Leaving Certificate Maths Paper 1

Craig - Ordinary Level Paper 1

That was the easiest maths exam I have sat since the Drumcondra test in 5th class. Anyone who was looking to just get by in the Maths paper was treated to an array of opportunities to demonstrate their worth above foundation level. Similar to my sympathies for those that banked on Yeats for English; anyone who dropped to foundation today- I am sorry, you missed out, there's no dancing around it; that was a lovely paper.On an initial skim through the pages, I found myself quite calm - not sure if that was the dangerous levels of herbal remedy my mother has doused every thing in the house with ; but all the more it was brilliant to not get that horrible feeling I got in the mocks whereby I felt I couldn't do any full questions.Our paper opened on very basic financial maths and slowly evolved into a test for independent thinking , rather than just pure knowledge of the course.The final two questions were incredibly similar , and the financial maths section was very well spread out across the exam. Calculus was also impeccably easier than previous years, along with the section on basic algebra and complex numbers.My only fear is Paper 2 now which is normally a paper I find a lot tricker. Still, in spite of this I think I have the marks from my first paper to comfortably land me an honour and meet my entry requirements. Fingers crossed - now into a lovely weekend of cramming!

 

Ellen - Higher Level Paper 1 

I was just wrecked after English P2 yesterday so my preparation for this exam consisted of watching Total Wipeout, having a nap and a few bowls of chowder. On top of that I was sick this morning and could barely move, so it's safe to say I was not looking forward to this exam... Stuffed to the brim with neurofen and tea, I took my place in the exam centre dreading the next few hours.I'm not going to say I was pleasantly surprised because there was nothing pleasant about it. Everything seemed to be algebra and logs - my two least favourite topics - and there was no financial maths in sight. Although, the proof by induction was rather lovely, as was the log question with all the p's and q's. I really really do not like algebra so you can imagine my horror when I saw the first two long questions, anyway, I soldiered through, even finding the parabola for basketball. (Although I admit I had no idea how to find the angle with the horizontal, something with tan maybe?)The sequences and series question was kinda quirky and I got the table but not the answer. That last question about the bees seemed a bit out of place and was way more difficult than it looked. I answered everything, with just enough time to look over at the end which has never happened to me before. Paper 1 is supposed to be my strongest so I'll probably spend the whole weekend focusing on Paper 2. Hopefully it's worth it for those 25 extra points!

Cárthach - Higher Level Paper 1 

I opened the paper and stared blankly at the first page for 5 minutes, not knowing what exactly to do. I was 100% sure I would fail, friends will laugh saying this isn't true, but I genuinely skimmed through the paper, pretending to see things that weren't possible to do. However, I made myself write something in the tiny first box, and suddenly a flow begin to come. No, I didn't manage the first two pages well at all, but what followed seemed to suit me. Plenty of calculus, trigonometry and logs as well as co-ordinate geometry almost made the paper feel like paper 2, which I prefer!I was worried previously about financial maths and none came up!!It wasn't perfect, but it was much better than I had thought it would be, reading over the English version of the paper now. I may have actually passed, no time to celebrate, paper 2 is dawning on me! 

