It’s day five of the State Exams with Leaving Cert students facing Irish paper two this morning, followed by biology in the afternoon.
Yesterday’s Irish paper one left students generally relived, but not all expected topics appeared.
Follow our updates here with paper reviews to follow later.
Key reads
- Last-minute advice ahead of the Irish exams
- Ten tips for parents supporting an exam student this month
- Sign up for our Classroom to College newsletter
The Leaving Certificate is a slog. Lots of preparation. Lots of research. Lots of hours spent familiarising oneself with the various subjects. And oh so much writing. And that’s just The Irish Times journalists in preparation for our State exams coverage.
But it’s certainly no walk in the park for students, as reader Alan Bonny rightly points out over on today’s letters page.
Sir, – Why does The Irish Times give so much coverage to the Leaving Certificate exams?
With all the pressure students feel at this time of year, it does not help that so much attention is put on the exams. It also unnecessarily feeds into the (problematic) view that the Leaving Cert is the be-all and end-all for students finishing secondary school. – Yours, etc,
ALAN BONNY,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16.
It’s not quite a case of misery loving company, but it can be helpful to read about others going through the same experiences, sometimes in different ways. The Leaving Certificate is not the be-all and end-all for students and in our continuing coverage we’ll be looking at the very many different options open to students when the exams are over.
And yes, we’re all counting down to the exams being over..
“An “exponential” increase in schoolchildren getting exemptions from Irish is denying them part of their identity, is not inclusive of children with additional needs or born abroad, and is out of sync with how other European countries teach minority languages”. That’s according to a report published on Tuesday.
Our Social Affairs Correspondent, Kitty Holland, explains “Irish exemptions are granted for two main reasons – pupils having a learning disability or having had their primary education abroad."
The report says children exempted from Irish are being denied “the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, a deeper insight into their heritage, part of their identity, the career and social opportunities ... from an ability in Irish, the opportunity to attend a Gaeltacht course, and the opportunity to help their own children with their Irish homework in the future”.
You can read Kitty’s full piece here
I spoke with the mother of a dyslexic child about why her daughter is at home sorting the clothes in her wardrobe, rather than sitting the Junior Cycle exams.
"When people hear the word dyslexia they think, ‘Oh, they just can’t spell properly’. And that’s the biggest misconception of dyslexia ever. Because dyslexia is so much more”, Sophie’s mother Kate told me.
The lack of understanding makes life very difficult for adults and children, Kate says. “Especially school life, when you’re all put into the same box, are expected to know the same things, be able to learn the same things, and that’s just not the case.”
Sophie struggled to keep up with her school work in secondary school and began to stop attending. “She was getting sick every day from the anxiety. She was having panic attacks in school.”
Kate discusses making the difficult decision that Sophie wouldn’t sit the exams, and how her daughter feels about it.
“She’s embarrassed not to be sitting the exams,” says her mother, Kate, especially as people have asked her why. Sophie has given various excuses to those who ask. “She’s trying to find a way to avoid people thinking she’s not clever”.
You can read the full piece here
Following the unexpected piano tuning question on Maths Paper one, over on our letters page, Gary Woods, a fifth-generation piano tuner reassures students for whom the question which may have struck a “bum note”, that maths shouldn’t put them off pursuing a piano-tuning career.
Play it, Gary.
Sir, – I am writing regarding your coverage by Peter McGuire of the Leaving Cert mathematics exam and the piano-tuning question (“Leaving Cert maths, paper one: A song and dance about a bum note”, Education, June 5th).
I recall my first day learning to tune pianos when our lecturer discussed the physics of string tension, different partial series and which beats to listen for to ensure enough tension was added per string per note for a correct piano tuning.
Following this class, I panicked given how low I scored in my Leaving Cert maths exam. Many years and pianos later, I can assure students not to be put off the piano-tuning trade. As with all careers, once you know what to listen for, you will be okay. – Yours, etc,
GARY WOODS,
Fifth-generation piano tuner,
Clane,
Co Kildare.
Good morning. It’s day five of the Leaving Certificate exams and Irish paper 2 is underway this morning, with Biology to follow this afternoon.
After a generally well received Paper 1 yesterday, albeit with a surprise omission, students will be hoping for something similar from Paper 2 today.
We’ll have the exam papers and reviews for you later this morning.
