Leaving Cert Biology
Jessica - Ordinary Level
Well, Biology wasn't to bad, it was a hundred times better than I was expecting it to be! After spending an hour panic studying in the break beforehand convincing myself I knew nothing it turned out I do know one or two things! I was delighted to see the trusty genetics and ecology questions there, especially the little ecology paragraph with all the answers in front of us!Female reproduction also made an appearance which is never a bad thing! Have to say though after finding out that the digestive system has made the cut 9 years running and spending so much time on it over the past few weeks I was very disappointed it wasn't there!After hearing the few people who stuck with higher I'm very glad for ordinary level! I'm really happy that its over with now! 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.
Leaving Cert Irish Paper 1
Sheila - Higher Level
The night before my Irish paper one exam I completely neglected all other subjects to focus on it because I felt there are such a random selection of essays that can come up. I woke up three times last night having had nightmares I would go in open the paper and be able to do nothing. Looking back now I realise I was prepared for it.The tape was the first section of the paper. It was far easier than the mocks with only one or two questions proving a little difficult but even then I managed an answer. I have heard from others that they struggled with the tape but all told me they hadn't ever really practised it so it shows that practise is necessary. The only problem with the tape is you only hear it twice but the breaks between each playing are so short that you hardly have a chance to read the questions before the next section starts. I spent some of the first round of listening trying to read the questions which was annoying. Apart from the bad timing allocation it was a great tape.The essays this year were varied and very broad allowing you to talk about almost anything you had prepared. I was so happy when i flicked through the paper and saw eimirce one of the few essays I had really focused on. I was able to bring in all I had done on the total as well so I was really happy. The other essays I wouldn't have been as comfortable with but I have heard many of my friends saying they tackled An Timpeallacht agus Realtai sport so I guess we all picked what suited us.Overall I am delighted with paper one and I think it went far better than expected.Best of luck tomorrow everyone. Here's hoping the Dis does not come up.Go n-eiri an bothar leat.
Nathan - Ordinary Level
This paper started off badly as I lost concentration because of a disruption so i was off to a bad start with the Aural but I eventually caught back up and answered the questions. They weren't the best in the best in the world but they weren't too bad either. then came the Sceal agus Litir which honestly I don't' think I could have asked for a better 2 questions the only things the I studied and hoped that would come up came up. lets hope paper is as nice in the morning 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.
Leaving Cert Maths Paper 2
Nathan - Ordinary Level
Well to say that was a horrible paper would be the understatement of the year. I opened the paper and honestly don't think I've ever felt so nervous about an exam paper it was just horrible. Project maths why do you hate me! Thank god I never have to sit another Maths paper ever again wooooo!
John - Higher Level
Despite the controversy, I see no-one’s blogged on this paper here yet. Well, better change that, eh? So, the teachers get their revenge on project maths. They took their punishment over the last couple of years. They had to teach courses that were totally foreign to them. They scratched their heads like the rest of us at the bizarre questions that were thrown up, while trying to reassure us that ‘nothing like that’ll come up on the leaving cert’. And now that the enemy has displayed a chink in its armour, they pounce. In the SEC’s defence, the error in Q8 (a) would have had a minimal impact on any student’s approach to the exam (I certainly didn’t notice it, nor did any of my friends). The way the question was set up, you used your trigonometric ratios/sin rule/cosine rule to find the missing sides and you moved on. Only if you were paranoid enough to attempt to verify your calculations using an alternate method would you have discovered any discrepancy. I had more of a problem with how part (i) was phrased. Without the word ‘perpendicular’, there were a range of distances possible. Still, it’s sloppy. If the SEC can’t design a triangle that can exist in the real world, it hardly fills you with confidence, does it? Apart from that, I thought it was a fairly nice paper. I think I managed to conquer ‘that fecking arbelos’ (as it’s now affectionately known), and the long stats/prob question was almost therapeutic. That wasn’t my opinion exactly when I opened the paper however. The very first question had me cursing the new course. ‘Explain a sample space.’ Well, it’s kinda......y’know... To add insult to injury there was a perfect example of what I was trying to define staring at me from the bottom of the page. I think I ended up writing something along the lines of ‘that yolk down there’ to supplement my shaky definition. Question 2 on plants and growth hormones was typical of project maths: weird. It was less than crystal clear what they wanted you to do with their normal distributions, but I think I gave them what they wanted. Overall, I’m delighted with how the two papers went, and I must admit, a small part of me will be sad to see the back of the weird and wonderful world of project maths. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see the question in the edco sample paper on the cup of tea/telephone). 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.