Liam - Higher Level Paper 1 

Maths you done done us good! I must say, this paper was immaculate! I didn't know what it was going to be like because they could pop an awkward question and that would put you completely off but in fairness, I liked it.Question 1 was a complex numbers question and it was fairly good, there was no weird DeMoivre proof or anything like that so it was fairly straightforward. 2 was just basic algebra, the second part really got my goat during the whole thing. I kept finding myself going back to it, but towards the end I found the errors of my ways, I forgot to square the 2 under the line! But sure be grand.Question 3 was exponential graphing and it was again, fairly straightforward. 4 was proof by induction and if it weren't for a video I watched online last night, I probably wouldn't have gotten it, then the log questions afterwards. I like logs and logs like me, well at least I think they do after those questions.5 was kind of triggy ( sorry, I had to! ). The first part was Pythagoras theorem, with algebra combined! And then the next part was the SEC just making up some new definition, safe to say that that box was filled with last minute scribbling. Part b was grand too, just a bit of functions. Because that and the part a are related…?6 was calculus. Good 'ol calculus, and in fairness, it was grand if you took your time with it. Differentiation by first principles was simple and the next part was one of those product and chain rule hybrids, just do it slow and keep it clear and you'd get it!!Then we got more calculus in question 7 where you manipulated the surface area and volume equations of a sphere to find rates of change. It was grand, once you understood the whole situation.  Part b, is where they kicked the ball. Would've been better kicking it all off the paper being honest, but sure it was grand.8 was all about Sarah and her basketball and instead of doing an essay in English about the olympics, we got a maths question. 9 was grand too, just about if sequence and series, and with a bit of last minute thinking , that was that !All in all , maths this year was really the story of a bad joke. They pumped up a ball (7) for Sarah to play in the Olympics (8) and along comes a bee (9).Paper 2, please have a heart!! 

Emma - Ordinary Level Paper 1 

Just out of maths paper one and lovely is an understatement. I don't know if it's because last years paper was so difficult but ordinary level paper one went fabulously!! It started with a basic money question, and had little differentiation which I was delighted to see. There were some parts, like everything that took a little time and thinking but it wouldn't be maths without that I suppose. Question eight like many people caught me but I'm banking on attempt marks for that one!!The reaction to the paper seems pretty positive!! Hopefully paper two will be just as lovely!!  

Conor - Higher Level Paper 1

When I open the paper, I carefully analyse each question, labeling the top, as to which topic on the syllabus they apply to.Complex numbers…Algebra…Functions…So when I arrive at question 8, I let out a great sigh, mentally saying “of course they “delight” us in having the financial maths question last.  I turn over the page and… oh my sweet Jesus of Nazerteth, it’s sequences and series. Mixed feelings are roaming through my head at this moment. On the one hand, life has given me the wonderful gift of hope. On the other: hold on – I just spent countless hours attempting to comprehend as to what even a ‘financial maths’ is, and how does one use ‘financial maths’. That being said, the only course of action was to proceed with the paper. And thus, I did.Overlooking the internet now, I am seeing quite mixed remarks about the paper. There are people similar to one half of my brain, saying “Whoever wrote that exam, leaving out financial maths, I’m buying him a pint”. Others, furious over the absence of financial maths; but overall, an overwhelming delight. Twitter has deemed it to have been “piss easy”, and that it was a “looovvveelllyyyy paper”.To those people that are complaining about a lack of financial maths, and are looking back over the hours spent on learning it, ask yourselves: did you really want it to crop up. Imagine, if you will, how the exam would have panned out:Let’s see… let’s see… Ah, here it is. Financial maths. I have done so much work for you, and now I can- wait. I still don’t know how to do this. I WANT ALGEBRA! [sobbing] So, do not focus on what did not come up. That is futile.  Focus on what did, and, if you are like the majority of students, you would have considered those questions “leeeeeeeeethaaaaaallll”.Personally speaking, I found it to be a just paper. It was not a walk in the park, and there were parts that you had to seriously contemplate – as it should be, seeing as that is the nature of mathematics. But it was approachable in every aspect. I can assume that most could have filled in each box with one line at least. In Project Maths, that typically means half of the marks. Oh, biased marking scheme – our saviour.To those that are sitting behind the screen in a state of melancholy over what they believed to be an incredibly tough exam, do not fret. As I have said, attempt marks are there to boost people up. I remember doing a question on one of the papers – it was a 50 mark question – and the very first part, a part that was essentially asking you to sub in values into an equation, gave you almost half of the total marks for the question. Marking schemes favour those that have done poorly. Besides, it is only half of the paper. So to those that found it “piss” – you’ve only climbed over the first obstacle.All in all, however, it has, at least from what I’ve seen, been a great start to the Leaving Certificate Examinations. It has provided many students with the confidence to face each paper now with a will to do well, as they have done in the past. Take a break sometime this weekend – then prepare for another battle. But the battles are thankfully coming to a close before you know it.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

