#English exam papers leaving cert
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English Exam Papers Leaving Cert | Homeschool
The Leaving Cert English Exam Papers are a source of stress and anxiety for many students across the country. As one of the most important exams in the Irish education system, it’s essential that you do your best to prepare.
But how exactly do you go about doing that? What steps should you take to ensure you have a good understanding of the paper, as well as all its components? In this blog post, we will be discussing all aspects of the Leaving Cert English Exam Papers; from tips and advice on exam preparation to information on what to expect from the exam itself. With a better understanding of what’s in store for you, hopefully, this article will make tackling your English exam papers leaving cert easier and leave you feeling confident and ready to ace your exams!
The English Exam Papers are a necessary evil. They're long, they're detailed, and they take up valuable time that could be spent doing other things. But, at the end of the day, they're also a necessary part of the process.
Without the English Exam Papers, students would have a much harder time demonstrating their understanding of the material. The papers help to ensure that students are able to effectively communicate their knowledge and understanding of the course content.
While they may be a pain to deal with, the English Exam Papers are an important part of the overall process. Students need to make sure that they give them the attention and focus they deserve in order to do well on them.
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Hello!
Just wondering if you were aware that you were in the Irish Leaving Cert mocks this year? In English Paper 1, one of the comprehensions was about an interview you did, they didn't give any information on when or where it was from but they put in a lovely picture of you.
I don't know how much liberty they took when they said they "adapted" it but it's a very nice extract and it made me happy seeing it on the exam.
How odd. It wasn't from an interview at all.
At a quick glance, I'd say they only adapted it in that they removed the opening "Dear NaNoWriMo Author" greeting. It was a pep talk I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2007.
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Chapter Three (Part 2)
In the laundrette later on, as we wait for our clothes to finish their cycle, Claire holds my hand in hers. “There’s no pressure to do anything you don’t want to.” She says softly, and I know that among the whirr of the washing machines only I can hear her. “And if you ever want to back out of anything, I’ll be here for you.” She means well, but it sounds to me like she’s also more or less decided that I’m going to go and talk to Liam tonight. There is a rock in my stomach and I don’t feel like talking about this anymore.
When our clothes are finished, we haul them back to the mobile home together and hang it all up on the washing line outside. I notice straight away that Kelly and Claires’ underwear is different from mine. Every pair of knickers that I pull out of the washing basket is small and sexy, all with lace trims in pretty feminine colours like pale pink and cream and lilac. My underwear comes from a multipack at the supermarket and every one of them has a childish little rosette on the front. I cringe as Kelly pulls an ancient pair of mine out of the pile. I’ve had them for way too long. They’re mint coloured with a frilly trim and a decal of The Little Mermaid on the side, and they look ridiculous on the line next to the lacy pairs that she owns.
She pegs them up and then takes a step back to behold them. “Easy to tell who the virgin of the group is.” She says.
Later on in the pub by the quay, Kelly buys drinks for the table. She’s the only one of us girls who can, so we usually depend on her totally. We are perched on hard benches around an old wooden table; Kelly, Claire, Liam and me. He and I are sitting next to each other, and I’m trying not to look at him for too many long periods just in case he can somehow tell from looking in my eyes that we were talking about him earlier.
Kelly has bought me a Malibu and pineapple juice. It’s my favourite, and it feels perfect for days on the beach like these. None of us have been up to sing karaoke yet, the night is young and I know that many more drinks will have to flow before we get to that point. Everyone is listening to Liam talk about his choices for college next year.
“My first choice is agricultural and food sciences in UCD” He tells us “After that I put down business in GMIT and english and history in UL. I don’t know, I couldn’t really think of anything else. I don’t expect to get the highest points in the Leaving so… I suppose I’ll leave it to chance and take whatever I get.”
“Would you not do something related to the sea?” Claire wants to know. “Like, Ocean Science or whatever you call it. I feel like that’d suit you”
“Marine Sciences in Galway is over four-fifty points, I don’t think I’ll get that.” He thoughtfully takes a sip from his pint. “Sure I don’t know, we’ll see. Not long now until the results…”
I shudder at the thought of doing my Leaving Cert. This will be me a year from now, papers all completed, living in limbo between exams and results, my whole future hinging on that one piece of paper. I can’t imagine how it must feel then, sitting there waiting for college offers to come in. Where will I be living in a month from then? What direction will my life be taking? I feel I would spontaneously combust with the pressure.
“Any of you thought about what you’d like to do after school?” Liam asks the table, and Kelly shrugs. “Haven’t thought about it. Nursing maybe.” She gestures to me before she drinks her vodka and blackcurrant. “Evie will do art “though. She’s great at drawing.”
Liam turns to me. “Really?”
I shrug “I like drawing, I’m not really sure if i’m good though. Don’t know if I’d get into college with it.”
“Aw, I’d say you’re great.”
“She is great.” Claire chimes in “She’s always drawing in her sketchbook and I’ve sneaked a look at a couple of pages. Like when she draws something it really looks the way it looks in real life. You know what I mean?”
