Day 5 - Irish Paper 2 & Business Studies
After catching up on lost sleep, I awoke from a coma like state, with no time to do any revision. I printed off some notes from skoool.ie, knocked back my cup of tea and ran out the door.
As humiliating and all as it was, I was finished Irish Paper 2 after five minutes. Only then did it strike me that I hadn’t really done a tap of Irish for the past two years. While trying to figure out the basic meaning of the questions my frustration began to grow. I began writing about the oh so famous ‘Clare sa Spéir’ and ended up with about 4 lines in front of me. The main idea being that Eoin
ate ‘ispini agus scealloga’. Highlight of his life. Best day of mine, or worst. I then looked over at a friend who was in the same boat as me and we made our way towards the exit.
I was nervous enough about the thought of the business paper. There was only five of us in the hall. Dead silence until the examiner cracked a joke. I ended up laughing to myself for a solid ten minutes. I have to say that I found the short questions harder than the ABQ or long questions. So I ended up writing down a load of waffle. Satisfied with the ABQ and long questions. I could of done with another half hour of writing, which was a bit of a perk after enduring a depressing Irish exam.
At least all the hard work is behind us now. Only half days from here on, for me at least. No more exams for me until Friday. So until then, I’ll be catching up on sleep and enjoying the sun!
Just moments ago I stepped foot into the warm sun of a Tuesday afternoon a very pleased student.
The higher level Irish exam paper offered a range of questions on well learned prose, again in the drama section we were set the challenge to describe two main characters in detail for 20 marks each. No surprises here. Moving forward I was pleasantly amazed to be questioned on such easy poems like the childish ‘Gealt’ or the straight forward poem for love of nature “Faoiseamh a Gheobhadsa”. The final stretch proved a little more challenging with the C section of Cesit 3, but how can we not except a challenge after such a wonderful paper! Every one’s worst nightmare Stair Na Gaeilge followed… An Rúraíocht! Again a banker of a question. However, choosing another question in this section was a little more demanding!
Today’s timetable also offers students a chance to test their business skills. I on the other hand will truly be tested after taking up the subject just 3 months ago, I will be applying the little knowledge and logic I have to a fine ABQ and series of shirt questions. I mean no study and a higher level paper! Today is a difficult one indeed but goals have been set and reach them I will!
Today was the first day I had two exams coming together, I am surprised that I’m not as worn out as imagined. This morning’s ordinary level maths paper came with few surprises and was relatively straight forward. The probability question offered students an easy 50 marks in my opinion (Despite forgetting my rules). Everything seemed straight forward but as the paper progressed many of my friends found that the paper got progressively challenging. My only failure of the day was section B which I was never good at, I was required to add and multiply vectors- absolutely horrible.
Irish paper 1 started just over an hour later. Being a higher level student I was required to write on the things I love, the health system and a range of other enticing topics. A brief glance over the “Sceal” question of section A scared me with unknown seanfhocals, many fellow students also failed to decrypt the meaning of these old sayings, composing short stories completely off topic (An instant loss of 20 marks).
The comprehensions in the honours Irish paper were a piece of cake for most, Answering questions on Fair Trade and the Blasket Islands. With plenty of time left to go after I had completed and reviewed the paper I chose to take a break before the aural. Reaching the exam centre again just before 4.30 I feared a repeat of my mock aural which I had failed miserably but I could not have been more pleased with how the listening paper had gone this afternoon. Extracts were featured about the Foinse newspaper among a host of other topics.
Sleep Deprivation. It seems to be the latest trend lately. All this anticipation, nerves and stress. Maths Paper 2 came as quite a surprise to me. Having gotten 3 hours sleep last night, I got at 5am to begin more revision. But I felt awake and ready to tackle some revision.
Having Maths and English behind me I felt the pressure ease off a little. After lunch we had Irish. With only two people attempting the honours paper, nobody seemed to stressed about this exam. Section A, I began writing the letter with little or no clue as to what I was answering. All i knew is that I was writing that average letter that almost everyone has learned before. Puzzled I began to examine the other options. I was left with the option of either guessing what one of the questions meant, or skipping a 60 mark question, so I took the latter.
The Comprehension was a joke really. I’ve always found it to be quite humorous. We are taught to pluck a few simple lines from the comprehension that have similar words as the question itself. And as far as I can see, very few people actually know whats going on in the text or the questions. Satisfied that I had done enough, I left the exam hall. First person to leave after a mere 30 minutes. Hopefully paper 2 will make up for my loss, though I am doubtful.
Okay, I’m not going to lie and pretend to sound studious- I went out drinking last night!
It can only be described as brilliant. There was so many leaving cert students out, I was gob-smacked. Today I am unregretful- something my friends find impossible to believe, it really was a well deserved break and I didn’t go over the top (unlike the grad mass two weeks previous). The music was great and the craic was forte. Us leaving cert students simply laughed it off as college friends slagged us about our current affliction.
This morning, I thankfully awoke with a clear head and away I went with another days study (or lack thereof). I remain optimistic and have chosen to completely forget about completed exams which clouded over me last week. This week will be long and daunting. From Monday morning I have two exams a day starting with maths paper 2 and Gaeilge paper 1. Things are getting easier in a way as we conform to the long and strenuous day.