Leaving Certificate English Paper 2

Liam - Higher Level English Paper 2

"Questions that I did. Section 1: E 1. Section 2: A 2. Section 3: A 1,  B 3"OH MY BISHOP! You are a beaut. I don't say this too often, but I liked this paper.  From the second I sat down in the hall to when I got handed that pink exam paper, I was feeling a funeral in my brain! I had this exam timed out, 55 mins for prescribed poetry, 1 hr 5 mins for comparative, 1 hr for King Lear and whatever left for unseen poetry (not important to be honest).So from yesterday, you now know, I like highlighting. Today was no different. I got the paper and went straight to the back to prescribed poetry, Bishop and Dickinson, and I highlighted the hell out of them! They were the  only poets I actually knew (I wouldn't recommend only knowing 2, the stress ain't worth it!). I answered Bishop and it went quite well!Next one was comparative, Cultural Context! I actually like Cultural Context! I did the 30, 40 questions about if characters were  successful or unsuccessful in the aspects of cultural context, or something like that… lets hope I compared and contrasted sufficiently enough!Next was the single text and King Lear. Choosing the question on the tragic characters of Lear and Gloucester seemed  favourable and I had done a question like that previously in class so I had some idea on what to say.I did the unseen poetry next and only jotted a few points down for that, I genuinely am not  bothered about that. And by jotted I mean scribble like mad! It's only 20 marks at the end of the day, in comparison to the 50, 60 and 70 marks from the other questions.For once I kept my timing on track and I'm happy, enough, can anyone really be too happy when English is concerned ?

Emma - Higher Level English Paper 2 

Paper two was a dream come true!!! I couldn't be happier! I began poetry and it was brilliant - I was so lucky I studied five poets so I had 3 options on the actual paper. I chose Bishop over Eliot and Dickinson because her poems are easier to write about and I enjoy her themes, the question itself was pretty straightforward. The unseen poetry was extremely interesting and I enjoyed depicting each question- I did the two ten markers. I then went onto the King Lear question and chose the redemptive and destructive power of love- this was easy to plan, but I found I fell short of ideas so I had to elaborate a lot. However compared to previous years, I believe that the Lear questions were lovely.Then onto the comparative. We had only studied cultural context and general vision and viewpoint so I had no choice in the question. I chose the 70 mark question because I feel it is easier to focus on the three texts! Having only wrote 5 and a bit pages, I'm extremely happy and as they say quality over quantity!! I'm sure there are a lot of disappointed people because of the lack of Yeats this year, but cheer up!! There's always other papers! 

Craig - Higher Level English Paper 2 

That was one odd unseen poem just as that was exhausting.  19 pages later, and I'm at last liberated from the oppressive regime that is the English syllabus. I had a pretty nice choice in this paper. And overall, it was a good experience.Single Text wise I studied King Lear and found the "love" question to be a treat. I was expecting imagery but love was a pretty easy theme to deal with, I may have spent too much time on it though, at the expense of my other questionsThe comparative was beautiful - Cultural Context I choose, though was happy to see Literary Genre pop up there. Having studied Pats, Foster and the KIng Speech  the question on power was something of a dream. I was able to talk about the role of women, and people's inner power to overcome their personal complicationsFinally, poetry. I had studied nothing but Dickinson & Yeats from September to April, but recently decided id have to put my differences aside and get in on Bishop. I was so happy to see her come up today. Durcan, Elliot and herself were predicted and hats off to those tho who took the risk and only studied those three, to those who prayed on Yeats "being too obvious" so "he'll be put on to put us off" - my sympathies.Unseen poetry I don't know - I'd almost consider scrapping it as a piece, personally I was exhausted by the time it came to tackling it and was fearful of sounding repetitive so in my worst hand writing possible I expressed what I thought paper is meant to express. Honestly what was that?Anyhow, it was all pointless because I'm probably going to be back again next year repeating maths - which is tomorrow. Absolute yay. Best of Luck everyone! 

