Leaving Cert Physics
Shahed - Higher Level
What a lovely paper! I was nervous before going into the exam but it turns out, there was no need to be. Everything that I'd studied had come up!The section A questions were lovely, especially the Joules' law question. I also did the refractive index and the speed of sound in air questions, both of which were nice, too.In section B, I found the most challenging question to be the one about Particle Physics. It's a simple topic, but the questions were a little odd. Thankfully, there's a lot of choice in the exam, so this didn't set me back. The Nuclear Physics, Mechanics, Electricity and Light questions were all straight forward. I found that I had time to do an extra question, which never happens to me in Physics, so I must have done something right!Physics has always been one of my favourite subjects, so I couldn't be happier with how it went. To anyone else who still has exams left, good luck! The end is in sight.
Please note: this post reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Irish Second-Level Students' Union
Junior Cert Home Economics
Sophie - Higher Level
My final exam, Home Economics.I started with the short questions. I could answer the sort of business question great. The short questions were manageable and I found I could answer them well. In the long questions I did Q1, Q3, Q4 and Q6.The predictable question one, nutrition. It was the easiest along side with question three. It was a business based question, I was very happy.Question 4 was about the tooth. I vaguely remembered, but I answered it. Question 6 was about fabric and furniture. It was good. The paper was easier than I expected and I was relieved when I was done. Now all the exams are over now its finally Summer!
Keela - Higher Level
I thought the home.ec went quite well. I went in and started off with the short questions I did as many as I could and then went to the long questions and was happy to find a food table where we had to write about the nutritive value of wholemeal bread and write a menu. I then answered the question on the teeth which I also found quite easy. I then did the consumers question and the question on home appliances. I found the second part of the consumer question to be a bit hard but other then that I thought the long questions went quite well. I then went back to the short questions to see if I could answer more. In the end I didn't answer 2 so I was happy .
Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Junior Cert German
Sophie - Higher Level
Today was the German exam, even though I did pretty bad in the mocks, it was hard to be nervous. It was my second last exam. We began with the listening test. It wasn't overly hard, but as usual, I ended up guessing one or two answers. Then we had matching advertisements activity and an another more detailed advert, they were both very easy. Then we had two comprehensions, I was suprised that I could understand them. I happily went on to answering the questions that followed. But then the letter came along. The first couple of paragraphs went okay, but I found it got really hard towards the end. The short note was next. I knew it was an easy one but I was completely blank for words. I wasn't very confident, but I wrote it to the best of my ability. I had about 10 minutes at the end to look over everything. To say the least, I think it went well in the end.
Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Cert Business
Shay - Higher Level
It was my last test. I walked into the room with fear on my face but thankfully that changed. I opened the paper to the 10 lovely short questions, relatively easy. Then came the ABQ, which was considerable easy compared to previous years. I had to do 4 questions , 1 from part one , 2 from part two and another from either part one or two. I did my first question on "people in business". This question was the easiest out of my 4 chosen questions. My next 3 questions where about "managing". They were all varied in topics. Question 5 had Maslow's hierarchy of needs but the other questions like like 5(B) we're all different and different always relate to the previous questions. Overall, I thought we got a good paper and hopefully a good result. Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Cert French
Brendan - Higher Level
Tablets and tattoos were probably not on the minds of many candidates this morning as they entered their exam hall, but they certainly were by this afternoon.The comprehensions were as to be expected. One related to a family circus and the other to strict parents. Question 1 was about whether parents give too much freedom to young people in Ireland. The diary entry is a favorite of many, but who would have though it would be a dilemma about whether or not to get a tattoo with a friend? So unpredictable.The question about banning smoking was interesting and a real test. It was not merely smoking, but a question about whether you agree with a total ban; two very different things and it would have been easy to dive in and forget about the question. I decided to take an alternative approach that although smoking damages ones health we live in a democracy and such a measure would be akin to a dictatorship. A bit of a stretch one might say, and in a way it was, but it was also a different thesis to an agreement to ban smoking totally. I did the question on tablets as an extra.French is not an exam where time constraints are a pressing concern. As a whole, I thought it was a fairly reasonable paper.
Declan - Ordinary Level
The ordinary level French paper was a very good paper. I thought the comprehensions were the finest. I did both the CV and close test (so, they can take my best one for the marks). I did the postcard about going away to Switzerland skiing with my family. It was great, didn't mind it. Although, I did forget some minor words and nearly wrote it in Irish. I did the diary entry about moving to a new house and school etc. It was pretty easy. All in all, it was a handy enough paper.
