Leaving Cert Exam Tips
In today’s Irish Times, ‘expert teachers’ give last-minute exam tips for the Leaving Certificate, and apparently I’m one. Here’s what I said for English. However, space is very constrained in the newspaper, so here is a more thorough version (Higher Level only)
The most important thing to bear in mind this year is that the reduction in questions you have to answer means that you have a lot of time to plan, to write with ambition, and to revise your work.
Paper 1 (Language)
You have a choice of 6 tasks. Read all 3 comprehensions: be certain you can answer all three questions if you choose to do one of these. If there is one tricky question or word, do not attempt that option. If you want to do the B composition instead, again make sure you understand exactly what you have to do. If there is a word you’re not sure of, do not choose that essay option. Cover all the elements of the question (set them out as bullet points to make that clear - there are often three).
The main Composition is now worth 36% of the entire grade: take your time, write carefully, read through it at the end and improve it. This is the task that will have the biggest impact on your final grade. Although ‘enjoyment’ may not be the first thing to occur to you when ‘Leaving Certificate’ floats through your mind, this is one area where you really can enjoy writing, and that sense of engagement and enthusiasm will definitely come through to the examiner. You have plenty of freedom, and you can speak your mind: you are ‘just’ a number, and the examiner knows no more than that.
Paper 2 (Literature)
Again, there is a lot of time. You can spend 100 minutes on each question, so make the most of that time. Candidates in other schools will!
If you have prepared poetry, and the poet you want does not appear, or the question is very tricky, you can at least switch to the comparative or single text if you really need to. The Unseen Poem now can be addressed without rushing: read it three times with a pen in hand, marking it. Give an honest and detailed response. The examiner is not looking for a ‘right’ answer: if you show yourself adept, responsive and aware of the ways poetry works, then you will get a high mark.
If doing Othello as the single text, there is a limited number of questions that can be asked compared to other Shakespeare tragedies. You will always write about Othello and Iago, whatever the question. One theme would be good to prepare in advance: the influence of race, so prepare a body of relevant quotations on that. More resources on Othello, including quotation self-testing Quizlets and revision thinking exercises.
Good luck…