Ellen - Higher Level English Paper 2 

In preparation for this exam, I visited the statue of WB Yeats in my local park and prayed to the poetry gods that he would come up on the paper, but like the rest of the country, I was sorely disappointed (and now my heart is sore). (I also prayed for Heaney to come up on the history paper so it's not looking good for him either folks). Anyways, onto the actual exam. What a lovely lovely cultural context question! We had studied Citizen Kane, King Lear and Never Let Me Go so there was power and powerless go leor. I left it until the end (probably a mistake) and had only written 4 pages with 5 minutes to go, so I figured it wasn't worth starting a new paragraph. Regretting spending so much time on the single text, I did the character question on Translations, that they are tragic but not heroic, which was all too easy to agree with. I focused mainly on Hugh, Manus and Owen but Yolland and Maire may have been the obvious choice. I struggled a bit with the unseen poem to be honest and chose The 2x10, simply because I feel it would be easier to get half marks in both. I read it completely at face value -about the legacy of literature etc- however I know some smart people connected it to art and transience and all that jazz. I was kinda happy that 3 out of the 6 poets I studied came up, (although I know some lucky suckers got 3 out of 3), after much humming and hawing, I settled on Bishop, which seemed the most straightforward, although I actually prefer Durcan and Dickinson.Anyways, the main thing is I've survived Leaving Cert English and live to see another day!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

Leaving Certificate Engineering

Liam - Engineering Higher Level 

As I woke up this morning I tried to ignore the feeling of dread I felt. Thursday was the day I feared the most. Not because of the thought of having to sit down and do English paper two in the evening, but for the engineering paper in the morning.Now I’m sure a few of you reading this are asking “what’s so hard about engineering, it’s one of the easiest subjects out there?” Sure, this may be the case for some, but for my class and me, it wasn't. The theory paper on the engineering course covers 50% of your overall mark while there’s 25% for your project and 25% for your practical. We only started doing theory two weeks ago! Yes you heard correctly! We only started to learn an entire course two  weeks ago. What did we do in fifth year? What did we do for all of sixth year? We just practiced for our practical the entire time. To anybody out there who is reading and this sounds familiar, start studying now!A few of you, I'm sure, are probably all wondering what my teacher was doing, not teaching us and all, but to be totally honest, he knew his stuff. For the last 45 years he has been teaching in my school, I don’t think anyone has failed the engineering paper. I got the surprise of my life when I went in and found that the paper was actually quite easy! With only two weeks of work with things I had never seen before I was fairly confident. We have a compulsory question for question 1 (a question about common sense) and we must answer four others out of 7. Within the first two hours I had my five questions answered and I was flying it. I even answered the others for the craic!So there you go. I'm really quite delighted to be honest. One more exam down to the whoppa sesh!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

Leaving Certificate Home Economics

Cora - Higher Level Home Economics

So my exams began today and after the not so great start I had with paper one in English, I couldn’t explain to you how nervous I felt before home ec. It's a subject commonly thought to be easy, and the answers are easy most of the time, that is if you can figure out what the questions want you to say. But I needn't have worried. Home Ec was a dream, well as dreamlike as leaving cert exam could be.There were very few nasty surprises. The short questions were as always picked from random and weird parts of chapters but they weren’t the worst short questions I’ve seen either.

Question 1 was lovely, fibre. Even if you hadn’t revised it after a quick brainstorm the answers would surely come. Question two was a nice one on fish, something my teacher had predicted and it was a nice one too nothing too bizarre or out of the ordinary, they combined that with vitamin D. Question three was a bit weird, food processing, but it wasn’t your standard question I’d never seen so many marks go for naming a freezing method and its description.  To tell the truth I’m doubting myself on that one so I did an extra question. Question four was a really lovely consumer question and thankfully no laws came up, it was just about supermarkets and an agency, lovely jubly. I didn’t do question five and I don't remember what it was but what I do know is this, if you even had a night before cram with a little bit of prediction you would have been well able for this exam, even the elective seemed doable and that's something I’ve always struggled with!