Sarah - Ordinary Level
I wasn't at all nervous for French for some strange reason.. When we got the paper I flicked straight to the back to see what the message and postcard was like, which is the ones that we chose to do. This and the fill in the blanks and CV question. I did the English comprehensions first but I thought they were a bit difficult to get the answers... I gave up after these two and went straight for the A question. The fill in the blanks was pretty straight forward. The words given were easy words and it was easy to work out the answers. The CV questions were pretty good too although one question threw me back a little cause I didn't know exactly what it meant. But I answered it and went onto the next thing. The message I thought was a bit tricky because I didn't know some of the vocab for it but other than that it was grand. Then I did the postcard and thought it was pretty simple, but one part got me. I could not for the life of me think of Monday in French... I was trying to figure it out and all I could think of was Irish... What a shame haha but it doesn't matter now! The finally I did the French comprehensions. I thought they were easier than the English ones and did them no problem! The listening was good as well. The questions given were good and it was easily understood in most parts. Overall, I thought the French paper was pretty decent and I'm quite happy with it! :)Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.
Leaving Cert History
Aoife - Higher Level
Well, where do we start. I was happy enough with the documents, they are always the easier question and I do enjoy the Belfast Blitz. It was a nice question.I was a lot less pleased to see Sunningdale show up with the Anglo-Irish treaty, considering I only studied the first one in school in detail, but I still tried my best. For dictatorship and democracy, I was heart broken to see I had the choice between Jarrow Crusade (a short topic) or Hitler and Mussolini's relationship with the church... That one was just bizarre.I was happy to end the paper seeing my old friend Lyndon Johnson come up at the end of my paper. Overall, I have very mixed emotions over this paper and will have to wait til August to see how it went.
Brendan - Higher Level
This is definitely one of the toughest exams. 2 hours and 50 minutes of non-stop writing to such an extent that you can barely afford to take a drink of water. Belfast during World War II appeared as the document question and was reasonable enough, although I like many, would have preferred to have seen the Treaty or the Eucharistic Congress.For dictatorship and democracy I answered on church-state relations which was a nice question. LBJ, the moon landing and race relations appeared for US and the world, however I answered on the development of the economy from the end of the war until 1989, an incredibly long and varied period of time. It was a very broad, but approachable question.My final question was on Northern Ireland and I chose the question on the Sunningdale and Anglo Irish Agreement's. It asked which was more successful and although I would have preferred a stand alone question on Sunningdale, it seemed approachable. Unfortunately, due to a combination of poor eye sight and miscalculation of time I ran out of time when 10 more minutes would have allowed me to really complete the essay. Overall it was a challenging paper. In parts essays which were predicted came up, others were impossible to call, In reality, I believe, it is such a broad course that it isn't really possible to cover every aspect.More time should be allocated for a subject that takes up a very considerable amount of students time. Students who had worked very hard would have found the paper fine, otherwise it would have been very difficult.
Declan - Higher Level
History paper was actually quite decent. When I first opened it I was praying the Anglo- Irish treaty would be there. Belfast during world war 2 came up in the documents. I felt it went fine.For my first essay, I did the topic of "Movements for Political and Social reform, 1870-1914", the question "What did Parnell contribute to the movements for Home Rule and Land Reform. I was delighted with this question, as I had it covered really well. I got over 5 pages on it, so i hope it is fine. I was glad this question came up, because I would of been badly stuck with the other questions.My second essay went well. It was Europe and the wider world; Topic 2. It was the section Nation States and International tensions, 1871-1920. I felt there were two nice questions on this section. German Foreign policy development under Bismarck and Wilhelm II and the social & economic developments in Europe during the period 1871-1914. I did the German Foreign policy, I was really happy with this question.My third section was "Dictatorship and Democracy in Europe, 1920-1945". I was banking on a good Mussolini question. I did the question on church state relations develop under Mussolini and Hitler. I felt this went only ok. I didn't really revise Hitler went (I know, how stupid), but knew a lot on Mussolini. I probably didn't write enough with this essay though.It's pretty reassuring that you have a project done with this project. I did mine on the Belski Brother, jews defying the Nazi occupied Belorussia, they created a jewish settlement in the middle of the forest. It's a quite interesting and inspirational story. They saved hundreds of lives.
Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.