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!

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 06/06/2012 ISSU 06/06/2012

Leaving Cert English Paper 1

Hugh

Well that’s one down and far too many to go, delighted to have finally started! I’m cautiously optimistic about how English Paper 1 went, and hope everyone else who sat it is too! In short it was a fair and balanced paper which seems to have been well received all round. With an overall theme of memory the reading comprehensions were for the most part engaging and accessible. The “Question A” sections of Texts 2 and 3 contained questions which required students to react to visual material, and all three texts examined knowledge of features of style and asked for personal opinions on the effectiveness of the piece/overall quality of the piece.I did Question A from Text one despite being tempted to have a go at the Question B element of it. Text 1 was very accessible in contrast to previous years and both Question A and B were well received by students. Question A asked for three pieces of evidence in support of a claim about the author’s home place, a question on the author’s “very clear” attitude towards the small town she grew up in, and a question on the effectiveness of the piece as an example of good autobiographical writing. Question B asked students to write a letter to the author commenting on what interested you in the extract and the impact of your own home place on you.Then I got going on my selected question B, from Text 2 which asked for, oddly enough, a “proposal” to be submitted to the relevant authority regarding a person or event you feel should be commemorated, why they deserve to be commemorated and what form this commemoration should take. Must admit I was a bit unsure as to the exact format needed for a “proposal” but it ended up somewhere between a letter and an obituary! Regardless, two and a bit pages on the virtues of Martin McAleese await correction!The accessibility of the Comprehensions was off-set a bit by a few “quirky” and prescriptive essay titles such as “an inferior rock band howling for fame” which was to be the inspiration for a short story, and a speech on the importance of literature in people’s lives. I opted for a speech on what defines Irish national identity and I must say Leaving Cert History helped out considerably on that one!So that’s my spiel on Paper one, now for Paper 2!

Katarzyna

Hi everyone! I am sure that all of the Leaving Certs out there are delighted to have their first exam behind them. I most definitely am!The English paper one today was, in my opinion, a very nice paper. The theme was 'Memory' which was the first thing I noticed when I got my paper and I was fairly happy with that. When I was allowed to open the paper, I went to the very end to scan through the essay titles. They were not fantastic. I had prepared a short story and there were two essay assignments. One of the essays was to be inspired by "an inferior rock band howling for fame". When I saw that I couldn't believe my own eyes, so I looked at the second one which asked students to write about a young character eager to leave home. Both of these titles were not fantastic. The first one shocked me and even though I love rock music, I didn't do it because I had nothing prepared. I picked the other one because I was able to use some parts of the short story that I had prepared. I did a quick brainstorm and went on to look at the three texts.The first comprehension seemed okay, but when I saw the question about it being a good example of autobiographical writing, I knew that it was not something that I wanted to do. Section B seemed fine and I thought that I could perhaps do it if there was nothing better. Text Two was a very interesting comprehension. It was an extract from a speech made by Mary Robinson. I love Mary Robinson so I was eager to see if the questions suited me. Thankfully the questions were pretty straight forward, so I knew that this was my Question A. I had a quick glance at the Question B in Text Three. It involved writing a persuasive article for your school website supporting or opposing the idea of school outings. During school, I was a member of the Student Council so it was a good option for me. I wrote an article from the point of view of a Student Council member about the benefits of school outings.Then I went back to do my essay. My essay was about a girl, who was very smart but was poor and her father was an alcoholic. After she did her Leaving Cert, she got into a physics course in Trinity. Her physics teacher took her to Dublin and helped her start a new life away from her toxic family. She later became very successful and worked in CERN. Then at the end when she finally gets the Nobel prize she finds out that he died. He won't be there for her acceptance speech but he will always be in her heart as her guardian angel. Therefore the title of the essay was guardian angel. I came up with the title at the very end. I know the story is a bit fictitious but again, it wasn't something that I had prepared. Instead of panicking, I just went with the flow and gave it my best. And that is basically what you have to do.In the morning before my exam, my past principal, who by the way is amazing, came in to wish us good luck. I asked her for any last words of wisdom and she simply told me - "Just believe in yourself". After the first exam, I can honestly say that confidence and believing in yourself are very important. There might be a question that we won't be sure about and we will have to improvise a little bit or leave it and come back to it later. The knowledge is there, you just have to extract it at the right moment and let it flow through you. Best of luck to everyone sitting Paper 2 tomorrow. Please don't just look over Sylvia Plath because what if she's not there? Look over Rich and Boland and I know what everyone will say - "Boland was on last year". I know but if you all look carefully at past papers, there was a situation when Plath came up twice in a row in 2003 and 2004. The choice is yours.Look after yourselves and get plenty of sleep and chocolate!

