six and a half days. Thirty plus (I think!) hours of non-stop writing, to examine three years' of work. What a week.To be honest, the Mocks were a lot more nerve wrecking than the real thing! The Junior Cert felt just like the Mocks; it was quite familiar and just a little more official.I am so glad that it is over, now. I am also glad I don't do Music or some subject along those lines that will take me in to an extra week!I think my best subject was Business. I answered every question, so here's hoping! I feel I did worst in either Irish, French or Maths! Oh dear. Anyways, we'll find out in September.The Junior Cert was a great experience. Each break time, my friends and I would always have a great laugh - I thought we'd be stressing out and cramming last minute! Doing blogs with the ISSU has been a great experience, also!Now, roll on Summer! I live in Galway, so I have the Volvo Ocean Race to look forward to!So, I wish everyone an awesome (and safe) Summer!
Lorraine
Hi all!Wow this feels weird, I AM FINISHED :DI can honestly say the Junior Cert wasn't what I expected! I thought I was going to be a nervous wreck and I wasn't. I thought it would be really formal and stuffy and it wasn't! Some people were so laid back about it! I can honestly tell anyone reading this is that if they have exams next year, study hard! It all pays off and September isn't too far off for me with my results!! :) Good luck everyone!
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
JC Technical Graphics
Roisin (Higher Level)
Today I had tech graph, my last exam! I felt it went well too, and it was a nice way to end the exams. I was able too answer the ten required short questions without too much trouble, and the four required long questions. For the long questions I picked question 1, 3, 5 and 6. I didn't run into any problems with them, except for the tangent in question six, which I'm not sure if I did the right way. All together I think the paper went well, and it feels great to be finally finished!I'm really glad to be finished, and I don't think it was as bad as I thought it was going to be! I think it is made out to be far worse and a bigger deal than it actually was, really it was just like summer exams. I think maybe if there wasn't so much build-up about it by schools, then it wouldn't be as big a deal for students going into it. I didn't find the exams as stressful as I thought I would, and I think it was because of the long breaks in between, where I was able to revise with my friends, and some days even in the sunshine! I think throughout the year, particularly at the beginning, I could have done more consistent revision, instead of just taking out the books for an hour on a Sunday afternoon so I didn't feel guilty! It might have saved me some late nights of frantically trying to revise an entire subject in one go!I think that the Junior Cycle could use a level in between higher and ordinary. I know lots of people that feel that they can't tackle subjects at higher level but find ordinary level too easy and frustrating, or don't want to do ordinary level but struggle with the higher level course. I think the only paper that should be changed is the maths papers. I think there should be a choice within the paper instead of having six set questions, I think it would make the paper less daunting for students. Other than that, I don't think there was much else that needs to be changed!My friends and I are officially starting summer today because we all finished today or yesterday so we are going to Eddie Rockets to celebrate our freedom! It feels great to be finished and I really enjoyed doing this blog!Happy Holidays!Roisin
James (Higher Level)
Today was the final day of my Junior Certificate Examinations. This morning I had my Technical Graphics exam. This exam was three hours long and consisted of short answer questions and four long answer questions. I felt that this was a tough exam and that the final long answer question (Q6) was particularly difficult. However, I answered every question and think all my answers were decent and relevant.
LC Maths Paper 2
Ailbhe (Higher Level Maths)
WHERE WERE THE THEOREMS????????I'm sorry Mr. Chief Examiner but I happily divided my weekend amoung perpendicular distances, angles between lines and cos (A+B), I was not a happy bunny rabbit to see a grand total of zero theorems on the paper after I had so painstakingly learned them.Paper two was definitely harder but that was expected due to the lack of challenge posed by paper 1. In my wisdom I started off with question 3. "You like trig Ailbhe, get that sorted first off, we'll deal with circles, vectors and lines later".Part (a) not a problemPart (b) not bad eitherPart (c) sure I didn't know which way was up in that question In the end I resorted to using some dodgy "area of a trapezium" formula that I came across leafing through the tables for part (i). It's not on the course and I don't think I even did it for Junior Cert, but you know what they say - always trust strangers!I was very happy with Q8 which was my elective. The MacLaurin series and I have never had the best of relationships but we overcame our differences and worked it out in the end.What was most thorny about paper 2 was that it's harder to check your answers. I found that there were a lot more questions in paper 1 where you knew if you were right based on the answer you got. Paper two just left me all adrift!I have been waiting to say this sentence since day 1 of Fifth Year and I'm going to relish it for all it's worth.I NEVER HAVE TO DO MATHS AGAIN!!! EVERRRR!!!!
Owen (Ordinary Level Maths)
Back again after a weekend that could not have gone any slower!!My clock just seemed to taunt me for the whole weekend with its 'tik tok'-ing and believe me, I was not feeling like P Diddy with my head in the books! :(How and ever, the exams are now back in full swing!!Maths Paper 2... well to be honest, it was a lovely paper, couldn't have asked for a nicer more user-friendly paper! I really like the “does exactly what it says on the tin” attitude that goes with it and as for the whole simplicity of plugging numbers into formulas... LOVE IT!!No surprises on this paper I have to say and I, personally found all the questions grand... everything seemed to go well from area and volume to linear programming... however, it left me wondering what the probability was that Irish Paper 1 would be the same!??!
JC Students' thoughts on the eve of the exams
Roisin
I have to admit I'm getting pretty nervous today. Both English papers are tomorrow so there’s a lot to do, but I think I'm pretty much on top of it..... I hope... I'm going to try to relax a little bit this evening and try not to worry too much. I usually find it easier to stay calm if I can distract myself with something, like a good book or movie, or a board game with someone, really anything that takes your mind off the exams! I'm also going to get everything I need for tomorrow ready tonight so I'm not under pressure in the morning. I'm going to try to get to bed in good time so I won't be exhausted in the morning!
James
I feel that I am well prepared for tomorrow. Although the stress is growing before my first exam... I'm trying my best to put it to the back of my mind and keep concentrated. English is one of my better subjects and I am confident that it will go well for me. The exam is marked fairly tough so good grammar, spelling and punctuation will be key in achieving a good grade. I would advise every student to get to bed early tonight.... that's what I'm doing anyway! :)