English and Home Ec pose no great difficulties

The months of planning — and hopefully the nerves — came to an end as almost 117,000 students took English papers for Junior and Leaving Certificate yesterday morning.

For the first Leaving Cert English papers, Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) subject spokesman Alan Thompson felt the higher-level exam should have made for a good start for most candidates. He felt the conventional format and the use of three good examples of personal writing, a speech, and travel writing in the comprehension texts were welcome. Just one element of the related questions asked for a proposal to a council or national body, which he said was likely to have been a little unfamiliar.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland spokesman Michael Doherty had the same view but thought the reflective nature of the passages on memories might have caused students to spend more time than planned on reading them.

Mr Thompson said the essay titles were wide ranging and fair and, although some students might have felt they were dull or uninspiring, the format also makes it harder for candidates to write prepared essays. Mr Doherty said this was a welcome measure but agreed that it made for more work in the exam for students.

Mr Thompson said the ordinary-level exam was very well presented, with three nice reading texts about leadership of the sporting (Brian O’Driscoll), political (Mary McAleese), and business (Google) varieties, and appropriate levels of questioning about each.

Mr Doherty said the follow-on questions asking for a diary entry, letter, or a school talk were all familiar formats. Both spokesmen said there should have been something for everyone among the essay titles, and Mr Doherty said a personal essay on celebrity status and fame in the 21st century would probably have been the most popular in schools around the country.

Junior Cert higher-level English students had their first paper in the morning, which Mr Thompson said was a bit challenging for anyone but the brightest students.

However, he said the reading texts covered engaging subjects, such as an article on journalism. He said the essay titles should not have presented great difficulty for most students.

Mr Thompson thought the functional writing topics — about replacing books with technology or a school prospectus — were engaging, but there was a robust challenge in the media studies question about product placement.

Mr Doherty thought the phrasing of a question on product placement might have confused students about whether they should list the advantages or disadvantages from the perspective of advertisers or consumers.

Mr Thompson said the afternoon’s second higher-level paper was much nicer than the morning exam, asking the kind of questions students would be more comfortable with.

For ordinary-level candidates, who sat just one English paper, Mr Thompson said it was much kinder than the higher-level morning exam, with very fair questions. However, he thought some reading comprehension pieces were a bit wordy.

In the afternoon, Leaving Cert students of home economics had their second exams. ASTI spokeswoman Maura McCaul said the higher-level exam was challenging but fair, with the unusual inclusion of nutrients in a second long question coming as a surprise and another asking about the hydrolysis of sugar also posing possible difficulties.

Unemployment, mortgages, and local authority housing schemes were among topical subjects of questions. At ordinary level, the topical issues covered included managing home budgets, programmes to keep people from leaving school and menus for adolescents with dietary requirements. Ms McCaul said the ordinary-level exam was well received, despite a demanding question on attitudes to marriage and parenting.