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 - 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

Maths P2 - #LC2017 - Michelle Chiperi Aivazova

Michelle Chiperi Aivazova - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayToday's paper was quite difficult!! I was feeling sick all of yesterday and I woke up feeling okay today, but the looming exams had my stomach churning. I found the atmosphere in the exam centre heavy with fear and trepidation. My brain feels a little bit foggy after the exam I must admit.#StateExams2017

English - #JC2017 - Diego Brule

Diego Brule - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayWant me to be honest? I can say I almost didn't prepare for English, solely because our teachers simply didn't know what would come up(we're the first generation to sit the reformed English JC) but hey, it actually didn't go bad. (And if it did I can always use the excuse that it's not my first language)Exam starts, I open the paper. I immediately read 'fantastic beasts'. My heart jumps and happiness floods me as I'm sure I can answer anything about one of my favourite movies. (Sorry I didn't read the book) But under fantastic beasts were small letters: 'fantastic beasts and the people who love them'.. what? To say the least, I was disappointed. But as I finished this question, I turned the page and an actual Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts question was there, so naturally, I was happy again.You can see that I went through a rollercoaster of emotions in just under 30 minutes, not bad right? Well, there's more.Next was Poetry. I started hating myself. Why did I not go over all those quotes, I ask myself, and the funny thing is, I kind of knew the quotes, but not having them learned off word by word pissed me off. I skipped this section, only to find that next question was drama, and I was even less prepared for that.I say a prayer(not kidding) before skipping and seeing what awaits in the last question and- aha! we had to make up a TV dialogue between a teenager and an adult, confronting, obviously because we teenagers aren't capable of rational thought. (rolling my eyes hard at that one)And so I have a bit of fun making up this dialogue and then I notice there's half an hour left. I panic as I went back to poetry and drama to answer the best I can, and before I know it the time's up. But oh well, a roller coaster isn't fun without the up and downs, I still enjoyed that test, even though it was the one I had fewer hopes for.

 #JC2017 #StateExams #ISSU17 

English - #JC2017 - Luke Casserly

Luke Casserly - St. Mel's CollegeMy first State Exam ever!! I've been pretty nervous about the English exam since the mock, as it was a massive disaster! I left four whole questions unanswered, while my last answer was not much more than a few illegible scribbles.However, I feel very happy with how the exam went today! I managed to get all questions completed and this time around, my frantic scribbles were a tiny bit readable! I flew through the first two questions on the documentary and poster. They were a nice easy way to start. After that, I was nervous about time so went through the questions very fast - So fast I'm struggling to think what questions actually came up. I was happy to see the nice poetry question pop up. I used Lovers on Aran which I had just studied the night before so I was delighted. I spent a good bit of time doing a good dialogue on the last question, which asked you to write about a confrontation between an adult and a teenager.I feel this went a lot better than the mock and am looking forward to seeing the result!

#JC2017  #StateExams #ISSU17

Leaving Certificate French Oral

Ellen O'Rourke - Higher Level French Oral

Word of advice: Eat a good breakfast on the day of the exam. It sounds like such a clichéd, teacher-y thing to say, but trust me, I learned the hard way. I thought I'd get into the spirit of things with a pain au chocolat and a cup of really strong coffee to start the day. Bad idea. I was starving all day and all I wanted to do was stress eat. On top of that, when my palms were sweating and heart was hammering in the run up to the exam, I put it down to nerves - but it was probably just the caffeine! Next time, I'll go for porridge s'il vous plaît.I put lots of pressure on myself in the weeks leading up to the exam - I need at least a B in French for the course I want - until someone said something which made me see it in a whole different way: 'the most important thing to have is confidence'. It's true - 50% of the marks are going for communication and pronunciation, which can't be learned from a book, and can easily go down the drain if you're a bit wobbly on the day. I began to relax a bit then, and trust all the work that I've put in over the last few years. To prepare, I wrote paragraphs on everything from l'uniforme to l'avenir, recorded myself saying them, and listened to it tous le temps. I don't even remember learning it, it just sort of osmosis-ed in and I was able to spiel it all off on the day. There was a number of benefits to this- I knew I had my grammar and phrases on point because they came straight from my notes, but there were also a few pitfalls; whenever she asked a question that I hadn't prepared, it sort of threw me off my flow, and then when I didn't get through all the stuff I had prepared, I became frustrated with myself. Not the best way to learn a language, I know now, but it worked. The other way to do it is completely wing it, which worked insanely well for one of my friends. While her french is not parfait, she made the examiner laugh and had general banter, which will get her a high grade no doubt.I did my document on my trip to France which I found immensely helpful. I had all the vocab on la gastronomie, le paysage, les differences etc and was able to recite word for word what I had prepared for a solid three minutes. This led to some questions on the importance of languages including "est qu'il y a beaucoup de débouchés pour les jeunes?" which really stumped me. I panicked and said "oui c'est trés important", which seemed to get me off the hook (I later was informed by my French friend that déboucher can mean to open up, uncork, or very very rarely, job opportunities...).It's finally over – it’s so strange to think, all those years of studying and travelling and speaking in French – not to mention pages and pages of notes (sorry rain-forest!) – and it all comes down to a ten minute conversation with a stranger.It could have gone better I feel, but then again it could have gone worse. Il faut voir la vie en rose - comme on dit en francais.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 mobile contact details.