“I’m a terrible artist” says Liam “So I feel very impressed when someone can do it well. You should have brought your sketchbook to the pub! Could have done a drawing for us.”
I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t know, I think you’d be disappointed, I’m really not that good.”
“Would you say it’s like your dream job to be an artist?”
“Maybe… ‘artist’ feels like such a broad term though. Like, best case scenario I’d like to be some kind of designer. I really haven’t put thought into it yet.” I shrug. “Something to think about next year I suppose.”
“You’re already the best artist in our year.” Kelly says. You’ll get into any college you want to, just have confidence.” She’s fidgeting in her seat now and seems to be bored with the conversation. She turns around to look up at the karaoke booth. “Should I do a song, lads?” We tell her that she should, and without hesitation she marches to the top of the room to look through the booklet of songs. Claire has to go to the bathroom then too and bounces away, leaving Liam and I alone.
“I think it’s really cool when someone knows what they want to do at college.” He says to me, continuing on from before “And I’m sure the girls are right, I bet you really are a good artist.”
I smile. “How would you know that?”
“You just seem like the kind of person, I don’t know how to explain it really. It’s like… it’s always the quiet girls who are secretly the best at things.”
“You might be wrong, I could be quiet and really crap at everything.”
“Definitely not true.”
“Hm.”
“You should bring your sketchbook with you the next time you pass by the surf shack. I’d really love to have a look at your drawings.”
I nod, but I know that I’ll never do that. I imagine how it would go; me awkwardly interrupting Liam’s surf lessons with the children and shoving my dog-eared sketchbook in his face. ‘Look’ I’ll say ‘my sketches that you asked for, aren’t they good?’ I cringe so much at the imaginary scenario that I have to physically shake myself out of it.
“Are you cold?” He asks me then, and I shake my head. “No, I just got a shiver up my spine.”
“My granny would say that means someone is talking about you.”
“Trust me Liam, nobody is talking about me.”
Prev // Next
#sims#sims 4#ts4#simlit#sims 4 story#sims story#writing#fiction#romance#sims 4 storytelling#sims4 storytelling#sims storytelling#lucky girl part 1
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i made up these boys for a short story assignment in my leaving cert/a-level/final english exam. i FLUNKED that paper so bad but i made some cool characters i guess. insane drabble under cut :3
reed is a lonely, borderline alcoholic ranch owner. he inherited the small horse ranch from his vile father and has managed it pretty much alone for years. the most socialising he does is when he sells his horses to the nearby military fort and when he buys provisions from the closest town once every two weeks. and two birds is a comanche warrior who gets heavily injured in a fight with his brother and seeks refuge at reed's isolated ranch. they have both survived hardships such as abusive parents, rough upbringings and life shattering experiences and have turned out very differently; two birds is optimistic and confident however reed is self deprecating and a massive pessimistic party pooper.
they end up becoming friends and they argue a lot because they are so different. two birds gets angry at reed's constantly gloomy attiude and reed find's two birds' beliefs confusing and a waste of time (such as his religion, his habit of shaving and plucking his eyebrows and his herbal remedies). but at the end of the day they enjoy each other's company and support. reed gets support from two birds as he is amazing with the unbroken horses (naturally) and keeps the ranch in tip top shape with a cheerful attitude. reed supports two birds by being his rock and doing the heavier work around the farm.
also they have big fat crushes on each other. i tried to make it super obvious in my essay/short story that they have the hots for each other without making it yaoi so i hope my examiner gets the idea. two birds is super clear with his feelings without outwadly saying it and reed is really bad at understanding his own feelings, let alone comprehending and picking up what two birds is laying down. but
they spend their days working hard and training great horses and spend their evenings sitting in front of the fire sharing stories and jamming out to reed's badass harmonica.
IF ONLY I HAD BEEN ABLE TO CAPTURE ALL THIS IN MY EXAM... FFS! I HATE EXAMS!!!!1!!!!!!!
#my art#cowboys#western#oc sketch#idk if they are ocs#i just wanted to draw them#YOU CAN EDIT TAGS NOW!??!?!?#procreate#digital illustration#help how to tag art that isnt fandom fanart#leaving cert
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5th Of January, 2023
hey !! I'm a fifth year leaving cert student which means I'm in my second last year of Secondary school/High School.
I'm 17 and Irish. The leaving cert are the Irish final exams that qualify you for college (and no offence) are really stupid and grueling for NO REASON. other then the fact it's extremely old (my dad did it for the first time in the '70s and the curriculum is pretty similar to his lc). Its a two years load of coursework, exam papers, tears and stress so I'm setting this up to help me keep on track and to romanticize my pain!! How cute!!🌸🌸
I study my core subjects
♡ English
♡ Maths (yes in ireland it's one subject)
♡ Irish (my country's native language)
I then chose three extra subjects to study, I did this last year during the transition year program for my fourth year (a whole different thing, maybe explain later ??)
♡ Biology (currently failing HELP)
♡ History (includes world & irish history)
♡ Art (this includes Art History <333 my fave along with some projects)
I'm also studying German as my language subject.
