Junior Cert Maths Paper 2
Alex - Higher Level
I found this to be a very fair paper. It was challenging but I was still able to do it. Like Paper 1 I found it to be easier than the Mocks but still relatively hard. I'll admit I was finished earlier than I thought I would be but I was happy with what I got done. Some questions, for example, the theorems question I found to be quite difficult as I couldn't remember the diagram... Until I saw it on the next page. The next question was literally the answer to the one before it. I was grateful for that. Overall I found the Paper very doable and fair. I finished the exam a little early but that gave me enough time to have a good look over the whole paper. Thanks for reading!
Junior Cert Maths Paper 1
Alex - Higher Level
The myth has been confirmed! I definitely found that exam easier than the Mocks, hands down. I know, however, that some people found it difficult and confusing; I was talking with some friends and classmates who felt this way but we all have different opinions. I, personally, found the exam to be not so hard, at least not as hard as I thought it would be. I did find some parts to fairly tricky.I found the Venn Diagram Questions to be quite difficult, they really made me think. The last question, Q.14, I found the hardest and most frustrating; because I knew what they were on about but couldn't remember how to do it. I had 40mins left so I took a deep breath and thought about for a good 10mins. Eventually I remembered and I was able to finish the Paper in good time, with time left over to check the whole thing twice.Overall I found it to be an alright exam, I feel I did well; although as I said, there were harder parts than others. But it was definitely easier than the Mocks (for me anyways).That's all I have to say, I'll be back on Monday with Maths Paper 2! YAY!! Can't wait!!* *I was being sarcastic
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 Geography
Sophie - Higher Level
Today was the Geography exam. Geography was probably the only exam I haven’t been worrying about, because I got an A in the mocks. When we got the paper I went straight to the long questions and ticked which ones I could do. Then I did all the short questions. I didn’t know all the answers but I made a guess. I did the short questions super quick I was finished them in 15 minutes.Then I made my way onto the long questions. I did questions: 1, 3 and 5. The first question was about Rocks, about the formation of Basalt, oil exploitation and weathering. I knew this question and I was happy when it came up. I also did question 5 which was an ordnance survey map and aerial photograph question. My sketch of it was a little funny but the question is really easy. Question 3 was about population, I hadn’t studied population since Christmas but I still remembered everything. Overall the geography paper was pretty easy, and now can say I’ve another exam done and dusted and ready for week two of the exams.
Keela - Higher Level
Day 3. Geography.I went into the exam with a few nerves as before hand I looked over different topics as a quick revision and there was just so much to remember.I started off with the short questions. I found these easy. I answered all of them except for the glaciation questions as my class didn't cover that topic since it's optional. I thought they were a great way to get me in the zone for the long questions. The questions I was dreading.After a few short minutes , I was on to the long questions. I gave them a quick read to see what options there were. I started with the OS Maps and aerial photograph. I found this the best to start with as I knew I could get marks on this section. I thought the map of Dungarvan was quite easy to sketch as there wasn't to much coast line to draw and the features were easy to find and fill in. Also answering the questions on the OS Map and aerial photograph were quite easy as I found it easy to find the answers on the pages.I then answered question 1 on Rocks and Weathering. Even though it was all 1st year stuff I found it easy to remember as I read over them at the weekend. I especially like the question on Freeze Thaw Action as I got to draw diagrams to do with it.Finally I answered question 3 on Population Studies. I found these quite easy as the the graphs were clear and easy to read and also the work we did this year in school on population really helped. I found some of the answers were quite simple.Overall I was quite happy with how the exam went and how I did. After leaving the exam a few minutes early I found out that I was not the only one who found geography easy. Many people in my year were happy with what came up and think they will all do well, as do I .
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
Declan - Higher Level
I like Geography, so I was positive going into todays exam. I started off by doing the short questions, which usually are fine. However, I felt some of the questions were a bit tricky and I did guess I few... We have a selection and get marked on 10 in total (So, hopefully, that will be ok).Many people feel physical geography is the easiest, I prefer the regional & particularly the economic geography. I was delighted many of the questions I have covered really well came up, like the multinational companies (I had the Johnson & Johnson case study revised) and I did the case study on the Wexford coast for the question on human interaction with coastal processes. I felt these went well. I was delighted with my answer in the economic geography section, particularly the question on the impacts on the european union enlargement. Overall, I thought the long questions were pretty good.This morning in school there was a lot of predictions on the essay. Unfortunately, I'd imagine there was a lot of disappointment when the desert biome didn't come up. I was a risk taker with the essays and only had the human alterations to biome studied, goes to show stick with your instincts! Although, for future students I'd recommend be well covered for the essays (that section is worth 80 marks!!), because there was people who weren't in the best situation with only the desert biome learned.A bit of advice, don't base your exams on predictions it doesn't work out (look what happened Heaney for english paper 2).All in all, I thought it was a decent paper and I was happy with it. It's always good to know that we have a project done for this subject, it gives ya a bit of reassurance in a exam.Best of luck to you all in the exams ahead!
Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Cert Maths Paper 1
Keelyn - Higher Level
Although certain parts of the paper were doable, some of the questions were quite mean especially considering there was no mention of financial maths or algebra. It was mainly to do with arithmetic series and integration. Let's just hope paper two will be more straightforward
Brendan - Ordinary Level
Area and Volume and Co-ordinate Geometry are expected to generally appear on Paper 2, but in going with what seems the general trend of the state examinations so far today bucked the trend and emerged on Paper 1. Apart from that there were no major surprises, although of course some questions proved more challenging than others. A question about the theory behind complex numbers was thought provoking. Overall it was a manageable paper, the final question about the rocket was in particular very straightforward. Most of the candidates seemed reasonably happy with the paper and are now looking forward to a brief rest before diving back into study. Paper 2 is my stronger of the two, and I am looking forward to Monday.
Aoife - Ordinary Level
It would be completely impossible for this exam to have gone any better. Everything was so straight forward, and that 75 marker at the end was the cherry in the cake. The tricky question with the box had me stuck for a while, but it was more manageable when I stopped to think about it. I spend so much time studying for paper two, I was a bit worried with this one but that paper was easier to me than any of the sample papers I did to prepare for the exam. I know many people that were struggling with ordinary maths that were laughing as they came out. I'm hoping for a B with that paper, let's hope paper 2 is as nice. :)
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 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.