Relief and happiness, after all the strain

LEAVING CERT ENGLISH PAPER 2 HIGHER LEVEL:"THE HOT favourites for 2009" that appeared on Wednesday's leaked paper showed up again on Saturday as Leaving Cert students sat a rescheduled English Paper 2.

“The paper seems to have been quite good overall,” teacher Anne Gormley said. “Everyone was happy to see Walcott, Keats and Bishop – the hot favourites for 2009 – even though many found the Walcott question quite challenging,” she said.

“Walcott explores tensions and conflicts in an inventive fashion,” was the challenging theme, but students had plenty more to choose from as Elizabeth Bishop, John Keats and John Montague also appeared, in line with expectations. Walcott, Keats and Bishop also appeared on the original paper scheduled for Thursday, which was withdrawn after students in a Drogheda school saw the paper erroneously on Wednesday.

“Overall the poetry questions were clear and straightforward, and all students here were very happy with this section,” Gormley said. “Two questions on Macbeth left plenty of room to explore many aspects and were not confining or restrictive,” she said.

“Cultural context” came up as a heading in the comparative section, which was also expected.

“Overall students were relieved and happy, given the strain of the last few days and nearly all felt very comfortable with the questions they had done,” Gormley said.

Teacher Sheila Parsons, of the Holy Faith School in Skerries, agreed.

“This was a very satisfactory paper. It shows that the State Exams Commission has very competent contingency arrangements in place. I’m very impressed with how quickly and smoothly it all came together.”

A number of students remarked that the extra time had given them an advantage. “I wasn’t ready on Thursday anyway!” one Skerries student said.

“The Macbeth questions were very approachable and the unseen poem by Anne Carson was lovely. Most of the students could have made a good job of that.

“I don’t believe any student would have been disadvantaged by that paper. If anything it might have been easier than the original,” Parsons said. “There was no need for panic.”

Alan Thompson, of Abbey Vocational School in Donegal, sounded a more reserved note. “This paper got a mixed reaction from students here. I think the paper was a bit of a mixed bag. In places it was quite a stringent test. One of the trends of recent years has been a narrower focus in questions.

“There was a nice selection of poets but the questions were quite narrow. Students would have needed a good working knowledge of the poetry.

“Overall it was fair but tough. The students made the best of the situation. It’s a relief to have it all over.”