My favourites are Art, History & English (+ bio when I dont fail)
I need to work on biology,maths & german.
I absolutely ADORE irish with my entire heart and my teacher is AMAZINGG.
Extra subjects that I have that are non exam include religion (I'm in an all girls catholic school to explain that), P.E (like gym class, super fun and best time to be competitive). I also have three study classes but two are once every 2 weeks because they alternate with P.E. I like these bcs I listen to music and have a gossip with the girls and catch up on homework (rarely do I actually study, my bad!!)
I have NO idea what I'm going to do with this, most likely RANT about how HORRIBLE the LC is !! Maybe uploaded notes or this genuinely could turn into a diary thing / study blog I have no idea okay you get what you get AND DONT GET UPSET XX
okay bye xx its half 2 in the morning and my first day back of term 2 is tomorrow help
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IM FUCKING SCREAMING WHAT DO YOU MEAN MIKU WAS ON THE LEAVING CERT EXAM
#HELP?????????#THE LEAVING CERT ENGLISH PAPER HAD FUCKING MIKU????????#ok ok for context the leaving cert is basically the last exam you do in high school here in ireland#and its basically the exam you do to get into college#i think the american equivalent is the SATs and the english equivalent is the a levels#BUTFUCKING MIKU ON THE EXAM THAT'S SO FUCKING RANDOM I AM HOLLERING
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The mental tole that an exam can take on your brain is insane. The mocks are crazy. The leaving cert will be crazy. I'm so tired. Jesus fuck.
Tests were a minimum are 2 and a half hours which I used to think was steep, but now I just sat four tests, maths paper 1. Maths paper 2. English paper 1. English paper 2.
And I swear to god. 3 hrs and 20 minutes should be a crime.
Then I remember some countries have longer and we're probably tame and I laugh. This memory test is bulshit.
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Luckily we didn’t have an English oral but the exam itself was something else. It’s divided into 2 papers over 2 days: paper 1 which is 2hrs 50mins and paper 2 which is 3hrs 20mins. You could kinda wing paper 1 because it’s reading comprehensions plus composition (so like short stories, discursive essays, personal essays etc). Paper 2 was all your learned stuff. So your single text, comparative, an unseen poem and your prescribed poetry (the department of education tells us these are the 8 poets for the year, I studied 6 then 4 come up on the day). Someone was watching over me that day because Eavan Boland came up (honestly she was the only one I liked and she never came up before so I really was lucky lol) although I wouldn’t have minded Plath too
In short, the leaving cert is the reason why I’m not a writer. It killed my creativity 😭
I didn’t understand what most of this was talking about lol but I also weirdly get it 😂
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The Leaving Cert is an awful system.
09/09/21
In case you are not from Ireland, the Leaving Cert(ificate) is the exam system that determines which uni we can get into. Rather than having a GPA via continual assessments or any sort of entrance exam or letter of application we simply have one set of exams. There are obviously other exams (such as the christmas and summer exams in other years), however, the Leaving Cert exam is the only one that matters.
When you take a subject you can either do ordinary or higher level. Ordinary level is easier but rewards less points, and higher level is more difficult, but rewards more points. A H1 is worth 100 points (except for HL maths which is 125) and is given if you get between 90 and 100%. A H2 is 88 points and 80-90% and so on. An O1 is 90-100% in an ordinary level subject but only 56 points. There are some weird changes to the system when it comes to medicine but I won't get into that right now. Universities award places based solely on the points you receive. This leads into the first problem.
Whilst the education experience is a multi year process (6 years in secondary school in our case), what determines your uni course is a single event, often just a single week out of many years of learning. This is insanity and leads to so many obvious problems. A person could be getting H1s throughout the year and forgot to study just one topic and end up with a H3 in the leaving cert at the end, and a H3 student could get lucky and study a topic that happens to come up and get a H1. Even a single grade can be the difference between getting into the uni you want and losing out. The leaving cert does not measure you abilities as a student, your effort, or even sometimes your ability. The leaving cert measures your memory and how well you can perform on the day. You getting 100% in every single subject for the past 6 years and a family member dies a few days before the exams and it absolutely ruins your mental state? Too bad. In the eyes of the university you are not a good enough student. You are a perfect student but got a bit nervous and stayed up a bit late the night before to get some extra study in and are tired the next day? Too bad. You've been getting 625 in every set of mock tests but on the day your mind goes blank with the incredible stress, the knowledge that one test will determine the rest of your life? Too. Bad. There are no exceptions to the hand of the points system and claw of bad luck. You cannot explain to the uni. They. Will. Not. Care. Nothing else is taken into account. Students will have bad days. That's just life, we're all human. However that must be accounted for. Nobody should miss out on their life's dream because of a single day. That is absolutely absurd.
