Leaving Certificate Applied Maths
Liam - Higher Level 
Questions that I did: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10Applied Maths. The last exam. The end of LC'16. This finale could not have come sooner in my opinion. The exam was okay, some questions needed more time than the exam permitted, other questions were grand!I stared off with 8, just to get the moment of inertia proof out of the way, it was for a rod so it was reasonably simple and the following question was good too! 10 took a few minutes to comprehend, and I took my normal maths teacher's advice, if you don't understand, draw a graph. And so I did! The questions weren't the worst, but then I got onto question 1.I usually love question 1. Usually. It was one where I kept coming back to it , don't even know why! It was tricky out. 3 was okay too. The first part I thought okay , but again, timing out me off getting it properly. 4 and 5 were okay I think. I got them so that's good… right ??Overall , it wasn't perfect my any means, but long live attempt marks… eh?Thanks so much for reading my and every one else's blogs over the course of LC 2016, hopefully we helped you get closure over the exams after them and now we can forget ALLLLL about them. Live long and prosper folks!
Cárthach - Higher Level 
Okay, so this was an extra subject. Glad to be done. I found it extremely difficult.Forgetting my calculator was a first mistake, but it was only outside the door so my examiner allowed me to go get it! So despite being off to a bad start, I managed Question 1. (I) but the rest, I thought, were questions that were challenging and very tricky to understand, and almost misleading.After speaking to a few people, nobody was a fan of the paper...and the different style question 4(a) and tricky 'a' parts all around.It was an extra subject for me, but overall, it's main benefit was that it helped with honours Maths!Congrats on everyone who finished today! As I'm writing this from the sesh; I have walked a long road to freedom, and added a good few miles by choosing this subject, it was a painful pleasure!-Cárthach Ó Faoláin 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 Japanese
Klara - Higher Level
Japanese, my last exams and possibly one of the better ones!The minute the exam started I went straight to the last section to see what essay titles came up. I was most worried about the essays as you never know what could come up. However, over the two years of the course the amount of vocabulary you build up really helps to deal with any essay title that comes up - even if you've never written about it before. The short essay was a choice between writing a diary entry on a hiking trip or on a film festival. For both you had to talk about how the event went and what you did straight afterwards. The long essay was the first email you would send to a Japanese pen pal in which you would describe your family, Irish weather, food, your area, your daily routine in school and what they they should bring with them if they came to Ireland.The reading comprehension were easy overall, however, it took me a long time to work out some of the katakana readings. I had to read them over and over in my head to try and understand the meaning.The grammar questions were actually pretty good too; changing into the positive and particles came up. The kanji that came up were also pretty easy and there was no obscure kanji compound.The listening was also quite easy but I found parts of the last section challenging to understand.Overall, this was a great exam and I can safely say that my Leaving cert has ended on a high note!
Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie
Leaving Certificate Music
Liam - Higher Level 
As I woke up this morning I felt a great wave of relief. My final exam, music. I've always struggled with the theory side of music but I wasn't nervous whatsoever for this exam, as all I could not think about was finishing this bloody leaving cert.
The first paper was the listening paper. I thought it went brilliantly. The question on Mozart, Sea Changes, Berlioz and the Beatles were all excellent. The essay went terribly however. I did the one about Irish song tradition but thankfully it's not worth many marks. We then had a fifteen minute break before paper two. I tried to study during this but I was just not able to.
Paper two was such a relief. I did question 1 and question 5 (the ones everyone do). They went very well. With just fifteen minutes left I finished. With a sigh of relief I handed up my paper. No more leaving cert <3 No more school <3 Finished at last <3
Emma - Higher Level 
Music!! The listening paper for me was a fail! The Mozart was so unexpected and that threw me for the rest of the paper! The written had two minor harmony and melodies and that's what I chose! They were quite nice and I was so HAPPY to see everyone else got C minor too!
Hopefully the listening won't affect me so much!! I'm so happy the leaving cert is over!!