Home ec really lifted my spirits after paper 1 in English and has given me hope for the rest of these exams. I’m so delighted I have one exam done and dusted, only another eight to go! 

Ellen - Higher Level Home Economics 

I could not believe my eyes when I read through that home ec paper - literally everything my teacher predicted came up - fibre, fish, poverty, even the short questions on textiles and the environment! I chose to do the question on fish first as I felt I was strongest in that, although usually I always start with Q1, I just didn't like the look of that graph! I ended up doing the consumer studies question, something which I did not anticipate going into the exam! But the questions were nice enough- shopping patterns and merchandising techniques for 20m each.The social elective was fair as well, although I struggled a bit with the poverty definitions. I hadn't studied education much but I was able to wing the functions of education for young people. Then I looked at my watch- I only 40 minutes left for Q1 and half the short questions I'd left earlier!That table was the literally my biggest fear - no graphics and so difficult to decipher. I raced through the fibre questions, I don't know if I even answered them correctly or not, my main goal was to finish it. I was a bit thrown by the 'strategies' to increase fibre intake but I just said nuts & seeds, wholegrains etc, with a bit of public awareness campaigns thrown in for good measure. All short questions answered and it was just time to finish up. There were bullet points and tables go leor, but Home Ec is finally over!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

Leaving Certificate English Paper 1

Craig - Higher Level English Paper 1

D-Day! June 8th 2016. English Paper One. The paper that can make or break a person if you ask me. But that's probably the overly dramatic thought process that is compulsory in consuming students who want to do anyway decent in the English exams, it's all about "BS" - English is, or so my teacher says.Paper One for me was done back ways, like I've always done. But for those who do things the right way I'll start with Section 1:The three choices had "A comedy of errors" of which I didn't touch. Some story about a dog called "One eye" and his reclusive owner who is trying to save him, and then a speech from Obama on Space. I took Question A from text two, it was rather do-able in that it asked to identify narrative language and aesthetic language, of which the piece was undeniably consumed by. There was also an opportunity to take an in depth look at the mental state of the main character, I said he had characteristics of mild aspergers due to his obsession with routine, and was obviously very anxious and perhaps overcoming a near suicide due to his reference of "I must go on". It really showed the triumph of the human spirit, and I found the piece very engaging and enjoyable.I took Question B like most people in my year from the Obama piece. I wrote about how Lyndon Johnson and Nixon set up in jet fuel flames the promises of a great society in Vietnam and Florida, and that Obama shouldn't do the same. I found it very enjoyable writing indirectly, even though he will never see it to one of the most inspirational people of our time.Finally, essay wise - I wrote the speech. Number 7 in fact on what it means to be Irish. I talked about our pursuit of fairness and our obsession with identity and blatantly said that we should not fear the erosion of our culture by others, for we have enriched other cultures by spreading ours.And that was it, I walked out of the exam hall - sweating on what is definitely the most humid day of the year. Let's hope English Two is just as kind. Best of luck everyone! 

Liam - Higher Level English Paper 1 

Questions that I did; Section 1: 3A, 1B. Section 2:2When I went into the exam I took out the highlighter and went crazy. I highlighted the paper's theme, 'Journeys' and then started at the back at the section 2 options. I highlighted the key words on the short story and personal essay questions and moved on to the B questions in section 1. After reading them , 1B stood out to me so I went for that. Then it was deciding the As. I liked the topic of 3, Obama's speech about the future of NASA so I went for that one.I timed it out and spent 60 mins reading the comprehensions and doing the A questions, 30 mins on the B questions and the remaining 80 mins on the composition.  The A questions I didn't find too challenging, but it was really writing enough and having sufficient points that gets me. I really liked the B question, a speech, as a judge judging posters for Shakespeare's play "The Comedy of Errors". 1 and 2 were first and second , were yours the same ? And even the short story, I did the one about the mistaken identity, based on text 1. All in all it went fairly well.English wouldn't be my favourite subject, but sure it was grand! 