When you ask someone what education is about t. There is a filter type system for different categories of posts and all that, so if you're interested in what I have to say, I'd recommend going there for the better experience. I also have no fucking clue how to use tumblr sof you ask them what the leaving cert is about they will say it's about getting into uni. Clearly there is a disconnect here. Where has education become so distorted that now it is nothing more than a way for universities to quickly and easily judge us? Education must be about teaching children, not for some uni test, but simply so they can become more knowledgeable, so they can get a thirst for information, so they can locate their strengths and weaknesses, so future generations can live better lives than we will. University selections must be nothing more than an afterthought. It is even worse when the leaving cert is a horrendously stressful system. We put ourselves through sometimes 6 years of stress and bad quality of mental health to make it easier for universities??? What a ridiculous idea.
The leaving cert isn't even a fair way to judge students. Here, I'll be able to determine how good you're likely to do in the leaving cert with two simple questions. Do you have a good memory? Are you good at maths? If you answered yes to both, the chances of you doing well are very high and if you answered no to both - well - the chances aren't quite as good. A huge amount of the leaving cert is simply a memory test. I know the state will talk constantly about how rote learning is discouraged and all that, but realistically that's not the case. Take for example the English paper. You get to know which poets might come and which poems you can use before the exam. This mean your teacher can simply write you a good sample answer and if you can remember it, that's at least a H2 for that part of the exam. And as for being good at maths - if you're good at maths you already have 3 subjects which you can say with reasonable certainty you will be good at - maths, physics, and applied maths. Students who aren't good at maths have nothing like this unless they are fluent in several languages. A big problem when you arises most of the non maths subjects are based on memory, and the ones not based on memory are based on maths. History? Memorising essays. Irish? Memorising poems. Biology? A lot of memorising. Physics? A lot of maths. Accounting? A lot of memorising. This continues throughout basically all the exam subjects, with only maybe one or two exceptions. I know someone who hasn't even started 5th year, and yet they already know they're screwed and have basically given up on their first choice course because they have dyscalculia and a terrible memory. They can try as hard as they want, study as hard as they can, but realistically, they aren't going to come close to someone with a good memory and are good at maths who put in the bare minimum effort. It's bizarre too, given the amount of jobs that don't require either maths or a good memory.
The subjects you can study in the leaving cert is also extremely limited. You have to study Irish, English, Maths, and a third language. In public schools you then basically have the option of History, Geography, Accounting, Business, Economics, Art, Music, Religion, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and DCG. There are no electives to try out things similar to careers you might be interested or anything like that. Now those that plan to go into business will be happy I'm sure, however, for most other people, the subjects have very little in common with the career you want to do. You're doing law? I suppose a business subject might somewhat help??? You're doing computer science? Maths is kinda related. Medicine? Biology sure, perhaps a little bit of chemistry? But at most 2 out of your 6 subjects will actually be any way relevant to your career. To make it even worse, public schools have subjects in blocks. This means there will 3 blocks of subjects and you pick one from each block. You're super good at both physics, chemistry, and business? Well too bad, there's a very high chance you won't get to study all 3, and you'll have to pick up geography or some other subject you have no interest in. In some cases all 3 of the subjects you like may be in the same block, meaning you'll have to pick up 2 subjects you have no interest in and will likely be worse at. Once again, simple luck plays a huge part in the leaving cert. Going into 5th year, the subjects you're allowed pick will likely change your eventual points by around 30 or possibly more. Furthermore, private schools provide a massive advantage, often with your chance of getting good grades being around 4 times higher. You were born with well off parents? Congrats, here's an extra 100 points have fun. Absolute insanity. The leaving cert is really just determined by luck every way you look at it. Now obviously luck plays a part in everyday life too, but the leaving cert basically caters to the lucky, and a whole lot could be done to reduce the benefit they have based on luck alone, rather than quality of character, or time studied, or effort put in, etc.
I suppose I've reached the stage where I should stop complaining and start giving actual suggestions for improvements then. Fine. Firstly, remove the idiotic one exam process. Instead have some sort of GPA system with continual testing, so it shows how good a student is on average, not just on their worst/best day. Increase the amount of uni places available so that getting into the uni and career you want becomes more of an afterthought, rather than a constant stress looming over you. Add more subjects and electives that will be relevant to the career the student is planning to go into. Make learning and discovering your strengths and weaknesses and just enjoying life in general a main focus. Give students time to relax and do sports outside of school, even in 6th year (which is something basically impossible to do under the current system). Allow the tests that determine the GPA to be open book. Make understand more important than simply memorising. Remove the subject block system so students can do all the subjects they actually enjoy and are good at. I believe that the single test system is one of the reasons that private schools perform so well, by removing that, I believe the scores wouldn't be so far apart. However additions restrictions, or even total banning, of private schools could be implemented. After all, surely everyone deserves the same quality of education. These are children and teenagers for gods sake. There shouldn't be a heirachy of education based on their parents wealth. All students should be given the same opportunities. Private schools largely do better due to having better teachers. There currently isn't a large enough supply of very good teachers to go around, and the private schools can simply buy up the majority of good ones. We should pay teachers more, a lot of people thinking about careers may be dissuaded from teaching, despite having a passion, due to the low pay. Many good teachers also go to places like Dubai thanks to the better pay. Overall in society, teachers are sort of dismissed as a profession, and if we wish to improve the lives of the next generations, this must change.
