Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle students tackle Dune, social media influencers and stamps in English exams

Dune: Part Two, The Wizard of Oz, an “ode to the spirit, cheer and energy” of Manchester, and arguments for and against keeping postage stamps and ignoring social media influencers all featured in the first State examinations of 2026.

Exams got under way on Wednesday morning for a record number of students sitting Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations over the coming weeks.

As in previous years, English was the first examination for the majority of candidates.

The theme of ‘influence’ — whether through social media, the music industry or shaping the future — ran through this year’s Higher Level Leaving Certificate English Paper 1, a “doable” paper that is expected to reward students who can read thoughtfully and think critically.

Siobhán O’Donovan, ASTI subject representative for English and a teacher at Patrician Academy in Mallow, said this year’s paper included three “lovely comprehensions”.

These included an article by Jeanette Winterson, an extract from Elif Shafak’s 2024 novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, and two further texts on the topics of poetry and art.

“These gave the well practised student plenty of scope to demonstrate their ability to understand, analyse and evaluate a piece of writing and respond to it using effective language and expression skills.”

Future cities and postage stamps

Question B on the paper, which asks students to complete a piece of functional writing, offered a broad range of options, she said.

“This year once again there was great variety with one asking students to write an article about what their ideal city or town of the future would be like.

Third year student Kimberly Maleka who is beginning her Junior Cert exams at the North Monastery Secondary school in Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney

Another “interesting” question asked students to argue whether postage stamps should continue to be produced through a letter to the editor of a newspaper.

The composing section, worth a “whopping” 25% of students’ marks, allows “the well-read and well-practised student to shine”, Ms O’Donovan said.

“Creative writing skills are to the fore here but there is such a choice in genre that there is something to suit all tastes.”

This year there were two short-story options, two personal essays, a speech for or against the motion that “social media influencers are best ignored”, as well as an opinion piece “about the power and influence of music, musicians and the music industry”.

“Overall, Paper 1 was consistent with previous years and the students that I spoke to as they exited the hall were very happy with it.”

At Ordinary Level, candidates were also “happy coming out of the exam hall”, Ms O’Donovan said.

“The paper held no surprises and allowed students to demonstrate their skills.”

The featured texts were “very doable” and included an extract from Katriona O’Sullivan’s memoir Poor, as well as the short story Fair Play by Jan Carson.

“The third text was very interesting as it contrasted advice given to parents in the 19th century about raising children with advice given in the 21st century.”

“All in all, it was deemed to be a manageable paper.”

Third year students Alannah Bullman, Candice Faulkner and Taylor Byrne who are beginning their Junior Cert exams at the North Monastery secondary school today. Picture: Noel Sweeney

Dune and The Wizard of Oz feature in Junior Cycle

Most students who emerged from the Junior Cycle English examination were happy with the Higher Level paper, according to Sue O’Sullivan-Casey, an English teacher at Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine in Kenmare, Co Kerry, and Studyclix subject spokesperson.

A film review of Dune: Part Two featured, and students were able to settle into the examination with a series of multiple-choice questions.

This was followed by a reading comprehension based on the children’s novel The Wizard of Oz.

“I think the wording of this question would have proved a little challenging for some candidates who may not be familiar with the word ‘aspects’ which in this case means characterisation, plot, setting, dialogue etc.”

The Ordinary Level paper began with an infographic on the red fox, requiring candidates to identify various facts from the text.

A creative task then asked candidates to describe two scenes from a short film they had created on the life of the red fox.

“I think this question would have challenged some ordinary level candidates to think creatively and articulate their thoughts as a piece of audio visual.”

Calls for more choice on Higher Level paper

Kate Barry, ASTI subject spokesperson for this year’s Junior Cycle English paper, said teachers would like to see more choice on the Higher Level paper.

“It's great to see long questions come up on the novel,” Ms Barry said.

“Its good to see longer questions as well. Sometimes in the past, there’s been a lot of short, bitty questions which can be challenging for time management. Its better to have fewer questions and longer questions,” she added.

However, she was less positive about the question asking students to describe a character’s “personal growth” in a novel they had studied.

“That may be extremely relevant for one class, and the novel they studied,” she explained.

“But it may be quite challenging for another class that studied a different class. Not every novel has the personal growth of a character as the central theme.”

Teachers decide which prescribed texts to study from an approved list, she added.

“Any novel that you choose, you should be confident your class can answer. There’s an element of luck with this question.” 

 “The problem here is that there was no choice whatsoever. The question was absolutely fine, but it would suit some candidayes better than others, nothing to do with how well the candidates were prepared, how they were taught, their ability or how hard they studied.”

"Its a very open course, there’s a lot of choice, but on the paper there was no choice, so there’s a mismatch there.”