LC Home Economics

Ailbhe (Higher Level Home Economics)

Home Ec = General FiascoI think everyone will agree that on opening the paper they flicked to the infamous Q1 Section BWhhhhaaaaaaaaat?No protein? No eggs? No fish? No Meat? What is this vegetarians’ day out?!I like so many others had fallen for the intoxicating charms of predictions. The clever creators of this paper gave me the cold turkey I needed. All i could do was grit my teeth and face up to the reality of the unlikely and much overlooked (on my part anyways) Irish Food Industry taking pride of place in Q1 Section BTurning to the short questions to stroke my hair and tell me it will be alright was not the brightest of ideas. Once again a melting pot of trouble erupted. I saw before me humectants, trypsin and polyphosphates all minor footnotes in the massive tome of the Home Ec book. What was this? An enormous shock to the system for one thing.I would like to extend my deepest condolences to everyone on their recent loss of "prediction confidence". Predictions were a good friend. They lived a long and prosperous life. They were our guilty pleasure. Much like sugary food they gave a high and then leave a bittersweet taste on the palate. Speaking of palate....what was up with "the palatable qualities of fish on cooking?" That was a fishy (sorry for the sad pun) aul question!Anyway due to that stinging blow to my expectations I am going to crack open the poetry book now. Although I am making deals with the devil that Eliot and Yeats will fill the pages of my answer booklet tomorrow, I shall trawl through Kavanagh, Rich and Boland. Although I am hoping for literary genre, cultural context will get a look in and as for our old friend Lear I'm banishing (geddit) all predictions!Good luck tomorrow guys! And don’t worry too much about the Home Ec, you know what they say difficult exam = easy marking scheme! ;)Well actually I don’t know if they do say that because I just made it up!

ISSU Commentary (Higher Level Home Economics)

Two o’clock this afternoon saw Leaving Cert Higher Level Home Economics papers being opened around the country.The short questions brought no nasty surprises with a particularly topical question on consumer credit – this appeared again in Section B with a long question on consumer debt in the current economic climate. Section B also saw students faced with questions on Irish food and drinks exports, nutritional properties of meat and the factors affecting the purchasing of meat, the fish eating habits of the inhabitants of our fair isle, food preservation and the role of the family within the state, something which has also been discussed at length in the media in recent times.Students will have been largely happy with Section 3 if they had prepared their elective well. The recession appeared again in this section under the Social Studies elective followed by a very interesting question on the purpose of education and equality of opportunity in education.On a whole, it was a very fair paper and students will have done well if they knew their stuff!

ISSU Commentary (OrdinaryLevel Home Economics)

Leaving Cert Ordinary Level Home Economics was also a very fair paper with some straightforward short questions acting as a nice warm up for the longer questions.As with the Higher Level paper, the food and drinks industry featured heavily with a particular focus on milk and its nutritional values… students were led into this question with a quote from the infamous National Dairy Council ad that many of us will recall from our younger years… “Dem bones, dem bones need calcium…”The role of meat in the typical Irish diet and food preservation also featured in the ordinary level paper with a forth question on consumer rights and the final question of Section B focusing on the topical issue of disadvantaged children, their rights and physical and psychological needs.Again Section C will have posed no major difficulties for students if they had prepared their elective well – topics featured included energy efficiency, unemployment in Ireland, childcare standards and gender inequality in the home.Overall, a very approachable paper!