Junior Cert English Papers 1 and 2

Jack

My very first State exam... ever. It was quite daunting.I took my seat in the exam hall and waited the nerve wrecking thirty minutes until the paper was handed out. Once we were allowed to being, I skimmed through the paper. It seemed okay at a quick glance.I went straight into reading. Nothing too difficult, to be fair. It was pretty straight forward. I think I did okay. I took advice from the Mocks and added more quotes!I went on to functional writing next. I was happy with this question. It was easy! I opted for 1. I finished in about twenty minutes. It was a nice question to do. Not too strenuous at all!I went to media studies next. I went with the Product Placement question. It was easy enough, I guess. I managed to fit Peppa Pig in to my answer which was funny!I went back to personal writing then. I went with option 4 - mistaken identity. I was about to write about being mistaken for someone in a band but at the last minute changed to being mistaken as a murderer. Possibly a bad idea. It seemed pretty much everyone did that! Oh well. I guess it's the content that counts.Overall, Paper One was okay. I feel it went good enough!It seems I'm not the only one not exactly happy with Paper Two... It was confusing at times. Let's dive in.On opening the paper, I skimmed through and went to Drama. I chose thShakespearian Drama and I picked questions 2 and 3. They were okay. Nothing too complicated. For Question Two, I opted to do 2. I wrote about Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 1, Scene 3. I think I did quite okay with that question.I skipped poetry and went to fiction. My... fiction. What is going on. Unseen was just a mess. "Can you relate to Jane?" (paraphrasing but you know...). Really? I can't... because I'm a boy. Wow. Part two. "Is Michael an attractive character?" Wait, what? I found this confusing. I ended up writing about his personality and how he was mean for building Jane up just to bring her down and embarrass her in front of everyone. The question was not clear. People wrote about Michael's physical attraction. It seems everyone is unhappy with the Fiction question. It was terribly unfair, in my opinion. Unclear and possibly biased to girls. Studied fiction was tough. I found it hard to write about liking a character from Of Mice and Men. In the end, I just rambled on about Lennie's innocence and so forth. Hopefully it will do.I went back to poetry then. I found that confusing too! I didn't know what I was supposed to learn from thirty-six lines of boxing! I ended up waffling on about how he was nervous to begin with but gained confidence to win. I went to 2 next, which was a fair bit easier. Studied poetry was good enough, to be fair. I went with option 2 and wrote about Heaney.Overall, Paper Two was tiring and tough. I think Fiction was unclear and unfair but Poetry and Drama were okay.Now, off for Irish tomorrow. Good luck to all!

David

Hi all,I'm just back from sitting English paper two! English paper one couldn't have been any nicer! I was seriously happy with and I was proud with my essay. The reading section of paper one was kind of like a cross between media studies and a reading comprehension but it was still okay.Paper two was lovely! My timing came close though and I was worried, but I still got it all finished, the studied poetry wasn't a very nice question (either of them) for me  but the rest was brilliant, the studied fiction question was a big relief after all my worrying about not knowing my novel well enough. Studied Fiction was great as well so all in all I'm very happy. I'm not going to predict anything with a subjective subject like English, but hopefully I will live up to the A I got in the mocks... oh well no point worrying over something that I can't change!  .. I'm off to cram for Irish!

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.

Junior Cert Students’ thoughts on the eve of the exams

Clara

So,it's the night before the first exam! English Paper 1 looms above the heads of us Junior Certificate students to be tackled at 9:30 in the morning.EEEK! I wish everyone the best of luck to begin with.I'm feeling a little nervous this afternoon because English is one of my favourite subjects and it's one I really want an A in-97% in the mock is hard to live up to.Hopefully the topics I'm looking for in my studied poetry (adresses an issue)/fiction(setting,setting,setting!) come up.I plan on spending my evening cramming a little for geography on Friday and watching lots and lots of television to calm myself down (counts as revision for media studies if I watch lots of adverts,right?).  An early night shall be had by me.Praying that the weather stays like this for the next few weeks-I really don't fancy sitting exams in the blazing heat we had yesterday, particularly because my exams are being held in a kitchen of all places....Wish me luck anyway! I shall be speaking to you soon-blogging about the Irish exam on Thursday.

