LEAVING CERT ENGLISH: HIGHER LEVEL PAPER 1:THIS YEAR'S Leaving Certificate kicked off with a "mysterious" theme as English higher level students were invited to consider suspense and mystery in literature.
The first exam was broadly welcomed, providing “plenty of choice and interest” for the 35,000 students taking the first English exam at higher level.
Some students expressed dismay at the short story option which required the solving of a mystery.
“The short story option was very narrow,” said Michael Doherty, a teacher at Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana. “This is the most popular choice on the composition section, so it will have thrown some students.”
Others were critical of the “mystery” theme which was described as “contrived” and “misleading”.
“The mystery theme was contrived and had the potential to mislead candidates by encouraging them to search for elements that were not prominent on the paper,” said Jim Lusby of the Institute of Education, who was unimpressed with the tone and theme of yesterdays higher level paper.
“This begs the question, why is English Paper 1 themed? The chief examiner has highlighted the dangers of candidates focusing on the lead-in to a composition task at the expense of the title itself, and yet this year’s paper exacerbated this problem.”
Recent English papers have seen a trend towards more defined options in the composition section to discourage students from learning essays off by heart, say teachers.
“English exams of recent years have shown this trend, perhaps to eliminate the idea of prepared essays,” said Alan Thompson of the Teachers Union of Ireland. “Students should be expecting this by now.”
Elsewhere in the paper, students were asked to consider the personality of journalist Lara Marlowe based on her Irishwoman's Diaryin The Irish Times. The article was about her love of cats.
They were also asked a series of questions based on an excerpt from Colm McCann's novel, Let the Great World Spin.
Teacher Anne Gormley welcomed the paper which her students found “delightful”. “In the Leaving Cert camp they were delighted – they all considered it a very fair paper and the topic of mystery was different from previous papers where basic human concepts such as the future or family or work and play had been included.”
Other composition options on the paper tasked students with describing their dress sense and what it says about them, or writing the plot for the modern fairy tale.
“Some of the composition tasks were limp, predictable and not particularly challenging, the worst offenders being the two trite personal essays ‘What you think is indispensable in your life’ and ‘Your clothes, what they mean to you and what they say about you’, and the condescending magazine article, ‘The impact of technology on the lives of young people’. These titles were accessible, but uninspiring and narrow,” said Lusby.
The three texts, which included a short story by Irish writer Kevin Barry, made for good quality reading, said one teacher, although the fact that all three authors were Irish resulted in a lack of range and variety in terms of material and perspective.
Students sit English Paper 2 today.
