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 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 Irish Paper 1
Sheila - Higher Level
The night before my Irish paper one exam I completely neglected all other subjects to focus on it because I felt there are such a random selection of essays that can come up. I woke up three times last night having had nightmares I would go in open the paper and be able to do nothing. Looking back now I realise I was prepared for it.The tape was the first section of the paper. It was far easier than the mocks with only one or two questions proving a little difficult but even then I managed an answer. I have heard from others that they struggled with the tape but all told me they hadn't ever really practised it so it shows that practise is necessary. The only problem with the tape is you only hear it twice but the breaks between each playing are so short that you hardly have a chance to read the questions before the next section starts. I spent some of the first round of listening trying to read the questions which was annoying. Apart from the bad timing allocation it was a great tape.The essays this year were varied and very broad allowing you to talk about almost anything you had prepared. I was so happy when i flicked through the paper and saw eimirce one of the few essays I had really focused on. I was able to bring in all I had done on the total as well so I was really happy. The other essays I wouldn't have been as comfortable with but I have heard many of my friends saying they tackled An Timpeallacht agus Realtai sport so I guess we all picked what suited us.Overall I am delighted with paper one and I think it went far better than expected.Best of luck tomorrow everyone. Here's hoping the Dis does not come up.Go n-eiri an bothar leat.
Nathan - Ordinary Level
This paper started off badly as I lost concentration because of a disruption so i was off to a bad start with the Aural but I eventually caught back up and answered the questions. They weren't the best in the best in the world but they weren't too bad either. then came the Sceal agus Litir which honestly I don't' think I could have asked for a better 2 questions the only things the I studied and hoped that would come up came up. lets hope paper is as nice in the morning 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 Geography
Jessica - Higher Level
Geography was the subject that I was completely confident about and somewhat expected to fly through the paper - oh how I couldn't have been any more wrong! It was a total disaster! From the stupid short questions - anyone know what the hell plucking means from the glaciation question?? To the confusing geoecology questions. I'm so disappointed with how it turned out except I have to say that I was delighted erosional landforms and human interaction with rocks were there on the same physical question! I'm just banking on project to bring me up now!
Sheila - Higher Level
The Geography exam this year was a tough paper , however it did have aspects that were fair and manageable. The short questions covered all areas of the course . If you had practised short questions from previous years the section would have been fine. The physical geography was the best section on the paper and the easiest with broad and non specific questions asked allowing you to chose many areas. In question 2 it asked for a feature of erosion and did not specify fluvial so that left the question open to many answers. The regional was difficult this year because of the phrasing of each question. They were put in such a way it was often hard to desipher what the question was looking for. I chose the last regional question and they asked about interaction between the economic political and cultural activities in any region. I managed to tackle it but planning it took considerable valuable time. The economic section with human processes was fine it was not as difficult I felt as 2012 had been but was not completely straight forward as the questions focused on more minor sections of the chapters. For the essay style question I had studied Geoecology and I feel this was the section that really let me down. The questions were constructing and I feel they were unfair as they didn't allow me to show all the preparation I had done. The second question only allowed the discussion of vegetation soil and climate in relation to the biome. Even if they had added the animals it would have been more manageable. Overall it was tough but fair. I feel the last section let me down and I had hoped for a high grade. But you never know :) 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 English
Mark - Higher Level
So today was the first day of the exams and first up was English papers 1 and 2. Paper one is generally easy enough and allows you to be fairly creative with the personal writing section in particular. I decided to go straight into the personal writing section of paper 1 and as per usual did the speech, opposing the motion that said sport brings out the best in people. I generally like speeches as they allow you to use humour whilst getting logical points across and I also managed to save a bit of time from that one too. I decided to do the functional writing next choosing to write a leaflet for a school talent show and that was easy again. Media Studies was no bother either and the newspapers question wasn't any trouble to answer on. The Reading Comprehension was okay and there weren't any troubles there either. Paper one was grand and I was in a good mood heading into Paper 2.paper two is always tight for time but I had worked on it so I wasn't in too much trouble with it. I had plenty of quotes prepared for my studied drama (Romeo and Juliet), my poetry (Sonnet 29, also by Shakespeare, and also a few war poems just for choice) and my novel was Of Mice and Men by John Steinback. So at the beginning of the second paper I had the choice between an unstudied Shakespearian drama or another unstudied. I chose the other which was an extract from Educating Rita by Willy Russell and I quite liked it and was glad to have a choice of two of the three questions on it. For the studied drama question I chose the first choice regarding a character. I answered on Friar Lawrence and it really suited the question on my impressions of him and then how this progresses further on in the play. Poetry was my least favourite section of the paper but I think I still did well in it. For the fiction section we were given The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and I enjoyed reading it so I'll have to look at it over the Summer! Overall English Paper 2 was easy enough although my hand feels like it will fall off after all of that writing! Day one finished now I'll have to get ready for Irish. :)
