Madam, - As a sixth-year school student, I am writing to complain about the new history syllabus for the Leaving Certificate.
This is the first year studying the new syllabus, and unfortunately it has not been an enjoyable experience.
The main problem with the course is that it is too long; we have to read four books which amount to 1,000 pages and on top of this we have to do a project called a research topic.
This, coupled with the fact that we are the first year doing the exam, with only one sample paper to go on, makes for a very daunting history exam in June.
Many students are also worried about the fact that the new course is testing students' writing abilities more than the previous course, which seems to be saying to the students that they have to be good at English to attain a high mark. - Yours, etc,
RORY MURPHY, Blackrock, Co Dublin.