Leaving Cert 2016/17 Off-Topic Thread

Mr Rhode Island Red

I know English paper 2 always gets slack for being tight for time, but does anybody else think that paper 1 isn't too bad in that regard? I mean even if you take the comprehensions and the functional writing awful handy, you'd still find yourself left with a good hour and fifteen minutes to write the composition.

Having said that now I'm probably jinxed and I'll end up answering A and B on the same comprehension by mistake :pac:

VG31

carefulnowted wrote: »

My dream English paper 2:

Plath/Boland/Durcan, or preferably all three

A Hamlet character question

No comparative

I'd add Bishop to that list. She probably won't come up but it would be great if she did.

I'm probably most concerned about Hamlet considering how unpredictable it is. The Hamlet character question is the only one that comes up relatively frequently.

I think in the 80s they asked a question on Horatio. How are you supposed to write four pages on Horatio? He is only in a handful of scenes.

What's wrong with the comparative? I think it's the easiest part of paper two (perhaps excluding the unseen poetry). Most of the time the questions are very straightforward and you can adapt what you've learned easily. Strangely enough though, it seems to be the most poorly answered question according to the Chief Examiners' Reports.

VG31

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

I know English paper 2 always gets slack for being tight for time, but does anybody else think that paper 1 isn't too bad in that regard? I mean even if you take the comprehensions and the functional writing awful handy, you'd still find yourself left with a good hour and fifteen minutes to write the composition.

English Paper 1 and 2 are both fairly OK time wise. Anyone who does history will appreciate how much time we have for English in comparison to history!

BadBannana

VG31 wrote: »

What's wrong with the comparative? I think it's the easiest part of paper two (perhaps excluding the unseen poetry). Most of the time the questions are very straightforward and you can adapt what you've learned easily. Strangely enough though, it seems to be the key poorly answered questions according to the Chief Examiners' Reports.

My issue is that for the Literary Genre questions what they're looking for is quite vague. I've always struggled with answering these because I don't know what they're looking for

wanderer100

BadBannana wrote: »

No love for Donne?

I'd love if he came up alongside Plath or Boland or even better both!!! Since most of the country are going to be writing on those two poets, it'll be refreshing for the examiner to see something different.

VG31

BadBannana wrote: »

My issue is that for the Literary Genre questions what they're looking for is quite vague. I've always struggled with answering these because I don't know what they're looking for

We didn't do Literary Genre but I find General Vision & Viewpoint and Theme & Issue to be straightforward enough.

carefulnowted

Yeah, theme and issue is okay because it's quite broad and easy to understand. I just can't get my head around literary genre for some reason.

hasdanta

Hi guys, can anyone give me an indication has to how long I should spend on each section for Irish Paper 2 and both English papers?

VG31

English P1 (2 hrs 50 mins):

Comprehension - 45 mins
QB - 40 mins
Composition - 1 hr 20 mins (1 hr writing the essay, 15-20mins planning)

English P2 (3 hrs 20 mins):

Drama - 55 mins
Comparative - 70 mins
Unseen Poetry - 15 mins
Studied Poetry - 55 mins

VG31

For Irish Paper 2 you should spend roughly the same amount of time as the number of marks for the question with a bit less for the comprehensions (45 mins max).

A97

hasdanta wrote: »

Hi guys, can anyone give me an indication has to how long I should spend on each section for Irish Paper 2 and both English papers?

For pretty much all papers, the time spent should be based on the marks available. However, I found for English Paper I that I ended up spending a bit less time on the composition section since reading the three passages takes a decent amount of time. I wrote nothing for the first 30 minutes or so of Paper I which I was a bit concerned about but I got enough written in the end all in all. In that time, I read the entire paper; comprehensions, questions and essay titles included, underlining/taking note of some things I thought might be useful for answering questions. Then I chose my comprehension and Question B. I had a good idea about which essay title I would do, or had narrowed it down from 7 to about 2 anyway.

While on paper, you should spend 42.5 minutes on your comprehension, 42.5 minutes on your Question B, and 85 minutes on your composition, I shaved off some of the essay time for the comprehension. I can't remember how much, but I think I gave the comprehension an extra 10-15 minutes. This probably varies a bit from person to person, more than the second paper anyway.

