Junior Certificate Irish

Kate - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2

After a surprisingly successful English paper one and two, I was dreading Irish. Irish is not my strongest subject and without the previously prepared essays I wouldn't have survived. My biggest fear approaching the exam was in reference to the aurals. Donegal / rural Irish will be the death of me.Paper One - Paper one started off terribly and it never recovered. My hopes of getting an A rolled down the mountain along with my story. We started 10 minutes late as the examiner played the tapes but did not hand out the papers. The whole class died. I thought that they had changed the layout so you had to remember what was being said. After the disastrous start we began the paper. The aural was worse than I expected, rural Irish is what I hear in my nightmares. The grammar section was great, I predicted that Aimsir Chaite would come up and thankfully it did. I chose the essay title "an incident that happened when you are walking in the mountains" as it was the only title that I understood. All in all, I think I was okay in paper one but it could have been better .Paper Two - Paper two probably saved the day. Going in to this exam I was nervous, if not scared, due to my earlier experience. But when I opened the paper all my worry went away. The unseen prós and poetry was not as hard as I thought and was shocked that I understood the majority of them. The themes for studied poetry and prós were great. I choose 'grá' for poetry and 'duine cabhrach' for prós. Finally I did the letter. My letter was a load of waffle. I wrote about a party but I didn't understand the guidelines very well so I wrote and wrote and prayed for the best.Today had its ups and downs but I'm going into tomorrow on a positive note and hoping for the best! 

Philip - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2

Paper 1: Can I start by saying, that was the hardest listening comprehension I have ever done. But apart from that I think paper 1 was good enough. The first comprehension was on something Ihave never heard of but I think I got the answers well enough. Then I moved on to the comprehension on "inside out" which wasn't too hard.(I said alt 3 and alt 4). Then I did the verb question, I think that went well enough too. I guess we were lucky enough with it being just multiple choice. Finally I did the story question. I did the first one which was something like " wait mum you haven't heard my side of the story", you wouldn't believe the amount of people who thought it was "you need to hear the news" and totally messed up the story section.Paper 2:  Now this was a hard paper.....ok in the vampire one I answered all the questions just to try and get as many points as possible. As the studied story I answered on "An t­Adh" as "duine carduil". I decided to skip the unseen poetry for a while and I answered the studied poetry which I used "Na Blatha Craige" for with "brod". I said they were proud of their cliff. So, I decided to keep going and go back to the unseen poetry in the end. I did the letter about the party, the first one. I wrote about a page including the address. Finally I went back to the studied poetry and did every question except (A iii). I thought that first poem was REALLY bad but that the second one was good enough. So I hope ye all did well and good luck everyone in geography and maths paper 1.

 

Shane - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2

Paper 1: I went in to paper 1 this morning feeling relatively optimistic. Then the listening started… I was on the brink of tears listening because I am generally rubbish at them. But! Then that ended and the written exam started and my hope returned. I started with the eachtra in the mountains and as usual, I fell and broke my leg. It always works! Then I did question 2 A and was a very happy person at just seeing those 2 words, Aimsir Chaite. Then I did 2B which I feel I did well in. And finally, the comprehensions. I did the second one first (I don’t know what my problem is with exam order but whatever) and lastly, the first one. I feel this went well also! All in all, paper 1 (minus the listening) went very well.Paper 2: Then we get to paper 2… I did the first letter which went well. Then I tried my best to make Pádraic from An t-Adh fit ‘duine cairdiúil’. I did Subh Milis for the studied poetry. Then the prós question 1 and filíocht question 3. As usual, I had a limited concept of what the poems were about and wrote 11 lines on why I enjoyed the vampire story, saying I love vampire stories and the main character (basically anything to stop me from having to read the full thing!)All in all I feel I did well in Irish, with my paper 1 and optional oral being my saving grace. I hope you all did well and I will say a prayer for everybody for Maths Paper 1!!! Best of luck! 

