We're hiring: Student Engagement and Development Officer

The ISSU Student Engagement and Development Officer will manage the ISSU National Office and will have responsibility for the communications, student engagement, research and developmental strategies of the organisation.SALARY: €24,000 pro rata p.a.CONTRACT LENGTH:  Reporting to the Board of Directors and to be employed on a permanent contract, and subject to completion of a 6-month probation period - subject to continued funding for the role.WORKING HOURS: 35.00 hours (on a flexi-time basis).  Occasional out-of-office hours may be required.OVERVIEW:The successful candidate will manage the daily business of the Head Office of the ISSU and coordinate the execution of ISSU policy with responsibility for communications, student engagement, research and development. The successful candidate will be tasked with supporting the continued development of the organisation through increasing ISSU membership, working to build on existing regional structures and supporting the work of the ISSU National Student Executive.DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Liaising with schools and student councils to develop and expand the membership of the ISSU
• Engagement with the ISSU’s membership base through nationwide school visits, student council training sessions and regional events
• Coordinating Student Council consultation sessions and other events
• Development of resources for student councils
• Education and student welfare policy research and report writing
• Updating and maintaining the ISSU’s social media outlets
• Assisting the ISSU National Student Executive in fulfilling their remit
• Promotion of the iConnect Card
• Supporting the development and growth of the ISSU
• Advocacy and representation including attending events on behalf of the ISSU, where necessary
• Maintain ISSU’s databases
• General administration and office management

PERSON DESCRIPTION:

• A minimum of one year’s experience with a youth or student organisation;
• Enthusiasm and commitment to ISSU’s objectives;
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent proven relevant experience;
• Some knowledge and experience of the Irish education system and the voluntary/non-profit/youth work sector;
• Project management experience;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Comprehensive grasp of modern media and communications;
• Motivated and driven;
• Demonstratable track record of building and developing relationships;
• Excellent drafting, proofing, and information delivery skills;
• Excellence in communicating in English in a variety of contexts;
• Excellent ICT proficiency;
• Ability and initiative to work independently and as a self-starter;
• Demonstrable ability to work well in a team;
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and thrive in a fast-paced environment;
• Attention to detail especially online and in other communications;
• Full clean driver’s licence preferable.

The position is based at ISSU’s national office in Dublin. Hours are based on a 35.00 hour week and 21 days of holidays p.a. This post involves travel within the State with time off in lieu of working evenings/at weekends.A high level of integrity, accountability, confidentiality, responsibility and flexible, constructive engagement is required in carrying out these duties.The ISSU Child Protection Policy and Garda Vetting Procedures for the safeguarding of young people apply.The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union is an equal opportunities employer.APPLICATIONSApplications should be in the form of a letter of application and CV submitted online via http://careers.issu.ieDEADLINE : 5pm Monday 18^th July 2016

Leaving Certificate Geography

Cárthach - Higher Level Geography 

Not fully functioning at 5:30am,  I looked at YouTube videos which really helped recap on things that I had forgotten, with loads of videos on Regions-type questions...This made the early start easier!!Luckily, the last few points I had looked over in the exam regarding the geo-ecology were useful, as I decided to do a question on A Biome and choose the three aspects, Fauna, Soil and Climate.I did feel panic when I felt blanks coming, but I kept breathing, which helps...and I managed to keep writing and continued to the next questions...as I always struggled with time (like in English).I felt it was unfair to put several air photograph and map related time consuming short questions, that I had no choice but to skip over, and made significant ground by doing so.However, time was still against me, and I had to rush my last two questions, and didn't manage to get back to do the last 5 short questions apart from one...but I think overall the paper was much nicer than I had presumed it would be, nicer than the pres/mocks, take note 5th years!It could have been better, could have been worse. It was draining and slowed me for Maths Paper 1, but that's a different kettle of fish writing-wise...Not as straining on my painful (painfully slow) hand, maybe a bit more straining on my head!

