Amid all the rumours from know-alls, certain facts on the exams can be taken for granted
1 English Paper 2 is a bit like Russian roulette
This afternoon, higher level candidates face a three hour 20 minute marathon. As they enter the exam hall only one question will obsess them. Did “my poets” come up?
It’s like a game of Russian roulette. Study the right poets (those who come up) and it’s happy days. Get it wrong and you are snookered.
Some years ago, there was a national controversy when the much-tipped Eavan Boland failed to appear. Today, the hot tip is Sylvia Plath – but this could be right or wrong.
It’s a daft way to run the exam. What’s wrong with telling students they will be examined on specific poets – and moving on from there? Why should the English exam be the way it is?
2 You have to stay in the exam hall for at least 30 minutes
We all recall our cheeky classmates who strolled casually out of the exam hall only minutes after the superintendent doled out those dreaded papers. Maybe that was you?
In any case, the State Examinations Commission says all students must remain in the hall for at least 30 minutes – no ifs, buts or maybes.
And don’t think you can pick up those cog notes by visiting the toilet during the exams. The commission says superintendents will search cisterns before and during the exam to ensure there is no foul play. It all reminds us of that great scene in The Godfather when Al Pacino retrieved the gun from the bathroom . . .
3 That Drogheda superintendent never got any more work from the State Examinations Commission
We all make mistakes, but few were as costly as an incident in a Drogheda school three years ago when the superintendent handed out Paper 2 instead of Paper 1 to Leaving Cert English candidates.
Within the hour, Twitter was alive with the details of Paper 2 – which was eventually rescheduled for a Saturday morning at a cost of €1. 9 million.
It is hard not to feel some sympathy for the superintendent. In an earlier age, his honest mistake might not have raised a ripple, but the Twitterati ensured it spread like a bushfire.
The exams body says it won’t comment on individual employment contracts – but we hear the superintendent in question has not sought any more exam work.
4 Home economics is not a breeze, you know
If you think Home Ec is all about apple tarts and knitting, think again. In many respects this is perhaps the most contemporary Leaving Cert paper, with elements of sociology, household budgeting and biology. The subject still has an image problem. Only about 12,000 take the exam and – no surprise here – only 2,000 of them are male.
Home Ec needs to be pulled out of the shadows. It is vital, modern and highly relevant. It is a Leaving Cert subject which could do with a good marketing manager.
5 You will always remember the play and the poet that came up in your Leaving
Even through the mists of time, I can still recall those questions about King Lear and that tricky essay on Thomas Kinsella.
Leaving Cert English is like that – it will stay with you long after you have left the exam hall.
You will also always remember your Leaving Cert English teachers, perhaps more than other teachers in the school. It is the English teacher who opens up your imagination and who (hopefully) infuses you with a life-long love of the subject. Every year, media coverage of Leaving Cert English will make you nostalgic for those sunny days way back when.
Now, where did I put my copy of Soundings?