Asha - Higher Level
Well my hand is dead. For a subject I seriously dislike it was quite fair to be honest. Paper 1- I found the reading section easy enough, Qt 1 and Qt 2 were really clear all answers in the text. Qt 3 threw me a little, I had difficulty naming the characteristics but I managed in the end. The personal writing was very nice. I was hoping for a good topic for a descriptive essay but in the end settled for topic 4 which was loosely based on the first paragraph in the reading section. I wrote a personal essay incorporating school, motorways and dogs. Don't ask me how, I haven't a clue. But it was good I think I did well enough. Functional writing.. If you knew the review layout you were safe home. I went for the flyer though. I chose Qt 1 for the media studies. (a) was really nice, literally just the differences in copy, language, pictures etc. (b) was sort of confusing I wasn't sure if they were referring to the elements of a newspaper or otherwise. In the end I did both. My article for (c) could have been better. The paper was fair and there was a very broad range of things that was asked for giving everyone a choice and a chance to play to their strengths. Paper 2- Didn't even look at the Shakespeare drama having never looked at Shakespeare, straight to the other drama. I liked that they linked it with the reading section from paper 1 by taking a play from Anton Chekhov. I did Qt 1 and Qt 3. Qt 1 was tricky.. was something going on between Frank and Rita? I don't know, I wrote about what I thought may have been jealousy on Franks part and about the clear tension between the two. Opposing personalities and that. Qt 3 was grand. I had done a similar question in class. Same main aspects, lighting, posture, positioning and they way the spoke (intonation, emphasis). For the studied drama I did Qt 1 on the Bull. At the start he was arrogant and intimidating, later on he was remorseful, violent and his clear love of his son and the land show. Unseen poetry was cute :) I really liked it. I felt the parent was supportive with a fear of losing her child but also proud. I thought that it was like a metaphor or something for her growing up from childhood and/ or her decision to leave home. The title didn't surprise me at all. I rambled about poetic devices and commented on how the poet ended the poem. Studied poetry I did Qt. 2 The examiner is probably going to hate me after I did Midterm break but oh well. I had considered doing Qt. 1 but was glad I didn't because when I got home I saw they were looking for two poems. I chose people and spoke about growing up before their time and stuff. Don't remember exactly what I wrote but I'm confident enough. Is it just me or was there an overwhelming theme of despair, loss and fear this year? That's what I thought anyway. Especially after the Unseen fiction. What was that? Seriously. What was that meant to be? 'It'? Scary clowns and all that jazz. I did Qt 1 and Qt 2. First one was grand no tricks, it was clear how his opinion differed. Second one was just a commentary on descriptive writing and other effective writing devices. My studied novel was, 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.' I think it is safe to say I hate that book at this point. I chose Qt 1 as the better of two evils. I think I ended part a with something about how, yes I found that world unfair and unfortunately it is this one. At least I kept with their theme. For (b) I spoke about how Bruno betrayed Shmuel and Kotler was a bully. Generally people are a big issue. So yeah that was English :P 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 Technology
Claire - Higher Level
I never thought this day would come. No really, I didn't !The good thing about having technology as the last exam is the fact you walk in there with 50% already in your pocket. It's a great feeling to have especially since at this stage in the exams you have lost a lot of motivation and are just so excited for the simmer is hard to concentrate on any study!The atmosphere before the exam was buzzing. Everybody in my exam hall was smiling and happy; ready for whatever would show up on the last exam.And what did show up on the exam- was lovely! It was as if the exam was cheering you on to finish.The short questions began on a such a positive note; asking you about wind powers advantages. Most of the short questions were straight forward but some required a little more thinking. I didn't get them all but I'm happy I answered the twelve we needed reasonably well.I have always hated question 2 and 3 but today I was smiling doing them. The Olympics stadium appeared which was really cool, and relevant. I love relevant exams!The ICT option I took wasn't so bad, it's usually my favourite section but today it was a little trickier. But still a very nice section.The materials section was fabulous if you excuse my enthusiasm. It asked about materials metals and plastic in the frat part; which was student friendly. The next part linked in with our earlier project with the theme of disability; wheelchairs showed up. Seeing something familiar was really reassuring.Of course I wasn't able to answer everything but I would never have expected that!Honestly I couldn't have asked for a nicer end to Leaving Cert 2012.
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.