Liam - Higher Level Geography 

Questions that I did: All the short Qs, 2, 4, 12, 16.Geography, geography, geography. The paper wasn't actually too bad, you'll be sad to know Mr Highlighter didn't make much of an appearance because after the mocks, I knew timing would be an issue.I did it kind of awkwardly, from the back to front. Our teacher give us Geo ecology essays and I knew the cramming I did 5 minutes before the exam would wear off, so best to do it ASAP. Soil characteristics and general composition came up. Brown soil it was.I figured after this I'd keep the good mojo going and do the short questions, cause everybody knows getting one short question out of the 12 right gives as much satisfaction as getting the A1. They weren't too bad, in saying that, I could have made a complete balls of it and never know! Thanks SEC!12 was next because I wanted to get my human population out of the way because it's the bane of my existence. I choose not to think of it because the SRPs certainly weren't flowing there!Then I went into question 4, regional geography! They were mad into Brazil this year. I figured I'd compensate for not doing a sketch map and draw out Brazil. And by that, get the general idea of what Brazil looks like from the world map on question 12. Overall that question wasn't too tricky.Then there was question 2. Who doesn't love talking about a good delta. The colouring pencils came out ladies and gents and I've never seen the "Mississippi Crow Foot Delta" looking so magnificent.Overall I thought it was grand, but with geography, one doesn't really know cause of those SRPs. Little buggers!!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

Leaving Certificate Maths Paper 1

Craig - Ordinary Level Paper 1

That was the easiest maths exam I have sat since the Drumcondra test in 5th class. Anyone who was looking to just get by in the Maths paper was treated to an array of opportunities to demonstrate their worth above foundation level. Similar to my sympathies for those that banked on Yeats for English; anyone who dropped to foundation today- I am sorry, you missed out, there's no dancing around it; that was a lovely paper.On an initial skim through the pages, I found myself quite calm - not sure if that was the dangerous levels of herbal remedy my mother has doused every thing in the house with ; but all the more it was brilliant to not get that horrible feeling I got in the mocks whereby I felt I couldn't do any full questions.Our paper opened on very basic financial maths and slowly evolved into a test for independent thinking , rather than just pure knowledge of the course.The final two questions were incredibly similar , and the financial maths section was very well spread out across the exam. Calculus was also impeccably easier than previous years, along with the section on basic algebra and complex numbers.My only fear is Paper 2 now which is normally a paper I find a lot tricker. Still, in spite of this I think I have the marks from my first paper to comfortably land me an honour and meet my entry requirements. Fingers crossed - now into a lovely weekend of cramming!

 

Ellen - Higher Level Paper 1 

I was just wrecked after English P2 yesterday so my preparation for this exam consisted of watching Total Wipeout, having a nap and a few bowls of chowder. On top of that I was sick this morning and could barely move, so it's safe to say I was not looking forward to this exam... Stuffed to the brim with neurofen and tea, I took my place in the exam centre dreading the next few hours.I'm not going to say I was pleasantly surprised because there was nothing pleasant about it. Everything seemed to be algebra and logs - my two least favourite topics - and there was no financial maths in sight. Although, the proof by induction was rather lovely, as was the log question with all the p's and q's. I really really do not like algebra so you can imagine my horror when I saw the first two long questions, anyway, I soldiered through, even finding the parabola for basketball. (Although I admit I had no idea how to find the angle with the horizontal, something with tan maybe?)The sequences and series question was kinda quirky and I got the table but not the answer. That last question about the bees seemed a bit out of place and was way more difficult than it looked. I answered everything, with just enough time to look over at the end which has never happened to me before. Paper 1 is supposed to be my strongest so I'll probably spend the whole weekend focusing on Paper 2. Hopefully it's worth it for those 25 extra points!

Cárthach - Higher Level Paper 1 

I opened the paper and stared blankly at the first page for 5 minutes, not knowing what exactly to do. I was 100% sure I would fail, friends will laugh saying this isn't true, but I genuinely skimmed through the paper, pretending to see things that weren't possible to do. However, I made myself write something in the tiny first box, and suddenly a flow begin to come. No, I didn't manage the first two pages well at all, but what followed seemed to suit me. Plenty of calculus, trigonometry and logs as well as co-ordinate geometry almost made the paper feel like paper 2, which I prefer!I was worried previously about financial maths and none came up!!It wasn't perfect, but it was much better than I had thought it would be, reading over the English version of the paper now. I may have actually passed, no time to celebrate, paper 2 is dawning on me! 

