Drones feature on Junior Cert engineering exam; Leaving Cert construction students tested on vernacular homes

Sharon Dawson, Aine Ryan, and Sarah Kiely, Leaving Certificate students at Scoil Mhuire gan Smal, Blarney, Co Cork, were very happy after the German exam on Friday morning. Picture: Larry Cummins

This year’s Junior Cycle engineering exam pushed students to think like an engineer with a fair but challenging paper that featured drones, renewable energy, and upcycling.

The 2023 State exams continued on Friday afternoon with Junior Cycle engineering and Leaving Cert construction studies.

The 2023 Junior Cycle exams have almost drawn to a close, with the majority of students finishing their exams this week.

On Monday, the last Junior Cycle exam of the year takes place in applied technology.

The Junior Cycle engineering written exam was a fair, challenging, and enjoyable test for students on Friday afternoon, said Donal Cremin, subject spokesman for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and teacher in Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, Co Kerry.

The written exam is worth 30% of the overall marks for the subject, with project work making up the remaining 70% of a student’s final grade.

“The paper featured many modern and topical engineering content, including drones used in smart farming, upcycling, a hybrid e-trike, and renewable energy,” said Mr Cremin.

The paper also contained “excellent” graphics which were used to help and inspire students, he added.

“Many questions were directly linked to the process and procedures students would be familiar with in the engineering room at school with essential core elements of engineering including questions on alloys, material properties, drilling mechanisms, electricity, and electronics featuring.” 

There was also a very welcome direct link also to the project they had completed earlier this year."

Students who were familiar with the sample paper and last year’s exam paper would have been happy with the layout and presentation of this year’s common level paper, he believed.

“Logic gates and truth tables featured again this year and this content will now be more familiar to students.”

The paper also contained two “relatively” easy design challenges where students had to design and sketch a base for a novelty lamp in one question and a bracket for an electronic keypad in another question.

“Some of the questions required students to explain or justify their answer and to think like an engineer which is a main focus for this new subject.

“Students were also asked to carry out simple calculations and it is healthy to see the direct link between engineering and mathematics.”

As with all Junior Cycle written examinations, this was a no-choice paper, so all questions had to be attempted.

“Much of the paper was user friendly and very manageable with some parts challenging the better prepared and more capable students.” 

Meanwhile, the 2023 construction studies papers featured a vernacular Irish homestead built over 100 years ago, passive house design, universal design, an old uninsulated dwelling house, and solar collectors.

The 2023 State exams continue on Monday with Leaving Cert Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese, as well as the non-curricular languages, Hebrew studies and Ancient Greek. to be examined on Monday morning.

The 2023 Leaving Cert agricultural science will take place on Monday afternoon.