As we head on into Week 2 of Leaving Cert 2024, today we said slán to Gaeilge with Paper 2 and said hello to the first of the science subjects - Biology.
With thanks to our friends at the Irish Second-Level Students' Union (ISSU) four students have kindly taken the time to tell us how they got on in Irish and Biology. Massive thanks to Máirín, Eabha, Laetitia and Eva Grace.
You can see the exam papers and get reaction from teachers in our Exam Review series.
But, let's get back to the young people. Watch Máirín's video on Paper 2 up top and click here to see her thoughts on Paper 1.
Laetitia Nouaha on Biology
Personally, Biology was one of my best subjects for Leaving Cert. As a result, I set very high expectations for myself. I felt that I had been working steadily throughout the year and I was prepared to show off all my hard work in the exam!
In section A, I found the short questions doable and I was able to answer five of them. Although, I was very surprised (and a little upset) to find no ecology short question as it had been a stable in Section A for a number of years now. I also found the definition question a bit off-putting, and thought it would have caught a lot of students out due to the similarities of the definitions.
In Section B, I was once again surprised to see how much detail was expected for each of the experiments with 24 marks going for stating steps of the experiment. Normally, the experiment questions require short answers as there is usually a lot of prompts given. I was also surprised to see that this year they did not put multiple experiments into one question, and kept each question strictly focused on one experiment.
In section C, I found I had an abundance of choice. I was able to complete nearly all the long questions to a fairly high standard. There were lovely questions such as the ecology and genetics questions that students would find familiar, and would be happy to see on the paper. The common section C questions like photosynthesis and respiration also made an appearance. Overall, I was quite happy with this section.
To conclude, I'd say that I was satisfied with how I got on, bar a few hiccups. Although, I believe that this paper was one of the most difficult and surprising paper to have appeared in the last number of years.
On to French!
Eva Grace – Scoil Mhuire Trim, Co Meath
Biology finally over and out! Being one of the longest, most jam-packed courses of them all, that's definitely a relief! I’m sure many Leaving Cert students just like myself are now flaked after a long day featuring both Biology and a heavy Irish Paper Two.
Starting off with the short questions in Section A, there was a good mix of topics thrown in here, from the digestive system to genetic engineering. We were all greeted by a lovely food question the minute we opened the paper, which undoubtedly put me at ease! Q3 in particular was one of my favourites on the paper, a question dedicated to Human Digestion. No diagrams needed here, unlike many other parts of the course, and questions were simple and straightforward!
However somewhere where people may have been thrown off is where we were asked to differentiate between two terms. Some – like ectothermic and endothermic – are usually learned together and easier to differentiate, but I would say "carpel" (the female reproductive organ of a flower) and "carpal" (a bone in the wrist) coming together from two completely different parts of the course caught a good few people off guard.
Coming to the experiments section, I must say I was a bit thrown off! I would say a lot of students were in the same position, as usually we are asked lots of separate questions on different parts of the experiment, where here we were just asked for the method, key conclusions and diagrams. The germination experiment had not come up since the 2022 deferred paper, with the other two even further back!
Definitely a plant-heavy exam, but Section C showed us some mercy with a good variety of human biology too. The ecology question was nothing short of lovely, mainly focusing on food chains and predation. Genetics and evolution came up together in Q15, and a fairly easy Punnett square was sought after. However, one to watch was the detail that the flowers showed incomplete dominance for one trait and not for another. Finishing on a high, the Leaving Cert Biology 2024 Paper ended with a nice simple question on Cell Division, Excretion, Fungi and Enzymes.
And that’s all for Biology! Not a bad paper overall, but little mistakes and an out of the ordinary experiment section may have thrown a few people off. Time to relax after a really long day!
Monday, 10 June
Eabha Kelly - Calasanctius College Oranmore
Another busy day of exams today and one that leaves me halfway through my Leaving Cert! The morning started with maths Paper 2. After a fair paper 1 I was confident, albeit a little nervous going into Paper 2. I always felt that Paper 1 was my stronger paper so I didn't have high expectations.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! The short questions were very approachable and followed the trends. I got very lucky: I only learned 1 theorem and it was the one on the paper! The long questions were certainly more challenging but again, there were no disasters. I had time to do an extra question in Paper 1 but I just about got the required questions finished in Paper 2. I have to admit, I’m delighted to see the back of Maths and to never have to worry about hypothesis testing again!
Sa thrathnona, rinne mé Gaeilge páipéar 1 ardleibhéal. Is é Gaeilge an t-abhar is fearr liom agus bhí mé an neirbhíseach roimh an scrúdú. Thosaímear leis an triail cluasthuiscinte. Cheap mé go raibh sé níos tapaí ná blian seo chaite ach fuair mé mórán freagraí. Tar éis an cluasthuiscint, leanamar ar aghaidh go dtí an ceapadóireacht. Rinne mé féin an aiste, rogha b, faoi cothromach agus naemhionnas i sochaí sa lae innui. Tríd is tríd, bhí mé agus an chuid is mó de mo chairde sásta le phaipéair 1. Anois, casann m’aird gi dtí phaipéar 2 sa mhaidin!
RTÉ Learn are here to help you prep and, more importantly, mind yourself over the next few weeks. We have lots of study and life tips to get you through it all! Good luck everyone!!
Here are some tips on what to eat, sleeping well and de-stressing.
Founded in 2008, the ISSU is the national representative body for school students in the Republic of Ireland. The ISSU is led by students, for students.
