- Leaving Cert: Business (9.30-12.20) and Art, Visual Studies (2-4.30pm)
- Junior Cycle: German (9.30-11.30) and Wood Technology (1.30-3pm)
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Leaving Cert business: higher level and ordinary level reaction
My colleague Peter McGuire has filed a detailed reaction piece on today’s Leaving Cert business exam, which was praised by stuednts and teachers alike.
We’ve included copies of both paper in his piece here.
Leaving Cert art: A ‘thrilling’ start - but later essays may have shaken students’ confidence
Students were thrilled by the early sections of this year’s higher-level history of art paper, but some later essays may have shook their confidence.
Declan Kelly, an art teacher at the Institute of Education, says section A tested the student’s grasp of art as they responded to unseen pieces and applied their grasp of core design principles.
“This section is the newest addition to the course,” he says.
“It was slightly tougher than previous years but with more examples of what to expect joining the history of past papers, students will be well-equipped to tackle it.”
Question one, on sculpture, was instantly readable, putting the design and function elements to the fore, Kelly says.
“Students with experiences of festivals might be a slight advantage when discussing the nature of these works but ultimately a little bit of thought should give them a reasonable approach.
“This was followed by a nice say-what-you-see style question which invited a personal response to the message conveyed – something that gave the student lots of scope to respond.
“Question three might not have been everyone’s choice as it would be very dependent on their teacher. If the life of artists in residence was something discussed then this was a nice option, but for many it might be an auxiliary to return to if nothing else appeals,” says Mr Kelly.
Noel McIntrye’s photograph, Frenzy, was matched with a “nice straightforward question” on the core elements.
“Possibly the nicest was question five on the role of sketchbooks as this synthesises perfectly with their practical work. The curriculum emphasizes a wheel of research, respond, create and this question was on that mindset,” he says.
Section B, which focused on Europe and the wider world, mostly featured lovely, gentle questions, says Kelly.
“While the gothic question focused on portals, this is so cardinal to how they would have covered the topic it would not throw them at all. Question 11 on movements from 1850-1900 was also accessible but required a plan in order to aptly integrate the demand of “challenge tradition” while staying on task,” he says.
However, those banking on question 13, which covers the time period beyond 1960, will be frustrated that it was limited to conceptual art and performance art.
“Many students gravitate towards painters and sculptors, so will be annoyed that they cannot bring this to the table in the exam. This frustration is also in the paper’s final question of section three,” says Mr Kelly.
“Again, they were asked to focus on two lens-based artists which would be very niche. Students would struggle to dig through their memories to come up with enough to write full essays that they would be really confident about.
“Question 14 was tricky in its mention of ‘other cultures’ but if you knew your material factors of Bronze and Iron Age Ireland you were set,” he says.
“Question 17 had another sting – the phrasing seemed more administrative than artistic: ‘the influence of planning on urban development in Georgian Dublin’. Students would know the architectural examples, but the quick recontextualization would have been challenging in the exam."
Ultimately, while the concluding essays may have stretched some with some awkward moments, Kelly says the early parts will ensure that everyone finds something that “displays their grasp of art and its role in our lives”.
The history of art exam accounts for just 30 per cent of a candidate’s overall mark in the subject, as they have previously submitted project work.
‘Students who really know their past papers will be delighted’
We’ve more detailed reaction to the Leaving Cert business paper - and, again, it is all broadly positive.
Keith Hannigan, business teacher at The Institute of Education, says students should find themselves satisfied that everything was “fair and attemptable”.
“The anticipated bombs never appeared,” he says.
Similarly, Katie Jones, a business studies teacher who also works at TheTuitionCentre.ie, says the paper offered students a “broad, balanced and largely student-friendly examination” which many would have been relieved to see on their desks.
“This was a paper that gave students real opportunity. It was not designed to catch them out, but rather to allow them to showcase their understanding across a two-year course. However, success hinged on structure and precision,” she says.
“The variety of instructional verbs—evaluate, discuss, outline, describe, illustrate, explain—meant students needed to be highly responsive to the demands of each question. Top marks would depend as much on the framing of an answer as on its content.”
