Education

‘English paper two was always bound to be the most stressful of all ... the questions were quite odd’

Despite the curveballs, Daksh Wadhwa says he is happy to have it over and done with

Daksh Wadhwa (16), a Leaving Cert student at Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School. Photograph: Fran Veale

Daksh Wadhwa
Thu Jun 6 2024 - 19:07

The worst of my exams is over. English paper two was always bound to be the most stressful of all.

There are always lots of predictions about what five poets will appear, but unpredictability is the only certainty. With maths for instance, you know that if you have studied and understand your algebra and calculus, you are set; with English, anything could come up, in any format of words.

I was happy that all five poets we studied in school appeared on the paper, and I feel our teachers prepared us really well.

But the question on Slyvia Plath, who is a poet that many young people really like and relate to, was disappointing. We were asked about how the dramatic imagery we encounter in Plath’s poetry reveals her to be an insightful social commentator, but this is so different from what we looked at in school.

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Luckily, our teachers had covered other poets in good depth too, so I took on a question about Seamus Heaney instead. This asked us about how he uses a deceptively simple style to convey profound observations about people and places.

I wasn’t just thrown by the Plath question, however, as the questions on Hamlet were quite odd, especially the second option.

This asked us to discuss the aspects of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, that make it a surprisingly positive and hopeful drama.

It was only when I was ten minutes into answering this that I realised how hard it was. I could feel my heart thumping as this realisation dawned on me, and I was briefly panicked that I had wasted ten minutes of precious time in an exam that requires huge amounts of writing.

By the end, I just about managed to complete the paper. Despite the curveballs, I was largely happy with it – and very happy to have it over and done with.

Now that my own biggest hurdle is out of the way, I feel a mix of relief and tiredness.

I’ve done my best to take breaks over the past week, and I’m lucky that I have a basketball court beside my house, so I can shoot some hoops or play a game with friends to relax and unwind.

I feel I am reasonably prepared for the rest of the exams, particularly maths, which is one of my best subjects, and where I have been practising a lot.

Once all of this is over, I will get to celebrate my birthday – which fell during the Leaving Cert – and then I will fly to India to see family and friends near Delhi.

Then it’s back home, and into a new life at college. I have mixed emotions about this, as it will be a big change but, at the same time, I can feel the excitement begin to build.

Daksh Wadhwa (16) is a Leaving Cert student at Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School

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