The new Junior Cycle English exam is very different to the old course in that most of it is unseen; you won’t know what’s on the exam until you open it in June. However, thanks to the new Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) and the Assessment Task, this doesn’t make it any more challenging to prepare for. This guide will give you a broader understanding of the course and how to do well in it.
Guide
How to get a Distinction in Junior Cycle English
By Eve Lunn - 14 minute readEve got a distinction in her Junior Cycle English and in this guide, she shares her tips and tricks on succeeding in this subject.
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Introduction
Key information
Marks
Junior Cycle English is worth 200 marks. The final examination makes up 180 marks (90%) and the remaining 10% is achieved through the Assessment Task.
Timing
The exam is 120 minutes long. As the exam is worth 180 marks, you should spend no more than 3 minutes on a 5-mark question and no more than 10 minutes on a 30-mark question, etc.
Grading
You must complete two Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) which will be graded separately in your Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA). The new course's final examination grades are somewhat different to the old grading system so it’s good to keep this in mind if you are aiming for a certain result:
Descriptors
You will receive your CBA results in your JCPA in October and they will be graded using the following descriptors:
Exceptional
Above expectations
In line with expectations
Yet to meet expectations
CBA 1: oral assessment
The oral assessment is where you deliver a speech on a chosen topic. The purpose of this CBA is to help you develop your research and communication skills. It is important to remember you will not only be marked on how good your speech is but also on your preparation as well. Let's have a closer look:
Choosing your topic
You can choose any topic or issue you like (so long as you do the research and communicate it well). Brainstorming, reading and searching online are great ways of finding something to talk about and I recommend choosing a topic you're passionate about to make the process even easier. Once you pick a topic, you carry out an ‘exploration’ over three school weeks. Try and get your topic chosen early so you have more time to prepare for your presentation.
Carrying out your speech
Your speech can be a performance (drama, recitation), a presentation, an interview, etc. With so much to choose from, this CBA should be a fun experience.
Gain confidence through practice
Understandably, some people have a fear of public speaking or making presentations. Don't worry, you only have to do it in front of a teacher with a camera for three minutes. I recommend practicing in front of friends, teachers and parents so you can gain confidence (this is something that really helped me).
Student reflection
Afterwards, you need to complete a 'student reflection note'. This is your declaration of the part you have played in the assessment, where you talk about the work you did for this presentation. It is also a record of the resources used for preparation and finally, it provides you an opportunity to reflect on what you did well and how you might have done anything differently. Remember, you're marked for being able to evaluate your work honestly and not for a perfect presentation so write down everything you learned and anything that maybe didn't go to plan. For example, I wrote that I learned how to properly format a speech using the necessary techniques and that next time, I hope to be less fidgety with my hands.
Remember
This is a task which can be completed as a small group or individually.
CBA 2: the written assessment
This CBA is submitted in October of 3rd year. Not only is this CBA part of your Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement but it is also part of the Assessment Task, which goes toward your final grade. However, this isn’t something that’s done in 3rd year alone as you should be collecting your best pieces of writing from 1st year onwards.
CBA 2 allows you the chance to show off your writing skills by compiling a collection of your work. Your collection must be varied, however, with at least four pieces of work, each from a different genre (so you can show off your versatility as a writer). These genres may include functional writing pieces, autobiographies, poetry, drama or film script, etc. You can even write a piece overlapping two genres if you really want to impress, such as a descriptive poem or a humorous opinion piece. Let's have a closer look at this CBA:
Show off your best writing
You will pick your two very best pieces to submit. Your teacher will advise you on this and you should do rough drafts to make sure the end product showcases your best abilities.
Student reflection note
Afterwards, you have to complete a 'student reflection note' where you have to review your work and critique it. This accompanies each piece included in the collection. In this note, you’ll be asked why you chose each genre. For this, I wrote something along the lines of, "I chose a piece from the genre 'expressive pieces' because I feel that I am good at writing poetry and that I am strongest at this style of writing".
Personal reflection
You should keep track of what you've learned throughout this process. For me, I learned how difficult it was to compare pieces from different genres. I had pieces from the 'aesthetic language' and the 'argumentative language' as well as 'informative' and 'narrative' so I couldn’t decide which were best because they were all so different. Similar to CBA 1, you also have to mention what you would do differently next time. I wrote that I would get more guidance from my teacher in choosing my pieces.
