'Plenty of fair choices' for students in Leaving Cert history exams

Leaving Certificate students Jade Murphy, Chloe Fitzgerald, and Jessica Corcoran at Presentation Girls Secondary School, Ballyphehane, Cork, after the French exam.  Pictures: Larry Cummins

Both history and French offered Leaving Cert students ample choice as exams continued on Wednesday.

For junior cycle students, home economics and Spanish were examined for the first time under the new curriculum. 

This year's Leaving Cert history paper would have rewarded the students who worked hard over the last two years, according to Niall Westman, subject representative with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI). While the Junior Cert paper last week was “a bit of a disaster” as the marks-per-question were not listed in the paper, there were no real surprises in the questions on Wednesday. 

“In my own school, there were a lot of happy students after the exam. There were plenty of fair choices for students to pick from. The document question was very fair as well, Coleraine University came up.” 

Mr Westman also added that the changes to the layout of the paper in recognition of disruptions during Covid make “complete sense”.

“Hopefully it stays this way going forward.” 

'Very doable'

Both higher and ordinary level French on Wednesday morning also offered “no surprises”, and the listening exam was “well-paced”, according to Jane O’Dwyer, subject representative with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI). 

Leaving Certificate students Emma Daly, Leighann Singleton, Ropa Tuso, and Courtney McHale from Presentation Girls Secondary School, Ballyphehane, Cork, after the French exam.

Question one, a story about a big decision, on the higher-level paper was “very doable”, and questions were generally themed around the environment, school, sport, and immigration.

“These would have been topics that students covered well for their oral exams, especially school and sports. It was nice for students to have the extra choices this year. Students might have had difficulty making up their minds because there were so many questions that were so doable.” 

The ordinary level paper was also relatively straightforward and featured immigration and school again, she added. 

What was interesting about the school question was that it was from a teacher's point of view. That was different, it was a nice little turn on it

This morning, students taking Junior Cycle home economics completed the first State exam in the subject since it was revised. 

“This is the trailblazer as it was,” said Mairead Tompkins, TUI subject representative. 

The new paper is a common-level paper worth 50% of students’ overall marks. It was themed around topics such as sustainability, wellbeing, and living well, including questions on using leftovers, online shopping, and online safety for children. 

Leaving Certificate students Ciara Elliott, Laoise Barry, and Saoirse O'Brien of Presentation Girls Secondary School, Ballyphehane, Cork after the French examination on Wednesday morning. 

“All the key skills of the course could be seen in the setting of the paper," Ms Tompkins said, adding that the topics all linked together well.  

Straightforward Spanish

Junior Cert Spanish was also examined for the first time since the course was revised. The common level paper presented to students was “fairly straightforward”, according to David McArdle, ASTI subject representative.

Mr McArdle said: "Overall, the paper was fairly straightforward, even current second years would have no problem. If you knew your numbers, you'd fly through because nearly every question had numbers attached. There was a good variety there for every sort of student. The traditional ‘higher-level’ student would have flown through it, and the traditional ‘ordinary-level’ student would have also gotten on fairly well as far as I can see.”