Lorraine

Hi guys!I'm Lorraine and I'm doing my Junior Cert tomorrow! :OI have to admit, I'm a tiny bit nervous. Ive been sent 2 cards with Good luck on them and a Facebook mail and lots of status updates on Facebook but it doesn't stop me still being terrified, but the cards have motivated me!Something that hasn't motivated me? All the people from my year writing on there Facebook's about how they cant be bothered studying and there more concerned about the finale of Desperate Housewives tonight! That definitely puts me off studying because if they aren't bothered why should I be? When I'm like that I look at all the Good luck cards and think about how well the rest of my family done in there Junior Certs and I'm back on track!Tomorrow, I have English paper 1 and 2. I'm doing honours! English is one of the exams I most want to do well in, for the simple reason that I want to be an English Secondary School teacher and it wont look too great on my CV that I failed it in the Junior Cert! I've always done well in English, in the mocks I got the highest result in my class so imagine if I failed it? :OI have to admit, I started studying at the start of third year because I really want to do well in the exams. It might have cost me some friends because I'm such a ''nerd'' but hopefully it will have gained me some great grades!! I probably should be studying more now but I look at weekend's as my day's off but that has slowly turned into any day off being my day off!I'm off to study now! I think this is being published after the exams and if so I hope you all get the results your hoping for! Good luck! :)

Jack

So. Junior Cert, 2012. Three years' worth of hard work boiling down to one week (for me, at least!) worth of exams - day to day, back to back. Let's do this!I've been studying quite hard for the past few weeks. I began studying in September - and I am glad of that. Murphy's/Sod's Law came through, and I've become really tired and lazy in the past two or three days, just before the exams. I'm finding it hard to study in the final few days. Of course that would happen...In terms of subjects, I am most nervous about French and Irish. I am really anxious about them. I feel quite okay with the rest of the subjects. I feel quite under prepared for Irish (mainly, the poetry and letter) and French (pretty much all aspects of the subject!). My standard of French is extremely poor. But, with work (lots of it....) I might be able to nab a B. I got a C at the Mocks, so here's hoping.Surprisingly, I feel quite calm and collected right now. I pretty much guarantee that to change when I walk in to my school and I see all the official-ness of the whole exam process. The fact that I begin my first State exams tomorrow hasn't really set in. Until tomorrow morning. Oh dear... That's something the Mocks don't prepare you for. I guess "Be Calm" by fun. will become an anthem of sorts for the exams! "Be caaaaalm!"Well, now I must go and try fit in a final few hours' of study before the exams. I have much left to do... Irish letter, poetry, listening, English revision... Oh dear.I wish the best of luck to all doing the exams! :33

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.

LC Irish Paper 2

Ailbhe (Ardleibhéal)

The clichéd "BIG THREE" are over. Just three more to get through.Irish passed by without much ado.Did Stair first. The choices available were not of the predicted variety. Bealoideas, Meath na Gaeilge and Colaiste Lováin were chosen.Clare sa Speir and Fiche Blian ag Fás showd up as expected in Ceist 1, which was were my pen took me after the Stair. The questions were manageable, I just hope I wrote enough to secure me the precious marcanna.I then started into An Triail. I did the Teicníochtaí Drámata. I was glad to get that jumbo sized question finished.I then turned to poetry.I couldn't do Uirchill because I never bothered learning meadaracht, little did I know how much my negligence would conspire against me. An Chéad Drama got a going over. I think I may have spelt the poet's name incorrectly, probably wasn't the best start, they should really print the poets on the paper.Jack, Níl Aon Ní and Faoiseamh a Gheobhadsa were the ordinary level poems of choice. I had been banking on doing Jack and had learned off a hefty wedge of Dlí na hOidreachta, saol na tuaithe sula dtáinig an cumhacht leictreach agus araile and was disheartened to find that the question wasn't the best. Instead I turned to O’Searcaigh and O’Direáin for the ordinary level question.Was glad when 12.50 rolled around on the clock. That was definitely the toughest paper. Not only was it the same length as English paper 2 but you have a lot more to learn and more questions to answer. Not many were left standing when the final whistle was blown. Out of a starting group of about 140, I'd say about 20 or so stayed in the exam centre until the bitter end. Most dodged out early to get an extra cram for business in.Have to spend my afternoon with French now, a subject I have disregarded, lucky me!

Owen (Ardleibhéal)

