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RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Leaving Cert Diary 2025: Maths Paper 1 and Geography finish the first week
In this entry to our Leaving Cert Diary we look back on Maths Paper 1 and Geography. The first week is done! Make sure to rest and relax this weekend. Thanks to Kayleigh from Athlone, Co Westmeath and Sarah from Co Louth who are back to write about Maths Ordinary and Higher Level respectively. And to Laura from Galway who sat Geogrpahy earlier in the day. The Leaving Cert Diary series, with thanks to our friends at the Irish Second-Level Student's Union (ISSU), is all about getting a first-hand account of how the exams went each day. Read Kayleigh's blog... The weather might not be the usual Leaving Cert sun but if the papers keep giving us something to be happy over I think that's a trade I'm willing to take. Another lovely paper from the SEC, I'm almost worried there's going to be a catch on Paper 2! Leaving Cert 2025 has the same accommodations as last year with six 30-mark questions on part A, where you needed to answer five, and four 50-markers, where you needed to answer three. Maths Paper 1 was entirely predictable and certainly provided me and many other students with a lot of security. I am glad to have been able to answer every question and given myself the best chance at good marks. There were no particularly challenging questions or overly complex wordings in the problems either. Financial maths was the bulk of the questions with series and sequences, algebraic functions, complex numbers, calculus, scientific notation, length area and volume all making their appearances too. There were a lot of tables and graphs featured on the paper that certainly gave students plenty of chances to pick up easy marks. I am certainly relieved for week one to be over and to have another exam out of the way. I think we're all ready for a little rest from the exhausting cycle of paper after paper this weekend; but not without some cramming thrown in. If the SEC continues to be nice to us I'm sure the rest of the exams will fly just the same as this week has. Fingers crossed! Sarah's blog kicks off with a maths pun... Unfortunately the only pie I saw in Maths Paper 1 was two dimensional and inedible. On the better side of Section A, algebra was an enjoyable question one. It gave me the confidence to begin the paper. Integration was nice and simple and even if someone was uncomfortable with this topic they would have gotten a lot of marks from attempting using the log tables provided. As well as that, logs and indices sneaked into a good few questions. De Moivre's Theorem and the binomial theorem were through the entire paper as a constant. Those who were not familiar with it, might have had no choice but to leave a lot of gaps blank. I luckily spent my morning trying to revise this topic. I attempted all questions for section A. I got the minimum done for section B with 3 questions answered. Proof by induction at the end stunned me for a few minutes. I was quite confused with the wording and began with some of the steps to help me get my focus back but failed to come up with a conclusion. Many other people I had talked to, found this part challenging. I wonder will the points be reduced for it? On the positive side, sequences and series was a welcoming question In section B but I found myself skipping the rates of change. I got just about three out of the four questions done when the time ran out. Overall it was a tough paper but there were many chances for every student toshine. Now I have to throw this out of my mind and prepare for the second round. See you Monday! Read Laura's blog here... The Geography Leaving Cert exam is finally over, and honestly, it's caused a lot of mixed feelings among students and teachers alike. I found the short questions quite fair, there was a good variety, and nothing too tricky. But it was the essay section where things really changed. Physical Geography was more or less what we expected, although I was surprised not to see the formation of metamorphic rocks essay, which had been heavily predicted. Still, that section felt manageable. The real curveball came in Regional Geography. Almost none of the predicted essays came up, and like many students, I felt completely thrown off. My confidence dropped halfway through the paper because I felt like everything I had focused on just didn't show up. The 20-mark questions were as expected, and weirdly enough, you could skip the sketch map portion almost entirely which is unusual. In Section Four, I answered the Geoecology question. Luckily, it followed some predictions, but a lot of people were expecting a question on brown earth soils, which didn't appear either. It honestly felt like the paper was made to ignore predictions maybe because the course is going through changes. I know predictions aren't everything, but the total lack of overlap this year really shocked a lot of us. In the end, it wasn't the hardest paper ever, but it was unpredictable, and that made it stressful. Now it's time to move on, take a breath, and face into the next exams with a fresh mind. Founded in 2008, the ISSU is the national representative body for school students in the Republic of Ireland. The ISSU is led by students, for students.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Leaving Cert Diary 2025: Students are free from English exams
