There are two papers in the Leaving Certificate ordinary-level English exam. The first paper examines your language skills by getting you to analyse texts you have never seen before and to complete some creative writing tasks. The second paper assesses your knowledge of literary texts, which you will have studied in depth in your Leaving Cert years. The only text here that will be new to you is in a relatively short question on an unseen poem.

In the walkthrough below you will see how long you should spend on each section and you will find some points to note when answering the questions in them.

Question by question

Paper One

(2 hours 50 minutes; 200 marks)

There are two sections in this paper - comprehending and composing. Each one carries a total of 100 marks.

It's important that you don't rush into writing your answers. Give yourself 20 minutes to read through the entire paper so that you get a good idea of what all the texts are about. Otherwise you might make choices that you'll regret later on. Then you will have 70 minutes to complete each of the two sections and 10 minutes at the end of the exam to check over your work.

Section One - Comprehending

In the comprehending section there will be three texts, all of which will be related to the same theme. The theme could be, for example, friendship, childhood or war. Most of the texts will be taken from books or newspapers, but you could also get some visual material such as a set of photographs, or some book covers. Bear in mind the following points:

Each text is followed by a question A and a question B. You must answer question A from one text and question B from a different text. In other words, you may NOT answer questions A and B from the same text!

Don't be over-hasty. Take a good look at each text and read through the questions carefully before you decide which ones to attempt.

Question A is made up of a number of small questions relating directly to the text. They are designed to check both that you understand the text well and that you are able to express your own response to it. The second part, Question B, requires you to complete a writing task arising out of the text. You might be asked, for example, to write in the style of a debate, a letter, a diary entry, or a news report.

Section Two - Composing

Here you will have to choose one composition from a set of seven options. You have studied five different language categories in your Leaving Cert years - information, argument, persuasion, narration, and the aesthetic use of language - and this is where these are tested. All of the options are linked in some way to the texts in the comprehension section. Take good note of the following points:

Make sure you read the instructions very carefully and do exactly what you are asked to do. Try as far as possible to write in the language category which the composition suggests.

Remember, however, that sometimes a composition might allow you to mix various writing styles (e.g. if you are writing diary entries, you might well include some aesthetic writing in an overall narrative).

Use the texts from Section One, if helpful, to stimulate or supplement your own ideas.

Paper Two

(3 hours 20 minutes; 200 marks)

Paper Two has three sections: single text (60 marks), comparative study (70 marks) and poetry (70 marks).

There is a lot to read on the ordinary level paper, so you should give yourself 15 minutes to go through it at the start of the exam. And because there are many small parts to some of the questions, you should leave another 15 minutes free at the end to look over your work and make sure you haven't left anything out. A possible division of the rest of the time is the following: 50 minutes for the single text; 60 minutes for the comparative study; and 60 minutes for the poetry (20 minutes for the unseen poetry and 40 minutes for the prescribed poetry).

Section One - Single text

You have to answer all the questions on the single text you have studied. You need to know the text very well because you can be asked a lot of questions about quite specific matters. The types of things you might be asked about include: theme, plot, characters and relationships, the world in which the story takes place, and the author's style of writing. Don't forget the following:

Some questions are for more marks than others, and it's really important that you take this into account when you work out how much time you spend on each question;

Equally important is the fact that some questions are broken into a number of parts. If this happens, make sure you answer all of them. It can also happen that a question will give you a choice of parts to answer. In this case, be careful not to answer more parts than you have to;

When you make a point, always back it up by referring to specific details in the text.

Section Two - Comparative study

the three modes of comparison at ordinary level are relationships, social setting and hero/heroine/villain. Two of these will appear on the paper, and you choose just one. In the one you choose, you must select one question from a set of options. You are not being examined here on your knowledge of each of the texts separately, but rather on your ability to compare and contrast them under the modes mentioned above. You should consider the following:

The question you choose will usually have a number of different parts. Don't make your choice unless you are sure you have plenty to write on each of the parts.

Plan out your answers before you write, but don't spend too long doing it. Also, don't forget to use paragraphs. A good rule is: one point per paragraph.

Always give specific examples from the texts to support your answer, and make particular reference to key moments.

Be ready to write about both similarities and differences in the texts, and don't be afraid to offer your own views; the more you can show your personal response to the texts the better.

Be sure to answer all parts of a question. Remember that they don't all earn you the same number of marks. For example, then, if one part is for 40 marks and another is for 10, you should obviously spend most of your time answering the more valuable part.

Section Three - Poetry

This section is divided into two parts: A - the unseen poem and B - the prescribed poetry.

Unseen poem

What is being tested here is your ability to respond to a poem you have never seen before, to grasp the main ideas and to comment on particular words, phrases or images in it.

It is a good idea to read through the poem a few times before attempting the questions. Firstly, read it fairly quickly to get its overall sense. Then perhaps you should read the questions - in fact, the questions themselves will often provide you with some hints for understanding the poem. After that you should go back over the poem with greater attention to detail.

Don't be intimidated by words or phrases you do not understand; remember the focus is on your general response to the poem.

Remember too that this is a 20-mark question. Make sure, then, that you don't spend too long on it and take time away from the prescribed poetry question.

Prescribed poetry

Four of the poems you have studied will appear on the paper and you must answer the questions on one of these. You can expect to be asked questions about the poem's theme, tone and imagery, about the way the poet uses words or phrases, and about your feelings about the poem.

You'll be asked a number of questions about the poem, and usually these questions will have more than one part. Be sure to answer all of them, and remember that they may not all earn you the same number of marks. It's important, therefore, that you spend too long on a small question and not enough time on a larger one.

The last question will ask you to answer one question out of three. Make sure you answer one and only one.

The poem will be printed on the paper so it's easy to refer to it. However, the examiners will not be impressed if most of your answer is lifted straight from the poem.