Exams

National Exams

The national curriculum requires all students to take an extensive series of examinations. Students must pass 6 exams to earn a Leaving Certificate at the end of high school. There are honours level, ordinary level, and foundation level exams.

Each subject exam usually lasts one entire day (broken into three hour periods). The harder the exam, the higher the number of points that can be earned. A Junior Certificate exam is given halfway through high school as a practice and guide for the more important Leaving Cert.

Dozens of subjects are tested. In one recent year, for example, six students sat the Hebrew exam - all from the same Hebrew school in Dublin. Since all scored an A in the exam, Hebrew is now the subject students throughout Ireland should take if they want the statistically greatest chance of scoring high.

The whole country is obsessed with these exams and the students are under tremendous pressure. As an example, the 2002 higher level Biology Exam was condemned by students and educators as a particularly poorly designed test and this story made the front pages and even became a lead story for radio and TV. A week after this test was over I was still hearing panel discussions about it on national radio shows.

Exams = University Places

College places are based on points earned in Leaving Certificate exams, and the points needed to enter any particular course keep going up and up. A perfect score is 600 points, and in 1997 it took a nearly perfect score of 585 to earn a place in the country's only insurance actuarial course. Veterinary medicine, Pre-med, dentistry, higher maths, law, and many other courses are so competitive that more than 500 points are required to have even a chance of securing a place.

Luckily, there are dozens of subjects in the sciences and humanities as well as many technical fields whose entrance points are much lower.

In 2000, there was one university or technical college place available for every two students in high school. As the last big demographic bulge of kids works its way through the system, every year it becomes a little easier to secure a college place. In 2000, the authorities figure everyone who wanted a college place was offered one.

Since then, it's gotten even better. More resources have gone to the Universities and Technical Colleges including more professors. Yet, the number of applicants continues to drop each year as the demographic bulge narrows and vanishes.

An example: In 1999, it took nearly 500 points to get into Trinity College's Science programme. By 2001, that had dropped to 360 points. In 2004 authorities began to predict huge vacancies in coming years at the Technical colleges. And in 2006, for the first time ever, there were more places available in the nation's colleges than applicants. At least till the next baby bulge kicks in around 2012, any student passing the Leaving Certificate will find a college place, though not necessarily their first or second or seventh choice.

What is also happening in the sciences, amazingly enough to me, is that many students are turning away from the subject because they are seeking more steady employment opportunities. I suppose that's why kids go to college - so that they can learn how the world really works.

Tough Going

So how tough are the exams? VERY!

My oldest daughter took her Leaving Certificate exams in Spring 2002 and still suffers the occasional exam hall nightmare. She figured that she sat 58 hours of exams including language orals and practicals in Art. There were no less than three full 6 hour days of testing as well as four half days. And nary a multiple choice question in sight. Everything was an essay, a diagram of a scientific process with all steps labelled and explained, or a multi-step computational problem with all steps needing to be shown.

My youngest daughter was 'should-have-been-in-the-hospital' sick during the first week of her leaving cert exams. But, it was take the exams or repeat the year so she struggled on and on. It was a lesson to me on the "Do or Die" stress that the exams place on the kids.

For your guidance a few examples from past exams are given. I think you'll agree that even the simplest of these tests (the Foundation Level) requires a very high degree of knowledge and intelligence. The fact that almost every child in Ireland passes these exams speaks volumes about the quality of Irish education.

There is a thriving Irish business offering exam advice. There are books on the shelves of every bookstore about the subject. Exams from earlier years are widely purchased and scoured for guidance.

Additional sites of use are provided in the Full Site.

History - Junior Certificate - Honours Level

Name two of the navigational instruments used by sailors to plot courses during the voyages of discovery.

Mention two aspects of farming which were improved during the Agricultural Revolution.

Mention two important changes in education in Ireland in the 20th century.

Write an account of the life of a textile worker living in a town during the first Industrial Revolution. Discuss *early life *Work in the factory *Housing *Health Care.

Write about ballads and songs as useful historical sources.

Write about the Inter-Party Government, 1948-1951.

Describe the main weaknesses of the Versailles Settlement.

English - Junior Certificate - Ordinary Level

Write a composition on ONE of the following:

A. My Home

B. Young people have too much freedom.

C. The laziest person I know.

Write a review of any T.V. drama series you watch regularly. In the review you might refer to:

the setting

the main character

the quality of the acting.

Write a review of a Novel/Short Story or Biography which you have studied. The review should consist of:

a very brief outline (30 words) of the story line;

a description of what you think was the best scene in the Book/Story;

one reason why others should or should not read this book.

Math - Junior Certificate - Ordinary Level

560 pounds is divided between A, B and C so that A gets twice as much as B and C gets twice as much as A. How much does each receive?

Find the mean of the numbers 2.8, 5.7, 3.5, 4.2, 2.9, 1.3.

Factorise 5ap + px - 5aq - qx.

Calculate the value of x in the diagram.

Math - Leaving Certificate - Foundation Level

3x + 2y - 8 = 0 is the equation of a line.

Write down the coordinates of three points of the line taking x values 0, 2, and 4.

Draw the graph of the line.

Use the graph to find k if (k, 1.5) is on the line.

Draw a histogram using the data in the Table:

$1.45 = 1 Pound on a certain day. Find in Pounds the value of $1800. Give the answer correct to the nearest penny.

A wall was measured in error to be 4.77 metres long. Its true length was 4.24 m. Find the error as a percentage of the true length.

Solve for x: 3x +2 +2x = 12.

Geography - Leaving Certificate - Honours Level

Examine how Plate Tectonics has revolutionised our understanding of the geographical distribution and causes of earthquakes.

Two of the major processes active in cities in the modern world are inner city decline and renewal, and suburban sprawl. Examine the causes of these two processes, referring to specific examples. Describe some of the solutions applied by urban authorities and planners in tackling the problems caused by one of the above processes.

There is a relationship between the size of a settlement and the range of socio-economic activities carried on within it. Exame the accuracy of this statement, referring to examples.

Analyse some of the factors which combine to make either the Mediterranean or Scandinavia a distinctive geographical region.

Economics - Leaving Certificate - Honours Level

Give one reason that will cause a movement along a demand curve. Give five reasons that will cause a shift in a demand curve.

State three means by which the Irish government might attempt to reduce significantly the National Debt and outline briefly the likely economic effects of each of these measures.

Outline, with the aid of a diagram, how changes in the level of investment affect the level of National Income.

Explain, with aid of an example, how the commercial banks can create credit (money).