Klara - Higher Level
The music listening paper could not have been better. At first when I saw that the third movement of Mozart's piano concerto came up as a long question I was really worried because it was the one I knew the least but the questions were actually very easy and general. Even the dictation type question was okay as they gave you options. The Berlioz excerpt was the idée fixe from Un Bal with questions on instrumentation and how it is used in the work. Next was a question on the Beatles' "When I'm 64". One of the questions was to differentiate the given verse (verse 2) and the first which is not included in the excerpt, I found this one difficult but the rest were fine. Deane was the fourth question with an excerpt of the main melody. I really dislike Deane and was dreading this question but I think it went ok. Again, we had to differentiate this section from when it is first heard in the piece and we also had to identify the percussion instruments.The Irish listening went pretty well overall. The essay titles were great. I was especially happy that an essay on O'Riada came up.The unheard listening was a bit different from the other years, as all the excerpts were from the same piece, as opposed to being from different pieces. The questions were also quite easy although I wasn't too sure about the last one which was to show how the music conveys the time of death. Overall, it was a very good paper.I wasn't as happy with the composing paper though, unfortunately. Both Q1 and Q5 were in the minor key, with an anacrusis. The melody wasn't too bad though as it was in 3/4 time. The Chords and Bassline question was pretty difficult though in my opinion as I found it difficult to get a good progression and bassline. I was writing up until the very last minute and didn't get the time to look over it at all. I think though, with the listening paper being so good, the exam went really well!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 Agricultural Science
Lorraine - Higher Level 
After having to wait almost a week for this final exam I just wanted it out of the way. I didn't sleep a wink last night and words can't describe how nervous I was this morning.With Ag Science you have to answer 6 out of the 9 possible questions. Genetics and soil are definite questions so I did them but not before tackling question 1 which carries 60 marks. I answered the 6 short questions from question one with no bother. I was quite happy with them.I then did the genetics question which was a dream to be honest. In Part A we were asked to define some genetics terms, no problem there and then we had a lovely cross which I was delighted to see on the paper. There was no surprise with it at all! Cross a bull heterozygous for both traits with a polled white cow, easy. Part C of the genetics question caught me though, what was EBI? I certainly can't remember seeing that before.I did the soil question then. Again another question that wasn't too difficult but just required a little bit of thought. I think I managed it quite well. The experiment that came up here was the experiment to determine the soil texture by using a sieve. Overall it was a nice question.I'm quite happy that my question 1, genetics and soil questions were good but what came after that I'm not so confident about. I did my best with them but I found that you really had to hit the nail on the head with the answers. I just hope I've done enough to at least get a decent grade along with the project.All done now, let the celebrations begin!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 Design & Communication Graphics
Liam - Higher Level
I can almost smell the end of this accursed leaving cert. No more books, no more uniform, the whoppa sesh, my second last exam, I’m almost there.As most people are finished the leaving cert by now, I’m eager to get it out of the way. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with DCG. Sometimes I find it easy, sometimes hard. The theory side takes up 60% of your overall mark, while 40% went to your project. Our project this year was to design and investigate your own tap. I thought my project was pretty top notch so I was going into this exam fairly happy.From my experience of doing DCG I always found it to be the most tiring exam, so before going in I downed a berocca boost, hoping that it would give me the kick that I needed. I started off with the short questions. You are given four of these short questions but need only answer three. I usually struggle with the short questions but I was delighted to find them quite easy. After those I moved swiftly onto the long questions. It was happy days on from here thank god! I started with the road map question which was quite odd but I answered it well. I then moved onto question B-1 an intersecting planes question which went brilliantly! I realised I had lots of time left so I took it easy as I moved onto B-3, a question on curves. Finally, I moved onto C-2 a hyperbolic parabolide question. It sounds hard but it was easy.So I was pretty happy with my DCG exam. I’m even happier that there’s only one more left! Roll on music because we’re almost there!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 Technology
Kate - Higher Level 
My final exam! I finished exactly two weeks after I started. I went into this exam knowing I would do poorly. We spent all of our class time doing projects and briefs and did little or no theory. My project and brief was of an A standard with only one or two minor flaws so I went into the exam feeling ok.I opened the short questions and initially could only answer about 10 of the 32. Eventually I got 27 done to a fair standard. I moved onto long questions. I did section B 1 (a) and 2(b). 1 (a) was a lovely question about a truck. I answered that fairly well. Question B 2(b) was very difficult so I just made the whole thing up. I tried to do it as best as I could but honestly it was all waffle. I loved the question on Technology and Society. It was all about bike rentals, modern consumer technology and green technologies. This was also a load of waffle but it was more educated waffle.Overall I think that was a bad end to a fairly good run of exams, but what can you do! I'm just happy the exams are done and dusted!
Luke - Higher Level 
Yesterday I had the day off, and there comes a time in the exam period where you don't care anymore and where the communal motto is; "it'll be grand". Hence, I didn't look at a book yesterday.Because my exam wasn't until two o'clock today, this morning I said I may as well have a look at some past exam papers, basically the ones I hadn't done yet. I've been studying all year for this one, because technology is actually one of my favourite subjects. It links up with science, another one of my favorites. It's practical, it's hands on, and it just makes sense to me.I got into the exam and saw the paper was pretty nice. I did 32 short questions out of 32, the minimum to be answered being 25 so this gives me a safety net.The first long question I did was the plane. You have to design a development of a plane (the net). The second question; I had planned to do the mechanics question beforehand because this is one of my strong points, but the electronics question was so easy so I decided to go for it. You didn't even really need a knowledge of technology to do this question, just a log tables!For question three I did technology in society which I didn't really get a choice in, it was the only topic my teacher had taught us, as he designated it the easiest. I also think that bike rentals came up because the recent introduction of bike rental schemes in Ireland!Overall I'm happy with the exam. More importantly though, the Junior Certificate is finally over! Roll on Transition Year!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