‘Not enough time’ to write down the answers in aural section

JUNIOR Cert Irish students felt they didn’t have enough time to write down their answers during the aural part of the exams, according to teacher Robbie Cronin.

It was a problem at both levels, but worse for ordinary level students, said Mr Cronin, an ASTI subject representative and teacher at Marian College, Dublin.

Describing this issue as an “old chestnut”, he said “students of Irish heard the pieces only twice, as distinct from the other modern languages which are heard three times”.

But Mr Cronin said the composition and comprehension paper was well received by most students to whom he spoke.

He said “many were grateful they could understand the essay titles”.

Higher-level candidates were back in the afternoon for a “good and fair” poetry and prose paper.

Lamborghini

There were “no surprises” in the studied prose.

The unseen prose, about a Lamborghini hidden in a shed, was deemed “ageappropriate”.

The theme in the studied poetry was happiness and sadness, which students would have studied, but the unseen was “more challenging”.

One poem dealt with a form of whistling that helped some Jews escape from the Nazis.

Mr Cronin had a number of concerns about the ordinarylevel exam, including dated comprehension texts: one question referred to Ed Sheeran concerts in the future tense.

He also took issue with “confusing and childish” graphics in Q6 in the written section and with some terminology used.