Junior Cycle Irish: Relief among students over ‘fair’ and ‘relatable’ exam paper

Junior Cycle Irish students were happy with a “fair” and “relatable” higher-level paper, teachers have said.

Danielle O’Connell, an Irish teacher with TheTuitionCentre.ie, said the much anticipated topic of climate change appeared in the reading comprehension section of T2, the paper which is given to students in English-medium schools.

“The biggest change was the úrscéal (novel) and dráma (drama) questions, which appeared as two separate questions this year, having previously been paired together as a choice question for the past three years,” she said.

“This may have thrown some students.”

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Stephen Doyle, Studyclix.ie subject expert and a teacher at Moyle Park College in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, said that the topics were relatable for students.

“The reading comprehension, for example, was about climate change and young environmental activists, something that matters to students today.

“Question H on the reading comprehension may have challenged less prepared students but, overall, the listening and reading sections were very manageable.

“The grammar section was also straightforward and not too complicated compared to previous years,” Mr Doyle said.

Ms O’Connell said that students also would have been happy with question six, which included common topics such as sport, a day out in the city, or being at a birthday party. “Students would have been easily able to tackle this question based on their previous learned knowledge of verbs and vocabulary over the past two years,” she said.

One significant change this year saw the drama question paired with a short film question.

“This meant students needed to have both drama and novel prepared, as the novel became a stand-alone question,” said Mr Doyle.

“All the literature sections questioned students on how the events, emotions or images made them feel. Students’ opinions and insights were very important throughout this exam.”

Overall, Mr Doyle said that it was a fair paper which rewarded students who prepared well and should have been manageable for confident students.

“This paper was well-balanced and most students who studied hard would have been able to show their Irish skills well,” he said.

Ordinary

Mr Doyle said that the ordinary level paper was easy to approach and covered the basic language skills students need.

“Short reading questions were about everyday things like cooking class and a visit to a concert and a disco with friend topics that students could understand easily.

“Overall, the paper was well set out and friendly for students, giving them different ways to do well while keeping to the right level for this level,” he said.