Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

We all partied

The recession is popping up a lot on Leaving Cert papers this year

First they were asked to analyse budgets for families on the dole, now it’s essays on poverty and calculating youth unemployment rates.

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN has now made its way onto exam papers for Leaving Certificate students with a number of the papers so far including questions that are related to the recession.

Last week, students sitting the Home Economics paper were asked to analyse the households budgets for four families on the dole.

Today, the higher level Irish Paper 1 included an essay choice on Poverty in Ireland, or An Bochtanas in Éirinn.

StudyClix StudyClix

The higher level Maths Paper 2 also featured a question related to the downturn, with students given census data from 2006 to 2011, showing that our population of young people is growing rapidly, as well as our unemployment rate.

StudyClix StudyClix

Students were then asked if they agreed with the statement that “the changes reflected in the data from 2006 to 2011 make it more difficult to balance the government’s income and expenditure”.

Luke Saunders, teacher and founder of Studyclix.ie said today that students sitting today’s papers will be “left in little doubt that we are in recessionary times”.

This year’s exams are certainly of their time; we’ve had Seamus Heaney on both English papers, dole budgeting on Home Economics and now “poverty in Ireland” as an essay title on today’s Irish exam, I can only imagine the doom and gloom the Economics paper must hold!

Over all today, students were pretty satisfied with the papers, though a survey afterwards found just 26 per cent of students think Irish should be a mandatory subject. There was a contrast between the reaction to last week’s difficult higher level Maths Paper 1, with students sitting the second maths paper describing it as either “fair” or “easy”.

 Read: Leaving Cert students asked about how to cope ‘on the Dole’>

Read: This question on the Ordinary Level Maths paper today was ‘ridiculously simple’>

Read: Justin Bieber’s name was spelled wrong on the Leaving Cert English Paper 1>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
18
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.