Leaving Certificate History

Craig - Higher Level 

I'm pretty sure it says somewhere in the UN Declaration for Human Rights that putting a 3 hr history exam and a 3 hr French exam on one day is in fact - wrong. History was exhausting. Once I opened that paper I was straight in - highlighting, as Liam does - highlighting everything. The document section was lovely - Nuremberg ! The contextualisation was nice too regarding propaganda. Then it was into Ireland Topic 2 - I did the paper back ways so this was actually my last question. I was so exhausted by this point I couldn't remember who founded the Gaelic league but I had plenty of quotes and dates so I was off and then with just 11 minutes to go I fitted in the Anglo Irish Literary Revival too - Yeats all that. Lovely choice in that section!Then bam! 1916! Lovely! Not sure how I did in this question, in fact the whole exam is a blur. You're not allowed, nor are you able to time wise think about "how you did" during this exam - toilet breaks are for the very brave! I was jumping with joy when I saw the USA question though, to be fair - the choice between economy or Johnson/Truman - I chose the presidents and said Truman was a better leader! Job done!I'm exhausted now at this stage - business tomorrow , then I'm done for four days thank god! 

Ellen - Higher Level 

I almost cried with happiness when I read the faint outline of the Nuremburg Rallies on the exam script cover. By far the easiest DBQ to write about! The rest of the paper was quite nice, with lots of choice. At long long last 1916 turned up when it was most needed, even throwing Yeats in for the craic. They couldn't have done that in English paper 2 now could they? Anyway, I answered on the Treaty Negotiations and struggled to come up with as many different ways of saying 'contentious' as possible. For American history, I was torn between Truman & Johnson or the Moon Landing & Star Wars, but I settled on the latter. For Northern Ireland, I saw Coleraine and Apprentice Boys and launched straight in, realising 3 pages in that it only asks you to discuss one or the other. Oops.Although my hand is well and truly dead, I survived the LC 2016! That's it from me now, best of luck lads with everything xPlease 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

Leaving Certificate Biology

Emma - Higher Level 

Biology. Words can not describe the pain I have endured trying to make this subject less difficult! All of my time was spent the last three months completely on biology for seemingly absolutely nothing. The paper can only be deemed as fairly random and with a nice examiner I'd say I'd be lucky to scrape a D1 or C3. Half of my exam time was spent adding up marks I could get to scrape the grades needed for my course next year. The questions were an odd mix of everything with little digestion, little plant reproduction and little human reproduction, which was disappointing as that's what I had focused on for the last few weeks. The question on the eye, and the ear was manageable with the ecology being fairly handy with a couple of hard parts involving the grazing food chain. I completed all of the short questions, all of the experiments (which were fairly ok!!) and 5 long questions because I made a mess of the respiration question. For all of the study I put in, I'm thrown that nothing I learned in huge detail came up. However if you knew each part extremely well, like everything, I'm sure you would have done fabulously. The exam papers are in the bin and I cannot wait to leave behind the bane of my life- biology!

Ellen - Higher Level 

What can I say about that biology exam? Cruel is the first word that springs to mind. No genetics long question? I'm heartbroken to be honest. I even said it going in, 'this better not be the year they decide not to put genetics in the long questions'... so I feel like I may have jinxed it. Sorry guys. The short questions were manageable- if you could call it that. I thought it was very cruel to put plant reproduction in there when that is a difficult chapter most people (myself included) would avoid like the plague. The experiments were cruel in that it relied on your knowledge of the circulatory system to draw a graph for the experiment - not an easy thing to do if you ask me- and everyone I asked coming out of the exam hall went about it differently. With no genetics I was left to answer Q10 (ecology), Q11(photosynthesis & respiration) Q14b&c and, the horror of  horrors Q12- the ear and eye - definitely not something I had anticipated doing. I am truly exhausted after these two exams but only one more double day left, then it's all over!

