Light at end of tunnel as weary students approach final hurdle
While all the younger students will be finished their exams by tomorrow evening, the final group of Leaving Certificate candidates can sign off on Friday evening with applied maths and agricultural science.
The higher level Leaving Certificate Spanish paper yesterday morning was challenging but fair, according to ASTI spokesperson Máire Ní Chiarba. It included an interesting reading comprehension about twin sisters adopted by separate families as children but who meet each other in college.
Ms Ní Chiarba said the written dialogue about the Camino de Santiago walk was quite difficult, involving a lot of translation and not much room for self-expression. She also felt vocabulary in some questions on an extract about homelessness might have been unfamiliar. The sound quality in the listening comprehension CD was very clear, with distinct voices and better-paced dialogue than before.
At ordinary level, the first reading comprehension - with questions in Spanish - was an article about Prince Felipe which students should have found interesting.
Ms Ní Chiarba said the reading comprehensions at Junior Certificate higher level were on interesting topics and students were tested on vocabulary they should know well.
She said students were pleased with the letter question at higher and ordinary level.
For Junior Certificate metalwork students, yesterday afternoon’s paper was worth the final 25% of the exam, with projects and practical work already completed.
ASTI spokesperson Phelim O’Doherty said the ordinary level paper was a little harder than in the past, but the layout was of the usual high standard.
He said the higher level paper contained no surprises and was very answerable, and he also complimented the layout and style.
TUI spokesperson Mick Glynn said anyone who was familiar with previous papers should have had no problems with either higher or ordinary level papers, as similar questions had appeared in the past.
John Joe McGuinness of the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association said both papers were more or less as expected.
Union spokespersons were unavailable for comment on the Leaving Certificate chemistry papers yesterday evening.