Paper II is simple. A mark a minute. So spend 60 minutes on the Single Text, 50 minutes on the Studied Poetry, 70 minutes on the Comparative, and 20 minutes on the Unseen Poem. I found that that worked quite well for me. I also found that sticking to general page lengths kept my timing well enough while ensuring that I wrote enough to get decent marks. This is a very helpful guide which I've linked below that I tried to stick to. I often ended up writing a little bit more, only about a quarter or a half of a page extra on average. You'll know when you think you can add more to your answer and when to finish up. Just don't go over time on a section, possibly excluding the comprehension since you have to take reading into account.

http://leavingcertenglish.net/2011/05/how-much-to-write/

For Irish Paper II, give yourself about 45 minutes per comprehension, 30 minutes on Prós, 30 on Filíocht, and 35 on Litríocht Bhreise.

Sometimes it's a good idea to do questions you're confident in/you can do quickly since that will give you confidence and possibly a little extra time for the longer questions, which is better than trying to make up time from spending longer than expected on some of the trickier questions.

thetalker

Keep feeling like my first option is just too much points. If I had been sitting the exam 10 years ago the points would have been so much lower.

Mldj

I'm feeling like a rebel because I ONLY revised four poets. I've done Bishop, Hopkins, Keats and Plath. The chances of none of these coming up is extremely slim (~1/70); regardless, it's fair to say that I'll be lighting more than a few candles to pray away the worst case scenario .

In order of probability, from highest to lowest, this is how I would rank the poets:
Donne, Boland, Hopins, Keats, Plath, Durcan, Bishop, Elliot.

(I'm so DONNE with poetry though and haven't EAVAN started on the comparative!)

EireLemon

Mldj wrote: »

I'm feeling like a rebel because I ONLY revised four poets. I've done Bishop, Hopkins, Keats and Plath. The chances of none of these coming up is extremely slim (~1/70); regardless, it's fair to say that I'll be lighting more than a few candles to pray away the worst case scenario .

In order of probability, from highest to lowest, this is how I would rank the poets:
Donne, Boland, Hopins, Keats, Plath, Durcan, Bishop, Elliot.

(I'm so DONNE with poetry though and haven't EAVAN started on the comparative!)

Nice pun! I think Plath is going to come up because this is her last year on the course. Bolands last year is next year so she'll likely come up in 2018. A lot of my eggs are in the Plath basket...

Mr Rhode Island Red

EireLemon wrote: »

Nice pun! I think Plath is going to come up because this is her last year on the course. Bolands last year is next year so she'll likely come up in 2018. A lot of my eggs are in the Plath basket...

Where can you find details about the rotations that the poets are on?

I always thought that JC CSPE was the most vague exam you could do with vague questions, but after the last few days I've changed my mind

It's General Vision and Viewpoint, hands-down

Why our teacher didn't do Literary Genre like most teacher's did, I'll never know.

EireLemon

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

Where can you find details about the rotations that the poets are on?

I always thought that JC CSPE was the most vague exam you could do with vague questions, but after the last few days I've changed my mind

It's General Vision and Viewpoint, hands-down

Why our teacher didn't do Literary Genre like most teacher's did, I'll never know.

I just found out from my teacher who predicted Plath for that reason. Are you just going to study P1 today or are you going to do a bit of P2? I'm leaning towards watching Hamlet and my comparative film...

TheFitz13

If it's Plaths last year on the course, I'm nearly sure she'll have to come up! (Hopefully)

I feel like there's only so much I can do with the comparative.

I don't know what I'm going to do for Hamlet! I'm praying for a character question!

thetalker

Wait how do you know its her last year and Boland's is next year?
Is Hopkins last year anytime soon?
if it really is her last year it feels highly likely they'll be up

S_Hick12

I thought Plath and Boland were on the new rotation. Are Eliot and donne not the only ones being taken off? I'm a bit worried now about who's actually gonna come up.

maude6868

thetalker wrote: »

Wait how do you know its her last year and Boland's is next year?
Is Hopkins last year anytime soon?
if it really is her last year it feels highly likely they'll be up

Plath is on again in 2019, there's no such thing as a last year for poets. If you are so intent on cutting down your poetry study just study all the female poets. However I always insist my students study 5 poets.

BadBannana

maude6868 wrote: »

Plath is on again in 2019, there's no such thing as a last year for poets. If you are so intent on cutting down your poetry study just study all the female poets. However I always insist my students study 5 poets.

There's no rule saying a woman has to come up every year either

DublinArnie

Good luck to everyone tomorrow, some reminders for a healthy mind:
a) Go on a walk today, or a run, do something outside, keep your mind off the exams for a second or two.
b) Get to bed early, it's way better to wake up earlier and get some study done than stay up all night studying.
c) Have a good breakfast (plenty of carbs and fast sugars). Personally, coffee does good for me.
d) Talk to someone face to face (even better if both of ye are doing the exams) about your worries, doubts and emotions.


-NEVER EVER leave a question unanswered, no answer = no attempt marks.

