Junior Certificate German
Kate - Higher Level
German is a subject that I thoroughly enjoy. Going into the exam I was incredibly stressed. This was my third last exam and I'm so exhausted I did not put the proper study time into it. I was most stressed about letter topics and possibly listening comprehensions. The exam started and everything was fine until I got to the final listening comprehension. This focused on some sort of class election and I used my knowledge of class elections to fill in some space that I missed. I moved onto reading which I found easier than some of the past years. The reading was quite easy but had some strange tenses. Finally I moved onto the letter. I wrote 4 pages for my letter. The letter focused on pets, summer plans, internet shopping, school trip and school uniform. I found this somewhat tricky as the topics were so specific that you could hardly vary (ie. When pocketmoney comes up you can write about jobs, housework, etc. But you can't write too much about a new pet cat). Finally I wrote my postcard. This was a lovely postcard about a school exchange. I found this easier than previous postcards and was overjoyed that it wasn't a note. Overall I'm pretty happy with how that went and am going into my final two exams on a positive note!
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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Junior Certificate Home Economics
Olivia - Higher Level
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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Junior Certificate Religion
Kate - Higher Level 
Over the last few days my study has been focused on History, German and Science so I had not put any effort into Religion. This was a mistake and I knew it was but to me science, history and German require more work and matter more. After science, I spent two hours cramming the religion curriculum into my head. Entering the exam I was very stressed. Once I opened the paper it was not nearly as bad as I anticipated. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.I flicked through the paper and circled the questions I would do and wrote some small bullet points for each question. I started the paper; short questions - easy, picture question - okay, document question - impossible. I had to forget about that and leave it to the end. I was so confused about stewardship, was it the CSPE stewardship or a different kind? I moved on and did questions 3,4,5 and 6. I thought that these questions were a lot easier than 1 and 2 (plus they were questions that you could waffle you way through). I then answered the essay question on how faith influences the lives of believers. I thought this was a wonderful question and produced a five page essay about Islam and it's impact on the lives of Muslims. Finally I returned to the document and painfully went through it. I tried my best and think I produced a good exam considering the study I did.
Philip - Higher Level 
Now this is an exam everyone did a lot of study for! (sarcasm, so, so much sarcasm) Anyway I got short questions done quickly and I think I got at least ten. Next I did section two and I did every part so I had a spare. This was mostly total bullology but that's what the examiners want! Then I moved on to section 3. This went ok and I think I did some pretty good answers. Next I did section 4 question 1, 4, 5 and 6. These are usually the hardest questions in the paper and although this was still true I think all in all I did well enough.Finally I did section 5 and I did question 2 on Jesus and the type of Messiah that was expected. I did just under a page and a half. Then I had about five minutes to spare and I went back and started question 2 on section 4 but I didn't get that finished.Good look everyone whose doing home ec or German tomorrow, my next(and last) exam is tg so good luck to everyone doing TG and woodwork on Monday.!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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Junior Certificate Science
Chloe - Higher Level 
So science was my second last exam and I was really dreading it. There is so much information to retain and I was nervous that I hadn't studied some of the chapters as well as I should have.To begin I went through the exam question by question and I came across a few that at first I wasn't quite sure of but then the answers dawned on me when I checked over it again. The question on germination was a disaster for me, as honestly I hadn't revised it and so I just took a complete guess. Other than that I feel I was comfortable enough with most of the questions and I'm happy with how it went.It definitely feels brill to have the exams almost done and dusted with just one more to go for me which is woodwork! See ye on Monday for that!!
Shane - Higher Level 
Ok. I was dreading this exam, which sounds ridiculous because I had put A LOT of study time and effort into it. I made sure I did a really good coursework B and spent hours checking my lab manual, writing experiments, re-writing experiments and making sure I had them all. So I was a little bit (a huge bit) on edge. However, when that exam paper was put in front of me, I rejoiced at how it was a very nice paper. I was convinced after the beauty that was Business and History, the SEC would want to wipe the smile off of my face. Yet, they only made it bigger.The biology section was a little harder than previous years but was very manageable and all students who studied should have done well. I was in my element (insert wink emoji) doing the Chemistry section because that is my stand out favourite part of the course. Physics was also a great section but they put the weirdest experiment on it! I cannot wait to do Chemistry and Physics next year after how that went:) I’m just insanely happy with Science and I am looking forward to recovering from this week now that I’m off until Monday!!! Best of luck to you all doing exams tomorrow!
