Test your census knowledge with 'superb' Leaving Cert geography exam; Students 'happy' with Junior cert history 

Test your census knowledge with 'superb' Leaving Cert geography exam; Students 'happy' with Junior cert history 

Sixth-year student, Matt Maher, from Bishopstown Community School, Cork, chats with Principal Edwina Gotstein after a Leaving Cert exam. Picture: Cian O'Regan.

Leaving Cert geography offered plenty of options for well-prepared students, with a “superb” selection of fair questions and an appearance of data from Census 2022.

The 2023 State exams continued this Friday morning, with Leaving Cert geography and Junior Cycle history.

The 2023 Leaving Cert geography exam included questions based on topics such as a glacier avalanche in Italy, European air transport and Irish unemployment.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Junior Cycle history exam featured the story of concentration camp survivor Tomi Reichental, who was born in Slovakia in 1935 and came to live in Ireland in 1959.

Students were asked to read an extract of his memoir ‘I Was a Boy in Belsen’ in which he describes how his family was transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944, and answer questions.

After prompting outrage last year, the new common-level paper again did not include the marks allocated for each question. 

The 2023 higher-level geography exam was very fair and used clear concise language, according to Edmond Hussey, head of geography at Christian Brothers College, Cork, and subject representative for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).

“Students had plenty of choice in all sections, and any reports I have heard back from students are resoundingly positive.”

“I was pleased to see data presented in a range of different ways, including Census 2022 preliminary results in short answer questions.” 

This data included an illustrated graph of housing, population, migration, and vacant housing stats.

This year’s short questions were very fair, Mr. Hussey added, and students would have been happy to see a landform development in question 2b, as well as the deposition process appear in a question in the physical geography section.

Students can sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of topics to be covered in the regional geography section, he said.

“But on this paper, there was a superb selection of fair questions.” 

The choice in the Human Elective section was also “excellent” with some questions on land use, changing migration patterns to and from Ireland since 1950, and the impact of either the development of resources, income levels or technology.

The ordinary level exam was also “very manageable for those happy to demonstrate the range of skills that were tested”, Mr. Hussey said.

It contained no surprises, and also made good use of photos, he added.

The exam tried to be topical with articles on a recent earthquake in Afghanistan, Irish seafood data from 2021, the new solar farm in Ashford in Co. Wicklow, and the draft development plan 2022 for Dublin port.

“I thought overall it was a fair paper. It would have suited a lot of students. A lot of them will be happy.” 

There were a lot of smiling students coming out of the exam centres today thanks to fair Leaving Cert geography papers, according to Marie Kennedy, subject representative with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI).

“The questions on both papers were wide-ranging, covering a range of skills and with great question choice due to the adjustment of the leaving certificate for 2023 which was welcomed.”

“If the student had covered the course options they selected and revised well, they would have been able to manage the questions with ease.”

Meanwhile, the 2023 Junior Cycle common-level history paper again did not display each question's associated marks for the second year in a row.

The 2023 geography Junior Cycle exam was also missing the associated marks for each question.

However, the content of this year's exam was very fair, according to Niall Westman, a history teacher at Mountmellick Community School in Laois.

Student feedback from his own class indicates they are all “very happy” after the exam, he said.

“I’m happy with it as well, I think it's fair and there’s a good mix of higher and ordinary level questions in it, which would suit the vast majority of students.”

“The document questions were very good, there were some good picture questions. There was one that I was a little bit disappointed with; I thought something on Good Friday might come up.”

“It didn’t, the question was about the Troubles and what contributed to the outbreak of the conflict in Northern Ireland.” 

“I still think students would be happy with that paper.”

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