-NEVER EVER leave an exam early. Finished after 30 minutes? Go through every syllable and calculation 5 times. Signal for extra paper and write some more!

-NEVER EVER compare answers after an exam. It's done, and over! This can ruin your mood (if everyone else is getting something else) and you could ruin someone else's mood WITHOUT knowing you did.

-NEVER EVER go over time. If you planned to spend 20 minutes on a question, then spend 20 minutes and move to the next question. I know people (very academically capable) who left entire sections unanswered because they ran out of time despite our teachers drilling time management. Get yourself a watch, and stick to the time. Leave some space so you can go back and finish the question.

-NEVER EVER doubt yourself. YOU KNOW IT, don't be afraid to think a little harder and to write down the answer.

Good luck.

VG31

BadBannana wrote: »

There's no rule saying a woman has to come up every year either

Of course there's no rule but for gender balance reasons I'd be very surprised if no women came up. At least one woman has come up since 2002 (as far back as I checked).

blueee

Do most people use material they have written before for the paper 1 essay? I'm kind of nervous about it- I'm pretty good at English but it's the fear of the unknown, and how it's not something you can fully prepare for is worrying me a bit. Plus my teacher barely did any work with us on essays at all- we've only done about two! Have most of you learned off anything for it? What's your plan of action?

daraghwal

blueee wrote: »

Do most people use material they have written before for the paper 1 essay? I'm kind of nervous about it- I'm pretty good at English but it's the fear of the unknown, and how it's not something you can fully prepare for is worrying me a bit. Plus my teacher barely did any work with us on essays at all- we've only done about two! Have most of you learned off anything for it? What's your plan of action?

Being good at english, even if you don't realise, comes naturally to people. It is one subject that has parts that can't be learned on the spot. There is so much choice in the paper that there is no chance of something coming up that you can't handle. Don't worry and try to keep a calm head. They are not allowed to give exams where stuff is just off the wall. Some people use prepared material, other don't but regardless you said your good at English and that will stand to you!

hasdanta

blueee wrote: »

Do most people use material they have written before for the paper 1 essay? I'm kind of nervous about it- I'm pretty good at English but it's the fear of the unknown, and how it's not something you can fully prepare for is worrying me a bit. Plus my teacher barely did any work with us on essays at all- we've only done about two! Have most of you learned off anything for it? What's your plan of action?

My advice to you is stay away from descriptive essays and short stories. My English teacher has said very few people are capable of getting good scores in these types of a essays unless they've a flair for them. Stick to the personal essays and debates

thetalker

Speaking of descriptive essays, what do people imagine the format for that is? I've always enjoyed descriptive writing and if it really is all based on the use of language rather than a solid story or argument it seems a lot nicer. Of course I want to be sure the general idea is that one writes 4 pages generally painting an image of whatever topic they have assigned to you, rather than lets say give forward an argument or create a story in that topic.
So for the one about 24 hours in the city, I imagine 4 pages covering the day in a city and ranging from the good to the bad as well as from dawn till dusk. No plot or argument, essentially just the experience.

carefulnowted

I've done the 24 hours in a city one - I thought it would be an easy enough essay to write, but it's hard to make a descriptive essay interesting for the reader, or even to get 5 pages out of it.

If it's a REALLY nice title tomorrow and one that you know loads about, go for it, but otherwise I don't think I'd recommend it. If you do decide to do it, make sure to do out a comprehensive plan in case you get stuck halfway through.

I'm hoping for a nice personal essay or magazine article myself.

blueee

thetalker wrote: »

Speaking of descriptive essays, what do people imagine the format for that is? I've always enjoyed descriptive writing and if it really is all based on the use of language rather than a solid story or argument it seems a lot nicer. Of course I want to be sure the general idea is that one writes 4 pages generally painting an image of whatever topic they have assigned to you, rather than lets say give forward an argument or create a story in that topic.
So for the one about 24 hours in the city, I imagine 4 pages covering the day in a city and ranging from the good to the bad as well as from dawn till dusk. No plot or argument, essentially just the experience.

Yeah, I think that's the idea. It is nice in the sense that you can focus on just making the language rich and descriptive without having to worry too much about the structure or being persuasive etc.

Nyctolust

I really hope there's a good personal essay on tomorrow, those are by far what I'm best at. As for Paper 2... Plath or Boland, a good Theme/Issue question, and one on the role of the women in Hamlet would be absolutely golden for me.

For some odd reason I find GVV hardest to talk about - it feels like I'm just repeating the same phrases and openings a million times. Literary Genre I don't find too bad for the texts my class studied, but I'm not sure if I'll really try and study it too much because I can't see it coming up somehow.