Cárthach - Higher Level 

Beannacht dé ar aoinne a shuí sin!Absolutely sickening paper, ruthless in it's approach.For example in the short questions, I had previously used the same 'give examples' examples for questions, they opened questions 2 with 'Name an non metallic element apart from C H N O found in proteins' ...I had not expected they would specify to this detail. The same in 2 (f) , my example of an element was Iron, and they asked 'apart from Iron'.This wasn't the worst, but yet again it was harsh.Other questions were stricter and not much chance to avoid anything you don't like.I hadn't spent much time studying this because of honours maths, But I didn't think it would be this bad :(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 Paper 2

Liam - Higher Level 

Questions that I did: 1, 2A, 3A and 4A.That was weird. The lack of both Géibheann and Gnáthrud was unexpected, I thought one of the two would make an appearance! The no 'saol & Saothar an file' 9 marker was different. But the no seanra litríochta was nice!I started with my question on 'An Triail' because I liked it least and it was worth most. Don't get my wrong, who doesn't like the aul "Mallacht Dé anuas ortsa, a striapach"!  The question was straightforward enough, about Máire's life after meeting Pádraig so it was grand.Next I did the question on Oisín i dTír na nÓg. There were 3 questions and you had to do 2, I did the one on Oisín being loving and loyal and the exaggeration. They were grand like, I thought the only question they'd ask is the tréithe béaloidis. But sure it was alright!Then it was poetry and an tEarrach Thiar. In fairness , the questions weren't bad, owing to the fact one of the questions wasn't the 'guaranteed' one.The léamhtuiscints were actually easy enough. I highlighted the answers in the text first , then copied them into my answer booklet. It was the most efficient way I think. I was delighted that no seanra litríochta came up either. Never really liked them !I'm happy enough with it! I wrote enough for them anyway and it could have gone a lot lot worse. At least we're done with that!!

Emma - Higher Level 

Irish paper two, good lord!! I had expected some sort of difficulty in the exam but not to that extent! However my trauma was short lived when I realised the questions were quite nice on both Oisin and An Tearrach!I began with the them to get them out of the way and wrote tonnes for the poem but a mere 2 pages for the pros! Onto the leamhthuiscints, the part B's were extremely different than other years there was no deciphering types or genres, which was nice. I found I overwrote a lot on those, there was so much to say!! The themes for the leamthuisicnts were very topical and interesting and I nearly forgot I was in an exam! UNTIL that awful Maidhc question came from a "Thig na Tít orm"! Everyone had expected his family life to come up but of course the SEC wouldn't make it that easy!! However with some breaking down of the question it was easy to put together some paragraphs based around key events of his life!! I'm so sad that my battle with Gaeilge in secondary school has ended, but overall the exam as a whole could have been a lot worse!! (Imagine caca milis!)

Cárthach - Higher Level 

One of the nicest papers in recent years, despite the two predicted Prose and Poem not making an appearance. A huge shock to many I imagine, luckily our year had prepared for all of them, since we knew the LC focus was noted on the website to be about losing the LC's predictability. A right kick to anyone who chanced to only study 'Géibheann' and 'An Gnáthrud'...My heart goes out to you!Dom fhéin mar chainteoir ó dhúchas, cheap mé go raibh an páipéar bog a dhóthain do gach duine, in aineoinn don gheit a baineadh as daoine faoin bprós agus filíocht ainmnithe. Bhí na léamhthuiscintí intuigthe go maith agus ní raibh na ceisteanna (6) deacair i comparáid le blianta eile.In comparison to other years, the reading comprehensions and grammar questions were much gentler on the student who struggle with languages in general, in my opinion, as the topics were recent and also covered by essays people learn for Paper 1's composing.This nice paper 2 contrasted greatly what was to come in the afternoon; the absolute slaughter that was the higher level Biology paper!

Ellen - Higher Level 

It's hard now to think of that lovely little Irish paper after the events of this afternoon's Biology. The Leamhthuiscints were extremely manageable I felt in comparison to other years, except I felt the q6b's required a lot more comprehension than before. My class was doing the Cúrsa Roghnach and wasn't I delighted last night when I only had 3 poems to study. Even better, in the exam I had a choice of dán nua aimseartha and chose Jack by Máire Mhic an tSaoi. Bhí sé go hálainn. I was even happy with the prós- scéal bealoidis for me meant an Cearrbhach Mac Cába and there was a choice within the question - traits of the main characters, importance of the minor characters and traits of béaloideas, which was also an deas ar fad. Even Gafa (my least favourite part of the whole course) was manageable with a general relationship question between Eithne, Eoin and Breandán. Ní raibh sé ró olc ar an iomlán, but I'm just thinking now, I'll never need to know that much Irish ever ever again...!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 Business Studies