Emma - Higher Level English Paper 1 

English paper one was completely different to other years!! The comprehensions were extremely specific and the part B's were very tough. The essay titles weren't the best and there wasn't even an article which I was hugely disappointed about! I myself was happy enough with the comprehensions and the part B, but I found I was waffling on for my speech which was about travelling before working or going in to further education! The essay titles again were extremely specific, and none were general like other years. Overall it didn't go horrible but it could have been a lot better. Hopefully there will be a nice paper two tomorrow to make up for the paper one!!   

Cárthach - Higher Level English Paper 1 

So, after waking up not knowing was it actually the first day of exams and to my father's absolute cracking joke saying it was called off, I showed up to the school in quite a good mood and had a chat with my friends, we discussed the timing of Paper 1 quickly to make sure we knew that crucial element of exams (especially for a slow writer like myself).Before we knew it, it had started and I was well underway on the most difficult part of the whole exam, starting!After choosing the B part, I spent what felt like a very long time choosing the right Comprehension, but once I began on the second comprehension it got easier, even if the questions required referring back to a lot of examples in the text and the complexity of the narrative was a challenge in itself.I didn't actually get to finish the (iii) part worth 20 marks, so this was the low point of the whole exam, but I did the thing I had prepared to do, drive on and stick to the rigid time plan I had agreed on!The next 35 minutes was spent on a blog post...an uncommon type of B question. The task was to criticise President Obama's decision to spend $6 billion dollars of public money on NASA. This wasn't the worst either, time pressure yet again forcing me to rush the ending! Overall, I was happy with this option, but the rareness of a blog coming up in functional writing certainly put people off!The composing question was difficult to choose in my opinion! As someone who usually is suited to personal essays, the option was a more solely narrative approach on describing an urban journey. I live in the Gaeltacht, with 4 donkeys, I didn't think this was very suitable for me! My other preference was a speech at a class debate with a motion for or against 'young people should travel the world before entering the workforce or furthering education'. A nice title, but I felt I wrote it in a very unorganised way, but wrote a sufficient amount and hopefully I'll be awarded for sticking to the speech style, but content was lacking, perhaps other things weren't right either, trying to be positive now and look forward to being finished!Overall, It was a fairly fine day to begin with, not brilliant, but fine! If only the rest will be the same!My aim is not to engage in over-thinking such as what I could've, would've and should've done. It's finished now and only another load of papers to get through before freedom! Hup! 

Ellen - Higher Level English Paper 1 

That's it: the myth of the Leaving cert finally debunked- it's all just another exam. These were my first thoughts as soon as I sealed up the answer booklet. As for the exam itself, you never really know about English Paper I because it's so objective. There was mixed reviews in my school, some tears, some sighs of relief. I myself was so happy when I saw the theme was journeys!I was having nightmares last night about visual elements of texts so naturally when I saw the first text I ran a mile. Obama's speech about NASA was my natural choice, and I was able to bring in my knowledge of the Moon Landing from history. Was it just me or were the questions way more personal this year - 'in your own words what were the changes'? And 'in your opinion what are the disadvantages?'For QB I did the competition entry, which I wasn't really sure what the format was supposed to be. I did a letter while other people described the cinematic qualities of the text in detail, so we'll see how that goes. The composing section was not bad at all and offered lots of choice, including a nice debate about young people traveling. I chose to do the descriptive essay about an urban landscape and wrote about my time in Jerusalem. I've never written something from the second person before so we'll see how this goes..! All in all I feel it was quite an approachable paper. 

