Leaving Cert 2007 - History

Since last Thursday, the only thing I’ve been looking at is the blue examination papers and I was getting a bit bored of them! So I was pleased today to be sitting a higher level exam in the form of History. I said yesterday that it’s a course so vast that all you can do is pray that what topics you’ve studied come up in some shape or form on the exam! Of course you could spend the time praying doing some actual study instead. I like my way better though for today when I opened the paper I saw questions on everything I had studied… lucky me

The documents question was based on the GAA and while I didn’t do much study on it, the questions were nice and easy and the 40 mark essay was on a nice and broad topic (how did the GAA overcome the difficulties it faced). I just waffled on for a page and a bit about how they popularised the sports and tackled the Fenian influence in the organisation. Hopefully I’ll get close to full marks for the section!

Section Two was all about Irish History which is by far my worst area because of the many similar dates that you’re required to remember and despite my last minute efforts to imprint important dates into my brain, I forgot them all when I went to answer the question on Anglo-Irish relations following the foundation of the Free State. All I could do was include rough dates but I reckon the standard of my two and half page answer was around the C level.

I must say that I loved the 2 questions I did on European History. The Dictatorship and Democracy question I did saw me explain the main characteristics of Nazi Germany prior to WWII. I was able to rant and rave about education, the economy, propaganda, religion and the persecution of the Jews for a good while and I reckon the overall answer was worthy of maybe 75/100 marks, once again dropping marks for being unable to pinpoint certain dates! The other question wasn’t on The role of women as I had hoped… instead it was on the role of women and the changes in family and marriage. I was spoilt for choice! I was able bang off facts and figures relating to 40 years of change and was able to get in 8 decently sized paragraphs all filled with scrumptuous relavent information. I’d be disappointed if I don’t get 90/100 for it

Overall I reckon it went very well and am hoping for a low B or a high C. I was very nervous about it this morning but once I started writing there was no looking back and I left the exam hall after time was up today feeling as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders! I know many have finished their exams today, but I still have two left - German and Economics. Strangely enough I can’t wait for them!