sample short story essay leaving cert

Really Useful Links for Writers: Leaving Cert Essay Writing

Paul FitzSimons

• 29 May 2014

I have good news – the weather will be beautiful next Wednesday. The sun will shine, the skies will be clear, the temperature will be in the twenties. How do I know that? Because it’s the first day of the Leaving Cert Exams.

Besides being the unofficial start of summer, Day 1 of the Leaving is also English Paper 1, the culmination of two years’ work for around fifty thousand English language students.

The Leaving Cert English exam is divided into two papers – Paper 1, which is all about comprehension and composition and Paper 2, which covers The Single Text , The Comparative Study and Poetry. Like the other two-part exams Maths and Irish, English 1 and 2 happen on two different days – the first Wednesday and Thursday mornings of the schedule. Maybe this is to give brains and hands a chance to recover from a hectic morning of essay-writing.

Besides having the aptitude to tell a good story, writing essays at Leaving Cert level requires certain acquired skills, most of which we learn over the years of study prior to the exam. However, there are some aspects of writing the perfect essay that we don’t necessarily pick up or, with the deluge of knowledge that we’re trying to take in, have slipped from our memories. Thankfully, there are plenty of online resources that will fill in those gaps and also offer some additional advice on writing, organisational and time-saving that will prove invaluable on the day.

On the ever useful website LeavingCertEnglish.net – seriously, I wish this had been around in my day – we are given an invaluable guide to preparing for and then sitting down to English Paper 1. Their pages include advice on approaching each essay, what needs to be covered to achieve a passing mark and what flourishes will help to get that all-important A.

After sitting his Leaving Cert in 2011, student and blogger Aidan Curran decided to take the lessons he learned during that traumatic year and share them on his website. His post How To Get An A In English Essay Writing takes us through everything we need to remember coming up to and during the exam. He reminds us that, as essay-writing is not something we can memorize, it makes it both the easiest and most difficult part of the exam.

Most of the above applies to Paper 1 of the exam. Of course, there are also some essays to be written for Paper 2, which deals with curriculum’s prescribed texts, such as the play, novels and poetry. The Clevernotes website offers us some invaluable advice on tackling the second English paper compositions, suggesting that, in order to form a cogent and coherent response to the question asked, an essay must always contain an introduction, a number of well-focused body paragraphs and a conclusion.

For some slightly more tongue-in-cheek advice on essay writing, we can watch video blogger Clisare’s video on Entertainment.ie. She takes us through her unique thoughts on writing both English and Irish essays. She does offer some interesting insight but the fact that she advises us to remind the teacher that ‘Irish is a dead language’ suggests that we should probably take most of her tips with a grán salainn.

If you feel an online tutor will be able to help, check out TutorHunt .

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” – Sydney J. Harris

A Whole Website Dedicated To It.

LeavingCertEnglish.net has all the advice, information and sample exams we need to tackle the Paper 1 essay.

“”Stick to the topic. Have plenty of ideas. Identify problems but also offer solutions.”

http://leavingcertenglish.net/2012/03/inspiration/ .

Them’s The Rules.

LeavingCertEnglish.net takes us through six important rules for writing the perfect essay.

“It’s really important to grab the reader’s attention. Use a quote, or a series of rhetorical questions, a list, or a vivid description.”

http://leavingcertenglish.net/2011/05/six-rules-of-essay-writing/

From The Horse’s Mouth.

Recent Leaving Cert student Aidan Curran takes us his advice on Essay-writing, based on his own experience.

“Obviously, when you get the essay titles first you say “That’s it, I’m screwed, we’ll call it a day”. But if you just look at them, you’ll realise that they can be changed to your strengths.”

http://aidancurran.com/how-to-get-an-a1-in-english-essay-writing-aidan-curran/

It’s Not All About Paper 1, You Know.

English Paper 2, which deals with the subject’s prescribed texts and poetry, also involves some essay writing. Clevernotes tells us how to tackle it.

“The most basic principal of essay writing is that it should be structured. Your essay must form a cogent and coherent response to the question asked.”

https://www.clevernotes.ie/english/hl/leaving-cert/how-to-write-a-paper-two-essay/

And Lastly, Some Proper Serious Advice (Or Maybe Not)

Vlogger Clisare gives us her unique take on Essay Writing.