Section one:
Hannigan says students will have been thrilled with section 1’s short questions.
“The mixture of rapid response questions and familiar material recycled from past papers meant that everyone could give every question a solid attempt,” he says.
“The inclusion of capital gains tax and inflation were a little more topical than the other questions but also rooted in the staples of the course.
“Many students will have flown through this section, saving time but also maybe getting anxious that there might be bombs of questions ahead to throw them of course.”
Byrne says a wide range of choice across the paper meant students at all levels could navigate the questions with confidence.
However, she says the short questions section proved to be the most demanding element for students.
“While the section included familiar formats such as match-up, acronyms, and multiple choice—giving candidates the opportunity to secure marks on at least three questions with relative ease—it demanded solid theoretical knowledge across all seven units of the course,” she says.
“There was no opportunity to sidestep a weak area; students needed to be well-versed in the full curriculum to feel fully comfortable. For those aiming for top grades, this section set the tone early on: success would come from breadth as well as depth.”
Applied Business Question (ABQ)
Ths can be a cause of stress for students: there is no choice in questions and previous years have included some tricky takes on the material – so this is where some will have anticipated an upset.
However, Hannigan says students were greeted with an array of standard questions that anyone who spent time working over the past papers will recognise.
“The skills/characteristics of the entrepreneur turned up for a second year, so hopefully students didn’t overlook this when trying to trim down their revision, but the question was accessible that they easily could have spotted a dozen examples in the text,” he says.
A question on types of control was “ideal”, Hannigan says, as this is a very popular topic for both question setters and students.
“Many teachers will have predicted the appearance of ‘functions of human resource management (HRM)’, so the final question was a lovely way to close this section,” Hanngan says.
“Many students will have found that they had an abundance of material to include, and so with the time saved in section one, they could have listed more elements to try and secure the grade.”
Similarly, Byrne says the ABQ stood out as a “highlight”, given that it was “familiar in structure, fair in content, and well aligned with previous years”.
“Students who have invested time in ABQ preparation will likely have found it both manageable and rewarding,” she says.
Section 3
This section tested students’ grasp of the fundamentals, but with two questions based on the three chapters of unit one, it was “nicely approachable”, says Hannigan.
“Question 1 focused on material that would have been mainstays of class tests since 5th Year: elements of a contract, industrial action, discrimination,” he says.
These, he says, were then mirrored in Question 4 (a bonus question added due to the Covid adjustments) with the mention of breach of contract and fair dismissal.
“Not everything here was straight forward as Question 5 required students to have a good grasp of McGregor’s Theory X, which can be awkward to know how to effectively address in the exam context,” he says.
“However, while this topic is tougher and can cause challenges, this is helped by the previous appearance on the paper two years ago. Students armed with not only the past papers but insight into the marking scheme from that year will know how to make the most of this.”
Byrne feels question 2 on unit six offered a well-balanced question on the domestic business environment that was “approachable, familiar, and relevant”.
Meanwhile, unit seven (Q3A) asked students to explain the impact of an established EU directive or regulation.
“While achievable for those who had studied this unit, the need to refer to a specific directive may have made it less attractive to those without a strong memorised example to draw from,” she says.
“Question 5C from Unit 3, introduced a more interpretive challenge by asking students to identify factors influencing a manager’s adoption of Theory X. While syllabus-aligned, the question’s framing required students to think critically, and may not have been as immediately accessible as others.”
Similarly, Byrne says Question 7C asked students to “discuss how Anthem Transport Ltd could use different medium-term sources of finance for their medium-term needs.”
While the topic itself was expected, she says the repeated phrase “medium-term” could have introduced a moment of hesitation or confusion for some students.
“It wasn’t phrased quite as directly as in previous years, and this could have thrown candidates briefly off-course,” she says,
Question 8A, which focused on product portfolio, may also have posed a challenge, Byrne says, as it’s a less frequently examined definition.
“Students unfamiliar with this definition may have opted to steer away from this question altogether,” she says.