Shane - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2 

Business is by far one of my favourite subjects and I went into in today actually excited.Paper 1 - I started off with the short questions to ease me into the exam and just to get them out of the way ASAP. These went extremely well and I feel they were nice questions. Then I moved on to the long questions. I did Q1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. I started with Q1 and was very happy that it was a budget comparison. Then as expected on to the club accounts. I did the income and expenditure account along with my balance sheet and was rejoicing when it balanced. Then I did Q3 on economics. I laughed when I realised anybody doing HL Maths would have known from Paper 2 that there are 28 EU states and that was how most people would get there answer. Moving on, Q4 was a nice report writing question (one I expected on Paper 2) and that went great. When I had my first four questions fully finished and checked over twice, I still had 40 minutes left. I had a feeling that I would have at least half an hour left so I did Q6 which was also a great question. I loved this business paper and I thought it was a great platform to show my love of the subject and achieve a high grade.Paper 2 - This paper I knew would go well. I knew I’d do Q2 and Q4 before I started because no matter how many times I say I don’t like accounts, I am still good at them. I feel Q2 went great and I cannot describe the massive grin I had when I saw my Net Assets match my Capital Employed! In addition, I did Q3, 4, and 5. I don’t recommend anybody do Q1 as it is really time consuming and no matter how many times I tried, I wasn’t able to do them (not to mention the fact my business teacher warned us to stay away from them). Q3 on working out the daily cost went without a hitch and then so did Q6. I was happily surprised to see the appearance of an analysed cash book on Q5 and I jumped at the chance to do it. In the end, I’m a very happy person with these papers and I am just euphoric at how they went. I really look forward now to business next year, but for now, time to focus on History tomorrow! Wishing you all the best of luck in History and to anybody doing French!

Philip - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2 

Paper 1 - This wasn't the hardest business paper I've done but a change to the way some of the short questions were asked caught me a little off guard. All in all though I think I got most of the short questions. Then I did the budget question which, apart from a few mistakes that I caught when I looked over it, I think I got most of the  marks in that question. Next I did the club account question, which was pretty much a final accounts question and I got it to balance. It also had the questions on treasurer which come up often enough. I skipped question three because it had a lot of stuff I didn't really know. After this I skipped to question six because it seemed easier than the other two remaining questions. That went well enough, I think. Next I did the report writing question. I think part A went well, though I wasn't sure how to describe "tax credit". I think the report itself went well though, even if being given a space to write in made it slightly more difficult seeing as I had to write such a small amount on each topic. Finally I did question five so I had a spare question done. I think I got these questions done well enough though. Overall, not a bad paper in my opinion!

Paper 2 - In this paper the only question I didn't do was question 1. I don't like those questions. I think they are twice as long as a normal question for the same points. Anyway I did the Business document question to start. I think these questions are rarely too hard, with 90% of the information being given to you in the question and this year was no different. Because of that I finished this question quickly. Next I did the final accounts question which, apart from a few mistakes which I had time to go back and find before moving on, I did well in and balanced without too much trouble. The part B was easy enough seeing as you were given the formula. Next I moved back to the cost of delivery question. I had a little trouble with this as when I got to the cost of diesel for one day part I couldn't get it to divide in properly. I ended up just rounding it up and the part B went fine. Next I did the form of business ownership question which was definitely not the hardest question. Part A was pretty much what you'd expect but part B was just to draw a bar chart. Finally I did the analysed cash book. I think this was my worst question and I did it last just in case so to have a spare question. I'm not very confident with these questions but I took my best shot at it. Now, I need to go study for french and history. Good luck everybody!

