ISSU 18/06/2012 ISSU 18/06/2012

Leaving Cert Physics

Katarzyna - Higher Level

It was a long night of studying before my most important exam. I had a strategy to first do my three experiments, and then do Question 5, followed by Question 10 part A and after those, the two parts of Question 12. Later I was going to decide what other two questions I was going to do. Overall I have to say that the experiment questions were very fair. I did Questions 1, 2 and 3. I heard that many people hoped for Joule's Law and the Simple Pendulum experiments to come up. Joule's Law wasn't there; instead we had the variation of current with voltage for a semiconductor diode. The Simple Pendulum experiment came up, where we had to use a graph we were given to calculate the acceleration due to gravity and it was quite a nice question to start with. Then a question on finding the focal length for a converging lens and variation of frequency with length were also straight forward enough. Nothing really surprised me in this section, which made me worry if the other section was horrible. Question 5 was more difficult than usual. The questions were new and quite detailed. I managed to answer my best eight and moved on to Question 10 (a). The particle physics question was about positrons and pair annihilation. I thought that it was one of the easiest questions on the option I have seen. I didn't have problems with it. In question 12 I did parts (b) and (c). Again it was more difficult than usual. I didn't like any part, but these two suited me best. Part b was about refraction and part c was about latent heat of fusion. The other parts were about circular motion, which was difficult enough, and the photo cell which I didn't revise in the detail that the question required. Then I looked at other questions and Question 8 about fission and fusion jumped out at me. I scanned through the questions and was really pleased. However there was one down side; the quantities were not given at the bottom of the questions. I had to go and look for the required quantities in the log tables, which I have to say was time consuming because I had to keep on flicking back and forth from the quantities to the formulae and it was a bit tedious. It was the first time ever when I noticed that. My friends complained about this, because sometimes the quantities gave you a hint about what formula to use, whereas here you had no help. I really liked that question so when I solved everything I had one more question to do. I looked at question 11 and 9. I didn't like them and I doubted if I could answer them well. Then I looked at 6 and 7. The choice was easy because question 7 was a bit weird and the mechanics question was actually really nice compared to other years. Apart from the very last part of this question which I couldn't do, everything was fine. I am really happy with the paper because I expected it to be much worse. Last year's paper was horrifying and I was afraid that we will get something similar. I was glad that I didn't have to do any electricity questions, which I don't particularly like. I was ecstatic when I saw a whole question on modern physics which I really find interesting. I hope you found it okay as well. For all those who are finished today I wish a nice, long, sunny summer and for those who still have some exams to do, I wish you the best of luck!
ISSU Commentary

Today Leaving Certificate physics students were tested on applying their knowledge to everyday scenarios. Rote learning would have been of little benefit, as has been the prevailing theme with most of the exams this year. Some teachers were full of praise for the more practical examination that their students encountered. The physics paper is split into Section A and B. Section A, at higher level was ‘as expected, and typical’. However some highlighted that students should have been given prior warning, to include their exam paper with the answer booklet, if they answered question 1. This had never happened before, and could have ‘thrown’ some students. That was not the only difference as students were given a graph, rather than being asked to draw one. The rest of section A was described by many as ‘fine’, some even highlighting question 4, and calling it ‘lovely’.Linking physics to real life was continued in section B, where questions were challenging but clearly phrased. Some found the first question particularly difficult. Some described the first question in Section B, question 5 as a ‘mixed bag and parts being more of a geography question, overall it was ‘testing’. Part G was commended for being realistic. The final question on the paper was ‘really nice according to many. The ordinary level paper held ‘very few surprises’ and the paper, like higher level required students to apply their knowledge effectively. Many singled out the Fukushima nuclear disaster as particularly topical. Overall both papers were generally good, but challenging in parts.

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

ISSU 13/06/2012 ISSU 13/06/2012

Junior Cert History

Shahed - Higher Level

Ahh, history. Probably my most dreaded exam, which is quite strange.I was anxious before this exam. I had studied, but I hadn't studied all the chapters. Thankfully though, it worked out in my favour.The first section was picture questions. These were easy for the most part, but I panicked when I saw the two Irish History questions. It was one of the chapters I hadn't really studied, but I managed.Section two was documents. One was about Magellan and the Incas, the other about Hitler. These were also easy, with nothing difficult. Next was the short questions. There was a wide range in these and I was able to do most.Next, People In History. I looked at the choices and I cried tears of pure joy! The accounts that I had learned well all came up! I chose to write about the work of the archaeologist and a factory worker during the British Industrial Revolution, both easy choices.The next question was about the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Nothing difficult here, though the mini account threw me off a little, as I hadn't focused on the Counter-Reformation, but thankfully I remembered it from studying it before.For question six, the questions were about the Middle Ages, Social Change, Irish History and International Relations. I chose the Middle Ages and International Relations; we hadn't studied Social Change and Irish history and I didn't get along very well. But the questions were easy and again, like in French, a question which I had studied right before going into the exam came up!In general, I was pleasantly surprised by this paper. All the frantic studying payed off! Now, two more exams, then SUMMER!

Clara - Higher Level

Woosh, what a paper. I don't think I've ever written so much in the last five minutes of an exam as I did on this one. I’m surprised I can even write this-my hand is so sore! As I was entering my centre all I could think was "Oh my-this is my second last exam!" I felt the rush of hope and got that good feeling you get when you feel like you're well prepared and should do well in a test as I entered my centre and I hope it was right..!History is most definitely one of my preferred subjects so I was pretty happy taking this exam-even so, I think it was not only me who taught this was a really fair and good paper. After speaking to many people in my class who took the paper, we were all agreed! So, more details, yes?Section 1, 2 and 3: I flew through them at breakneck speed. I always try to do them as fast as I can while getting them right because it gives me more time to focus on the bigger sections. Section 1 was the usual, simple common sense stuff and section two was pretty much the same-looked for very little real information. The short questions were basically ok also. There were a few little unusual questions here and there but I answered 17 of them so I'm hoping I'll get my 20 marks.Section 4 :( A) Essays... *shudders* HATED it. Absolutely everything in history that I really dislike and never really study ie. archaeology, plantations and renaissance painters was on. Nooo! But, I told myself to cop on and be brave and made a reasonable attempt at the question on plantations. (B) I was so much happier with-I knew a factory or mine worker well, so I just morphed it into an owner with some jigging around of vocab.Section 5-I almost cried with happiness when I saw the reformation had come up! I was silently preparing myself to be asked about Political Revolutions or even Plantations that I wouldn't be able to do but I got lucky and this was almost exactly like the question from my mock. I knew what I was doing!Section 6-Challenging again! Personally I read through all of them and found that I could quite happily do (A) and (D).I had prepared for a stab at (C) but it seemed like a rather difficult one-the fact that it had lots of parts turned me off it at lot and I hadn't studied Irish history as I hate it so I was delighted that the Middle Ages was (A).I know that well! I did the little questions and then the longer questions on the life of a lady in a castle and the life of a serf. (D) was good aswell. The format was unusual but the questions were reasonable-the usual choice between 3 topics and a few on war history.Good, good paper! Science tomorrow morning is my last exam-cannot wait to have it over with. Good luck everyone!

ISSU 13/06/2012 ISSU 13/06/2012

Junior Cert French

Clara - Higher Level

Well,that was a little beauty of a paper! Honestly-the hardest part of this morning so far has been getting out of bed after going to see a concert last night :P Let's dive right in and get down to the specifics:Aural: This was one of the easiest I've come across to be frank. Even the most difficult section (Section E I thought) was not overly challenging and was pleasant to listen to.Comprehensions: Again,this was child's play! Very basic with the usual format of 9 pieces with some questions at the bottom. These were interesting and the questions were very good for the most part - although there were a few more difficult ones peeping through. Nothing impossible.Written section: Postcards! Nooooooo!!! I had anticipated a note so when I saw this it was a moment of sheer panic. However, I told myself to calm down and re-read. I coped on that I DID know what to say and got writing. Very stereo-typical,"you're on holidays" postcard to a French pen-pal. Some of the points were a little unusual though, the one about celebrating your mother's birthday? No matter! Onwards to the letter I went. I wasn't surprised to see a formal and informal letter - I had studied both and therefore had a real choice here but in the end I went for the informal one. I was really happy with the letter I produced, the points were more like previous years here thankfully!The only thing there is, anyone reading this who really struggles with French will completely disagree - keep in mind it's one of my favourite subjects and I was therefore almost looking forward to this exam.Overall, I found this paper fun and easy. Au revoir and bonne chance avec l'histoire!

Shahed - Higher Level

Le Français? C'est très, très facile!I was both nervous and calm going into this exam. I had done very little French revision lately (I was mostly focusing on History), but after reading through the whole paper, I was relieved - it looked like a piece of cake!The first section of the exam was the listening comprehension. This has always been my favourite part of French exams, I do quite well on it. It was quite straightforward, nothing difficult at all.The next section was the reading comprehensions. This was incredibly easy, which is a little unusual. There are always some very difficult questions in most years, but this time, there was only one or two which were a little tricky. All in all, this was an easy section.Finally, the written section. This was the section that I had been dreading the most. There was a postcard and then either a formal or informal letter. The postcard was like every other year, nothing too unusual. For the letter, I chose to do an informal letter; I don't know formal letters very well, we hadn't done them much. I was so relieved when I saw informal letter. One of the points I had revised just before going into the exam had come up! This helped to put me at ease for the rest of the exam.As a whole, this was a straightforward exam. I was finished with about an hour left over, though I stayed and went over everything. I was quite happy coming out of it. That's another exam to tick off the list!

ISSU 06/06/2012 ISSU 06/06/2012

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!

ISSU 10/06/2010 ISSU 10/06/2010

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!