Conor - Higher Level English Paper 1 

WHY DO WORDS, PHRASES AND PUNCTUATION KEEP ENDING UP IN COURT? TO BE SENTENCED.Yes, I will begin every blog post with a themed pun. If you feel ill, it has worked.For those that were experiencing great nerves this morning, the starting point of the Leaving Certificate 2016 examinations, we as a nation did not make it easy for them:“I think I will turn on the radio; listening to some songs should allow me to feel relaxed.”[turns on radio]“TODAY MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE LEAVING AND JUNIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS, WITH OVER –”[turns off radio]“Okay, maybe I will just stick to songs on my phone.”[looks at phone]YOU HAVE 23 NEW MESSAGES“What? They’re ALL relatives, wishing me good luck? I didn’t even think I had 23 relatives.”[turns off phone]“Maybe I’ll just sit on the couch in silence.”[parents enter]“Oh my God, OH MY GOD, today’s the big day! We best drive you now to avoid the traffic.” “Mom, Dad, it’s six in the morning. The exam isn’t for another three and a half hours!”“Well, better safe than sorry. Come on, polish your shoes and let’s get going. You need to make a good first impression with the examiner.”After meeting my classmates inside the waiting centre thirty minutes prior to the examination, it was perplexing to see that the calm people were those about to take the examinations, whilst the parents were experiencing heart palpitations and saying “Jesus, I don’t smoke, but if it will help with the nerves, I need a drag now.” It is ironic, seeing as they are the ones saying “worrying solves nothing”, yet they are the ones trembling. Our belief is different. To quote a student in my year: “They’re just summer exams with a fancy name.”On receiving the exam paper, the first thing one should do is take note of the theme of the paper. This year, it was the theme of “Journeys”, and we were met with comprehensions, varying from Shakespearean plays to space travel. In fact, I think most students belittle the theme, based on how eclectic the theme itself is. One thing to note was that in the Shakespearean text, which was a writer’s telling of ‘The Comedy of Errors’, it asked to include reference to a Shakespearean text that you have studied. I can imagine most students thought mutually: “Paper Two in Paper One? What next? Construction of an orthocentre in my poetry question? Madness!” But I found it quite intriguing, in that it allowed us to view the works of Shakespeare as a collection, taking notice of the admirable literature he has provided us. If you care to avail of it, you might mention a thing or two about ‘The Comedy of Errors’ when answering on Lear tomorrow. Make your essay stand out. That is what ensures a great result.Unless you write something like “Juliet Capulet, Julius Caesar, Romeo Montague, Mercutio: if you take these character's names apart you can spell out Illuminati. Therefore, Illuminati confirmed.” Maybe you ought to avoid that. There seemed to be little complaint drawn towards the composition section as well. In fact, the overall paper was deemed by most to be rather accessible, and even enlightening, in that they begin to explore concepts that they hadn’t even considered before. That is a wonderful quality of literature, I find. You are met with a world that was once held underneath a blanket, and grow a hunger to try to lift it out of the shadow that it once occupied. The paper also gave confidence to students in their ability to write, due to the broad nature of the paper, one that will certainly be required for the battle we face tomorrow.As the exam ended, and people were comparing what questions they completed, it moved on to the topic of tomorrow’s paper, and making predictions. One would swear that the nation is holding a large bet on who comes up in the poetry. My advice: leave it. Listening to predictions may cause you to forget your strongest poet (bad), study a poet that you have little understanding on (worse), and, as we have seen with many, MANY, predictions, leaving you without anyone to answer on in the exam, because you have only focused on one poet (worst). Stick to what you know now, and don’t get flustered by what other people are saying. No one knows what is coming up. Poets and other questions have repeated themselves. All I can imagine is the person writing the exam with a random number generator choosing the poets, thinking: “If only they knew…”. But I am getting ahead of myself here. This is for tomorrow.So, the conclusion for the day is as follows: most seem pleased with the start, and are now preparing profusely for Paper Two tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and relatives are beginning to relax. For the most part. Hopefully students are getting into the routine of things now, and will take the approach of giving the exam their all, and moving on as soon as it is finished. The more you think like this, the sooner the #whoppersummersesh seems to approach. That is a time parents should be worrying about.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