Chloe - Higher Level Paper 1 & 2 

Paper 1 - So I started with the short questions as always and found them to be very doable with some awkward question thrown in here and there.I then did the club account, which was great as income and expenditure accounts are very hard to mess up too badly, then it was time to do the balance sheet and I tried for so long to get it to balance but it didn’t (aww).Next I did the question on borrowing and saving, followed by the economics question and finishing with people at work & ICT. They were all very fair questions and I think I did quite well with this paper.Paper 2 - So I started at the back with question 6 which I felt was a really nice question and would get me settled into the exam. It definitely did as this was a topic I understood very well and so I feel my answers were strong enoughThen I went on to the business documents question, I must admit I found it quite tricky but I think I managed to make a good stab at itNext was the question on the analysed cash book and monitoring over heads, honestly it had been a long time since id looked at monitoring over heads and so I struggled slightly with this but I think my answers were good in the endI ended with the final account and balance sheet. I was going grand until I came near the end any my mind blanked I couldn’t remember the last sections of wither accounts. In the end I think I was kind of right but I was so annoyed considering it’s a question I had been prepared for!Overall I don’t feel this paper was too challenging and I’m hoping that I did wellA demain!  (get 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

Junior Certificate Civic, Social & Political Education (CSPE)

Kate - Common Level 

CSPE is such a great exam. I love CSPE as you can actually show up to the exam with an honour grade (due to the action project). I answered every question on the exam for section one and two and did the question on voting for section three. The picture questions were quite unusual and I only recognised the Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan but I guessed the rest (quite successfully I would hope). I continued the rest of the exam and answered everything. I chose the question on voting as it had a poster and I am quite passionate on the issue of voting so this question suited me perfectly. This exam was a lovely end to my first 8 exams and I have a day and a half off to recover!

Philip - Common Level 

The picture questions came with their usual clues. The girl from the Garda was in uniform, the person from Northern Ireland had a crown pin and the youngest paddies day parade leader was the only young person in the four pictures, which left one left making it obvious enough (God after describing it like that I hope I'm not wrong!). The questions with the missing words seemed perfect for me, with the only ones that weren't common sense being the ones I'd glanced at before the exam. Finally the last question on the second page was matching letters to the type of right type of energy (you know, you should probably just take the last brackets for the whole exam).So then I did the comprehension questions, doing every one instead of three and answering in full sentences to not leave myself open to being docked any marks. This was all the usual stuff, the only surprising thing was not finding a question that you could answer with "poster campaign" until the last comprehension!In the long question I did the third one, on visiting the council offices and the youth café, unlike most of the people in my school who saw the word "poster" and jumped at question four before reading the rest. I did a page on each of them and ended up asking for extra paper to do part C.So that was my CSPE exam. Now that its over lets get down to business (that is hilarious and no one can tell me otherwise).

Shane - Common Level 

“I studied really hard for CSPE yesterday” - said nobody ever. I don’t know what there is to say about it. CSPE was a nice exam and it went amazing. There is something very reassuring about walking into an exam knowing you have around 60% already in the bag. I was not worried for this exam in the slightest, I got 99% in mocks and put a lot of work into writing up Darkness Into Light as my Action Project. I sat down and did the first section (which was much easier than some years). Then I moved on and did Section 2 questions 1,2, and 3. That was grand. Then I had to choose a long question. I did Question 1 on the 1916 Rising Commemorative Event because I love history and I’ve been to several 1916 events. I actually had to ask for more paper for this section which I thought was weird. Anyway I hope it went as well for all of you as it did for me and to everyone else doing business tomorrow, good luck!

Chloe - Common Level 

Well after that horrific maths encounter I was glad that CSPE was next in line! It was good, I guess, to see very different faces on the first page that we wouldn’t have come across before, they were easy enough to make a stab at even I you weren’t 100% sure with one or two.The advertisements were a breeze as usual although I must admit some of the questions on raising awareness for different topics were slightly trickier than usual, maybe that’s just me though! I did questions 1, 2 and 4, skipping the refugee crisis one.Next was the long question, I was glad to see a 1916 question up and I tackled that one without a doubt. I did read through the others but they didn’t appeal that much to me. For this I basically regurgitated what my school did for the rising.So that was CSPE, way harder than maths paper 2 (joke). On to business tomorrow whoo!

Joe - Common Level 

This exam was one of least concern I had done well in the mocks and was confident. The short question went well and I did question 4 in the long questions on the voting awareness event. It was an interesting question and I enjoyed drawing and designing the invite! 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