STATE EXAMS: Junior Cert Irish mostly fair but parts of higher level testy

Junior Certificate students were tested on their Irish skills yesterday, with higher level candidates having two papers to sit, but others just having one in the morning.

The ordinary level paper was described by Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) subject spokesperson Séamus Ó Fearaigh as a fine exam that should not have caused any major difficulties. He said the standard kinds of questions were to the fore in the reading comprehension section, and he thought the letter and short article tasks were okay.

Mr Ó Fearaigh said the higher level paper was fair, and comprehension passages about the Oireachtas na Gaeilge festival and New Zealand-Irish singer Lorde were very current. He thought the selection of essays was mostly fine, particularly one about a favourite Irish sports star, a topic on mock exams used by many schools this year.

For the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), Robbie Cronin thought most of the paper was fair, with a good variety of essay choices and no complaints on grammar tasks.

But while the reading comprehension topics were relevant and interesting, he considered some of the questions too difficult. He singled out a question that asked about evidence of the freshness of Lorde and her music, but said the word was not understood by most students and even someone who did would find it hard to answer.

Another question about what made Oireachtas na Gaeilge a modern and sophisticated festival was, in Mr Cronin’s opinion, “difficult, if not impossible” as he doubted if 15-year-olds would understand the meaning of the word for sophisticated in this context. He also considered the fill-the-blanks section to be challenging.

Mr Cronin said the ordinary level exam contained no surprises, with comprehension passages about Cork camogie star Briege Corkery and Love/Hate actor Tom Vaughan Lawlor. He thought the questions were okay and written tasks were good for students at this level.

The aural listening test, on which students at all levels answered different questions, featured topics such as bikes stolen from school and a concert. While these were good and realistic themes, Mr Cronin said he wouldn’t expect students to have known the type of bird referred to.

Mr Ó Fearaigh was pleased with the aural and said he felt students who were well-practiced should have managed with the different dialects represented.

He thought the afternoon higher level exam was okay, despite the absence of an often-seen question about feelings in the section on studied short stories, novels and drama. While this was perhaps, he said, a move away from predictability, well-prepared students should not have been put out too much.

Mr Cronin said the unseen prose piece, about a schoolboy coming to the help of a bully, was more amenable than usual and the questions were fair. He thought it a bit unfair, however, to ask students to write on themes such as bravery, cleverness and laziness in the studied prose question.

He said the poetry sections were fair, and unseen poems especially, were more amenable than usual, while the choice of letters was fair and one about a recently-seen film would likely have been picked by most students.