The Assessment Task
The Assessment Task is a reflection on the learning outcomes for CBA 2. It is a test completed during a double English class or over two classes in the week. It is submitted to the State Examinations Commission (SEC) for marking along with the final assessment for English. It is worth 20 marks and it is an excellent opportunity to achieve 10% before you even enter the exam hall. The process is simple:
Step 1
Select your pieces
After you pick the two best pieces from your collection, list their names and genres and write an extract (100 words approx.) from one of these pieces into the booklet (this could be a paragraph, verse, etc.). I picked a poem I had written around the time we started studying Seamus Heaney, from the 'aesthetic language' genre and wrote this in for the extract. My second piece was a letter to the editor I wrote when Katie Hopkins appeared on the Late Late Show.
Step 2
Pick a question
Then, you must pick one of the following two questions to answer on the written extract:
a) Explain how two features of the extract you have chosen are typical of its genre.
b) Identify a change that you made in the course of writing this text that you think improved it and explain how it improved the text.
Step 3
Answer questions on the piece
You then have to answer two more questions on this piece. These are some examples from past papers:
- How did the things you've read help you to be a better writer?
- How did you work with classmates as part of developing your writing skills?
- How was a specific piece of feedback useful to you?
- How would you like to use your writing skills in the future?
Step 4
Discuss the prompts
In class 1 of the Assessment Task, you have to read/watch/listen to and then discuss one piece from the NCCA website. These are videos, recordings or letters in which people speak about their experience of compiling a collection of texts, what inspires them, etc. These so-called ‘prompts’ are to be discussed in class. You could discuss how your personal experiences of compiling your collection of texts are similar/dissimilar to those in the prompts or about the things the speakers said that you can relate to. For example, I listened to Sinead Gleeson, who said, "you can’t be a writer without being a reader" and that "there is inspiration everywhere". These words resonated with me as I was inspired by Heaney after reading his poetry.
Step 5
Consider the booklet questions
Your teacher will then give you the Assessment Task booklets, writing prompts and time to think. You should take your time to read the questions in the booklet and the writing prompts and think about how you might respond. Take as long as you need for this (some teachers might let you reflect on answers overnight). In this case, I would take note of the questions/prompts to look at them at home. If you need to, ask the teacher to read questions aloud and give you the meaning of words or phrases. After all, if you can’t understand a question, you can’t answer it so use the reflection period wisely.
Step 6
Fill out the booklet
In the second class, you will be supervised as you write your answers into the booklet. You can have your two texts, reflection notes and any previous drafts to refer to, examine and quote from (I would highly recommend doing this). After this 40-minute exam, you will hand up your booklet to a teacher with your exam number and this will be sent off to the SEC.
The final examination
The final examination is the first of your exams in June. It takes place over 2 hours and is worth 90% of your grade (180 marks). This exam is a little unusual as there is no real structure or set number of sections or questions. Your paper will have a theme and all the questions will then fit within this theme. It could be absolutely anything.
This exam will test your ability in three key areas, under which every question on the exam will fit the following criteria:
Responding to stimulus material
Stimulus material is material you haven’t seen before. It’s basically a fancier, more inclusive name for the unseen poetry, drama and fiction sections from the old paper but much broader. You could be asked about a poster, a website, a radio typescript, a brochure, etc.
This section tests if your English language skills go beyond learning off quotes from your studied texts so it's time to showcase your creativity skills. They are looking to see if you can think on your toes and answer questions on new texts in detail (I strongly recommend using the 'point, quote, explain' (PQE) technique).
Top tip
It is hard to study for this section but you can, however, practice responding to texts you haven’t seen before (there are lots of these in past questions on Studyclix).
Responding to studied texts
Studied texts are the plays, films, short stories, novels, and poems you’ve been studying since 1st or 2nd year. My advice would be to answer these types of questions first because you know everything about your texts. You know the quotes and techniques from each poem off by heart as well as character analyses. Therefore, any question that appears on the exam will be something you’ve either answered before or something very similar so you can manipulate your answer to suit it. This is your opportunity to show off your knowledge of the texts. Here is some advice on approaching this section:
Start preparing as early as you can
This section is easy to study for but is time-consuming so I advise hitting the books early on in the year.
Point. Quote. Explain
Your teacher has probably stressed the importance of quotes one-too-many times but they’re not wrong; quotes are essential to PQE paragraphs. PQEs are answers built upon making a brief point about the text, (e.g. a very erratic character) quoting the text (e.g. "this is shown when he says…") and explaining why this quote proves your point (e.g. "this statement shows that he never considers consequences to his actions. He is erratic".). PQEs are fact-based and so they almost always get full marks. Long story short, learn the quotes. Have a page of important quotes from each character and poem, etc. to reference when necessary or record them on your phone to listen back to.
Mind maps
I recommend making mind maps on various topics within your studied texts. You can make one for each of the characters from your respective novels, films and plays as well as for the themes and techniques from your poems. You can make them visually appealing to help you study or get an app such as Prezi to do it for you so you can revise on the go. Just put your topic (a character’s name, for example) in the centre of a circle with arrows extending from it to various keywords (‘villainous’, ‘naïve', etc.).
