Nein danke. So German starts on Friday. I have two days to do some preparation and I’m not quite sure what to focus on. Being a native German I already speak German, however, trying to get the rules of German grammar into my brain is impossible. I’ve had 2 different grinds teachers and a teacher attempt to teach me and all failed. It just wont go in! But the thing is, you could ask me a grammatical question and I’d be able to tell you because I know what sounds correct to me by nature

I am at a great advantage to a lot of students doing German on Friday. That I can’t deny. To me it will be my backup plan since Irish and Maths wont be providing me with any point-worthy results.

So put on your Lederhosen, eat up your bratwursts and get ready to sit yet another boring exam!

Today finally brought that challenge I had been waiting for, after doing the notorious Irish paper 2 this morning, I sat down for an hour and studied. The fear was in me, I had never before done a business exam paper and my god had I not prepared for such an event. Failing to actually sit down and prepare my 8th subject, I entered the exam hall armed with nothing more than my logic.

The exam starts with short questions and I was given the easy task of recognising an ‘Intranpreneur’ in business. The short questions to follow would be those of not logic, they can only be described as ‘bookish’. I managed make my way through them whether false or wrong. What followed was a simple applied business question. It was here that I gained much of my marks, it was a very straightforward business question.

The last section wasn’t particularly complex either, I was given the chance to talk about the attributes of an entrepreneur, industrial relations and the labour court. In the last few weeks my little study of business included that of the “Break-Even Chart”. I had banked on this and there it was, what a splendid way to end the paper and open yet another evening of study!

History and French tomorrow, any predictions? please!?

Why not discuss Business Studies in the forum?

Maths paper 1 came a with devious questions this year, many part C’s consisting of confusing symbols and figures. Question 1, arithmetic is generally the easiest on the paper- Not for me this year. Terrible phrasing was seen throughout part C where we marked-up the sale price of an unknown item.

After a bad start, I got into the game and flew through my questions only experiencing a demanding question here and there. Under the stress of the moment it is hard to remember every little rule during differentiation and functions but I managed to pull through.

Overall: Satisfactory. A few friends are very unhappy. many fear failing! If a high failure rate is possible in ordinary level subjects then it’s my opinion that the exam should be revised. Although we still have paper two to regain our optimism, paper 1 has out a dampener on many students weekends!

Discuss ‘Maths Paper 1′ in the forums!

Like a walk in the park… I think not. My primary poet did not come up, where were you Eavan Boland! But not to worry I managed to put together the few bits on Philip Larkin I strenuously put together this morning at 5am. I have been running on caffeine all day! I have to say I was a little calmer this morning for paper two of English than I was yesterday morning despite this being notorious as the more difficult of the two.

It was exceedingly predictable (despite Boland!) in my opinion, with a nice Othello question as an opener. I did the question on Othello’s foolishness and I got a great quality piece out of it, supporting it with my plentiful quotes. Next was the comparative study, I went down the theme or issue lane, I hope I didn’t waffle with this one too much switching between the 3 texts on the one theme.

The unseen poem was very straight forward and the question on a personal response was ideal for me. I was very pleased. The dreaded prescribed poetry followed, switching between Mahon and Larkin, I settled on the poet of unhappiness- Philip Larkin. I had been banking on Eavan Boland but I did my best and I am just glad to have English over and done with. The paper was very fair with no big surprises.

Maths paper 1 in the morning. This should be a doodle as I like to think I am good with numbers and figures but then again I’m taking the ordinary level paper for this one.

Join the Forums Discussion - English Paper 2

It has all begun and the end is near. This week signifies the start of the official Leaving Cert exams… scary. With my Irish oral behind me and my music practical yesterday, I say to the Leaving cert – “Bring it on!” You’d never expect that you wouldn’t be nervous during these exams but it’s a simple fact of – over preparation. Except for that one girl I know of who puked up before her exam. Looking back on my Irish oral I really could have contributed more:

“What would you do if you were Mary Hannifan”

“Oh, I really don’t know what I would do to be honest, she’s the one in the olympics, yeah?”

It seems that what she was trying to make an opener for the conditional tense, she only had to say!

Music went relatively well too, I am not the most musical of students. It went as well as expected, examiners make great liars “good lad that was very enjoyable” – oh yes, I was only playing something completely different from what I was looking at. Thank you Dan!

My study method is working out great, cramming of course. No professional endorses the idea but it really does work! What’s left? 8 weeks? I’ll give it seven weeks before I study to make sure it all sticks.

What’s next in life for Colin Lowry? Let us see… my very late history research study has to be handed in, French orals in one week and my practical art exam in a few weeks. I feel like getting sick…

Who can really say that Irish is a farce. One week ago, in the midst of my glorius midterm break I imagined myself in the Irish oral examination.

“Dia dhuit, agus cad is ainm duit”

“oh crap, here we go”

But after a week of mock orals, I have gained a certain confidence and perhaps a love the language. I don’t know why, I mean - I’m useless.

I guess I found it nice to be able to speak the native tongue. I have come across students who have learned off full extracts on “Dustin the turkey goes to the Eurovision” and “Bertie: the no longer Taoiseach”. But I much prefer to be laid back about it and talk about what I actually am familiar with in a way I am familiar with, It keeps me sane in the exam. And I do not actually hate the language even after the strenuous exam I’m about to go horribly bad in. I am ranting!

I have not done a thing this week in terms of study. My mocks were a disgrace. I am a study virgin. I can’t do it, I detest the whole school thing. Now I find in looking back over my past six years of secondary level education there has been good times. The whole school thing becomes sentimental when it’s all over… despite the fair grades. The cliché comes to mind - “school days are the best days of your life”. Memories of me laughing that one off last year!

My current mission is to enjoy every minute of what I have left and of course have a good go at the study and infamous examinations! Good times have past, better times to come!

Go n-eirí an bothar leat!

Colin.

They’re over and done with! Out of the way. Now comes the bit where I deny how badly I’ve done. But of course, that can wait until Sunday. First we must go out and celebrate! Right? Isn’t that what we do here in Ireland. Any excuse for a night out.

So yeah, the past few days have been annoying with these exams going on. Finished up today with my final exam, LCVP. Which was rather easy I have to admit. The LCVP exam was rather funny tho.

You know those exams that are never done in the hall because they either require you to listen to a tape or watch a video. Well LCVP was one of those exams. As soon as we were moved out of the hall and into a normal classroom, the whole ‘exam’ effect walked right out with us, and out the front door. So everyone started talking as usual, and sharing answers. A friend of mine asked the teacher a question, which happened to be a question on the paper and she happily answered him before being told she had just given him the answer.

Teachers clearly also forget to take things seriously. Not long after (20 minute delay), the Audio/Visual exam began. Except without the visual part to it. So after another 5 or 10 minutes, the teacher finally managed to get it working. And then of course there is that high pitched tone that most people have on their phones now, which was going off on three phones simultaneously. These are all the things that take away from the seriousness of the whole idea of pres. So i ask myself, are they really worth it?

A friends mother asked her if anything expected came up in her exam. She replied “Yeah, i had to draw a venn diagram. The mother replied “Was it not English you had?”. So Louise turned around and said “Yeah…”. Sarcasm is the sugar in my tea, so i laughed for a solid ten minutes when she told me that.

I gotta go to the pub and socialize study, bye!

Kevin.