Chloe - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2 

Paper 1: Listening was up first, I felt these were quite difficult especially having two Donegal accents laced in there making it all the more challenging but aside from that I think it went well.Irish paper one was a grand paper, I thought. The Léamhthuiscints were easy to understand and the answers to the questions weren’t hard to find in the passage, which sometimes they can be. Between both reading passages I did the grammar and briathra questions, with these I think sometimes you just get lucky and thankfully today we had Aimsir Chaite and the grammar section wasn’t too bad either! The essay choices were also really nice and thankfully an essay that I had prepared was able to mix well with the first eachtra choice.Paper 2: This wasn’t as fab….I started with the reading comprehension, yet again and was disgusted when reading the piece about vampírí as the Irish used was so advanced and I found it really difficult to make sense of! I then went on to do the studied prose. Using ‘duine gclic for Díoltas an Madra Rua which I really tried to make work but honestly it didn’t go that smoothly. I continued on with the other studied section which was poetry and I chose grá for Bean tSléibhte ag Caoineadh a Mhic. It went well but it could have gone better. I was really racing against the clock at this stage! I did the letter next and chose the one about the storm, which was really like an essay we had learned in class and so it fitted well. This was the only semi-good section of paper 2 for me ! Lastly was the unseen poem and exactly like the reading passage it was so difficult I’m not sure if what I thought the poem meant is actually what the poem meant but I had no choice but to go with it!Overall definitely a harder year than usual in my opinion!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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie

Junior Certificate English

Shane - Higher Level English Paper 1 & 2

English! My favourite subject. I’m a massive fan of reading and writing stuff so I went in today with high hope.Paper 1: Let me start by saying I loved this paper! I started off paper 1 with my personal writing. I did the speech and was delighted with the motion, I went against the motion ‘Ireland is no longer the land of A Hundred Thousand Welcomes'. I was so delighted that I wrote 5 pages… I talked about Mary Robinson’s ‘candle in the window’ along with various other things, ending on an encouraging note to love everybody to get marks sentimental. Then I did functional writing, choosing the letter. I went back to the start and did the comprehension. I loved this comprehension because it was actually fun. When everyone in my centre opened the paper, they all laughed. Then I chose question one on media studies, talking about keeping up to date on news and Hillary’s democratic nomination.Paper 2: I always thought I’d do better in Paper 1 than 2. That was until I got 89% on paper 2 in the mocks. So I went in to paper 2 confident. I started answering on my studied drama, The Merchant Of Venice, doing question 2. I thought it could have been better (I really wanted one on themes), but hey, you have to work with what you’re given. Then I did the first studied poetry question using two of Wilfred Owen’s pens. I moved on to section 3 and did the second fiction question on To Kill A Mockingbird. Then I worked backwards, doing Unseen Fiction first. In the end, I had about fifteen minutes left to do my unseen Shakespearean Drama, and I have never written so fast.All in all, I am extremely happy with English and feel really good about it. I hope you all feel the same as me! Best of luck in Irish tomorrow!Philip - Higher Level English Paper 1 & 2 Paper 1: I started paper 1 with question 1, not because it was question 1 but because a comprehension seemed like a good starting point. I can now honesty say, I have a much more indepth knowledge on the subject of emoji than I ever expected. Next I did the media studies question. I did question 2 the one with the cartoon and the 1950s and present day comparison pictures. That was.....strange, but I think I did ok. Well I finished it. Third I did functional writing. I did the letter question, mainly because I wasn't really sure what the other one was asking. Was it a blog? Anyway in the letter I said they should buy equipment not hire someone. Last but not least I did the personal writing. I did the "a Door into the Dark" question. I think I did well enough. I took "inspiration" from a creepy pasta. I changed a good bit though. So that was paper 1.Paper 2: In paper 2 I did all the unseen questions first and those were in order. I didn't think the options were great for the drama. I really didn't like the poetry. But I thought the fiction was okay. I did the interview question and the "do you think their friendship will last" question. I said it would. Then I went back and did the studied drama. I did the "character relationship" question for Shylock and Antonio in the Merchant of Venice. then I did poetry. I answered the first question, the one where you were given a statement like "a play can change how you think and how you feel" I answered with Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et decrum est". God I repeated myself SO much. Finally I did the studied fiction question. I answered on Goodnight Mr Tom and I answered the question with the "pick two from this list" thing. Anyway at least English is over that's where your most under pressure for time I think. Good luck with Irish tomorrow everyone!