Visual/audio study
I swear by visual and audio study. You could try and get your hands on a copy of your studied films or go to a live performance of your plays (or better yet, see if there’s a film adaptation). You could even listen to people read your prescribed poems online. In my opinion, you can read notes all day long but you’re more likely to remember quotes, the plot and the order of events if you have a clear picture in your head of the text.
Key terms and techniques
To help you understand key terms and techniques, you could make an English dictionary full of words such as ‘onomatopoeia’ and ‘hyperbole’ so that if they come up on the exam, you're not stuck. You can also impress examiners by using these words when writing about your pieces.
Practice makes perfect
Practice, as always, is key. Memorising your notes is all well and good but doing questions from past sample papers over and over will ensure you’ve considered all areas of the text and improve your timing.
Personal opinion
At the end of the day, the examiner really wants to know what your personal opinions are so use phrases like, "I think that…" when responding to questions.
Top tip
A great resource for people studying Shakespearian material can be found at ‘No Fear, Shakespeare!’ online. It is very handy if you’re not up to speed with period language.
Writing for a variety of purposes
By Christmas of 3rd year, you’ll be able to write in almost any style from narrative to argumentative and everywhere in between. This section aims to see you write something on the spot to gauge your writing ability.
You could be asked to write a story, a script or a speech (to name a few) so you need to know the necessary formats for each such as where the addresses go on a letter, what techniques are used in a speech, etc. I was asked to write a dialogue so I had to know to put the names of the characters in block capitals on the left margin before every line they spoke and to skip a line after, etc. Here is some advice on approaching this section:
Spelling and grammar
Spelling and grammar are very important. To help with this I recommend reading lots between now and the exam as it’ll expand your vocabulary and give you some ideas. You could read the newspaper, letters to the editor, a novel or even blog posts on the internet. Every little helps.
Plan out your answer
In the exam hall, spend one minute of your time designing a mind map or plan for your piece. You might end up wasting more time thinking if you don’t plan.
Practice answers
Again, practice past papers, sample papers, homework assignments, etc. You could even ask your teacher to mark any extra work you do.
Remember
Nothing you write will go to waste as it can all be considered for CBA 2.
Exam tips
Exam Tips
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Get the balance
Don’t write too little or too much as you can be penalised for both. Fortunately, the new exam has assigned writing space so you should only need more paper if you have huge writing. Try to avoid neglecting sections just because you have loads to write in one.
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Only use blue or black pen
No pencil. And don’t fill in the barcodes or doodle with your pen as your exam will be scanned for marking.
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Order of answering questions
I would go to 'responding to stimulus material' questions first to read the text so you can be thinking about it in the back of your mind as you tackle the studied text questions after. Then, proceed to answer the stimuli and finally, the writing questions. This is how I tackled the exam and I left all my time until the end for writing a script. This prevents rushing the writing section.
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Use your time
Do not leave the exam early. Marks can only be gotten in the exam hall. If you do have extra time in the end, use this to improve answers and make sure every question is answered.
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Supervisor
You can ask them for help with understanding a question if you need to. They won’t answer it, nor give you a definition to a word but they will clarify certain things if they are generally misleading.
Don’t panic
In English, you don’t lose marks, you earn them. Work hard and practice and you’ll do superb.
Some final tips
for Junior Cycle English.
Get the balance
Don’t write too little or too much as you can be penalised for both. Fortunately, the new exam has assigned writing space so you should only need more paper if you have huge writing. Try to avoid neglecting sections just because you have loads to write in one.
Only use blue or black pen
No pencil. And don’t fill in the barcodes or doodle with your pen as your exam will be scanned for marking.
Order of answering questions
I would go to 'responding to stimulus material' questions first to read the text so you can be thinking about it in the back of your mind as you tackle the studied text questions after. Then, proceed to answer the stimuli and finally, the writing questions. This is how I tackled the exam and I left all my time until the end for writing a script. This prevents rushing the writing section.
Use your time
Do not leave the exam early. Marks can only be gotten in the exam hall. If you do have extra time in the end, use this to improve answers and make sure every question is answered.
Supervisor
You can ask them for help with understanding a question if you need to. They won’t answer it, nor give you a definition to a word but they will clarify certain things if they are generally misleading.
Don’t panic
In English, you don’t lose marks, you earn them. Work hard and practice and you’ll do superb.
Hope these help - you've got this!
Best of luck! You will be great.
By Eve Lunn
Eve Lunn is a student who got a Distinction in Junior Cycle English.