Aoife - Higher Level

After the news that there was a mix up with the Irish Paper 1 I wasn’t too sure what to expect. The “back up” was deployed. Ach sin é.  When I first got the paper I was a bit apprehensive not sure what to expect. I was just worried that I wouldn’t understand the titles.The tape was difficult in some parts, with the new formatting of only hearing each piece twice it adds an extra bit of difficulty. It had the usual phone number, place names and Irish from all over Ireland. I was surprised to hear a mention of Dáíl na nÓg as I am a past member and it helped me in answering one of my questions!Next it was onto the Aiste/Scéal. I chose to do the Aiste titled “Eire an lae inniu: Tír fháilteach ocailte í.” This title was the most suited to the material I had learned as I was able to talk about both the positive side and negative using other essays and adapting the points. The other parts of the Ceapadóireacht section didn’t seem too bad, there was an Agallamh with the GAA that would have been ok also. However with the tape finished at half two that left us with just under two hours to write the Aiste etc. Most people in my year left early proving that we don’t need that amount of time for one written task.Tonight's task is revising all the Prós, Filíocht agus an Triail. Oíche mhaith! 

ISSU Commentary

Today Leaving Certificate students had Irish paper 1. Some described the topics presented on the higher level paper as ‘’uninteresting, unimaginative and, in some cases unreasonable’’ Among the essay titles was one asking students to come up with a solution to the problems in health service. and some felt that this would require very specific knowledge which many candidates simply do not have. The debate question was to many not really a debate ‘’Irish People Should be More Moderate in their Consumption of Drink and for obvious reasons would have been difficult to argue against.  However the ‘Crime’ essay suited a lot of students and was something a lot had practised. This was the first year that this type of paper was presented to candidates, with the aural element of the exam now forming an integral paper of Paper 1.The ordinary level paper was described as generally student friendly. It included an essay asking students to write about “A wonderful holiday I had”, which overlapped with a letter subject, about a holiday with your family in Australia. Other essay topics that students enjoyed included, “My days at school” and “Television – I love it”. These topics invited students to elaborate on topics that many would have discussed in their oral exam. This link is viewed by many as a major positive, and in general the paper was ‘challenging but manageable. The ‘Simpson’s rule question challenging students particularly, while the ‘survey and bar chart’ were ‘the easiest’.

 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.