Joe - Higher Level English Paper 1 & 2 

Paper 1: I woke up this morning with a combination of excitement, worry and a small amount of fear fuelled by my cram studying technique and lack of sleep the night previous.The exams itself wasn't as bad as I first anticipated. I enjoyed the reading of the emoji passage and found the questions relatively easy. I was very fortunate with the questions that came up for both personal writing and functional writing. A short story I had prepared earlier in the year fitted the criteria of a story with a "eureka moment". With the functional writing a letter was an option and this was the only functional writing piece I was confident with. In media studies I picked question one based on "Types of news consumers". I was quite unsure how to answer it correctly and was fairly confused by it.Over all the paper wasn't to bad and I was happy with how it went.Paper 2: After my reasonable success on paper one I was more confident about jumping this second hurdle.Unfortunately I did not do as well on this paper. I did the studied drama, poetry and fiction first as I knew they would be my strongest answers. Unfortunately I liked the questions that came up too much and wrote a large amount for all three. This had the knock on affect of making me have to rush the unseen questions and I was writing to the very end. The unseen fiction and drama questions were straight forward enough and I answered reasonable well. For the unseen poetry I didn't like the poem in the exam paper and was unsure about my answers.The time restraints for paper two were difficult to contend with particularly with my slow reading speed. I however got it all done and over all my questions weren't perfect but we're ok and all finished.

Chloe - Higher Level English Paper 1 & 2 

Paper 1: At 9:30 am I couldn't believe how relaxed I was, we were about to begin our first Junior Certificate exam and honestly you would never have known! I’m not sure if that was a good or a bad thing!I went in chronological order, not changing the order of the questions up or anything and so reading was up first! I was quite happy to see a piece about emoji on the paper I must admit! The questions, I thought, weren't too bad but they need some thinking.Okay so I had learned an essay word for word over the last couple of days and I prayed to the high heavens that it would work for me. It did! I can’t describe how happy I was! I chose option 4 which was adding in a small phrase ‘….but tell them I was here all day’ or something like that I’m not 100% sure.Functional writing was next and honestly, I had had an inkling that a letter would appear. At this stage I had the last reading section question still to finish and I was under time pressure for sure! Letter writing is definitely one of my stronger points so I was buying time with this question as it was actually quite similar to one I had seen beforeOh media studies! I completed question A which was about news consumers and at this stage I was writing so quickly I thought my hand was going to fall off!At the end of the day I felt paper 1 was a lovely paper, obviously it contained some tricky pieces but what exam doesn’t!Paper 2: At 2:00pm we entered the exam hall and I can’t describe how I was feeling when the paper lay in front of me but I didn’t feel ‘into it’ I was praying that I’d boot into work mode asap and thankfully I did half way through the first drama.It wasn’t a surprise to see a question about stage direction laced in here as they had been coming up quite a lot but still I opted for the comparison question along with the first drama one, as to be honest I really hate questions on scene direction!Again I steered clear of the stage like question for the studied drama and focused my answer on question 2 which I chose ‘an unexpected event’ and ‘contrasting characters’ I found these fair enough to answer. I had studied The Merchant of Venice.I loved the poem in the unseen section but the questions were slightly more difficult especially the question on the ‘narrators impression of the woman encountered on the tube’ as I felt there wasn’t much info in the poem to delve into and so, I struggled with this.So, I'm kind of obsessed with ‘The Lake isle of Innisfree’ and again, this is one that I was hoping would suit the question. I chose question 2 and used it as a poem suitable for a wedding. I know, sounds odd but I made it work!This fiction section was so ugly I absolutely hated it, I couldn’t follow it properly or anything maybe this was because I was rushing to finish the whole fiction in 30 minutes or maybe you guys thought so too!The studied fiction also wasn’t my best friend but I completed question 1 and decided to choose Atticus Finch to join me on the desert island and also choosing to leave Bob Ewell behind.Overall paper 2 was okay but I definitely didn’t find it easy by any means.Hope all of you guys got on okay, I’m sure you all did it great!Anois, Gaeilge!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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie

One year on from the Junior Cert

Saoirse Kearney shares her experience & study tips for the Junior Cert

The Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate are both very important and very stressful exams, but a lot of the time the Leaving Cert overshadows the Junior Cert as there’s hype over the CAO and college. This may be the case but the Junior Cert is important in many different ways. It’s the first time that you experience what a State Exam is like and the amount of preparation that is involved. It’s a very stressful and sometimes traumatic experience for a lot of people. I completed my Junior Certificate in June of last year. I chose The Higher Level paper for all of my 10 subjects, and received a total of 6 A’s and 4 B’s. I am proud of my grades but this bothered me as my aim was to get A’s in every subject.In the final weeks coming up to the Junior Certificate I started to panic as I feared that there wasn’t enough time to study every topic in every book for every subject. The thoughts of having to complete 14 exams which totaled to 32 hours in an exam centre, all in 10 days was terrifying. Listening to other peoples study routines and how much they were studying also worried me, but I realised at the end of April last year that the same study plan doesn’t work for everyone and that you’re the only person that can decide the amount of work and study style that is best for you.Study TipsBy this stage in the year all your language orals should be completed and your practicals should be finishing up in the next week, so now all your attention turns to studying. All through 2nd and 3rd Year we are always told different ways to study and what was the ‘most effective’ way of studying. Some of these included spider diagrams, flashcards, buzz words and memory cheats. But again, it’s up to you to find what study method suits you best. I personally found flashcards useful for subjects like Science, Home Economics, Geography and Spanish. For Spanish and Irish I did vocabulary tests every few days on different topics, for example.    For History I found memory cheats very handy. Let’s take the "People in History" Essay question with the topic of Christopher Columbus, I made a cheat to help me remember key points to use in the essay.• My memory cheat would look something like: Columbus Got Frightened In Norway Cos 33 Sailors Captured Him For AttackingAlthough this cheat has no relevance to the topic of Columbus, it’s catchy and easy to remember. Now I knew that the first letter or number of every word in the sentence stood for an important point so in the exam I could develop each into one or sometimes a few sentences. Below is what the letters really stand for.• Columbus Genoa Ferdinand Isabella Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria Canary Islands 33 days at sea San Salvador Cuba Hispanola Failed to find the spice islands Amerigo VespucciI also used cheats for Business and Science and overall found them very helpful.Breaks, Sleep and EatingI know what it’s like when you feel like you can’t afford to lose time to take a break or other times you feel like throwing the towel in and spending the rest of the year on a permanent break, but it’s essential that you have a good schedule for breaks. Last year I made sure I took at least a ten minute break every hour to an hour and a half, this may seem like a lot of time to be wasting but trust me you’ll feel re-energised by taking a few minutes to rest and by doing so you’ll be able to take in more information.If someone was to ask me “what’s the most important thing when studying”, I would say sleep. Study and Homework can sometimes go late into the night but I think it’s essential that you get at least 7-8 hours uninterrupted sleep each night, especially in the last two weeks coming up to the exams. During the exams I would advise to sleep even longer and to take naps after exams if possible. I’m not going to lie, you will be very tired in the last week before exams and during the exams so try to get as much sleep as possible. If you are waking up sweating with the worry over your exams then don’t worry you’re not the only one, a lot of people have sleepless nights coming up to exams. It’s important to talk to a friend or family member if you’re stressed as this may help to reduce stress.Also food is very important. Unfortunately, I turned to sugary foods like chocolate and cakes last year as do a lot of people, but I wish I had stuck with healthy foods. I would suggest having a good healthy breakfast every morning. This can be a problem for a lot of girls especially as many don’t eat breakfast at all but it’s vital that you have breakfast as you will be more alert and be able to take in more information. Porridge is a good choice as it is a carbohydrate and releases energy slowly, therefore it will keep you energised until lunchtime. In addition to porridge also have at least two pieces of fruit for breakfast.Also, try to exercise every day, go for a walk, get fresh air, practice your favourite sport. Taking an hour or even half an hour every day to do something to take your mind off study will help you in the long term.MathsI think overall Maths can be the most daunting exam for people. It’s not like other subjects where you can memorise definitions or points, people fear maths as the questions are unknown and sometimes you can’t really prepare for certain questions. You can memorise your theorems but chances are a theorem may not come up in your exam. The only thing you can do to prepare for maths is to practice, practice, practice! Even if this means doing the same question over and over again, the only thing you’ll do is improve and become quicker at answering questions. I know I sound like a teacher but practicing questions helps. Most maths teachers choose the Edco examination papers, these are helpful but my maths teacher chose to get exam papers from educate.ie, I found this company’s exam papers incredibly helpful as they not only had the past exam papers but they had many practice papers and they also had twice as many questions to practice than the Edco papers.The MocksMocks can be an eye opener for most people, sometimes you may not do so well in a subject that you are good at, in others you might get a better result than expected. What I will say is not to take your mock results for granted, they are only a tester, they don’t symbolise what you will get in June. For example, I got the highest result in my year for Home Economics in my mock, I won the Junior Cert Awards for both English and Home Economics in my school, and I was also praised for my cross stitch project and my cooking by many teachers. When it came to the final weeks of study, I didn’t spend much time on Home Economics as I thought I already had an A in the bag. When results came out, I got a B and I was certain that whoever was correcting my paper had made a mistake, but after getting my paper rechecked my result remained at a B. To this day I regret not spending more time on Home Economics and for taking my mock result for granted.Tips for the exam day• Have a good sleep the night before• Eat a good and sufficient breakfast• Make sure you have all equipment needed for exam eg. Pen, ruler, calculator, etc.• Remember your exam number• Arrive at your exam centre at least 20 minutes before your exam is due to start• Wear a watch- it’s vital that you’re aware of your timing during the exam• Prepare a rough plan in your head for what order you plan to answer the questions in• Stay calm• Read over every question before you hand up your paper as once you hand it up there’s no going backAt the end of the day, just stay calm and know that there is only so much you can do, we’re only human. We’re not supposed to remember absolutely everything we’re told especially when we’re gaining huge amounts of information at one time like in the Junior or Leaving Certificates, but you can work on ways to remember certain material and ways to look after ourselves during an intense time of studying. Talk to your teachers or parents/guardians if you are worrying or stressed, they’re all here to help you.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. If you are interested in becoming an ISSU Exam Blogger, contact info@issu.ie with your name, school year and contact details.

