THE Junior Certificate came to a close yesterday, with the Latin, Italian and classical studies examinations.
Ordinary and higher level students of Italian in St Joseph's College, Lucan, Co Dublin, were of the opinion that the papers was more difficult than last year's. Their teacher, Ms Maura McCarthy, who is also president of the Italian Teachers' Association, agreed with their verdict.
"The papers were demanding, but appropriate for the level of student," she said.
There were no problems with the tape, she said. It was very clear and there no particularly difficult words however, the pace was a little quicker than in previous years, Ms McCarthy added.
As with other modern languages, ordinary and higher level students listen to the same tape but answer different questions.
Higher level students had to contend with a series of two part questions in section A of the aural, while the ordinary level questions were quite demanding, Ms McCarthy said. The ordinary level aural was also demanding. In particular, ordinary level students found question 6 in section A difficult, she said. They were asked why there would be traffic disruption tomorrow, but had to sift through a lot of information to find that there would be a bus and rail strike.
The reading comprehension and written expression sections, on the ordinary level paper were fine, Ms McCarthy said. However, students found they had a lot of writing to do and they needed all the time they had to complete the paper, she said.
There was a difficult grammar section on the higher level paper, which demanded a knowledge of all of the tenses, she commented. The written expression and reading comprehension were as expected. The topic for the letter was a birthday present from an Italian pen pal, while the note concerned a telephone conversation about a lunch cancellation.
The higher level Latin paper was a fine one and students in Belvedere College, Dublin, were very happy leaving the exam, Latin teacher Mr Joe Thuillier said. In the set texts, they had a generous choice of three sub sections out of six. Students also had a wide choice in questions 5 and 6, the Roman history questions, Mr Thuillier said. While the translation was testing, there were no complaints, he added.
Mr Robin Millar, Latin teacher in High School, Rathgar. Dublin, said that the higher level Latin paper was very fair. In particular, he praised the questions on the prescribed text, from Ovid. They were a nice blend, with some questions asking students for factual information on the legends and others asking students for their opinion.
The questions on the unseen passages on both the higher and, ordinary level papers were cleverly devised, allowing students to include additional information on the ancient world, he said. As always, students lamented choice of vocabulary given them at the end of the unseen sages it was never those particular words that they had with, Mr Millar said.
In St Patrick's Gird School, Cork, relief was the mare motion as Junior Cert student closed their answer books on classical studies, their final exam.
Michael Barry, classical studies teacher, said that there were no problems overall.
However, he had a quibble with topic 9, which on Pompeii. At higher level, part which asked students to explain what use a family would make of the atrium of their house both daily and on special occasions", was too specific. Part (c) of, the same question was based on a photograph of a Roman temple in both ordinary and higher level papers. This photograph came from a specific textbook, Mr Barry said he suggested it should have been of a more general nature.
"Overall, candidates were reasonably happy. There is always a problem with time, as students have to tackle five topics in two and a half hours," he said.