Liam - Higher Level Paper 1 

Maths you done done us good! I must say, this paper was immaculate! I didn't know what it was going to be like because they could pop an awkward question and that would put you completely off but in fairness, I liked it.Question 1 was a complex numbers question and it was fairly good, there was no weird DeMoivre proof or anything like that so it was fairly straightforward. 2 was just basic algebra, the second part really got my goat during the whole thing. I kept finding myself going back to it, but towards the end I found the errors of my ways, I forgot to square the 2 under the line! But sure be grand.Question 3 was exponential graphing and it was again, fairly straightforward. 4 was proof by induction and if it weren't for a video I watched online last night, I probably wouldn't have gotten it, then the log questions afterwards. I like logs and logs like me, well at least I think they do after those questions.5 was kind of triggy ( sorry, I had to! ). The first part was Pythagoras theorem, with algebra combined! And then the next part was the SEC just making up some new definition, safe to say that that box was filled with last minute scribbling. Part b was grand too, just a bit of functions. Because that and the part a are related…?6 was calculus. Good 'ol calculus, and in fairness, it was grand if you took your time with it. Differentiation by first principles was simple and the next part was one of those product and chain rule hybrids, just do it slow and keep it clear and you'd get it!!Then we got more calculus in question 7 where you manipulated the surface area and volume equations of a sphere to find rates of change. It was grand, once you understood the whole situation.  Part b, is where they kicked the ball. Would've been better kicking it all off the paper being honest, but sure it was grand.8 was all about Sarah and her basketball and instead of doing an essay in English about the olympics, we got a maths question. 9 was grand too, just about if sequence and series, and with a bit of last minute thinking , that was that !All in all , maths this year was really the story of a bad joke. They pumped up a ball (7) for Sarah to play in the Olympics (8) and along comes a bee (9).Paper 2, please have a heart!! 

Emma - Ordinary Level Paper 1 

Just out of maths paper one and lovely is an understatement. I don't know if it's because last years paper was so difficult but ordinary level paper one went fabulously!! It started with a basic money question, and had little differentiation which I was delighted to see. There were some parts, like everything that took a little time and thinking but it wouldn't be maths without that I suppose. Question eight like many people caught me but I'm banking on attempt marks for that one!!The reaction to the paper seems pretty positive!! Hopefully paper two will be just as lovely!!  

Conor - Higher Level Paper 1

When I open the paper, I carefully analyse each question, labeling the top, as to which topic on the syllabus they apply to.Complex numbers…Algebra…Functions…So when I arrive at question 8, I let out a great sigh, mentally saying “of course they “delight” us in having the financial maths question last.  I turn over the page and… oh my sweet Jesus of Nazerteth, it’s sequences and series. Mixed feelings are roaming through my head at this moment. On the one hand, life has given me the wonderful gift of hope. On the other: hold on – I just spent countless hours attempting to comprehend as to what even a ‘financial maths’ is, and how does one use ‘financial maths’. That being said, the only course of action was to proceed with the paper. And thus, I did.Overlooking the internet now, I am seeing quite mixed remarks about the paper. There are people similar to one half of my brain, saying “Whoever wrote that exam, leaving out financial maths, I’m buying him a pint”. Others, furious over the absence of financial maths; but overall, an overwhelming delight. Twitter has deemed it to have been “piss easy”, and that it was a “looovvveelllyyyy paper”.To those people that are complaining about a lack of financial maths, and are looking back over the hours spent on learning it, ask yourselves: did you really want it to crop up. Imagine, if you will, how the exam would have panned out:Let’s see… let’s see… Ah, here it is. Financial maths. I have done so much work for you, and now I can- wait. I still don’t know how to do this. I WANT ALGEBRA! [sobbing] So, do not focus on what did not come up. That is futile.  Focus on what did, and, if you are like the majority of students, you would have considered those questions “leeeeeeeeethaaaaaallll”.Personally speaking, I found it to be a just paper. It was not a walk in the park, and there were parts that you had to seriously contemplate – as it should be, seeing as that is the nature of mathematics. But it was approachable in every aspect. I can assume that most could have filled in each box with one line at least. In Project Maths, that typically means half of the marks. Oh, biased marking scheme – our saviour.To those that are sitting behind the screen in a state of melancholy over what they believed to be an incredibly tough exam, do not fret. As I have said, attempt marks are there to boost people up. I remember doing a question on one of the papers – it was a 50 mark question – and the very first part, a part that was essentially asking you to sub in values into an equation, gave you almost half of the total marks for the question. Marking schemes favour those that have done poorly. Besides, it is only half of the paper. So to those that found it “piss” – you’ve only climbed over the first obstacle.All in all, however, it has, at least from what I’ve seen, been a great start to the Leaving Certificate Examinations. It has provided many students with the confidence to face each paper now with a will to do well, as they have done in the past. Take a break sometime this weekend – then prepare for another battle. But the battles are thankfully coming to a close before you know it.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 Maths Paper 1

Joe - Higher Level 

My maths test in the last 3 years have been mostly good but with a few poor results mixed in, and because  of this I was concerned about  the exam. Paper 1 is also my weaker of the two papers.