Wow, all I can say is thank god that today is over! There was some serious amount of writing involved in today’s exams with both Irish Paper 2 and Business!Well, well, well Irish Paper 2... the paper I've been dreading the most with its unpredictable ways, its confusing questions and usually the most ferocious paper to walk the world of the Leaving Cert!!However today for me it proved to be nothing more than a piosa páipéar! All my worries and anxiety were completely overdramatic (looks like I can relate already to the An Chéad Drama question :D).As soon as I opened my paper, I was off to a flying start with the prós question, a very approachable question on 'An Cearrbhach Mac Caba' and how we are sympathetic with him in his constant struggle with death. He's a gambler, who is lazy, spends his time playing cards and wasn't even there for his wife when she was having her baby, however for the sake of the question I decided to pledge by sympathy to the gambler after all he did change his ways in the end!Next came the An Triail question for myself, now I have to say I'm not at all into the whole ‘let’s cook our children in the oven’ thing and never found myself to be a big fan of the play but I did manage to get through the question. I did the first question on how the main conflicts of the drama come from the fault of 'something' 'something' 'something' about love, I took an educated guess anyway and decided to talk about how the main conflicts in the play were as a result of love.... I hope that's right cause I did give a fairly decent answer!Now for the poetry, to my great relief it was quite manageable. After dreading for so long what poem might come up and if I would know it in enough detail, the ones I had prepared the most made a lovely appearance. Níl aon Ní, although Cathal may be a bit dodgy, I threw myself head over heels into complete adoration of his poetry! Next came Faoiseamh A Gheobhadsa, again another enjoyable poem which shares some similarities with Níl Aon Ní so I didn't have any trouble with that.Next onto the higher level poetry....*Owen turns the page**Owen sees Uirchill an Chreagain and Owens dies a little on the inside**Owen turns the page again...AN CHÉAD DRAMA and Owen is resuscitated back to life*Thankfully one of the poems I had covered in detail phew! Although I did cover it in detail, the questions were a bit awkward and a bit of a waffle was in need but I'm sure I got the gist of it!Stair na Gaeilge...  I found myself writing about the poets and Bealoideas na Gaeilge. Thankfully I'd covered the poets but having expected something like Fiannaíocht to come up, I settled with Bealoideas with my knowledge from an Cearrbhach Mac Caba helping me out so I took a gamble with it.Overall most people were happy with the exam and the only main complaint was with the An Triail question and how it is becoming near to impossible to study at this stage with the vast variety of questions being asked on it!

LC English Paper 2

Ailbhe (Higher Level English)

Surprised that I can still write- three essays, an answer book and extra paper later!Delighted that I now have two whole subjects under the belt, the other five look much less formidable. Sure what are Maths and Irish when they're at home?Opened the paper. Flicked to poetry. Eliot Eliot Eliot Eliot.William Butler Yeats, my old neighbour from up the road, don’t need to see you right now...Rich, what are you doing here? I'm pretty sure you didn't get a facebook invite to this event?Kavanagh, can’t say I ever really felt your whole canal vibeAh there you are Eliot, I was just getting worried! Of course Murphy's Law would have it that the poet I want would come up with the worst question on the page!Can I just ask what happened to Boland? Hard luck to anyone who put all their eggs into one basket on that one!So, confidence still intact, I leaf over to the Comparative Section. Literary Genre was not up late partying with Boland last night and made it to the exam centre. Thank God! Bit of a pesky little question: the use of the unexpected. To be honest, Billy Eliot was obviously going to end up with an invite to ballet school, Griet and Vermeer were never going to hook up and nothing really happened to conclude Dancing at Lughnasa so there weren’t too many twists and turns going on down that road! But alas I illustrated my surprise at the clever use of literary genre to incorporate the unexpected. I really learned about the use of hyperbole on that question!Lear, my wizened withered old friend, I think I digressed to the highest degree on your ' loyalty and honour triumph over viciousness and brutality' question. I more talked about good versus evil blahdeblah, might not get the aul PCLM working my way on that one!And so with about half and hour left on the clock I rounded up and reassembled my thoughts. Unseen Poetry: The Seed by Paula Meehan. Nothing too complex going down, was actually quite a nice poem. Scrawled my points across the page. Dotted my i's. Crossed my t's. Voila I was finished! Yeehaw! Congratulations everyone!

Owen (Higher Level English)