Leaving Certificate Irish Oral

Ellen - Higher Level Irish Oral

I was sort of apprehensive going into the exam as a number of people in my year had bad experiences with our examiner, saying she was staring out the window, chipping her nails and yawning in the middle of their exam. Nothing like a bored examiner to throw you off your flow! Luckily I found her to be really positive, nodding and asking thoughtful questions.For the filíocht I got An Spailpín Fanach, which I was quite sásta with (mainly because I got to say "ach glacfad fees o rí na gcroppies" - what a line!) which put me in a good mood for the rest of it. For Sraith Phictúirs I got Samhradh Iontach, which wasn't bad at all at all. (I was terrified I would get one of the ones from Sraith Phictuir Parodies on Facebook, and would start uncontrollably giggling in the middle of the exam!) I invested lots of time practicing sraith phictuirs until they were on point, because I knew if they went well I'd be ceart go leor.By the time the comhrá ginearálta came around, the nathanna deasa and seanfhocail were flowing. The ceisteanna were most of your basic topics, do cheantar, do theaghlach, tar éis na hardteiste, an scoilp, caitheamh aimsire, which I had all prepared. The only things that I had to make up on the spot were a gnáthlá i mo shaol, the advantages of an all girls school and cúpla ceist mar gheall ar student council, which were easy enough if you throw in lots of 'chun an fhírinne a rá' and 'tá fhios agat fhéin'. I managed to avoid some tricky questions when asked if I liked history by saying I also liked languages, which gave me a chance to talk about stádas na gaeilge faoi láthair.Overall, I was happy with how it went and it gives me a bit of peace of mind now going into the exam in June knowing that's 40% done. The only sad part is - that might be the last time I speak Irish ever again, nach mór an trua é. 

Liam  - Higher Level Irish Oral

Now that we’re a few weeks after Irish oral season, we’ve begun to stop worrying about forgetting a séimhiú here or there or forgetting a Módh Choinníollach (trust me, it happens) so here’s some tips and a review of how mine went!In preparing for the oral, I’d suggest writing out things for the beannú and the sraiths and learning them off. The beannú is 5 easy marks. Basically, it’s just telling the examiner your name, your age and where you’re from. You’d be surprised how easily marks are docked from that. “Cad as duit?” - “Is as Cill Airne DOM”, “Cathain a rugadh thú?” - “Rugadh mé ar an gcéad lá de MHÍ Eanair….”. I was conscious of getting that wrong, considering the amount of times that happened to me in mock orals. The sraiths again are something that are worth learning things off for, simply because of extra friotal that could boost your marks, like díltálaire for ‘Tine sa Teach’ or trasrain síogach for ‘Timpiste’. And it’d be handy so you wouldn’t have to improvise the caint indíreach! For filíocht, getting a sheet with all the poems on it, writing in the phonetics, learn it off and bringing it in. BOOM 35 marks! All I can say for comhrá is practice talking in Irish, a lot!Apart from praying the Gods of Westeros I didn’t get Fadhbanna ar Saoire and Spailpín, I just went over my notes on the sraiths outside the exam room. Then I was called in. Beannú went grand, I didn’t forget my name or speak in French which is always good! I ended up getting Géibheann and Gaeilge - Seoid Luachmhar, which meant the praying paid off! Comhrá really went from topic to topic but nothing too difficult. Before I knew it, I was getting a “Go raibh maith agat, Slán”Like everyone, I was overthinking, over analysing and doubting my oral the second the door closed behind me. Did I mess it up? Was my comhrá awful? But at the end of the day, it feels 1000000 times better after doing it! 240 marks, 40% of the Irish course and 45 CAO points done and dusted!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. If you are interested in becoming an ISSU Exam Blogger, contact info@issu.ie with your name, school year and contact details.