At the start of the exam I was doing well and keeping to the time restraints, as the exam progressed I became less confident. Near the end of the exam there were about 3 questions that I did not understand fully so I left out parts or answered poorly.

I don't think I did well in the paper and I was disappointed.

 

Kate - Higher Level 

Thank God geography went well for me because maths was a total flop. I started the exam on a positive note and when I opened the first page I was pleased with the exam. The first page consisted of putting brackets around numbers. I was delighted! I thought this can't be real, this is so easy! And then I flipped over the page and realised it was just the SEC playing a cruel prank. I found the function questions very difficult as they did not resemble any functions that I have previously done. I was stressed and flustered as I could not answer a lot of the questions.

As the exam progressed I calmed down and answered every question to the best of my ability. The only question that I enjoyed on the exam would have to be the one on the triangle and squares area. I thought that this was a different and refreshing question (probably because it was the only one I answered well). Personally, I am not pleased with how the exam went for me but it was better than my maths mock. I'm praying that paper two will save me from a failing grade!

 

Philip - Higher Level 

Now, in this subject I promised bias and that's what I'll give. I found this test easy enough, even if there were a few tough questions. I found it easier than our pre­ exams. There was no arithmetic question, the Venn diagram question wasn't hard. The question where you had to find the area of the square was hard enough, but only because it was difficult to see how to multiply with A! So the question where you had to get 3 to the power of K was hard after the first two, I came back at the end and just randomly put in numbers until I got something that worked.Anyway I finished with about an hour to spare and just looked through the paper.

Good luck for maths paper 2 and CSPE on Monday. Also have "fun" studying over the weekend.

 

Shane - Higher Level 

Let me start by saying, maths is my weakest subject. I got quite a shock however, when I opened my paper and saw how good (easy) it was. By far one of the easiest maths Paper 1’s I’ve come across. I don’t really know what to say other than it was a breeze up until question 9. That was when I had to start thinking about things and using my not so logistical brain. I do think it went swimmingly for me and I am hoping Paper 2 (AKA the good maths paper) will go well  and I can push my mock result of a C up to a B. But this week is over and I am very happy so far with how things are working out.

Enjoy the weekend and I wish all of you and my fellow exam bloggers the best of luck in Paper 2 and CSPE!!! (although you won’t really need it)

Chloe - Higher Level 

Going in to this exam I was so nervous as maths is by far my weakest subject. I looked through the paper and decided to tackle question 11 first as it looked like a few relatively straight forward factorisations. I was into it now and I turned back to question 1. I should be ashamed here as I couldn’t remember how to get the percentage decrease but other than that q1 was quite simple, surprisingly as q1 in the mocks was nothing short of mind boggling. I continued on anyway with one question after the other and I couldn’t believe how much function work was involved. I’m not sure if I tackled them all correctly but my graphs looked reasonably okay so I was using that as reassurance! Maybe it was just me but q12 which was about the bags had a very large working out space for the method I used, this was quite off putting as I don’t know if I went about it the right way, I just subbed in numbers and worked it out like that, but I could have been very wrong!After the exam, media was preaching the statement ‘everything was fine till q8’ which I don’t necessarily agree with as some of my better questions came after this and honestly some of my worst before.Overall I don’t know whether I hated or loved paper 1, some questions were nice and others were horrible, definitely a mixed bag 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 Geography, Environmental & Social Studies

Joe - Higher Level

I have done consistently well with geography through out the junior cert cycle so was confident about this exam.The exam went very well. I started on the short questions and had them done in less then 20 minutes. I then did question 5 on the ordinance survey map. I spent a long time drawing the sketch map and doing the question but I gave a solid answer. I then did the question on limestone , underground feature of a karst landscape and peat. It was straight forward and I felt like I answered well. My final question was question two on ocean currents, irrigation and desertification. I was a small bit rushed to complete it but finished just in time.I feel the exam went well and it was a fairly easy paper!

Kate - Higher Level 

Geography went great! I answered all the short questions with ease and moved on to the long questions. The long questions were good. I answered question one, question two and question five. Question one focused on karst landscapes, limestone and peat. I found this question manageable but the question about technology and peat was unusual. The second question I answered was on irrigation, desertification and ocean currents. I loved this section as it was simple and I thoroughly enjoy the section on ocean currents.Finally I answered the OS Map. I originally did not plan to answer this question but I had no choice. The map was odd and I found it tricky to draw what was required to scale, but the questions were great. A question about traffic congestion and tourism. Overall I think the exam went well for me. The questions were quite broad and I'm optimistic about how it went!

