Students ‘memorising answers’ for English exam

Leaving Certificate students continue to rely quite heavily on predicting which poets will be examined and memorising prepared answers, reports suggest.

The question of predictability in exams and how this affects student learning is the subject of research being carried out for the State Examinations Commission as part of a wider examination of transitions from second-level to higher education, and the impact of the points system on how students and schools prepare for the Leaving Certificate.

In the chief examiner of English’s report on the 2013 Leaving Certificate, a number of instances point to prepared answers being presented by students, or focus on certain poets expected to be the subject of exam questions.