“On the other hand, numerical questions such as taxation and break-even analysis were welcome additions. They provided a break from dense theory and rewarded students confident in calculations and practical application”.
A student writes: ‘We were left completely shaken’
Yesterday’s Leaving Cert history paper was seen by teachers and students alike as especially difficult.
We were struck by a message sent to us by a student this morning, describing the level of upset and distress caused to many who sat the exam. The identity of the student is known to us, but the invididual has asked to remain anonymous:
I wanted to email you to discuss the devastating experience that was the leaving cert History paper yesterday.
I am a H1 student who studied well over 32 essay titles across 12 large topics for this year’s Leaving cert. I have given countless hours to the subject and have consistently averaged a H1 at 95 percent throughout all my class tests and scored 96 percent on my History mock. Out of all the students who sat the exam this year, I do believe wholeheartedly that with all the effort I put in that I was a strong candidate to receive a H1 however this years exam completely crushed my hopes.
To say that everyone was devastated opening the paper would be an understatement. I have never seen the swarms of students leaving the hall who would be scoring the top grades alongside me, left utterly demoralised from the ridiculous essay titles offered across the sections. We have the most thorough and excellent history teacher and yet we were left completely shaken by the choice on the paper.
Not only did the paper break convention with ignoring anniversaries, prioritising personality essays and abandoning many case studies, but the paper also added essays that have never come up before on topics that would not even stretch across 3 paragraphs and repeated topics that came up last year. Many people left well over an hour early, and those who did leave were left extremely upset in the corridors. For many of us this was our first non-core subject exam, leaving us rather shaken at what the next few exams will bring.
I am just as equally prepared for my other subjects and average a similar grade in Art, Classics and English however yesterday’s paper has completely shaken me up. All the nerves that I had from the start of the exams have returned and even after all the work I’ve done over the past few months, my moral has been obliterated.
I wanted to share my experience because if a H1 student such as myself struggled badly with the paper, I cannot even fathom how other students across the country are feeling. I was sure that the SEC wants students’ grades to reflect all the hard work they have put in over the past few years, however it felt that yesterday’s exam was an exercise to prove that regardless of what was studied, there was more in the minefield to blow apart any confidence we had.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Student
First look: Junior Cycle German exam paper
Thousands of Junior Cycle students have now completed their common level German exam, which included an aural.
You can view the paper below:
Leaving Cert business: great choice and topical questions
The early reaction to the Leaving Cert business exam, which ends shortly, is positive.
Textbook author and former teacher Gavin Duffy says students continued to have great choice in the short questions section, being able to answer eight from 12.
However, he says this section stood out as “the most challenging part of the paper for students” given its focus on questions from units six and seven, which are areas many students may not have focused on too much in their revision.
“That said, the level of choice available still gave most students a solid chance to get off the mark well early on in their paper,” he says.
Leaving Cert business, higher level, section 1:
“The ABQ had no real surprises for students and should have been approachable for them – the examiner looked for content that we’ve seen in recent years so a student well prepared would have been able to handle it well.”
In part B, students were asked to evaluate areas where ‘Inis Bia’ lacked control – specifically credit, stock, quality, and financial control – which was a @fair ask for those familiar with the topic”. Duffy says the ABQ text provided good clear links to each area for students.
“The long questions were well-balanced and offered students a broad range of options,” he says.
Leaving Cert business, higher level, sections 2 and 3:
Overall, Duffy feels most students will have been very satisfied with the questions and the topics covered.
“The examiner tied in plenty of current issues, such as the benefits and challenges of high employment and barriers to free trade,” he says.
“Stimulus materials were accessible and relevant, including a hotel that hosts Debs events and Glanbia’s acquisition of the whey protein brand Optimum Nutrition.”
The application-based questions were also well-designed, he says, with students asked to apply the global marketing mix and complete a SWOT analysis for a product of their own choice.
“This gave them a strong opportunity to apply what they’ve learned using real business examples, and to demonstrate a solid understanding of the course content,” he says.
