‘Students tested with challenging English paper’: Reaction to day two of Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert exams

* Leaving Cert students sat Engineering at 9.30am and English paper two at 2pm, which predicted poest appeared, but with challenging questions

* Junior Cycle students had Irish at 9.30am, which was “welcomed with open arms”, and geography, a “fair and well-received paper” at 1.30pm

* “I thought my legs would turn to jelly”: Yesterday was a nerve-jangling experience for many Leaving Certs who had never sat a State exam before

* ‘Help them focus on the next challenge’: Exam survival guide for parents by Brian Mooney

Leaving Cert English paper two: A hard ‘slog’ with some disquieting questions

Many students felt a wave of relief after predicted poets appeared, but they were tested by some “disquieting questions” on English paper two.

Clodagh Havel, English teacher at The Institute of Education, said the long-speculated poets Yeats, Ni Chuilleanain, Dickinson, Plath and Heaney appeared.

However, on closer scrutiny, she said the initial euphoria will have faded for many.

“While the Heaney and Dickinson questions were typical of the previous examples and the Yeats question demanded a manageably high-brow approach to his work, the Plath question would have worried students,” she said.

The guide quote for the question asked students to assess Plath as a “social commentator”, which Havel said was a direct contradiction of what most students prepared.

“Braver students will have challenged the claim, but in a high stress environment many won’t want to take the risk at this final high stakes hurdle. There were of course other options but this section, and this paper on the whole, will have forced students to make choices they did not want to make,” she said.

Many students may also have been disquieted by the Hamlet questions.

She said students who prepared the role of women in the play will have been relieved to see Gertrude appear, but might be frustrated by the initial narrow scope of the question as Ophelia was omitted.

“Yet students willing to dig deep will have found that the questions mention of ‘core issues’ will be an avenue to broader discussions. Nevertheless, students will have had to fight to keep their analysis on track, having their work cut out for them in order to keep those topic sentences purposeful,” she said.

“The second question describes the play of the notoriously melancholic prince as ‘surprisingly positive and hopeful’, with surprising being the operative word for all involved. In 2017 it was a ‘disturbing psychological thriller’, which was an approach taken by teachers everywhere. An ardent and argumentative student could make this work but likely felt it was untethered to their previous two years of study.”

Regardless of which question they chose, Havel said most students will have been able to fill the time with meaningful, informed discussion but few will feel truly triumphant.

“However, any lingering sense of being unsure is not a sign of a poor student but rather is a reasonable response to a paper that often asked students to go against the grain,” she said.

By contrast, the centre of the paper was very manageable, she said.

“The unseen poem was a brilliant display of continuous metaphor with some poignant moments reminiscent of yesterday’s theme. The questions were clear and uncontentious – love it,” she said.

Comparative can be tricky given that some questions simply don’t fit with some texts due to the volume of different material.

Thankfully, she said, the presence of all three modes meant that students could navigate by their strengths.

“But careful reading was essential, as careless haste could cause some to misread “selfless” and drift perilously off course,” she said.

“This paper wasn’t the resounding sigh of relief everyone hopes for but had lots of opportunities to earn marks laying just beyond those first impressions. Yet those first impressions matter, and students will likely have felt many moments to be a slog across the finish line.”

Laura Daly, an English teacher at St Benildus College, Co Dublin and Studyclix subject expert, agreed that it was challenging in parts.

With the majority of students around the country choosing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, she said the appearance of a question on Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude was a welcome sight, as it was highly anticipated the role of women would be examined.

“If read analytically by students, they would have realised the question also required the exploration of multiple themes, a lovely question. Although some may have lamented the omission of Ophelia,” she said.

The second question was extremely broad but deceptively challenging, Daly said.

“The wording afforded students opportunities to explore a multitude of areas in terms of what they found ‘inspiring and hopeful’, yet the play is filled with corruption and death so perhaps more challenging than first perceived,” she said.

In poetry, she said the appearance of Heaney, Yeats and Ni Chuilleanain and Plath will have been weclomed by students.

Notable by their absence were the two pre-1900s poets Donne and Hopkins, she said.

“Donne has appeared in recent years, but Hopkins has not appeared in over a decade and it was thought he would be on the paper today,” she said. “None of the language of the questions offered any real difficulties for the students.”

The comparative followed previous years in that all three modes for this year were on the paper as per the adjustments, she said.

“Of all three modes, the theme or issue questions, often touted as the easiest, held the most challenge. The focus was extremely narrow calling for students to examine ‘an interesting interaction’ in the 30 40 marker. The 70 mark question in this mode would also have caused some challenges. Students who had studied more than one mode would have fared well here to have had a choice,” she said,

The unseen poem – ‘Building my Grandfather’ – was “lovely” with accessible language and themes that would resonate with students.

Junior Cycle geography: “Fair and well-received’

This year’s Junior Cycle geography paper was a fair one, according to Stephen Doyle, a teacher at Moyle Park College, Dublin, and subject expert with Studyclix.

“There were no major surprises… Each question contained a mixture of short answer questions to start then paragraph style answers in which students must give more detailed insight, displaying their knowledge of a specific topic,” he said.

Map work, in particular, played a big part in today’s exam.

“Map work and skills-based questions such as OS maps, aerial photographs, graphs and tables featured heavily in this year’s exam. There were a total of five questions in this year’s geography exam that contained map work. So, if you were not prepared for mapwork this exam would have been challenging,” he said.

“Surprisingly there were no questions on Volcanic activity but rather this year focused on Earthquakes and their effects. There was also no question on any rock formation which also may have caught students off guard. There were a lot of questions that combined different elements of the course such as landslides and coastal erosion.”

Overall, Mr Doyle said this was a “fair and current paper that would have been well received by students.”

