Chemistry: not as impossible as it could have been!

I can hardly believe it, the exam I’ve been dreading for two years is finally over. Never again will I have to read over chemistry notes, never again will I have to study theorems and definitions for hours on end. It’s finally over. Anyway, for those of you who don’t do chemistry and wouldn’t be able to pick it out of a police line-up, here’s a brief layout of the paper:

The chemistry leaving cert exam paper is composed of two sections, A and B. In part A, there are three questions, of which two must be answered. In part B, there are eight questions, the amount of which are compulsory depending on how many questions you answered in part A. Eight questions must be answered overall.

In part A I answered all Three questions. The first one was easy, a simple titration, exactly the same one that came up the last three or four years. Question two was difficult enough, but I gave it my best shot. Question three wasn’t as easy as question one, but not as hard as question two. The reason I answered all three questions in this part of the exam was to leave more options open for me in part B.

Question four in part B was a series of eleven short questions, of which we had to answer around eight. I’m not entirely sure how many are compulsory as I always answer all of them to be on the safe side. questions five to eight were hard enough, but not impossible. After I had finished question eight I relaxed and sailed through questions nine to eleven, as they were just extra.

I’m still in shock that I managed to answer everything on the paper. I was expecting a C out of this exam but now I think I might have achieved more out of it.

For all the build up and tension not only I, but most Irish chemistry students have had over the past two years, it wasn’t nearly as impossible as I had expected. In fact, I might even go so far as to say it was (dare I say it?) easy. now it’s just music to go and then freedom!

Good luck with your remaining exams (if you have any), John.