JUNIOR CERTIFICATE/Irish: Those Junior Cert students without much grá for the Gaeilge can breath a sigh of relief - it's all over now and it ended on a high note, with a well pitched paper 2.
While Thursday's paper 1 may have been low on laughs, the second Junior Cert Irish paper met with smiles all round. "I didn't meet one disgruntled student - they really were very pleased with it," Treasa Ní Chaonola said of the higher-level students in St Michael's secondary school, Ballsbridge, Dublin.
Ordinary-level students were luckier still: they had yesterday morning off, having sat their single Irish paper on Thursday.
The literary comprehension on higher-level paper 2 tends to be difficult, Ní Chaonola said, but this year the piece on the curiosity of youth had real appeal; her students "loved it", she said. The poetry and the letter were also well received.
Paper 2 is quite long, however, compared to paper 1. "They really have to keep writing to the bitter end," Ní Chaonola said.
The students in Falcarragh Community School, Co Donegal, were also happy, teacher Hugo Martin said. "It was relatively predictable. Most students wouldn't have had any problems with it."
Hilari De Barra, a teacher in St Louis secondary school in Dundalk, Co Louth, was particularly impressed with the paper's glossy new look. "It's a big improvement, far more student-friendly."
He was also happy with the content. "The short comprehensions were very accessible. The first one was an especially nice little piece and the use of photos was very much welcome."
Although De Barra's students were comfortable with the content of the literary comprehension, the questions were a little difficult, he said. The unseen poetry, however, was easier than in previous years and the questions were very manageable.
The seen prose and poetry questions offered good variety, De Barra said. "Students had a good choice of characters and emotions to talk about in their answers.
He found it a good paper overall, but he too noted the testing time factor. "They get no time to rest on this one - it's very pressurised."
Foundation-level Irish was also examined yesterday. The aural was clear, with no difficult language or dialects, De Barra said. The written paper was well presented with lots of pictures and good, direct questions. The use of multiple-choice questions was particularly well judged, he said.
