LCA students happy with exams so far

LEAVING Certificate Applied (LCA) students on Cork’s northside were pleased with their exams so far after yesterday afternoon’s German paper.

The hour-long test examined the students at Terence MacSwiney Community College in Knocknaheeny on their year of learning in the language.

“I couldn’t do German at all at the start, but I did brilliant in the exam, and English yesterday was grand,” said Nicole Ring who has applied to study hairdressing or social work.

Ciara O’Connor was also pleased with her performance on the German paper, although she found the listening section tough.

“I was very nervous before it, I had somersaults in my stomach but I’m grand now after it,” she said.

Conor Morey thought the subject was tough when they started studying German last September but he thought it got easier as the year went on. He was very happy with the exam and is now focusing on trying to get into the civil defence.

Most of the LCA students were not looking forward to this morning’s mathematical applications exam but were glad to have stayed on to complete school and get to do their examinations.

German teacher Carol Finn said the class had taken well to the language as many would not have studied a foreign language previously.

Shauna Hurley and Ciara O’Connor have both applied to study hairdressing after school and were looking forward to finishing their exams by the middle of next week after getting through the German exam without any major hiccups.

Around 3,400 people are sitting exams for the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), an alternative to the mainstream school leavers’ exam which awards credits to students for their final exam results, and performance of tasks and completion of various modules in a range of courses over two years. They are awarded distinction, merit or pass certs depending on their combination of credits accumulated.