Luke - Higher Level 

Initially I was quite nervous going into the exam because I have quite high expectations for myself when it comes to this subject. I was worried population would come up because I hadn't studied them in depth. Once I got into the exam and opened the paper I gave the long questions a quick read through and I realised that it was grand. The short questions... Easy. Blew through them. 60/60.I did long questions 1,2 and 5. I dodged the population questions! I hear a lot of people were thrown by the question on Irish bogs. I manged to cram fishing, bogs, and the karst landscape before I went into the exam and thank God. The OR map was easy. I'm looking forward to continuing my study of geography for LC. Looking forward to taking a breather this weekend! 

Shane - Higher Level 

I went into geography with buzz words for beaches, cliffs, soil creep, freeze thaw action and karst landscapes buzzing in my head. Of all this, I would only need one. But, it didn’t really matter. I did the short questions first. I felt these were by far the easiest compared to any year. Then I did question 1. I got a shock when I saw economic activities. I always thought (among with every JC student) that question 1’s were STRICTLY physical geography. I didn’t mind however. The questions in question 1 were very do-able and I felt as if it was a great question.I did question 2 secondly.This was the best out of 2, 3, and 4 in my eyes. I would have been rewriting Q3 part B and D (I think they were the parts) and I couldn’t do Q4 because my geography teacher didn’t do urban geography with us. I did find Q2 to be my weakest question but I did’t feel it went too bad. Then I did good ole question 5. I found this to be a good question, but I took so long to draw the coastline on the map. In the finish up, I think Geography went very well and I am over all very pleased with it! 

Philip - Higher Level

So this went ok. I admit I panicked, there was about five subjects I didn't know well in the entire course. Guess which subjects came up? But after the exam I talked to a geography teacher in my school and they said they thought my answers was ok (I told them what I said). Anyway,I didn't find the short questions too hard. I'd say there were a few I got wrong though. The long questions I did were question one. The karst structure I did were pillars. Then I did question three A, B and C. Finally I did question 5 with the maps. All in all I think the test went pretty well!  

Chloe - Higher Level 

Let me start by saying that the majority of my time studying prior to the JC was dedicated to geography and I still didn’t know every single thing entering this exam, its so difficult to contain everything in your brain on the day and the cramming session we had an hour before the exam I think was the making or breaking of it. I began with the short questions, usually I can find these to be sometimes slightly awkward but they were actually grand yesterday and I had them done within 20 minutes.I opened the paper and not one of the questions from 1-4 appealed to me fully so I decided to begin with question 5 (which I don’t normally do) I found the questions on the OS map relatively similar to those that had come up before and the question about traffic circulation wasn’t a regular but it was doable. I then went on to do the question on ocean currents, irrigation and desertification, from this I was only fully confident with irrigation but managed to make a good enough stab at the other two thankfully enough as we had recently studied them in class.I finished with the geographical mix question and left out the question on polders. I felt this went quite well although I was definitely waffling for some parts to fill out my answers. Overall geography went reasonably well for me and I hope my studying for this subject pays off!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

Introducing Zeminar

So what’s 'Generation Z'?

It’s the group of young people born in the late 90s and after 2000. They’re special because they’re the first generation ever who grew up totally surrounded by technology, and so their futures, ambitions and needs are completely different than those of any other generation before them…

It was this generation that inspired Zeminar, a youth summit organised for 15-19 year olds coming to the RDS this October! Zeminar is unlike any other youth event - it will bring together amazing speakers, like Bressie, Maria Walsh, Lynn Ruane and David Gillick, as well as the most innovative youth focused organisations in the country, all for you!

Zeminar is open to all. It will run over 3 days in the RDS (Oct 11th, 12th and 13th), and will provide young people with an opportunity to practice new skills, try out new activities and meet professionals from many different fields. High tech all around, diverse and interesting speakers and 8 different mini-Zeminar zones with themes designed to cover all aspects of being a young person from Generation Z - Zeminar is an excellent opportunity to try new things and gain information on everything from careers to wellbeing and self development.The ISSU is a proud partner of this event and we are looking forward to welcoming you all at the RDS in October! Keep an eye on this space as we will have some really exciting announcements to make as the summer goes by and in September, as we countdown to Zeminar. For more information about the event, the speakers and the different organsiations which will be present at Zeminar check out www.zeminar.ie (you can also book some earlybird tickets!) and if you have any questions, just email hello@zeminar.ieHave a great summer guys!