Change to the honours Irish marking scheme

opticalillusion

Got an email today - rather late decisioning I must say from the examinations board:

The Leaving Certificate Irish Examination at Higher Level for 2013 and thereafter
The Junior Certificate Irish Examination at Higher Level for 2013 and thereafter
To: Management Authorities of Second Level Schools
The attention of school authorities and teachers of Irish is directed to the following adjustments which will be made in respect of the structure and marking of the Ceapadóireacht Section within Paper I of the Higher Level Gaeilge examinations at both the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate for the 2013 examinations and thereafter. The rationale for these adjustments is to bring closer harmonisation between the syllabus aims, the structure of the examination and marking process. In the 2013 examinations and thereafter:

( a) Leaving Certificate Higher Level
The nine titles for the Ceapadóireacht Section of Paper I will be organised under three headings. Candidates will be required to answer on any ONE of the titles from EITHER A, B or C as follows:
A − AISTE nó ALT NUACHTÁIN/IRISE − will comprise five titles from which candidates may choose one on which to write an ‘aiste’ or an ‘alt nuachtáin/irise’.
B − SCÉAL − will comprise two titles from which candidates may choose one on which to write a ‘scéal’.
C − DÍOSPÓIREACHT nó ÓRÁID − will comprise two titles, a motion for a ‘díospóireacht’ and a topic for an ‘óráid’, from which candidates may choose to write on one.

The 100 marks assigned to the Ceapadóireacht Section will be allocated as follows: 20 marks for ‘ábhar’, of which 5 marks will be awarded for use of the appropriate writing style, and 80 marks for ‘cumas na Gaeilge’.

So what think ye?

Yay or nay? Having 5 topics is certainly better than the 3 diabolical topics last year for the Aiste.

I'd also like their definition of 'writing style' and 'abhar'...

hitchcock

I like this, I find the essays easier to structure. But did they really just come up with this now, that's scandalously late!

opticalillusion

I'm an external candidate and only got the email today. I would get the impression that is only being rolled out to schools now too?

I wonder will they have to change the paper now because of it? If they new back when the paper was being set then why not just announce it then?

MathsManiac

That's old news; it went to all schools before Christmas. The letter is on the SEC website here:
http://www.examinations.ie/schools/S100_12_JC_&_LC_Irish_Higher_Level_Exam_for_2013_and_Thereafter.pdf

(It's in Irish first and then English, so scroll down if you want to see the English version!)

I'd say they probably got wind that not everybody had heard, so sent out a reminder or something.

HugsiePie

does this mean if we just memorise an essay PERFECTLY, and if its somehow related to the topic, we'll be grand, that's what I've gotten out of that message, or am I completely wrong?

bluejay14

Schools have known since in and around January. That's when we found out anyway.

"Ábhar" is basically your ideas and stuff. While "writing style" is just that you write it in the correct genre kind of, like a speech starts with "A Chathaoirleach, a mholtoiri etc"

HugsiePie

bluejaymraz wrote: »

Schools have known since in and around January. That's when we found out anyway.

"Ábhar" is basically your ideas and stuff. While "writing style" is just that you write it in the correct genre kind of, like a speech starts with "A Chathaoirleach, a mholtoiri etc"

Coolio :cool:

opticalillusion

MathsManiac wrote: »

That's old news; it went to all schools before Christmas. The letter is on the SEC website here:
http://www.examinations.ie/schools/S100_12_JC_&_LC_Irish_Higher_Level_Exam_for_2013_and_Thereafter.pdf

(It's in Irish first and then English, so scroll down if you want to see the English version!)

I'd say they probably got wind that not everybody had heard, so sent out a reminder or something.

Ah I see. They were right so!

bluejaymraz wrote: »

Schools have known since in and around January. That's when we found out anyway.

"Ábhar" is basically your ideas and stuff. While "writing style" is just that you write it in the correct genre kind of, like a speech starts with "A Chathaoirleach, a mholtoiri etc"

So with the essay we are talking: intro, at the moment, reasons, solutions and finish kind of thing?

bluejay14

opticalillusion wrote: »

Ah I see. They were right so!



So with the essay we are talking: intro, at the moment, reasons, solutions and finish kind of thing?

I'd say as long as it has a fairly obvious intro., main body with one point per paragraph and then conclusion it should get the 5 marks. For the conclusion our teacher really drives it home to us to start it with "Mar fhocal scor" or something to that effect, just to make it really clear that we're finishing up.

At least I hope that's all that's needed.

David1994

bluejaymraz wrote: »

Schools have known since in and around January. That's when we found out anyway.

"Ábhar" is basically your ideas and stuff. While "writing style" is just that you write it in the correct genre kind of, like a speech starts with "A Chathaoirleach, a mholtoiri etc"

Our teacher told us that if an aiste title didn't suit us we could just choose the diospoireacht and write it just like the essay.
Like without any debate/speech structure?

opticalillusion

We have 5 titles now though, yay!

I'm no expert but that doesn't sound right...

bluejay14

David1994 wrote: »

Our teacher told us that if an aiste title didn't suit us we could just choose the diospoireacht and write it just like the essay.
Like without any debate/speech structure?

Ours basically said the same thing; that you can practically write the essay but it has to have the debate/speechy opening and closing to get the 5 marks. The content will be the same at the end of the day whether a speech or an essay.

David1994

bluejaymraz wrote: »

Ours basically said the same thing; that you can practically write the essay but it has to have the debate/speechy opening and closing to get the 5 marks. The content will be the same at the end of the day whether a speech or an essay.

Ah right so I will definately stick the opening and closing in to ensure I get as much marks as I can!
Thanks.

BrownBear11

HugsiePie wrote: »

does this mean if we just memorise an essay PERFECTLY, and if its somehow related to the topic, we'll be grand, that's what I've gotten out of that message, or am I completely wrong?

Yeah, that's a good point. When ábhar only counts for 20% if you have a grammatically perfect essay learned and if you even vaguely relate it to the topic asked it should score well... shouldn't it?

Canard

I've heard they just write "gan chiall" and give it a bad mark if it doesn't relate to it in some way, sorry to burst your collective bubble. :P

BrownBear11

Canard wrote: »

I've heard they just write "gan chiall" and give it a bad mark if it doesn't relate to it in some way, sorry to burst your collective bubble. :P

I thought it sounded too good to be true

ray2012

I just prepare all the essays I attempt as debates so I'm sorted if it comes up as an essay OR a debate. If it comes up as an essay I can just ditch the debate openings/closings/rebuttles, sorted!