ISSU 12/06/2012 ISSU 12/06/2012

Junior Cert Business

David - Higher Level

Hi all, just back from business paper 2, I had both papers today and despite not doing much study besides cramming last night, I think I did pretty well! The exams weren't easy or tough, they were okay.Paper 1:Paper 1 has the short questions as well and I did okay on this. I got two wrong I think, and a third which I'm not sure of. All in all, the short questions were grand. On this paper I did Q1,2,3,4 and 6, so that's 5 instead of four. I was happy with the questions and flew through Q1/Q2/Q4 (household budget, club accounts and Economics) then Q4 and Q6 were a little slower but still less time than recommended. I don't know if that's good or bad! Oh well, I looked over all the questions again, made a few adjustments and left about a half an hour early.Paper 2:On this I did Q2/Q3/Q4/Q5 and Q6, so again, that's one extra. I was happy with this paper, they could have made it a lot harder! Q1 Business documents and bookkeeping took me like 10 minutes :P Q2 Cash flow forecast I flew through also, it was like a shorter version of household budget, this took me about 15 minutes. Then Q4/Q5/Q6 (final accounts, credit sales and bad debts, finance and report writing). None of these were hard but they all took a little bit extra, again I was finished about an hour early and looked over them again for about a half an hour.. again, not sure if that's good or bad, I guess I'll find out in September! I was happy with this paper though and it went well. :D

Jack - Higher Level

PAPER ONE.Ah, business. Possibly my strongest subject.Paper One was very good. Section A (the short questions) were very fair. Nothing unexpected came up. I feel I did quite well.Section B was surprisingly easy.Question 1 was a nice revised budget. Nothing unexpected here. Luckily, it balanced first time!Question Two was a Club Account. Nothing unexpected came up. The Balance Sheet had been predicted by many. My accounts balanced on the first go!Question 3 was a lovely economics question. Once again, no surprises. I feel I did well.Question 4 was a very easy consumer question. I had it done in a short space of time.At this point, I had my four questions done. With just under an hour left, I tackled the remaining two as back ups.Question 5 was great. Just filling in a sheet!Question 6 was probably the hardest, yet still easy.Overall, Paper One was a very fair paper. It was quite easy to me.PAPER TWO.I quickly skim read the paper. To my delight, no ratios!I began with a lovely business documents question - Question 2. It was quite fair.I moved to Question 3 next. This was a great cash flow forecast. It balanced first time!I decided to tackle Question 6 next. It was great to see they included the template for a report! This was a lovely, fair question.I now had to pick my fourth question. I opted for Question 4. I had practiced final accounts over and over. It balanced first time sound!With another while to spare, I went to Question 5. This was an okay question.I turned my attention to Question 1. Books of First Entry. I had originally planned to do this as one of my first four, but chickened out! I did it through at a slow, calm pace. It didn't balance! I checked every single figure to find I put a figure on the Dr when it should have been Cr! But then it balanced!Overall, Paper Two was a very fair paper to all, it seems.I am extremely happy with how I did! Now to cram for History and French. My weakest subjects... Good luck!

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 11/06/2012 ISSU 11/06/2012

Leaving Cert Maths Paper 2

Sarah - Higher Level

After two years of frantically trying to get my head around the new project maths nonsense, I am so so sooo relieved to say WE DID IT!!! I have to say, this was definitely the exam I was most apprehensive about, but it's such an amazing feeling to have finally gotten the dreaded paper out of the way! I'll admit, I was borderline on having a heart attack at seven a.m., but thankfully, I'll never have to look at trigonometry again! :DSo... the paper. When I actually opened the paper, I was completely overcome by a feeling of disgust. Question 1 is nearly always a nice little venn diagram with some basic probability. How dare they make me write words on my first page?! But after my initial shock and horror, it was just peachy. I liked question 2, mainly because once I realised that the circles touch internally, it was ridiculously simple. Question 3 was the perfect example of the SEC ruining students lives! I was so freaked out by that damned question that I could feel myself getting really panicked, so I took another couple of drops of Rescue Remedy (i can't emphasise enough how important that stuff is for panickers like me) and I moved on to the next question.Moving onwards and upwards, question four was just Bernoulli trials- I hadn't expected such a straight-forward theory question as in part (i), but that was grand. I didn't have a problem with number 5, but I know a few people who were a thrown by it. Question 6 was the “piece de resistance”. I decided I'd do both parts, seeing as I had oodles of time to spare. When I launched into 6A, I knew the question was super easy. However, due to some cruel twist of fate, I had a total blank, and what I did after that was quite possibly the stupidest, yet most brilliant thing I have ever done. Firstly, I extended the line out past B. I bisected that 180 degree angle, and continued to bisect that angle until I got a 60 degree angle. Mad, but still correct. I had plenty of practice bisecting angles for the 15 degree one. The next little (b) part was fine, not a bother. I thought 6B was a bit of a joke for honours maths. When I reached my answer, I thought I had gone wrong as I only used up about four lines of the box under the question, never mind the whole next page.Question 7, anyone? What in the name of goodness was that??? I'm not a business student! Far from it, in fact. So what was the goal of the SEC, flinging a load of totally irrelevant jargon our way, and giving us the most ridiculous questions ever? Had they not been so carried away in trying to turn us into bankers, it would have been a decent topic for the 75 mark question, but I think they lost the run of themselves, much to the disadvantage of every student sitting the paper. So before I combust into a puff of smoke and fury, let's move on. Question 8 made me die inside (just a little). My mind was blown away by everything except for the first part of the question. “What was all that talk of errors and positions and angles?” I hear you ask. Well here's a little secret for you; I have no idea what happened. All I know is I started writing out words, words and more words, and I'm fairly sure none of them made any sense. But it's okay, it's all in the past now.In short, it was a silly, silly paper. Did I agree with it? No. Did I feel I was tested on my knowledge of maths? No. Will I be writing a strongly worded letter to the SEC? Most definitely. So, comment below so I can see if I'm the only one who felt this way. For now, I'm off to go and learn the whole Irish course. I'll be back blogging tomorrow about Biology, so I'll chat to ye again then! ;) x

