Geography - #JC2017 - Diego Brule

Diego Brule - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayHigher Level

Geography, geography. Geography has always been a gamble for me, partly because I've lived everywhere at this stage and have a fair amount of general geographic knowledge, and partly because I only study my favourite parts and hope they come up. And very luckily, Today's short questions were all of the simple things that I knew and section II was precisely the topics I loved (or that I've done so many times that I don't even have to think about it).And so at 9:30 am, I open the exam. I flew through the first few questions, and I come across this typical developed/developing world map, which I never liked because it basically portrayed every country outside Europe and Asia as messed up, poor and evil. I come from Chile (South America), so I was always against how geography class made 'developing' countries look like.But in this map, for the first time ever, Chile was in blue, or 'developed'. I celebrated this in silent glory for a few seconds and then got back to my exam.Then, the feared, the Section 'wrist-breaker' II, came around. I flicked through the 6 questions and picked three to answer, which were ones that I'd prepared essays on: Rivers and humans, Economic activities, and the OS map and aerial photograph.I finished all of this with about 10 minutes to spare (including some Van-Gogh quality diagrams) and was about to hand it up when I realised I forgot to answer a part of a question (throwback to CSPE), so, naturally, I rush this last part and finish just in time, and walk out of the exam hall feeling triumphant, having conquered one of the tests that I feared the most.Next up was Maths, but first, a burrito break at Boojum.#JC2017 #StateExams #ISSU17

Geography - #JC2017 - Olivia Whelan

 Olivia Whelan - Mean Scoil Mhuire LongfordGeography today was one of the subjects I was really looking forward to! I've always been comfortable with the subject geography.

As normal the exam began with section 1 , which consisted of 20 short questions , I flew through this section excited so see this years selection of questions in section 2. Section 1 was straight forward and nothing that I hadn't seen before , of course there were a few tricky ones thrown in to get the students attention. I marked the little tricky questions for me to go back on and moved onto section 2.In section 2 as usual we were given 5 question where we had the option of choosing our 3 to answer. I feel this is very helpful to the students who maybe mightn't be as strong in certain places of the course. To start I flicked through the questions and selected my best 3. Once I had decided , I began section 2. I chose to do questions 1 , 3 and 4 and I was happy with my choices. From my personal experience map drawing is confusing so I stayed clear from it on question 5.I started confidently until I realised I had taken one of the questions up entirely wrong , a quick few scribbles then sent me on my way forward! Timing was perfect but I got a slight bit nervous near the end when I still had a question left and short questions to look over , but in the end timing was perfect and I got to look over all I had written!Leaving the exam I was really happy with how I'd done and I hope to have kept the A I got in the mock.#StateExams2017

Maths P1 - #LC2017 #OL- Michelle Chiperi Aivazova

  Michelle Chiperi Aivazova - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayOrdinary Level

I went into the exam under-prepared, considering the last time I actually concentrated in class was well, never.This exam though was super easy, probably the easiest maths exam I've ever done.There's nothing much else to say for it, except I'm glad my friends doing the Honours paper found it good too.#StateExams2017 

Maths P1 - #LC2017 #OL - Maeve Richardson

 Maeve Richardson - St. Annes Secondary School Tipperary TownOrdinary Maths P1-So I'm someone who absolutely does not have an aptitude for maths. It's one of my least favourite subjects. I especially despise paper 1.

Shockingly I was able to actually attempt this paper. Two short financial questions, a long one on number patterns, what more could I ask for? There was one or two boxes I left blank but majority of the paper was easy to attemptsI remain unsure whether I got that many correct answers. I'm mostly hoping for high partials for marks anyway. So for the first time I didn't leave a maths exam early. I found myself writing up to the maths paper. I will be hoping for a good bit of trigonometry for paper 2!#StateExams2017

Geography - #LC2017 - Michelle Chiperi Aivazova

  Michelle Chiperi Aivazova – Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayWhat an exam! I think someone has blessed me with winging powers (not the flying kind unfortunately) which guided me through geography. The short questions were half easy half hard, which I found okay because I could answer them. I did the Biome question with my knowledge of trees and deforestation, and I absolutely winged everything else. My old teacher's croaky cigarette thick voice shouted at me from the back of my mind about the wonderful world of Brazil, which helped me through the exam.

It was brilliant even though I didn't do much work.

#StateExams2017

Geography - #LC2017 - Kate L. Ryan

 Kate Ryan - Colaiste IascaighI'm not really sure how geography went if I'm honest. The paper seemed a bit weird in places and I'm almost certain I messed up with the timing. But all in all, it wasn't the worst. I think nearly everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief when they saw the geoecology questions in section 3. Everyone in my class was betting on human interference with biomes and luckily it paid off. I doubt I could have written as much on anything else.

The regional was sound. I had predicted the tertiary question on Europe and it's not hard to write about primary activities in Ireland. I wasn't too impressed by the physical. While I predicted interaction with surface processes, the essay I prepared on volcanic landforms wasn't specific to Ireland. I had half of the essay essentially and had to throw down a couple of sentences on the giant's causeway to make up the rest.I didn't mind the human processes elective. There was a nice essay on influences on population growth, but I ran out of time towards the end and rushed the essay on land use zones. The short questions were tricky in places but overall okay.The paper was nice enough, but to be perfectly honest the problem with the geography course is the sheer volume of theory you're expected to learn off. Even if you are some superhuman who can store 300 different essays in your memory, you're not given enough time in the exam to show what you know. It can be quite overwhelming and I don't think many students left their exam thinking they done enough.#StateExams #ISSU17