Junior Cycle Irish: Some tricky words on otherwise straightforward papers

My colleague Peter McGuire has filed a more detailed reaction piece on the Junior Cycle Irish papers.

You can read it here, with links to the exam papers themsevles.

Overall, teachers say students were mostly relieved with straightforward higher and ordinary level papers..

Linda Dolan, Studyclix.ie subject representative and a teacher at Mercy College Sligo, said the cluastuiscint (listening comprehension) and the léamhthuiscint (reading comprehension) on the T2 higher level paper, which is sat by students in English-medium schools, offered straightforward and student-friendly questions.

Rita Donnellan, a teacher at Ratoath College in Meath and subject representative for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), said that the listening comprehension was fair.

“A few words may have tripped some students up, but overall it was balanced,” she said.

“The questions on the novel, drama, song or poem included common topics that come up regularly. Some may have struggled with some phrasing, but if they could pick out keywords, they could manage the literature questions.”

Both Ms Dolan and Ms Donnellan said the ordinary T2 level papers were fair, although Ms Donnellan said a question about inviting friends to see the actor Paul Mescal may have been challenging for some.

Commenting on the T1 higher level paper, which is sat by students in the Gaeltacht and in Irish-medium schools, teachers said it contained “appropriately pitched and student-friendly” language, and was happily received by students.

Plath? Heaney? Hopkins?

The annual sport of what’s going to appear in English paper two has been in full flow.

Every year there are eight prescribed poets. Five are due to appear in today’s paper. Candidates have to do one.

Tiktok is convinced that the smart money is on Sylvia Plath.

But then, a friend of a friend heard that Heaney is a sure thing this year.

A teacher down the road also says Ní Chuilleanáin is overdue an appearance.

Either way, we’ll know for sure shortly…

Junior Cycle Irish reaction: ‘It was welcomed with open arms’

Most students were “happy and relieved” with their Junior Cycle Irish exams this morning, according to teachers.

Students faced T2 Irish exams (for English-medium schools) and T1 (for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools).

Linda Dolan, an Irish teacher at Mercy College, Sligo and subject expert for Studyclix, said the T2 higher level paper was welcomed with open arms by students.

“Both the Cluastuiscint (listening comprehension) and the Léamhthuiscint (reading comprehension) offered straightforward and student-friendly questions. Ceist 5 presented a choice between an úrscéal (novel) and a dráma, similar to what was seen in last year’s paper,” she said.

“The Ceadapóireacht (composition) component provided two lovely options -describe a holiday abroad (also seen on last year’s paper) or in the Gaeltacht and describe a picnic or a day with friends. The final section, based on poetry, offered students two undemanding questions on the theme and the title. Students and teachers alike undoubtedly would have been happy and greatly relieved to receive this paper today.”

The T1 higher level paper was also “very straightforward and happily received by students”, she said.

“The language used in the questions was student-friendly and appropriately pitched for their level of Gaeilge. Poetry appeared in Q5 and then a choice was offered in Q7 between a drama or a novel.”

The T2 ordinary level paper, meanwhile, went off without a hitch.

“The language used was student-friendly and nothing different to what has been seen on past/ sample papers,” Ms Dolan said.

“The last Ceapadóireacht (composition) question invited students to describe a day mitching from school. This would have given them a great opportunity to utilise vocabulary that they learned over the past three years and also would have put a smile on their faces. Overall, this paper presented nothing out of the blue and gave everyone the chance to show-case their Irish.”

First look: Leaving Cert engineering papers

The Leaving Cert engineering papers – higher and ordinary – are now online. You can check them out below:

Leaving Cert engineering, higher level:

Leaving Cert engineering, ordinary level:

First look: Junior Cycle Irish exams

Irish for Junior Cycle is divided into a more challenging “T1″ exam for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools, and “T2″ for English-medium schools.

The T2 papers are now available online:

Junior Cycle Irish (T2) higher level

Junior Cycle Irish (T2) ordinary level

Joanna Donnelly: ‘I read my chemistry book for fun on off-days’

With all this talk of exam weather, who better to ask about their Leaving Cert memories than Met Éireann’s Joanna Donnelly.

My colleague Jen Hogan spoke to her about her favourite and most challenging subjects.

We liked this tribute she paid to one of her teachers:

“Ms Johnson, my maths teacher, was and is a wonderful woman. She went above and beyond, taking time out of her free days to work with me and my classmate in honours maths to make sure we were prepared. She also took an interest in my welfare generally, looking beyond the academic and nurturing me as a person as well as a student.”

You can read the full piece here.

And they’re off… Day two of exams under way

Students were, by and large, happy leaving exam halls on Wednesday, although Junior Cycle students faced some challenging questions in their English paper.

For Leaving Certs facing into English paper two in the afternoon, we’ve some last-minute tips courtesy of Conor Murphy, an English teacher at Skibbereen Community College:

• Ignore poet predictions. The poetry question is worth 50 marks, the main text (usually Shakespeare) is 60 marks and the comparative 70. Keep this in mind when you study.
• Narrow down the quotes you are learning off. Instead of having hundreds for the main text, look for a quote that will work for numerous elements. Look at a quote like the famous “get thee to a nunnery”. How many elements can this be used for? Hamlet, Ophelia, treatment of women, lust. This is why the quote is so often (over) used. Use this exercise as a way of revising Hamlet.
• Similarly for the comparative, narrow down the scenes you are studying to scenes that can be used when talking about at least two of the comparative modes. Obviously these will include the opening and closing of the text. When you have these narrowed down, zoom in on specific elements (dialogue, images, stage directions). These are your specific pieces of evidence needed to illustrate your essays.
• In general, test yourself on the various aspects of the course. Pick a topic and write down what you know, under headings. Use this as a way of revising and finding out what you need to study.