A lovely start — the chocolate helped

Well that wasn’t so bad, was it?

English Paper 1 yesterday, I mean.

The waiting? Well that was a different story altogether. Typically over-punctual, I arrived at school 90 minutes early and had to endure the Junior Certificates as they stressed out in every empty classroom, on every floor, all over the school. They’ll soon calm down, though. Sure weren’t we all the same a few years back?

The paper itself was lovely but it took me a while to warm up and write anything of actual substance. Half a bottle of Lucozade later though and I was flying through my short story (a nice little coming-of-age tale).

I have now taken it upon myself to be “the one who remembers chocolate”, having been jealous of the idea myself during the pre-exams. I could see one or two girls eyeing up my Maltesers. What can I say? Haters gonna hate.

After the exam, the majority of my year-group were either avoiding eye contact with everything but the floor or were hyperactive and chatty. I must admit I fall into the first category, and rushed home to A) begin this article, and B) watch Friends. Have you ever noticed that Friends is always on television when you need it to be? Joey warms the cockles of my heart when I’m stressed.

This afternoon we’ll be sitting English Paper 2, a massive arm-cramping undertaking, if you ask me. Not to be melo-dramatic or anything, but most of us will have soap opera-style breakdowns if the paper includes anything unexpected. I’m crossing my fingers that the gods of English will smile down upon us and throw luck our way. (Please not Boland, please not Boland, please not Boland...)

On another note, whose exam number is “1”? Does it even exist? I won’t stay awake at night thinking about it or anything, just curious. If it’s you, drop us a line.

Tomorrow, we have Maths Paper 1 and geography. Not a bad mix really. There’s been speculation that this year’s maths paper might be easy, as an apology for springing a new course on us in fifth year. And geography? Well, that’s easy every year (my teacher will kill me for saying that).

Aside from all that (“that” being the exams, of course), us sixth years are distracting ourselves from the stress by talk of the Debs. Down here in the Rebel County it seems that the boys are much faster off the mark with their invites than the girls’ schools are. To put it as eloquently as one guy friend did, they are rushing because “all the good ones will be gone”. Quote un-quote, ladies and gentlemen. That’s teenage boys for you I guess.

Until tomorrow,

Good luck,

Jess.

You are free to write in any form

Do Try This at Home:

Here are the composition questions from the Junior Certificate higher-level English Paper 1, with a suggested time of half-an-hour:

Write a prose composition on any one of the following titles. Except where otherwise stated, you are free to write in any form you wish, eg narrative, descriptive, dramatic, short story, etc. 1. As part of your job as a newspaper journalist you get to work on a major news story. Write a composition based on your experience.2. Not all beauty is found in nature. Write a composition in which you describe and explain the beauty that you find in man-made objects, eg buildings, machinery, technology, etc. 3. Write a composition inspired by the following phrase: “…it was immediately clear that only a super-human force could have been responsible...” 4. Write a story involving a case of mistaken identity. 5. Write a speech for OR against the motion: “Too many young people today have unhealthy lifestyles”. 6. The importance of friends in my life. 7. Write a short story inspired by the image (above).