Wow thank God that's over! It feels good knowing that I have one full subject done and over with now and that I can stay away from English now for a long, long time... no need to write dreaded essays or analyse poetry.... it’s a good feeling!!Well with English not starting till 2 o’clock today, I made great use of my lie-in and caught back up on the hours missed from the night before Paper 1 while also managing to get some last minute revision in beforehand just to have it fresh in my head. I have to say that the nerves were still floating about what with there being so much to learn and even more to write down!Again got into the exam hall early and settled down before the paper was handed out, had a quick flick through...'Grand Vision and Viewpoint and Literary Genre sorted''Poetry...where's Boland?... phew Rich is here, thanks be to God!'Made a good start on my Comparative Study and did the General Vision and Viewpoint question 2, I thought it was quite broad and didn't have to focus too much on a certain aspect such as a character in question 1 so I was happy enough although at the start, I felt as though I was waffling and going off the point but when I got focused everything went fine and I thought that I had given a very satisfactory answer.Then I moved on to the Single Text (King Lear for me) and to be honest I wasn't a very happy camper with this one. Yes, both questions were nice enough but I, personally felt there wasn't enough material to give it a good stab and show off what I had learned. I settled for the first part of the question on honour and courage and its triumph over brutality and viciousness. Gave it a good effort but struggled to relate the two to each other and I just felt as if I was waffling although I did write a substantial answer and felt I covered all aspects of the question. It was a struggle and without doubt my least favourite part of the paper.Now on to the poetry and oh boy did Adrienne Rich get a serious analysing!! Completely enjoyed this part of the exam and saving it to last was a good idea, I was extremely happy with the answer I gave and confident in answering it giving plenty of quotes and covering all of the question... it proved to be a big success for me! :DUnseen poetry was a nice wind down for the last 20min of the exam and didn't prove too difficult. I answered the 2 part question at 10 marks each and found it to be very approachable!Overall, it was a nice enough paper with only one hurdle for myself with the King Lear but then again a challenge has to be expected somewhere along the way.I was content enough but others from the centre weren't too happy with Boland's no show!Others found the King Lear question to be a nasty one limiting them to display their knowledge of the play while others found the Comparative to also limit the full extent of their understanding of the modes.Maths Paper 1 tomorrow and another day less until freedom, I’ll be having myself another little lie- in tomorrow anyway! :D

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level English)

This year’s Leaving Cert Higher Level English Paper 2 was distributed not even so much as a minute early in exam centres nationwide this afternoon.Students that had studied this year’s prescribed Shakespeare “King Lear” as their single text were faced with a choice between a statement about honour and loyalty triumphing over brutality and viciousness and a statement about the villainous characters holding more fascination for the audience than the virtuous ones in Section 1.The comparative modes of General Vision and Viewpoint and Literary Genre appeared in Section 2 much to the relief of many students as the first of the two had been widely predicted to be examined this year. Both questions were quite straightforward but with the General Vision and Viewpoint question giving a choice between two more approachable questions, the majority of students will most likely have gone for that question.“Seed” by Paula Meehan popped up as the unseen poem in Section 3 with perhaps some of the optimism of the theme of Paper 1 being reflected in the choice of this piece of poetry. Students were given the choice between two very manageable questions here before moving on to the question on prescribed poetry.Disaster struck for many in Question B of Section 3, faces fell in exam centres across the country – “Where were Boland and Longely?” Bets had been placed on Boland appearing on the paper with groups such as “If Boland doesn’t come up tomorrow, there will be war!” appearing on Facebook yesterday. Many students had placed all their eggs in one basket, so to speak, and had only studied Boland in detail as one female poet is typically examined but much to their disappointment, Adrienne Rich appeared on the paper alongside Yeats, Kavanagh and T.S. Eliot. Some also had predicted that Longely would appear, as he was the only Poet on the 2009 "leaked" paper not to turn up on the second-paper. Predictions are risky business, and are more often wrong than right. Hopefully with a Yeats’ question on the tension between the real world and the world and which he lives, a question on Kavanagh’s success in achieving his desire to transform the ordinary world into something extraordinary and the poetry of T.S. Eliot’s presentation of troubled characters in a disturbing world alongside the question on Rich’s poetry, the majority of students will have been able to gather enough points together and recall enough quotes to have been able to make a good stab at one of the four questions.  However, the fact remains that an exam that relies on peak performance over a fixed 200 minute period isn't a fair, adequate method of testing one's ability or aptitude.

ISSU Commentary (Ordinary Level English)

Students around the country also sat Leaving Cert Ordinary Level English Paper 2 this afternoon. Some nice questions on the characters appeared on the paper for those that had studied King Lear as their single text with a choice between three options for the longer questions – candidates could opt to discuss whether King Lear is a story about love or foolishness or they could choose to discuss the character and conduct of Cordelia’s sisters based on her comment “Sisters! Sisters! Shame of ladies!” or they could have gone for the final option: to discuss which of the characters they would like to play in a school production of King Lear and why. Shakespeare students will have been largely happy with this question.Section 2 saw students faced between discussing “Hero/Heroine/Villain” or “Theme” for their comparative study question – there was some very approachable questions under each with many students’ old friend, “key moment”, showing its face under the question on “Theme” so a lot of students will be delighted with that especially if they had an essay prepared in advance.“Nettles” by Vernon Scannell appeared as the unseen poem in Section 3 but students will have been relieved here as the accompanying questions weren’t too much of a stinger!Poems by Fleur Adcock, Paula Meehan, T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats were examined with some very manageable questions under the section on prescribed poetry meaning that Meehan, Eliot and Yeats appeared on both the Higher and Ordinary English Papers as Meehan was examined in the unseen poetry section of Higher Level Paper 1 and Eliot and Yeats popped up in the prescribed poetry section of both papers.Overall, a very fair paper with no major surprises!