To paraphrase today's Leaving Cert Diary blogger, who was referencing The Shawshank Redemption, we say students are free at last from English exams! The Leaving Cert Diary series, with thanks to our friends at the Irish Second-Level Students' Union (ISSU), will continue to share the thoughts of the young people sitting the state exams over the next two weeks. Here, Sarah from Co Louth and Kayleigh from Co Westmeath tell us how English Paper 2 went for them. We also have advice on how to eat well, get a good night's sleep and manage stress - click here! Read Sarah's blog here... As the English Paper 2 finishes, I am sure many students' hands are falling off. Like Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, we are finally free from the prison, the prison of English exams! The comparative had three modes this year which was guaranteed to any student sitting the exam. The theme or issue question I wrote was how a character's frame of mind aided the author's exploration of the complexity of a theme or issue. I thought this question allowed more interpretation than the cultural context question on consequences of not conforming to societal norms. The Single text gave a wide variety of what I could talk about from injustices/ justice and betraying one's conscience on The Crucible. The unseen and prepared poetry section was handy for anyone who studied the female poets. I found I was torn between Eavan Boland and Tracy K Smith questions as they both were accessible to answer. Day two is done, but there are many more exams ahead of us. The next challenge? Algebra, calculus and Functions. Read Kayleigh's blog here... English Paper 2 seems to have gone over equally as well as Paper 1. Tracy K Smith made her debut on the paper with a question on "thought provoking questions about the nature of our lives". Boland made an appearance which I think the whole country was hoping for! Though Mahon is also another popular choice I think the question was unusual and would have certainly put me off going for it. The first King Lear question seems to have been disliked by a few students. Personally I found it nicer than the second question, though the content for both is very familiar. There seems to be students unhappy with every single comparative question, I wasn't a fan myself of the cultural context question, especially as some leaving course media has more obvious encouragement of division than others. The unseen poetry was nothing out of the ordinary either with both the two ten mark questions or the one twenty mark question being easy to approach. Overall I think depending on what students had prepared the paper could have gone either way but was still mostly what was predicted. I think we're all delighted to have one of the two paper subjects out of the way! Founded in 2008, the ISSU is the national representative body for school students in the Republic of Ireland. The ISSU is led by students, for students.
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Leaving Cert Diary 2025: English Paper 1 is the exam for writers
The Leaving Cert Diary series, with thanks to our friends at the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, is back for another year. Here, Waterford student Lidiia gives us her take on English Paper 1. And keep scrolling as Kerry student Maeve tells us what was cooking in Home Economics... But, before you go any further remember to look after yourselves during exam time - here are some tips to help you eat, sleep and manage stress. Lidiia's Exam Blog The paper that 'you cannot study for' is also, I believe, the one that writers love the most. It is where you can play with your imagination - becoming, for example, a hotel manager and writing a response to a bad review. It is the Paper where practice is more important than knowledge. This year's general theme for Paper One was 'Perspectives', which I was very happy with, as it can be interpreted and explored in many ways. I was also happy with all three comprehension texts, and I found all three Question A prompts manageable. Personally, I chose to answer Question A on the first text, 'The Underdog Effect', where in Part Two I managed to intertwine Shakespeare's King Lea r and The Secret History by Donna Tartt into my answer. I then answered Question B on the second text, The Perspective of a 'Wise Old Counsellor. The part of the exam I was most thrilled about was composing. I had decided at the beginning of 6th year that I would answer the short story question, and it was lovely to see two options. I chose to write a story in 'which a plucky chancer challenges a more privileged or established opponent'. However, I believe my choice was unusual, as most of my classmates opted to write a personal essay. Overall, I ended up writing a full sixteen pages in my script and was happy with how Paper One turned out. Nevertheless, I must confess that due to the stressful nature of the exam, I unknowingly skipped Part 3 of Question A. In moments like these, it's important to remind ourselves that not answering one question is absolutely not the end of the world. Mistakes happen; human error is normal and should not be shamed. Student to student, it's okay to feel disappointed in the moment, but you must remind yourself to keep calm and carry on! Paper Two is tomorrow, and I'd like to wish the best of luck to everyone. I'll sign off with a quote from Epictetus: "We cannot control the external events around us, but we can control our reaction to them." Maeve's blog Second exam finished today with Home Ec! Honestly after the highs of English Paper 1, this paper brought me back down to earth fairly fast. Home Ec is such a content heavy subject and it's really difficult to prepare for what will appear on the exam, as not one aspect of the course can be left behind and the paper is incredibly difficult to predict. To start the paper, I found that the short questions in Section A were challenging at first glance but most were doable when the gears began turning. Lipids coming up as the main macronutrient in Section B was a welcome relief and Section B question 1(a) was a really nice table to analyse. The choices for the rest of Section B were broad so they would have suited a lot of people. Section C part 4 is where things got a little rocky, with an extensive analysis of meat required, and I found option (b) and (c) to both be difficult options to choose between. Overall a challenging paper I hope that the marking scheme will be kind to us! Founded in 2008, the ISSU is the national representative body for school students in the Republic of Ireland. The ISSU is led by students, for students.