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it is 18:03pm and I am still taking in the fact that Hatsune Fucking Miku was on the Leaving Cert. For the majority of those seeing this, aka non-Irish folk, the Leaving Cert is Ireland’s version of SATs, finals, A levels, you name it. The whole country started their first English paper at exactly nine-thirty and lo and behold, hatsune miku was on the Ordinary Level paper.
[image: hatsune miku 3d hologram looking thing]
Someone on the Leaving Cert subreddit stated, and I paraphrase, “this should have been on the higher level paper. It takes a wide range of vocabulary to write fanfiction.” and indeed, one of the prompts on the paper was “Write a story in which Hatsune Miku escapes her virtual world and enters the real world”. Statistically speaking, most fanfiction writers do not sit the ordinary level paper. It was a missed opportunity to not write about Hatsune Miku getting married to Lady Gaga.
As for the higher level paper that I actually sat, it was not too bad. I had a lot of choice as did everyone else. One of the prompts was “write about the tradition of erecting statues, the controversy around statues and the future of this tradition”. My answer book has a small “no” penned in blue just below that.
There were about seven choices for composition, aka freestyle rap but for 6-7 A4 pages. Descriptive essays come up almost every year, without fail. But seeing as literally everyone hates the 2021 finals students, there was no descriptive essay. for two years in a row. And the choices for the short story prompts were as follows:
“Write a short story set in a railway station in which a passenger off the overnight ferry from Fishguard in Wales plays an important role.”
“Write a fable or a fairy tale set in ancient Ireland in which a bee or bees feature prominently.”
to quote a reddit user, “fuck whoever came up with that short story.”
As for the questions that did not suck, I did an open letter about animal rights and so did many others. many have lied about being vegan for the sake of argument while enjoying steak after the exam. Lying is sometimes important in an exam. I lied about Shabat, my girlfriend who works in a garage who also does not exist and was named after someone I saw in a Jubilee video the day before because that came to mind first. I lied, the first name that came to mind was Susie but I did not vibe with that for the name of my fake girlfriend.
I then wrote about stereotyping aka every activist cause under the sun. The research I’d done about the AIDS crisis and the online debate simulator that argued about women in STEM came in handy unexpectedly.
Heard some people wrote fanfiction about the minister for education.
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If I don't see Eavan Boland's name on the paper tomorrow I'm walkin straight out
#leaving cert#leaving certificate#the LC#Irish#Irish exams#state exams#sec#tlc#eavan boland#poetry#English paper 2#English paper 1#leaving cert English
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Leaving Cert English Paper Syllabus 2023 | Home School.ie
Leaving Certificate English distance learning course from Homeschool.ie. Study anywhere in Ireland. Ask now for a FREE prospectus.
#leaving cert english syllabus 2023#leaving cert english#leaving cert english paper#english exam papers leaving cert
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hey ik this is random but I was scrolling thru the leaving cert tag and saw your post abt your results. Firstly congrats (even if it is 3 years late haha), secondly I’m currently in 6th year and was wondering if I could ask for some English advice? I’m looking to go up a grade (h3->h2) and was wondering if you have any particular tips for studying english, the exam, technique, or for literally anything relevant to the subject. There’s no pressure to answer this, ty either way :)))
Hey! Thank you so much for the ask and i am so sorry i’ve only gotten round to it now XD
LC English tips below!
Okay so it’s been a while since I did the LC but if things are more or less the same, then you’ve got your three texts to answer a question on.
Tip #1: Even though there is an awful lot to learn, you just need to remember key words, and you’ll sail through!
In the comparative, you need to compare your texts in every. single. paragraph. You could write a fantastic essay, but if you don’t say “In comparison to this…” “Text 2 however differs from this…” “Similarly…” “The two texts are different in the sense that…” etc. you will get zero marks at all.
When answering your poetry question, you need to keep referring to the style of the poet. Every past poetry question can be broken down into two simple questions: What did the poet write about? and how did they say it? If you can answer both these questions on every poem you learn, you’ll do great!
Also, do not learn any more than 5 poems per poet and don’t learn any more than 5 poets to begin with. This covers you completely no matter who appears on the day!
Tip #2: Please please pleaseee remember that for the comphrehension section, you must answer one question A and one question B from two different texts! If you answer from the same text you will get 0 and worse than that, this section is worth 12.5% of your total paper which means you will be down an entire grade immediately.
The length of your answer needs to correspond to the marks going for that question. In question A you usually have three parts, worth 15m, 15m, and 20m. Your 20 mark answer must be longer than your 15 mark questions.
For every 5 marks a question is worth, you need 1 A4-page pararaph. Unless you’ve got tiny writing, this is usually 5 to 7 lines of the page.
Your teacher has undoubtedly told you all about timing and “don’t spend any longer than 40 minutes on your question A” and yea they have a point, to an extent. I spent about an hour answering my question A and then sailed through question B because for me, I found the second question a lot easier to answer. Don’t panic if you don’t stick to the “recommended time” because every single person is different and what you find easy might be difficult for someone else.
In saying that, if you are spending loadsss of time on one particular section and you can feel the clock ticking, then move the heck on. Take a deep breath, leave a blank page for yourself to come back to that question later, and start your next part. Every question has a finite amount of marks, so no matter how brilliant your 20 mark answer is, you can only ever get 20 marks for it, and if that answer came at the expense of not getting question B done at all, then you’re down a grade already.
Tip #3: They want your opinion. Let me repeat that. They want your opinion. No matter what the heck they ask you, whether it’s about poetry or your novel or a Shakespearean text, the examiner will be checking to see what you thought of the text. I know firsthand how weird writing things like “In my opion...” or “I believe that...” but this is how you get the marks. Don’t lose the H2 you’re aiming for cause you’re feeling a bit awkward. After the exam, that feeling will never matter again, but your grade will!
Link every single paragraph in every single answer. This doesn’t have to be complicated, you don’t even need to write an entire sentence. Just start every new paragraph with phrases like “However...” or “Therefore...” or “In contrast to this...”. If you don’t link your paragraphs, the examiner will think that you don’t know what you’re talking about and that you have no opinion of your own (see Tip #3) so use those joining phrases!
Tip #4: For that letter/article/diary entry question B, make sure that whatever part of it you answer, you know the layout for that style. Reports must have a title, introduction, work carried out, findings, suggestions, recommendations, and conclusion sections. Essays need to have a clear introduction, 5+ paragraphs, and closing. Even diary entries should begin with ‘Dear Diary’ which physically causes me pain to write, but it’s what gets you the marks!
Letters are the most asked question B but the most diffuclt to get good marks in. First things first: Figure out if it’s formal or informal. Formal will be editors, principals, government, or anyone that you would address as “sir” or “ma’am” in real life. Informal will be your friends, close family members, penpals, or anyone you’d hug goodbye and laugh with in real life.
Formal letters begin with your own name in the right hand corner of the page, with your own address directly below it. Skip a line, and then write the date below it, always in the format of “01 January 2020″ and be sure to check the question for any hint about what this date should be. If you’re writing a letter to your boss asking about organising a staff barbarcue for staff morale, then you wouldn’t date it in the middle of December, right? Sign off with something professional like “Kind regards” or “Thank you for your time”
Informal letters begin with your own address on the top right-hand corner of the page but do not write your name! It’s an informal letter to your friend; they know who you are. Skip a line, and then write the date below it, always in the format of “01 January 2020″ and pay attention to the time of year again. Sign off with something casual like “see you later!” or “talk soon!”
Tip #5: Section 2′s composing section is worth an entire 25% of your paper. If you want to get a good grade, you need to get a good grade in this. If you’re aiming for a H2, then you need to get a H2 in this section minimum.
Your essay should be between 4 to 6 pages, or 1000 to 1250 words. At least.
Always open with a quote, a rhetorical question, or a shocking statistic. I went online the night before my Paper One exam, and wrote down 10 quotes from well-known people about the most popular topics in life, eg. Education, Love, Money, Travelling, Death, Youth & Aging, etc. and just learnt them off in half an hour. I ended up using three of them on the day, and you have no idea the relief you feel when you’re guaranteed that at least one thing in your composition will get you marks!
Take an entire A4 page and plan your essay before you start. Not only is it just common sense and super helpful to get all your ideas down before you forget them, but if you run out of time for whatever reason, then the examiner will be able to see what you were planning to write, and will give you an extra mark or two. Your plan doens’t have to be complicated and you definitely shouldn’t spend any longer than 5 minutes on it. Just throw down a few words, organise them based on paragraph, and then start writing.
And finally (i’m so sorry that you had to read all that) remain calm! No matter what happens, whether you get a H1 or a H7, as long as you do your best then no one can say anything to you! You are more than your grade and you are more than some English exam that won’t matter in ten years anyway. Stay calm, always put your mental and physical health first, and remember that this paper is not the end all be all of anything. You’ve got this.
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Chapter One (Part 2)
“Look at this picture.” I’d said to Claire one day in January as we hung out in my room trying to study. She’d turned my laptop around to examine the screen. “Yeah, it’s Jude and his friends at some restaurant.” She then sighed. “I can’t believe you’re still checking his profile.”
“Yeah but look at his right hand.”
“Okay. He’s just resting it on the seat.”
“Against that girl’s thigh.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, he’s probably just accidentally touching her. That’s barely even noticeable.”
“They’re together.” I’d concluded. “I just have a feeling.”
“There’s no way you can know that just by looking at his hand.”
“I’m sure I’m right.”
And I was. That’s how I found out about his new girlfriend. Her name is Astrid and she’s from Denmark. She has very light, white blonde hair and is always wearing something black with a flattering cut, putting together trendy outfits with items that you can’t get in the shops in Ireland. I know all about her. They go to college together, she studies ceramics and she’s twenty, a whole year older than he is, and two years older than me, which makes her seem tenfold more threatening. Sometimes when I’m feeling particularly masochistic I’ll scroll through her social media and take note of all the things about her that make me feel bad. Her skin, her eyelashes, her lips, her hair, her boobs, her nails, the fact that her boyfriend has his arms around her in her profile picture when those arms could have been around me instead.
‘She’s not that pretty.” Claire reassures me once we get to Starbucks, because once again, like a broken record, I’m talking about Astrid. We’d only settled into our seats with our coffees when I’d come across yet another photo of her, sitting on a carousel shot in monochromatic 35mm film. Very arty.
“I think she is.” I say mournfully.
“She’s not. She just has nice hair.”
“Unlike some of us.” I reach up to touch the nape of my neck where my hair now abruptly stops. I had to have six inches chopped off on account of my split ends and heat damage, and I’ve never gotten used to how plain the cut makes me look and feel. My mam insists that it makes me look French, but I know it actually makes me look five.
“Come on Evie, what does it matter? She’s a random Danish girl and I bet she’s really pretentious and boring.”
“She can’t be boring. Not if he likes her.”
“Maybe he likes her because she drops her knickers for him.”
I frown, disturbed by the thought of that. I look at my iPhone 4 and scroll to the next photo of her. “Look at her here, you can see her better. She is actually just objectively pretty.”
“I don’t need to see her, you’ve already forced me to look at her enough times.”
“Do you think I should wear more black? Like do you think this is the look for me?”
Claire confiscates my phone. “Stop looking at her. It’s bad for your brain. You’re fine the way you are, now can we please stop talking about Astrid the boring Dane and talk about the exam instead?”
“The exam!” I cry, putting my forehead onto the table. “I’m doomed.”
“If you’re doomed, imagine how I feel! That whole paper was bonkers.”
“English Paper Two will be worse.”
“And let’s not even think about the rest of them.”
“I wish I could be put down.”
She puts her hand on the back of my head and smooths down my hair. “No, look, we’ll be fine. You were right, we can’t fail.”
“And if we do?”
“Well, you already sorted with your NCAD pre-offer, and as for me, whatever. My dad will sort something out.” By that she means he will enrol her in a private university where nobody cares about how much you got in the Leaving Cert, only how much money is in your dad’s wallet.
“We still need to pass.” I moan. “For like, the principle of it. Imagine how humiliating it would be to open up that envelope in August and see a complete shambles.”
“Yeah, and Christ, imagine what Kelly would say. I’d never get over that.” I glance up to see her smirking, and then I smile too, and before we know it we’re in peals of laughter over our coffee. Claire does an impression of Kelly’s smug face, perfectly emulating the way that she flicks her hair and pushes her chin out, and then I join in too, doing my best Kelly voice, imagining her in all kinds of insane scenarios where she’d be trying her best to make us feel bad, but failing hilariously. After a few minutes we’re in pieces, shoulders shaking, tears rolling down our cheeks, not even caring that people are looking at us.
“God.” She says between gasps of laughter “I love you, Evie.”
“Same.” I say. “I dunno what I’d do without you.”
We survive the rest of the Leaving Cert, and after I hand in my final paper I don’t think about any of the exams again. I can’t face the uncertainty of it hanging over me, even though I know I probably did alright, but I’m not going to make my parents proud with my results.
I work in a café for the summer, spending my days serving coffee, even learning how to create hearts and flowers with the foam. The women I work with swear that I can do it so well because I’m an artist, but I’m not convinced that’s true. I think it’s more to do with focus. I find that when I’m working, when I’m really truly immersed in something that’s physical, like loading up the dishwasher or wiping down the fridges, I don’t really have time to get lost in my thoughts, and it suits me. I don’t have to spend the long summer days mourning last year, wishing I could be in the water every day again, picturing the feeling of the warm sand under my feet and the possibilities of what was ahead of me. Now my days are just routine, endless polishing of cutlery, mopping floors and tossing frozen scones into the oven again and again until my back aches, my feet hurt and I’m too exhausted to worry about anything else.
On slower days I get carried away and imagine all sorts of fantastical things, like what I would do if one day I looked up and Jude was in the queue, ordering a coffee from me. I wonder what kind he would get. An espresso? Americano? Does he even drink coffee? There’s so many things I don’t know about him. When I start wishing he would talk to me, I know it’s time that I find something to keep me busy.
I’m blandly content here, working, serving, waiting for August to come. Waiting to get my college offers so that I can leave Tullamore and move to Dublin and start all over again as a new and improved version of myself who isn’t obsessed with a boy who doesn’t like her.
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Hello everyone!! When I post this it'll be September 7th, aka my leaving cert results day. I've written my predictions in advance and then when I get my results I shall fill them in here. For those who don't know, the Irish grade system works with H standing for higher level and O standing for ordinary level. I did higher level in every subject except for maths. Your best six subjects are converted into points and you need to get a certain amount of points to get a place in college. H1 is the best grade which is 90% - 100%, H2 is 80% - 90% and so on. Our grades this year were predicted by our teachers and then standardised by the government, I never sat my exams.
English
My prediction: H3/H4
In the first year of my leaving cert, fifth year, I got mostly H4s but then this year, in sixth year, I got mostly H3s and occasionally H2s but I got a H4 in my mock. When I took my English mock, I was so so overwhelmed and stressed and barely even convinced myself to go and sit the exam so I know that if I was more relaxed I could've done so much better. I'm really really hoping I'll get the H3. I'm fairly confident that my teacher will predict me a H3 as she is very fair and a great teacher but it might be downgraded by the department in order to fit grade boundaries. I'm really hoping I'll get a H3, that would be absolutely absolutely amazing.
My result: H4
I’m just slightly disappointed with this result and when appeals happen next week I’ll probably appeal it anyway just to chance my luck but I’m not disappointed enough to actually put the effort in and resit the exam. It’s not as if it’s completely uncalled for because I did get H4s in English a lot last year. The rest of the results I was overjoyed with.
Irish
My prediction: H3
We didn't do many small class tests in Irish but in my mock and at Christmas and summer I got a H3 so I think that I genuinely deserve the H3. The thing is though my Irish class is so good like most of them are H1/H2/H3 standard so downgrading may impact my result. I'm not the best at orals either but I think if I sat the exam I could've scraped the H3. I would be disappointed with anything below a H3 simply because I always got H3s and I don't think I ever got a H4 or lower.
My result: H3
Delighted with that, I think that’s exactly what I deserved. Kinda made me laugh that technically I’m better in Irish than my native language.
Maths
My prediction: O2/O3
I did higher level maths up until the start of sixth year and then I dropped to ordinary level maths. I was passing higher level maths but I just didn't think the effort was worth it because it was causing other subjects to decline. In my mock I got an O3 and I got an O3 at Christmas and then O1s and O2s in my class tests. I don't really care what I get in this subject but I would be shocked if it was anything lower than an O3.
My result: O1
Since I wasn’t counting maths I didn’t think I’d care but I got an O1 which I was actually absolutely delighted with. I probably could have passed higher level but I wasn’t bothered to put the effort in.
German
My prediction: H1/H2
I care about this grade more than I care about any other grade. I really want a H1 and I think I deserve it. I got a H2 in my mock and in general H1s or H2s and the rare H3 in tests. I'm fairly good at orals but I didn't get the chance to sit an oral for my mock exam because school closed due to the pandemic. I think my teacher will predict me a H1 but my concern is that my grade will be downgraded during the standardisation process.
My result: H1
SO DELIGHTED I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPRESS!! I’ll be studying German and Spanish in university so this result really mattered to me. I wanted to get the H1, felt I would’ve gotten it in the exam if I sat it and I felt that I more than deserved it. I GOT A H1 YAY
Business
My prediction: H1/H2
I really want the H1 but I want it slightly less than I want the H1 in German. I got a H3 (79%) in my mock so I just missed out on the H2 and I also never got to receive my mock because the schools closed so I never got to see if there were any mistakes marking my paper. I got H1s/H2s/H3s in tests and my teacher said I should aim for a H1, so I think my teacher will predict me a H1 but once again I'm worried that I will be downgraded during the standardisation process. I really really want the H1 though.
My result: H1
So happy with this as well!! Business is not the easiest subject to get a H1 in generally but I’m so thrilled I managed to do it as my teacher told me in March I should work towards a H1.
Biology
My prediction: H3/H4
Biology could end up going any way I'm really really not too sure how it's going to go. I got a H4 in the mock and my summer exam last year and in general I got either low H4s or low H2s in Biology. I'm expecting a H4 but I'd be so delighted if I got the H3. We didn't do a lot of class tests unfortunately and my teacher has said that what students get in their summer test (in my case a H4) is usually what they get in the leaving cert but I really didn't study much for that test and I'm really really hoping I get the H3.
My result: H3
Expected the H4 but delighted I managed to scrape the H3. Know some people very disappointed with their biology results though.
Home Ec:
My prediction: H3/H4
My grades for home ec were a bit all over the place. Our mocks were harshly corrected and I got a H5, which I was absolutely devestated with. Got H1s and H2s in a lot of class tests with the occasional lower grade and H3s mostly at summer and Christmas. I think I deserve the H3 but with getting the H5 in my mock, I don't know if my teacher will be generous enough to give me the H3. They shouldn't be taking the mocks that highly into account though so I'm hoping I can scrape the H3.
My result: H2
I can’t express how shocked I am with the result. The only possible explanation for this is that I did really well in my project part of my home ec.
Overall Predictions:
Optimistic: 2x H1s, 4x H3s, 1x O2
Realistic: 2 x H2s, 1x H3, 3x H4s, 1x O3
Result: 2X H1s, 1 H2, 2xH3,1 H4, 1x O1
Reflection:
Absolutely over the moon and I am so so excited to fingers crossed get my offer to study German and Spanish on Friday. Been neglecting German over the summer so I’m going to try start working on it again from next week, I deserve this week stress free. Absolutely delighted delighted with what I got.
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Is it just me that's hoping and dreaming for John Donne to appear on the paper tomorrow?!?!?!?!?
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