Leaving Cert Maths Paper 1
John - Higher Level
What a relief! This was the unknown element, the paper that had never been examined before, and that never will be examined again in this exact format. Thankfully, and somewhat unusually for Project Maths, the SEC decided not to serve us any curveballs in what I found to be a very approachable paper. The material matched that of the sample papers (apart from one sequence/series question), which was fortunate.Any initial nerves I had were settled by a fairly straightforward complex numbers question, which helpfully asked you to verify provided answers, rather than find your own. This was followed by questions on algebra and logs that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the junior cert a few years ago. Many people (myself included) were apprehensive about financial maths, which reared its ugly head in q4. This surprised me, given that the sample papers appeared to point to it being examined as either q5 or 6 (which are worth twice as many marks as each of the first four questions). As a result, it was a reassuringly basic task that didn’t ask too much of the student. The two questions in the ‘Contexts & Applications’ section were on algebra and sequence/series respectively, and required significantly more attention than the other questions. The first required you to examine the effect of ticket pricing on attendances, and went some way to explaining why Croke Park keep their prices so high at the expense of empty seats. I managed to battle my way through that one (was it me, or did we need to use differentiation there?), until the last part, which I came frustratingly close to working out before the time elapsed. The sequences question required some looking at from various angles, and I was delighted with myself when I finally cracked parts (c) and (d). The calculus section of the paper was quite friendly (I thought so anyway), particularly the integration.Overall, I’m delighted to have paper 1 out of the way, and I can only hope its relative lack of surprises doesn’t mean we’re in for a stinker of a paper 2!
Sheila - Ordinary Level
I felt that I needed to blog about the Ordinary Maths paper because to my absolute shock I was able to answer every question on the paper. As maths is my only pass subject I completely sidelined it for the past two years doing minimal work and just counting on my junior cert honours maths knowledge to get me through. But some one out there was feeling very nice this year. Not only were the English style question approachable but they often spoon fed you formulas and offered alternatives to attacking the question if you were unsure. I really felt quite spoon fed. I'm not complaining though the easier ,the better, for all of us ! I only need to pass maths but if paper two is as nice as paper one I may do a lot more than pass it as I'm sure many other people will. Please be nice to us in paper two, some constructions would be great! Fingers crossed. 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.
Leaving Cert Geography
Jessica - Higher Level
Geography was the subject that I was completely confident about and somewhat expected to fly through the paper - oh how I couldn't have been any more wrong! It was a total disaster! From the stupid short questions - anyone know what the hell plucking means from the glaciation question?? To the confusing geoecology questions. I'm so disappointed with how it turned out except I have to say that I was delighted erosional landforms and human interaction with rocks were there on the same physical question! I'm just banking on project to bring me up now!
Sheila - Higher Level
The Geography exam this year was a tough paper , however it did have aspects that were fair and manageable. The short questions covered all areas of the course . If you had practised short questions from previous years the section would have been fine. The physical geography was the best section on the paper and the easiest with broad and non specific questions asked allowing you to chose many areas. In question 2 it asked for a feature of erosion and did not specify fluvial so that left the question open to many answers. The regional was difficult this year because of the phrasing of each question. They were put in such a way it was often hard to desipher what the question was looking for. I chose the last regional question and they asked about interaction between the economic political and cultural activities in any region. I managed to tackle it but planning it took considerable valuable time. The economic section with human processes was fine it was not as difficult I felt as 2012 had been but was not completely straight forward as the questions focused on more minor sections of the chapters. For the essay style question I had studied Geoecology and I feel this was the section that really let me down. The questions were constructing and I feel they were unfair as they didn't allow me to show all the preparation I had done. The second question only allowed the discussion of vegetation soil and climate in relation to the biome. Even if they had added the animals it would have been more manageable. Overall it was tough but fair. I feel the last section let me down and I had hoped for a high grade. But you never know :) 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.
Leaving Cert English Paper 2
Jessica - Higher Level
After nervously waiting for the longest five minutes of my life to pass I raced straight to the poetry section. I couldn't stop smiling after finding Bishop, Plath AND Mahon! I was spoilt for choice! I went with Mahon having spent far too long deliberating. I felt it was such a nice question!Next I turned my attention to the dreaded comparative. I was however happy see both theme or issue and cultural context! I chose the first question of theme or issue. I was intrigued by it as none of the past questions were anything like it!I went to Macbeth next to find a character question and couldn't have been any happier!I had just about enough time for the unseen poetry which I found to be quite hard but it's only 20 marks so I refuse to get bogged down over it!Over all it was a very fair paper and I'm happy :)
Jenny - Higher Level
What a Paper 2! I think everyone was dreading to see what would come up on the paper today especially which poets would make an appearance. As we all rushed to open the paper and look at the names of the poets there was an immediate sigh of relief throughout the room. Two women poets! (And Mahon and Hopkins)... Who would have thought!?With a weight off my shoulders and circling the number beside Bishop, I returned to the first page and began the paper.Our single text was Macbeth and the questions didn't seem too bad. I chose the question on the significant insights we gain into Macbeth's mind and how its critical in shaping our understanding of his character. For the comparative study I was delighted that Theme or Issue appeared as I wasn't entirely prepared for Cultural Context or Literary Genre.The unseen poem didn't look too bad at first but I think I may have interpreted it wrong... still they can't say my "personal response" was wrong can they?And then finally I moved onto the last question and started my essay on Elizabeth Bishop. I thought I had my timing right but I found myself rushing at the end and ending it quite abruptly.Altogether I thought it was a quite nice paper. Everything I had studied came up thankfully and although I think I made a few mistakes, it feels good knowing that I'll never have to do an English exam ever again. Now time to go and burn those books... and prepare for maths of course!
Dylan - Higher Level
Nathan - Ordinary 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.