Well, that’s all of the mandatory exams out of the way! All that’s left now are the option ones(e.g. sciences, music etc.) and I for one feel that we were given one of the easiest leaving certs ever given, and that we are extremely lucky to have been given the amount of walkovers and do able exams that we were.

While I havent done all of the exams so far which a lot of people do, I’ve certainly done most of them and the ones I didn’t take, I heard about from my over-talkative friends. So here’s how the mandatory exams have gone, as I see it:

English Paper One (H): A very easy exam overall. Interesting extracts(the one I answered on, Farenheit 451, was so interesting that i’m buying the book when all this is over!), good choice of part A’s and B’s, and as for the essay titles we were spoilt for choice.

English Paper Two (H): This paper was do able, but not the walkover that paper one was. The King Lear question was thankfully quite easy. The Literary Genre question was not the best question in the world, but not impossible. As for the poetry section, I know that most of us were hoping for Boland or Longley in the seen poetry question but thankfully I had Kavanagh prepared so I was happy enough. The unseen poetry was easy, as we all expected.

Geography (H): This paper was a complete walkover. The short questions were simple, as was every part A question. The part C of my regional geography was identical to my final question, I answered both on Belgium as a cultural region affected by language. Overall, no real problems.

Maths Paper One (O): This was hard for me, as I’m not exactly brilliant at maths. I know I passed, but I’m not too sure whether I achieved my (albeit red) honour or not. I heard that the honours paper was extremely easy compared to previous years.

Maths Paper Two (O): This was definitely easier than paper one, but still no walk in the park. Questions one, five, six and seven were easy. In part B, my class prepared question eleven but I went for question ten on the day as it just needed common sense and a bit of logic to solve. I probably did manage to get my honour, but we’ll see come August.

Irish Paper One (O): I was very happy with this paper as the scéal and litir which I learnt off fit perfectly into the titles given to us (regretting bringing your friend on holiday for the scéal, offering your friend a job in your parents “teach ósta” for the litir). The comprehensions were simple. After all, it’s only ordinary level.

Irish Paper Two (O): When I saw that An Bhean Óg and Clare Sa Spéir came up, I was ecstatic. Then completely ignored Clare Sa Spéir and answered on An Cearrbhách Mac Cába instead, still have no idea why. Then I looked at the poems on offer. Jack and Faoiseamh A Gheobhadsa. Of course I was going to answer on Jack, who wouldn’t? After reading over the questions on Jack however, I realised I didn’t understand them so i had to write about how your man from the Aran Islands hated Dublin. Since I’m from Dublin, i was overjoyed to explain why it’s a migraine-inducing hole. :/ the compulsory poem, Gealt, was incidentally the only compulsory poem I prepared so I guess I was lucky there. (Hopefully) heading towards a red B in this exam.

French (H): This was the easiest paper I’ve ever taken. Everything tipped came up and I shocked myself by nearly running out of room in each long question I answered. The comprehensions were an utter walkover, real junior-cert pass standard here. The listening exam was easy enough too, the only section giving me any trouble being section three. (And for section five, question three, “why is a french toy company taking a toy off the market”, the answer was because the remote control didnt work. I said it was because they were infected. I’ve been watching too many horror films before bed it seems.)

Business: While I don’t do business, I’ve heard from other students that it was impossible, nothing they’d prepared came up. Glad I don’t do it

History: This exam still isn’t finished, but I imagine it’s the usual history story; topics nobody had ever heard of came up and many a tear was shed. Honestly, why anyone would take this subject by choice is beyond me.

So, that’s it! I’ll be on after chemistry next week to have a big mope about how impossible it was. Until then, good luck with whatever options you have chosen(and if you do biology, I’m looking forward to my lie in tomorrow morning ).