Kate - Higher Level
I am generally an A student in science so I felt quite prepared for this exam. I spent hours last night learning chemical formulas, balanced chemical equations, formulas and units. To my shock horror not one question on chemical formulas or equations came up and only one question on physic formulas. Other than that the exam was a lot better than anticipated.
I looked over the exam first and then I answered chemistry, physics and finally my least favourite - biology. I answered every question without much trouble. Overall I thought that this was a lovely exam and I am quite happy with how I did.
Philip - Higher Level
So I didn't find this paper too hard, a lot of pretty tough questions but I think I managed to get an answer out for most of them. I worked through the paper in the order it was given and didn't find much trouble throughout. I had went through past papers last night and the marking schemes to check my answers. There I made a lot of mistakes but I knew them today and I was lucky enough that a good few of them came up. I did struggle with the questions on circuits but apart from that I think it went well all in all.It went better than I expected, I was really dreading this exam yesterday!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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Junior Certificate French
Chloe - Higher Level
Wow. This was such a nice paper in my eyes!So firstly we tackled the listening, there wasn’t any really challenging vocab here although I honestly haven’t a clue what collided with that truck and I also wasn’t sure where Christopher was being collected, but other than that I thought it went well for me!Next was the reading comprehensions. For the mock I remember spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to find the answers but today I was relieved when I was finding answers quite easily. I thought the back to school comprehension was the trickiest and I also didn’t know what the guys mother worked as for the very last comprehension, I honestly have never seen the word ‘usine’ before and I actually thought it was a typo of the word ‘cuisine’ so I wrote down that her mother worked in a kitchen (I know, I know). Other than they were quite simple I thought!Then came the postcard and letter. My postcard went really well but my letter was a bit dodgy in places just with stringing a few of the sentences together but other than that it was okay and I think I used a good range of phrases and vocab here!Overall French went so well, I was expecting a more difficult paper but thankfully this was definitely a kinder year.All the best for science tomorrow guys!
Philip - Higher Level
As I said french is my worst subject but I don't think I did too badly on this paper. The listening was pretty much the same level as others I've done. For the most part the same goes for the comprehension, except for the one about the people who had their house broken into, which I struggled with. In the postcard and letter it's difficult to know how you did and despite not knowing some words that were needed I think I twisted it in well enough, like putting church in instead of cathedral.Finally the letter. Luckily for me I hadn't been relying on an informal letter and this letter was also general enough. Overall I don't think I did badly in this paper but, especially in French, I don't like saying how I did before I get the results.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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Junior Certificate History
Shane - Higher Level
Oh my God, I am still in shock at how amazing that History Paper was! As soon as I got the paper, I went straight to the "People in History" section. I cried some real tears of joy when I saw a medieval monk and Columbus. I had studied about 12 but was still so worried going into the exam that it wasn’t enough. So I speed wrote my two essays (a page and a half and two pages respectively) and answered all 20 short questions and when I looked at the clock, only 35 minutes had gone by! So I slowed down a little and answered the picture question and the documents question. These went as fine as picture and documents questions go, but some questions were a small bit trickier than previous years.As predicted by many students, the mixture of the Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution and the Famine (however minus the Famine this year) came up as the Question 5. This went very well but I was kicking myself that I didn’t know who John Kay was. For the account in that question, I wrote about three quarters of a page on farming in the agricultural revolution and was on my merry way to Q6. I studied Q6 C and Q6 D so I could focus on them in specific and not half study all the possibilities for Q6 A. I was quite pleased with 6 C and answered the accounts on the 1916 "Rising and Civil Rights in Northern Ireland". Then for Q6 D, I answered the accounts on the "Battle of Britain" and the "War in the Pacific". In the finish up, I could not literally be any happier with this paper and I am feeling so, so good about Science tomorrow! Good luck (again)!!!
