Leaving Cert German
Hugh - Higher Level
Text 1: Someone in the SEC was clearly having a laugh with this one, a story about a German in Greece. How ironic........and how very not German! The story was basically about a German lady who travels to a small town in Greece to visit her Greek "friend", who works as a waiter in a local restaurant. This piece contained vocab most students would have been unfamiliar with words such as "stairwell" and "awning". So a bit more difficult than in previous years. The extract was also excessively long and unbelievably boring, holding very little relevance for those students who aren't middle aged German ladies madly in love with workaholic Greek waiters. From a linguistic perspective this was challenging in parts and from a literary perspective it was just awful! The questions were fairly basic until the infamous question 4 which asked for indications as to the Greek man not having space in his life for the German lady who had come to visit him.....?Text 2 was an equally potent cure for insomnia, being an article about a Swiss chef who roams the foothills of the Alps in search of ingredients for his dishes. While more accessible than the first piece again it contained some obscure words such as "hay-soup". The questions weren't as bad as the article itself and most students would have done well here.Applied Grammar: This question caused quite an upset as the two elements asked, filling in prepositions and converting indirect to direct speech would have been unfamiliar to most students. This was so unusual that I don't recall having ever done an exercise on it.The two written production questions were fairly manageable, however there was very little room for those students with pre-learned material on the Olympics as sport played only a minor role in the letter and none in the Auserung. (Don't know how to do Umlauts! If anyone does please tell me!)The Listening Comprehension was certainly the fastest I've ever heard, requiring native or near-native fluency to keep up with it! However for those who kept pace the items were quite accessible, with material on schools/film and concerts plus the usual news items. So that's my lot, best of luck to everyone with their next few exams!
ISSU Commentary
Leaving Certificate candidates who took the Higher Level paper endured a challenging morning, with a paper that was described as ‘difficult’ by some. Countless students described the first comprehension as ‘long and extremely testing’ in parts, when compared to recent years. The section examining grammar had not appeared in an astounding ten years. Students were requested to amend five sentences from ‘indirect speech’ to ‘direct speech’, this assignment would have been unfamiliar to many students, and was allegedly ‘slightly off putting’ for some. The written section required students to ‘think in their feet’ rather than simply regurgitate what they had learned. There was no opportunity for pre-prepared responses. Some of the topics would have challenged the most capable of students according to some, and required specific vocabulary.The ordinary level exam was topical, covering the environment school and travel. Although the tasks in the letter were more challenging than recent years, and some of the vocabulary needed for comprehensions was difficult.
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 Home Economics
Lorraine - Higher Level
Hello All!Lorraine here and this is the last ever blog I'll be writing about my Junior Cert :O Today I had Home Ec! Im honours :)The exam started at 2pm so I had all morning to study! It finished at 4:30pm! I went into my area at around 20 to 2 and It was all girls studying and gossiping!! I sat down with some friends and My home ec teacher came up to us and just asked us how we were feeling, any questions we had for her etc etc :)I can honestly say My home ec teacher is the best in our school, she genuinely cares about her students and she reminds me of a second mammy!I walked into the exam at 2pm and I was raring to go! I had studyed all morning andI just wanted to get it over and done with. The short answer questions were brilliant! For the first time ever, I looked at them and thought 'I know how to do you!' - They were really handy and bar the last 4 queestions which were on sewing skills which I have to be honest, I hardly looked at.Then I was onto the long questions and my god they were brilliant!! Q1 was the nutritional information of a fruit smoothie and I have to say I found it very easy to do. Then Q2 was on breakfasts and in one part ofit we had to do out 3 different breakfast menus for a school going teenager so I did 1 coeliac breakfast menu, 1 normal teenager brekfast menu and a low fat brekfast teenager menu. Q3 was all on consumer studies and Q4 was on the Family which I was delighted with!Overall, I found the exam very doable! I just worried that I'd run out of time. I was writing literally til the last minute and I was the only one left in the room with my examiner. Im very happy with the paper and Im happy to be finished!Good luck to everyone with more exams to do and thanks for reading all my boring blogs on the exams! :)
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 Religion
Lorraine - Higher Level
Hey guys!Lorraine here and I'm just home from my Religion Exam which started today at 2pm and finished at 4pm!I was feeling positive going into the exam and the minute I got the paper I got myself stuck into it! :)I felt the Short Answer Q's were very much based on Christianity which is grand :) I did 18 of the 20 short answer questions and we were told to spend 15 minutes on that question but to I was done within 10 minutes!The next bit I thought was handy! It was all about forgiveness and how it can be seen within a world religion youve studied so I was delighted with that! I know youll kill me for this but I cant remember much of the questions I did! We were told to do 4 out of 6 but I did 5 out of 6 because I felt Id messed up on an image of God question.I think the questions were very easy to answer - alot better than science this morning!!Finally I was onto my last question which is worth 70 marks So I knew I had to do a good job on this question. I picked a question on abortion in my mocks and I was really hoping it would come up for the JC but it didnt! I done a question about how things affect our questions of meanings and gave a great example!Im very happy with Honours Religion and Im delighted that tomorrows my last exam!! :)Roll on summer! Good luck to everybody in the exams and COYBIG!!