ISSU Commentary

The general feeling from 57,000 thousand or so who sat the Leaving Cert exams were that they were generally far and the fact that iconic features such as Mary McAleese and Brian O’Driscoll came up, as well as the choice element were two major positives from the exams. However some students at Higher Level found the essay titles difficult to write about in a great deal of depth. Another iconic figure Mary Robinson came up which was again a positive. Overall students seemed relatively positive about two ‘fair’ papers.

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

Leaving Cert Students’ thoughts on the eve of the exams

Aoife

The leaving cert is tomorrow, it’s finally here. After all the months of talking about it and referring to it, it has finally come. It took it’s time. After working hard all year I’m not too nervous about it but it’s just the case of getting out the right information and using it correctly. There’s no use getting too stressed about the exams, it’s still good to have a little bit for motivation though.English is my first exam and hopefully my wrists are still usable after it, I’m hopeful that Plath or Heaney comes up like many of the people in my year. My favourite subject is Geography but to have it combined with Maths Paper 1 wasn’t a good idea. That’s going to be a long day.I have two exams a day until the following Wednesday and then I’m off until Physics. Physics is the exam I’m least looking forward to doing but at least I will have extra time to study for and hopefully that will make a difference.Best of luck to everyone sitting their exams, Aoife

Katarzyna

Only one day left before my first exam. The exams have not started yet, but I can't wait until they are finally over. It has been a very short school year and I have worked super hard to prepare for the exams as best as I can. Now it is all about revision, exam papers and more revision. At this stage I am physically exhausted.Today is my last opportunity to recharge my batteries before the two weeks of exams. First up is English and I hope my right arm won't fall off after it. I also hope I will see the poetry of Ms Sylvia Plath or Ms Adrienne Rich on the paper. Then the worst day... Geography and Mathematics paper 1... honestly having them on the same day is not great, but I'll try to keep a positive mindset.My other exams are all on different days which is really helpful. The exam I am most looking forward to... well ehmm... yes... the exam I am most concerned about is probably maths paper two. This is because it is the project maths paper and we did not get many good exam papers for practice and also the exam is only two hours and thirty minutes and we get no choice on the paper. Thankfully I will have the whole weekend to study for it, because it is on Monday. I'm doing German as my foreign language and I hope that something about the 2012 Olympics will come up in the letter. I am doing all science subjects and while most people think that it must be very hard, it actually isn't.The exams are actually quite nice if you are into science. Generally I am very determined to simply go into the exam, be relaxed and do the best I can in all exams. I am tired and a bit scared, but I am not stressing myself out. My teachers told me many times that in order to perform my best I need to just get rest and keep under control. Lets face it... most people know their stuff and all they have to do now is just be confident in what they know and use their knowledge in the exam. That is basically the key to all exams.I have studied for long hours of day and night for almost two years and now all I have to do is answer a couple of questions. It can't be that hard, right? Well, I wish all students in Ireland the best of luck in all of their 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.

ISSU 05/06/2012 ISSU 05/06/2012

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

ISSU 16/04/2012 ISSU 16/04/2012

ISSU.ie State Exams Blog 2012

We'll be launching our 2012 Exam blog soon providing news, reviews, comment and analysis after every exam this Summer. The ultimate student review of each exam paper. The students who sit the paper are best placed to provide feedback on their exams.Coverage will begin on Tuesday June 5th 2012 @ 1pm with students' thoughts on the eve of the first exam. We'll be delving into every exam for Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied, and student feedback will be posted on issu.ie at 6.30pm every evening for the duration of the examinations.Separately, the ISSU President, Education Officer Public Relations will coordinate media coverage of the state examinations also.We're still recruiting our bloggers, so if you're up for the job email studentvoice@issu.ie or call 01-443 4461.June 2012, the only best place for student reaction and feedback on the exams www.issu.ie