ISSU Commentary

Higher level maths students banking on getting high marks in their exam will have found some aspects of paper 1 "very challenging", according some yesterday.The general feeling was that while it would be possible to get a good grade, it would prove to be very difficult to get above the average. The final parts of some questions were described as being ‘extremely challenging". Earlier parts of the questions were more manageable and had a student prepared well it would have been possible to get a reasonable grade. Many of the expected topics came up. In general the whole paper was quite tricky and some thought even the (a) parts were more difficult than usual.Question 1 on higher level gave a few people ‘the nerves’ but question 2 would have alleviated these. Parts (a) and (b) were ‘very fair’ while well prepared students wouldhave been given the chance to excel and showcase their knowledge with the (c) parts. 3c was described as ‘tricky’ for anyone uncomfortable with surds. Differentiation by firstprinciples did not come up for the second year in a row, which surprised some.

ISSU 11/06/2012 ISSU 11/06/2012

Leaving Cert Irish Paper 1

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’.

ISSU 11/06/2012 ISSU 11/06/2012

Junior Cert Maths Paper 2

David - Higher Level

Paper 2 was a delight for me! After my worrying that paper two would be as hard as paper one, I wasn't confident going into the exam, but I soon settled when I read the questions.Q1 - I got on great, no surprises but I had trouble with part C, attempt marks will have to do for that one! Q2 - Was co-ordinate geometry, probably my favorite section of p2, so easy, so likable, for me anyway, I spent a good bit of time on this question though as I had to draw two diagrams.Q3/Q4/Q5 - Trigonometry, my least favorite part of the course, I think we went through trigonometry pretty fast in school, so I never really got a feel for it, but these questions went great, I got both theorems correct along with the construction so I got a good few marks there my teacher predicted one of the two theorems correctly, the long equiangular triangles one, but the other one was a pleasant surprise as it's shorter and easier than the other one she predicted. The rest was pretty easy too though, maybe that could be down to me trying to learn theorems all weekend getting used to it more? Who knows, bottom line - It went well.Q6 - I did no study for this, this was always easy to me, there was an ogive question which is always nice to see, no drawing of a histogram however, which was disappointing as although they take longer, they're easy marks. Q6 went great for me - thankfully.All in all, Maths was okay this year, the very hard paper 1 and the easy paper two balanced out to make it not too tough.. and not too easy :(

Lorraine - Ordinary Level

Hey guys!Lorraine here! :) I did Maths paper 2 today! Im ordinary level and I have to say, after a gruelling 3 hours study yesterday of solid maths with my sister, I think I did OK!Normally, I'm ok up to Q4 and thats when I start to get stuck. In the first few questions there was no shocks or anything, it was all whats normally on the papers. At Q4 we had to bisect an angle and we wernt allowed to use a protractor, although I'm not sure how they would know or not? :P I probably did it wrong, but I did attempt it! After that It was grand. All the usuals were there and we had the log books with all the formulas we needed in it. I think I did very well until Q6. I could do the first parts no bother it was only the last bit where I was like Arrrghhh! I attempted everything which I was delighted with.Overall, If you studyed I think you'll do well. A good few people out of my room did get up and leave and there was only 2 of us ordinary level students walking out at half 11. I walked out of my exam and there weren't many of us walking out at half 11, even though most of the year is ordinary.I felt very sorry for the honours and I looked through there paper and my God its hard! Seriously, If your doing honours fair play to you! If I find pass hard imagine what I'd be like in honours?!I think I done well and I'm happy with how I answered everything this time round.Good Luck to everybody in the exams still to come :)