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
Leaving Cert Business
Emmet - Higher Level
Oh wow, the business exam wasnt too bad at all! It started at 9:30AM & finished at 12:30pm. I was really happy with this paper overall. the short questions were generally easy with a break even chart thrown in, handy marks may i say. The ABQ was realy nice, it was about RIM LTD which was kind of a community development project which did really well, where it facilitated market stalls in a factory vacated by a GMNC. Questions included, choosing suitable finance for the local business people in financing the project and for stall holders, and another on evaluating their promotional campaign. It must also be pointed out that it was the easiest ABQ to get relevant quotes from, which was a help. the ratios question was very easy and gud for catching up on lost time on the ABQ! Q1 asked about proceedures an employer should take when dismissing employees, and evaluating role ofthe NCA. Q2 looked at how reduction on public expenditure and taxation impacted on business, which was tricky enough and Q7 looked at factors to consider when choosing channel of distribution, evaluate product design/packaging etc and reasons for an Irish toy company wishing to expand. I did find however that this years paper had very specific questions, which did make the paper challenging. but i was quite impressed to find mini case studies to help you answer the question as it helped ground your answer into real life. Hoping to come out with at least a B3 fingers crossed, we were very tied for time in exam. Nearly finished now, economics and thats it!
ISSU Commentary
The tendency of Leaving Certificate exams demanding students to simply regurgitate what they have learned seems to be a thing of the past. They now are being asked to apply their knowledge, this was especially obvious in today’s business examination according to many teachers and pupils. Some parts of the higher level exam were challenging, which was expected to a certain degree. The choice element was again a major positive, and there were no immense shocks to be found. There was a change in thee ‘ratio’ question. The short questions were ‘typical’. Question 1 (A) of the long questions were very specific and challenging which focused on a fairly precise area of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 – 2007. Question 5 (B) the ratios were satisfactory. However some had difficulty with the Return on Investment (ROI) calculation. Students were asked to compare the ratio with industry averages, this might have surprised some, as it was the first time for such a question to appear. The paper was overall ‘absolutely fine, consistent with past papers, with plenty of choice’. Students reaction with the higher level exam was mainly positive, while the ordinary level had a more varied response. Many higher level students found the Applied Business Question (ABQ) to be particularly challenging. Some ordinary level students found the short questions to be difficult.
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 Science
Clara - Higher Level
I was convinced this was gonna be a fail - it was my last exam (yay!) so all I was focusing on this morning was the sweetness freedom would bring. I couldn't wait for those two hours of my life to be over! I just had one hurdle left-scienceIt was a pretty fair paper to be honest-with some remarkably easy questions. I mean two safety precautions in the lab? They're throwing marks at you with that one!Biology: This section was probably my second best section after chemistry - I found the questions unsurprising, they seemed to be similar in format to previous years. The question on food at the very start (the one with the eggs) was a nice way to warm up and I was delighted to see no trace of ecology! Not even the breathing system. The only thing that was unusual about this section was the question on the kidneys. This was odd - I'd never say a question asked in this way before, they rarely give a list and ask for functions of parts. Thankfully I knew them! The experiment was also a challenge for me - I had really disliked that particular one!Chemistry: This section was by far the easiest in my opinion. The same basic idea as biology ie. mainly some pretty basic questions (the one about safety precautions was in this section for example) and the a few toughies to keep you going.Physics: This was the most challenging part of the paper and I think most people will agree with my there but to be perfectly honest it wasn't overly stressful. There was one stupid little question that I was just puzzling over for 15 minutes at the end but eventually I came to some sort of a logical conclusion and answered it-not sure how correct it was but!Anyway, overall not too bad a paper. With a decent knowledge of science and some common sense (combined with the 30-ish percent we already have!) everyone's a winner and has passed so not much to worry about. Now, excuse me while I go burn my books. State exams and FINALLY over for me - out for good! Good luck to everyone with the remaining exams. Viel glück (hope that's right) to everyone doing German in the morning, all those in religion later, home-ec kids and everyone with exams next week too. Soldier on with pride and knowledge!
Jack - Higher Level
My final exam!So, I went straight through Biology. There was nothing unexpected in this. Some questions caught me but over all it was okay.Next came Chemistry. Not my strongest part of Science. I managed, though.Last came physics. No calculations this year. A bit odd. Overall, Physics was grand. Some confusing questions, tho.Overall, Science was a good paper. No surprises on the Paper! It was manageable and fair.Now, SUMMER!!
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.
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