I'm always confused about how much to write on Irish paper 2! How much would you need to write for a 25 mark question on prose? How much for a 40 mark question on An Triail? How much for a 15 mark question on poetry?
I'd prefer if you could tell me how many words to write instead of how many lines/pages because I have small handwriting.
All help is appreciated, even if you can just give a rough estimate.
My teacher always told me to write about 3-4 pages for the 40 mark pros questions, about 2 pages at least for the first part of a poetry question and first part for a prose quesion. about a half a page for the secod part of a poetry queston, the six marker. She told us to write about a page for the nine marker poetry question. i would write about 150 to 200 words per page. i know it sounds alot and not in proportion mark wise to paper 1. my teacher is said to be a bit of a slave driver. For the stair part are you ment to write you answer in bullet form or in essay form
For the prós we're told 2 pages for the 25 marks, and 1 and a bit(1/4)for 15 marks. But with the prós you wont get marks unless the info is relevant. There are only 5 marks out of the total 40 fro the irish!! if you're stuck for time, do bullet points, esp if explaining tréithe na bealoideas 7rl.
An Trial; if its the split up version ie. two characters etc, then each need to be 2 pages. Both carry equal marks and students often do very well on one and not on the other. If its just the single question then 3 and 3/4 to 4 pages Again, the answer needs to be relevant to the question.
Honours poetry; 20 marks = 2pages. 6 marks (miniú) depends on the piece and how much you can write on it! explain it literally and then explain any metaphors or imagery etc. 9 marks = as close to a page as time will allow. Always write something for this section. Lots of students see the Q, panic and skip it!!
Pass poetry;a) 20 marks = 2 pages. 15 marks = 1 and 1/2.
Stair; do it in points and write as much as you can!! put down anything you think might be relevant. Esp if its to do with a poet or playwright on the course or that you know of.
Hope that's a bit of help. I know there's so much to learn... its ridiculous!! 
sorry i ment to say i have no idea how many words, but my teacher corrects papers, and has done for years, and she said its judged on pages... even if you have small handwriting!! this is really important in paper 1 because if your essay is, say, 2 pages insted of 3 your essay mark is out of 66 instead of 100. So space out your work and leave a line between paragraphs!! 
its really the quality of the writing theres no point in writing 3 pages of nonsense instead of 1 page of grammatically correct well phrased answer
i agree with longfordman. there is no point in writing rubbish. but if there is not enough of the grammatically well phrased answer you still won't get the high marks. writing a page for the 40 mark pros question you harldy be getting a grade