ISSU 11/06/2012 ISSU 11/06/2012

Junior Cert CSPE

Lorraine

Hey guys!Lorraine here :) I'm just going to blog a little about the CSPE exam because I remember most of the paper so why not go on and on about it :PThere is such a stigma about CSPE and I think we have all at one stage cracked a few jokes about CSPE but if you actually try with it you'll be a happy person when you get your results. It's an Easy A so why not get an A?!60% percent of the exam is gone before you even go into the exam! The action project is worth that and I'm hoping I got the 60%! My class went to the Zoo for Stewardship for our Action Project and I'm not messing, it was class! Definitely a day out to remember and I still remember loads of facts from it. We were brought around for an hour and a half with a woman who told us all kinds of deadly information and then we were allowed to go around on our own for about 3 hours. For weeks after we all worked on our RAP forms and had them all completed.The actual exam? People were all like ''Ah sure this be grand!'' and some of the teachers were even cracking jokes about it :P The paper was 40% and I reckon I've passed anyway! The first question, the picture one, was photos of like the Dáil or the UN Parliament etc and you had to write the name under the pic and where it was located. I genuinely don't think I done well there cause we have never looked at them places, I obviously knew the Dail but who knows about anything else?! :)Q2 was all the short answer questions, it was mostly all about voting and the systems and stuff. Pretty easy stuff! Then we were told to pick 3 out of 4 of the next questions to do, its kinda like a reading comprehension, you get the info and you write the answers. They were based on the age card, charity shops etc. I always answer all of them.Section 3 was grand. 2 of the questions were about posters but they did have questions with them like. I chose a question about why a youth center should be in the area and I had to write a letter to a local TD on behalf of my class etc etc It was grand.I didn't leave, and I don't plan on leaving any of my exams early. There was 5 of us left at the end and I was working till the end-3pm! :)Good luck in the next few days all! Business tomorrow :O :(

Shahed

Ahhh, CSPE. Probably the easiest exam you will ever do in your life.I already had 60% of my final grade finished. For our Action Project, my class and I invited Gillian van Turnhout from the Children's Rights Alliance to speak to us about the rights of young people. It was very informative and enjoyable.The written exam itself was quite easy. Though most people seemed to have finished early, I was writing to the very last minute. I took my time at the start, so that slowed me down a little.Section 1 was probably the easiest it has ever been. There was nothing difficult about it at all. It was a great start. Section 2 again was easy. I planned on doing all the questions in that section, but I ran out of time. Here's hoping my answers are good! Section 3 was a breeze. It had a good variety of questions, nothing too difficult.Overall, it was a good paper. It was a nice break from the harder exams. Now to cram for French and History!

Jack

Well. CSPE. The hardest exam of the lot. Obvious sarcasm!There's not much I can really say about this exam. 40% of the marks were secured with my Action Project. My class invited the President to our school, so we wrote about that.The written exam covered that last handful of marks. Just 80. It was grand. Nothing hard. Nothing unpredicted. Nothing out of the blue.I finished Section 1, three questions from Section 2 and a question from Section 3 at about 1.50, so I went on and did an extra question and finished shortly after 2.00. I read over a few times, and decided to leave early. There was no point staying longer.There is not much one can say about CSPE, besides the above. At least tomorrow is Business! my best subject!

ISSU 09/06/2012 ISSU 09/06/2012

Junior Cert - Week One Review

Lorraine

Hey guys! Lorraine here! :)Week 1 was tiring! Every day coming home from the mocks I was wrecked and I can honestly say I'm even more tired from the JC! I find the days where I have 2 exams on the day the worst! On Wednesday when I came home I was sooo tempted to go to bed but I knew I wouldnt sleep that night! I wasnt able to even talk about the exams until I had something to eat or drink I was just knackered! On Friday I came home from maths and geography and slept like a baby till 8pm!Another thing Ive found about the exams is how people react to it! The people that haven't done a thing through the whole year are the ones completely panicking onthe days of the exams and the ones who have worked seem very laid back! :) So if theres any 2nd yrs or anything here reading this - START STUDYING NOW!!Another thing is how encouraging people are! Every day I get home I have everyone asking how it went and facebook messages and stuff and its nice to have the support! :)All in all, week one went OK. I'm a bit worried about my results but thats the way I am! I'm dreading week 2 but at least I'm finished this Friday! :DGood luck everyone!

Jack

Well, that's the first three days (of just six and a half, for me!) done and dusted. It was quite daunting to begin. Once I got over the whole shock of the whole thing, it felt just like the Mocks. My friends agree.Week One wasn't too bad. Wednesday was a bit nerve wrecking, naturally.Thursday was quite a long day. Irish. Not my strongest subject to be honest.Friday was the best day of the three. Geography was a welcome break and Maths Paper 1 was surprisingly nice.Week Two is up next. Maths Paper 2 and CSPE up first. Not too bad, I guess. Business on Tuesday! Business is my favorite subject, so I'm happy about it! French and History come up on Wednesday. I am kind of worried for those two, in particular. We'll see how it goes! And lastly, Science. I feel I can do well in it... after cramming on Wednesday evening!Well, the second (and final week for me!) is coming soon. It seems okay. I wish everyone the very best of luck!