Second Level

Jen Hogan shares parenting tips and tricks she has learned along the Leaving Cert holiday way

Half of schoolchildren have seen pornography by age of 13, including ‘very, very disturbing images’. Is there a case for a UK-style social media ban for under-16s?

Welcome question on Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry and Róisín Ní Riain, Irish Olympic and Paralympic medalists

Teaching Council to consider complaints about jailed teacher’s alleged trespassing at Wilson’s Hospital School in breach of court orders

Wordy questions leave students tight for time in 150-minute exam

Listening paper had no nasty surprises in questions one to four

Design and communications graphics test presents several problems, but generally manageable, say experts

Parents suggest extra marks could help level the playing field for dyslexic students

Ordinary-level paper also had plenty of choice and some nice topics, say teachers, but ‘there was a lot of English and reading’

Higher-level paper had a ‘few fresh angles that required students to think’, says teacher

Majority of questions were approachable to students of all levels, says teacher

Students either knew the answer or did not, as ‘no room for reasoning’

Ask the Expert: ‘He knows the stuff, but he can panic on the day of exams’

Students found history and maths particularly challenging

‘This paper gave students a lot of opportunities to show their knowledge of the subject’

Teachers report accessible questions, familiar vocabulary and manageable grammar

‘Paper contained questions on household extensions and adapting them for ... disabled or elderly people’

‘A good, balanced paper allowing students to display their knowledge’

Reduced emphasis on exams can suit some students

Irish exam is far more demanding and arduous on the student

Gap between the reading scores of children in Deis versus non-Deis schools widened after pandemic, report says

No major shocks, but very few questions that could be described as highly predictable

Some feel the higher-level paper was accessible and fair, but others think it contained tricky vocabulary

State Examinations Commission apologises for error, which will be taken into account in marking

Prose and poetry questions were approachable but some of the reading comprehensions may have been challenging

Mother of student with dyslexia made the difficult decision that her daughter shouldn’t sit the exams

Hildegarde Naughton’s announcement is disappointing

Spiralling exemptions are being driven by increased diagnosis of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, says report

Don’t let a tricky maths question put you off piano tuning as a career

Hopefully, Leaving Cert students who left school halls drained and miserable last Friday after the higher-level maths paper were a little happier following the second paper

Ordinary-level Leaving Cert Irish paper considered fair, manageable and accessible for students

Jean Kelly, a maths teacher, said that the ordinary-level paper was fair, modern and thoughtfully designed

Psychotherapist Colman Noctor would much prefer to see a child approaching the exams in a ‘chilled’ fashion, rather than ‘stressed out of it’

Jen Hogan: Three months of nothingness lies ahead for some secondary school students

Irish teacher Hugh Gallagher suggests it’s better to stick to simple, accurate sentences when writing answers, as opposed to more complex ones, where mistakes can occur

How do famous former boarders view their time at school now?

Kat Ruane (18) has ADHD and dyspraxia, and finds it hard to manage the timings of exams

A broad education is important, especially in the early years, but by senior cycle many students are ready to build on their strengths

Okay, it was a short week, but it probably didn’t feel like that for anyone sitting the tests.

Students were generally relieved with an approachable higher-level maths paper one, but the element of choice allowed them to swerve trickier questions, teachers said.