Irish Paper 2 (H): There were a lot of surprises on this paper
Comment/ analysis on Irish Paper 2 (Higher Level) from Clare Grealy, Irish teacher at The Institute of Education.
There were a lot of surprises on this paper. A number of topics that were not anticipated appeared. Nevertheless the questions that did appear were very student friendly. If students had held their nerve they would have been okay, as the questions asked were, while surprising, straight forward and fair. This paper shows that the entire course has to be studied in preparation for this exam.
Question 1: Comprehension
The topical themes of the Olympic Games and climate change appeared in this section. Questions on both comprehensions were very straight forward and the vocabulary used would not have posed any difficulty to students. Many students would also have prepared the theme of climate change in anticipation of Paper 1’s essay section.
Question 2: Prose
The appearance of the story Oisin I dTir ne nOg would have surprised students. Many would have expected An Gnathrud to appear, as it is the only story that has not been examined to date. There is the danger that students may have been putting all their eggs in one basket, and it shows that the entire course has to be studied in preparation for this exam. In the story that was asked, the questions were very straight forward. There were three parts and students had to answer two out of the three. If the work had been done, it would have posed no difficulty.
Question 3: Poetry
Again, there were surprises in this section. Many students would have anticipated Geibheann, due to the fact that is has not appeared to date on the paper. The questions themselves were straight forward, had the work been done.
In relation to Question 3, students were asked to talk about the adjectives in the poem. Unless this had been studied in class, students would have had a difficulty in this section.
Question 4: Additional Literature
Students have a choice of six sections, with An Triail being by far the most popular choice. The question itself was straight forward, but the answer would have been quite lengthy and would have taken the form of a summary answer which is unusual. Students would need to have been careful with their timing here.
The poem featured in Question 4 (F) was Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire. This would have been widely anticipated. The questions were nice and manageable and very similar to those recently asked on mock papers.