Leaving Cert: Students try to play it cool on day one
Inside the exam centres, however, students tried to remain cool, and responses to Leaving Certificate English papers suggested most should have been able to do so.
Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) subject spokeswoman Liz Farrell said she thought the higher-level exam was very fair. With a theme about journeys, she said it tested students on differentiation of language genres and skills they would have learned.
“It was nice to see a lot of reference to visuals, which was absent in the last number of years,” she said.
Ms Farrell said both the higher- and ordinary-level papers had a good bit of reference to social media and blogs, showing the State Examinations Commission trying to “get down with the kids”.
However, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) subject spokesman Barry Hazel considered that, while higher-level comprehension passages were accessible, some parts of the related questions were limiting.
One was a speech at a poster competition prize- giving event, and another asked students to write a blog post in response to a Barack Obama speech on space exploration funding.
“I don’t think young people are that much into blogs these days,” he said.
He was happier with the main composition questions, which he considered approachable for students. Among the options offered were a short story about mistaken identity, a personal essay on ‘useless clutter’, and a speech about the essential elements of Irish character.
Ms Farrell thought the mix of essay types was nicely similar to other years, making the composition section very manageable.
While nearly 39,000 students sat the higher-level first paper, more than 15,700 were entered for the ordinary-level exam. Ms Farrell said the paper gave a nice little nod to 1916, which some higher-level candidates might have been hoping for.
Mr Hazel said it was a tricky subject to introduce but was dealt with nicely, as it used eyewitness evidence from participants in the Rising. The paper carried extracts from an Irish Volunteer and a British Army officer reproduced from Mick O’Farrell’s book, The 1916 Diaries.
Mr Hazel said the second elements of composition questions featured a good variety, while the texts featured were interesting.
In the afternoon, nearly 12,000 students had home economics written papers worth 80% of total marks, having already completed assessment books.
Asti’s Margaret Fleming said students would have found a question about changing shopping patterns straightforward, while most should have found no great challenge in a compulsory question in the social studies section about poverty.
For ordinary-level students, she felt they may have found their short questions trickier than those doing the higher-level paper.
She had seen questions like the one on marriage at higher level in the past, but there was a very nice budget question and another about eggs and vegetarianism was very approachable.
TWITTER MUSINGS
Eldest...#leavingcert
— sandy123 (@lfc123456) June 8, 2016
2nd Eldest...#juniorcert
All I will say is exams will NOT define u as a person
Always rem that 😊
P.S...I am a wreck
Junior Cert drop off & Ella singing going in the school door. 'I'm not doing stress,' she says....right too..
— Joe Ó Muirċeartaiġ (@muirioch) June 8, 2016
"useless clutter" ah would ya look they mentioned me in the LC x #leavingcert
— Emily GG (@EmilyGG30) June 8, 2016
My little brother thought my leaving cert was just one exam. If only m8
— nan💕 (@Lick_M3) June 8, 2016
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