Kate - Higher Level
I've consistently done well in history, never producing anything lower than 95% in an exam so I was dreading history today. Our teacher lectured us about how people who do well in the mocks do worse because they get lazy so that was a positive note to enter the exam! I predicted that age of exploration, industrial revolution and reformation would come up. I was fearful about the possibility of revolutions appearing on the paper because I just skipped that whole section of the course.
I opened the exam and skipped everything, didn't even read anything from section 1-3. I started on question 4 and answered the question of medieval monk and Magellan (named explorer). I then moved onto question 5 and felt blessed by the SEC when I saw industrial revolution and reformation side by side. I had spent hours cramming the industrial revolution into my head and thankfully it appeared. I then moved onto question 5 and answered A - Reformation and D - International Relations. The final parts of those questions threw me. The question regarding the reformations impact on Ireland and Britain was not what I prepared for but I wrote about plantations and religious change in Britain. I wasn't too sure about how France was defeated but sure I waffled my way through it. Luftwaffe more like Luftwaffle am I right? I then returned and answered questions 1-3 without a problem.
All in all I believe that the exam went quite well for me and I'm optimistic about how I did.
Philip - Higher Level
This paper really didn't suit me, if I'm going to be honest. I started with section 3, the short questions. These weren't particularly hard in my opinion and I'd say I got ten at least. Next I went back to section 1 where I struggled with the second question on part A but apart from that I think I managed to bluff my way through. Then I moved to section 2. This was the comprehension question and I think I did well enough in those questions. Next I did the people in history question. This was where I struggled. In part b I managed to do, I think, a good enough account of Christopher Columbus, though without dates. Then I went back to part A. I hadn't studied any of these. I tried at the renaissance painter outside of Italy question on Albert Durer but some of my points were confused with someone else so I'd say I lost a lot of marks here.In section 5 I didn't have much trouble with the comprehension based question in part A and B but part iii in each of those caught me and I didn't know what to put down. Part C was a total mess and half of what I said was made up, but fingers crossed. Finally I did section 6. I started with D as that's usually my best in section 6 and this year was no different. I was quiet confident with my long question answer (for the last time in the exam). Next I did A. I think I did fine in most of them but I struggled to find enough points to cover the effect of the reformation on Ireland and mainland Europe, though I say I picked up at least half the points, maybe more. Finally I had some time left (I thought the exam finished at 4:00 so I rushed and ended with a half hour to spare) so I spent that time doing part B in section 6, which was total waffle.Goof luck everyone in science and religion tomorrow!
Luke - Higher Level 
I was fairly nervous before entering this exam because I really like history, I think my teacher is good and I had done well in my pre so I had fairly high expectations.Before entering the classroom where the exams were being held, I read over Durer and a solider in the D-Day landings. I did questions 1, 2, and 3. And then 6, 4, 5. This was to make sure I got as much marks as I could manage in Q.6 because it accounts for 33% of the exam. I was pretty much under pressure for time from the word go.The short questions were very straightforward, although I avoided all questions on Irish history as I knew that I would be able to avoid those questions on the exam.The night before the exam I looked through studyclix and saw what topics they predicted would come up, and I was lucky as a Renaissance artist from outside of Italy and an explorer came up in question four! I was was happy with that.Question five was the industrial revolution. It was easy, even though I hadn't looked at it in awhile because I didn't think it would come up.Question six. Before the exam I had intended to do part B, Social Change and part A which is usually a topic from the second year course but when I looked at the social change question and compared it to the world war question I decided that the world war question was the better option. I had done a fair amount of study on the reformation which turned out to be part A. of question six so I got a nice bit down for that. Then for D. World War I, I didn't think I had a lot of knowledge on it when I began but as I wrote I remembered bits and pieces of it and when I was finished I was even happier with it than the reformation question. I'm looking forward to seeing the results in September and seeing how it all worked out!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.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie