First taste of state exams goes well

THE sun was shining on the students of North Monastery secondary school in Cork’s northside as most emerged pleased from their first taste of state examinations before lunchtime yesterday.

Luke O’Connor from Gurranabraher said the ordinary level Junior Certificate English exam was easy enough and he thought most of the questions were pretty straightforward.

“There was a lot the usual stuff you’d expect to come up.

“I was nervous coming in alright, there’s a whole lot of pressure leading up to it,” he said.

Aaron Panek said he was very happy with the ordinary level exam as he thought the pre-Junior Certificate exam was much harder.

Jack Coade from Blackpool said the higher level English paper was fine, although he did consider that it was a bit long.

“For the essay, I picked the one showing a man walking through mud and I wrote about a concert,” he explained.

Robert O’Meara said the phrasing of some questions made the paper a little bit difficult, particularly in the media studies section.

His classmate Jonathan O’Leary said the essays were hard and he wrote the essay with the title: “My secret life as a superhero.”

Antonio Nitu from Blackpool also took the higher level exam and said it was easy enough, as he felt no nerves starting his Junior Certificate that morning.

He was looking forward to the French exam next Wednesday, but he expects the maths papers this morning and on Monday to be the toughest challenge of the week.

The afternoon meant English paper two for higher level students, such as Danielle O’Brien who was very pleased after the exam at St Patrick’s College in Gardiner’s Hill, also on the northside of Cork city.

“We were delighted that some of the themes we were well prepared for came up, especially the comprehension piece about war,” she said.

Another St Patrick’s College student, Casey Swords, said the absence of any hard questions meant she also fared well in the afternoon English paper.

“English is one of my better subjects anyway so I’m really happy,” she said.

She admitted being a little bit nervous starting out yesterday morning but was grateful the exam hall wasn’t too hot despite the great weather outside.

“I was sitting near the window so it wasn’t too bad,” said Casey.