Junior Certificate Music

Jane - Higher Level

After being delighted with my music practical I had looked at my whole music situation fondly, that was, until I walked out of science on Thursday and didn't open a music book until last night. I think everyone else being on their holidays had definitely made me feel less stressed about music.After a big study session I went to bed last night very worried. I didn't want to let my teacher down who I get on very well with. It wasn't that bad, I have to say. Set songs were fab, the William tell overture came up, which I kind of rambled with when talking about what made the music sound like rain drops and wind. (Study the hell out of set works second years!!)Irish music was okay too, although again I kind of stretched it when talking about The Corrs, because I literally don't know anything about them. Dictation was well, dictation. It's never been my favourite question and I bet I did horribly in it but anyways. I haven't looked at a book for choice works or songs since about may I'd say but I actually got it right (miracle) the listening part of 5 was pretty hard too. The rest was a breeze, I was happy with all the melody writing etc.If I could do it again I definitely would not have left it until the night before, I hope my procrastination doesn't drag my grade down on my practical.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Junior Certificate Religion

Gearóid - Higher Level

I came into the exam after a long science and a two and a half hour lunch, I wandered into the religion exam hoping for the best. I started with the short questions which I found quite simple. The picture question was the same as usual, and the document was somewhat easier than earlier years.In the long questions, I did the Communities of Faith, Question of Faith, Celebration of Faith, and The Moral Challenge questions. I found I had the ability to complete these. Sadly I didn't realise the time passing and I had spent one hour at these.As the long question worth seventy marks, I had only left fifteen minutes to complete this. I wrote slightly over one page on question one on Northern Ireland which incorporated the two Christian denominations of Catholicism and Protestantism.Overall, I enjoyed this paper, not too different to the past papers, I hope it shows in September.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.

Junior Certificate Science

Gearóid - Higher Level

I walked into the science prepared however I was feeling a little nervous. I started with the biology section. I thought the biology section was like the exam papers I suppose, however I felt question three on the bees and the apple tree was somewhat different but manageable.I went onto chemistry then. The short questions were again not too hard. It seemed that the SEC are trying to be up to date and put a question about water and water treatment on the paper.The physics section went worse than usual. Question 8 on the refraction of light was not easy but I think I got through it. The short questions were good, one or two tripped me up.Overall I did not think the paper was too hard and I hope the marking goes my way.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.