“Always end English Language essays with ‘…and then I woke up.’ Teachers love that.”

http://entertainment.ie/wtf/WATCH-How-to-write-a-leaving-cert-essay/191520.htm

(c) Paul FitzSimons

About the author

Paul FitzSimons is a screenwriter and novelist and has written the novel ‘Burning Matches’ and a number of scripts for film and TV. He has worked as a storyline writer on RTE’s ‘Fair City’. His short stories are published in ‘Who Brought The Biscuits’ by The Naas Harbour Writers. Paul likes crime thrillers, good coffee and Cadbury’s chocolate. He doesn’t like country-and-western music or people who don’t indicate on roundabouts.

Paul also runs the  Script Editing service Paul | The | Editor .  paulfitzsimons.com

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• Leaving Cert. English (Higher) 2019: Paper 1 Section II Composing
• Back to the question >

Preparation

Throughout your Leaving Certificate studies, be curious in all of your subjects. Read widely and write regularly. General knowledge, regular reading and writing will make you an interesting, articulate and quick-thinking student — three attributes that are necessary in responding to Leaving Certificate English papers.

Don’t stick to one style or one particular genre. Write in a variety of language categories:

• Information

Take care with your penmanship. Your writing must be legible and good handwriting will create a good first impression.

If you have built up a number of good written pieces, keep them for reference. You may well be able to utilise some of your ideas and techniques in the actual examination.

Read carefully what your English teacher writes about your written work. Re-write your work to improve it and learn from your mistakes.

This essay is worth a quarter of your entire marks for this examination. Its importance cannot be overestimated!

In the examination you should spend approximately one hour and twenty minutes on this section.

Remember you will be marked under the following criteria:

• Clarity of purpose (30%)
• Coherence of delivery (30%)
• Efficiency of language use (30%)
• Mechanics (10%).

1. Write a descriptive essay which captures a sense of the difference between dawn and dusk and celebrates both the beginning and the end of the day.

• Your essay must be descriptive. Concentrate on creating images and atmosphere for the reader. Consider a multi-sensory approach. Aesthetic use of language would be particularly effective in this task.
• Plan this essay carefully. Try to create a lively and engaging piece for the reader.
• Use figures of speech in your essay. This should create images for the reader.
• Consider how the landscape reflects the difference between dawn and dusk. What images are clear for you? How can you celebrate both the beginning and end of the day?

2. Write a short story, suitable for publication in a collection of spy stories, in which a librarian, a photograph and a chair are central to the narrative.

• You must write a short story. You can take a variety of approaches but generally, all short stories have a beginning, middle and end, have at least one character, and have some sense of tension, climax and resolution.
• Ask yourself questions to create ideas:
• Beware of creating an over-long timeline. You have limited space and time. It would be impossible to cover a character’s entire life in 2-4 A4 pages.
• Try to stick with 1-3 main characters.
• You have a long time to write this essay. Re-read what you have written to check it for mistakes.
• Create atmosphere and images for the reader — it will improve your writing.
• Your story must be a spy story. It must also involve a librarian, a photograph and a chair. These items must be central to the narrative.

3. Write a personal essay in which you reflect on what feeds your imagination.

• This title gives you the opportunity to take several different approaches but remember it must be a personal account. Your ideas should be at the heart of the essay.
• A personal essay should have a degree of personal reflection. You should not just tell a story or present a few anecdotes. You must personally reflect.
• Remember how you will be awarded marks in this section:
• 30% for clarity of purpose.
• 30% for coherence of delivery.
• 30% for efficiency of language use.
• 10% for mechanics.
• Your essay must show your reflection on what feeds your imagination. You might consider some of the following:
• Daydreaming
• Conversation.

4. Write a short story which captures the evolving relationship between two characters — one young and one old — as they travel in a strange land.

• See the notes on writing a short story in Question 2 above.
• Your essay must include the following:
• An old character
• A young character
• An evolving relationship
• Travel in a strange land.

5. Write a discursive essay about some of the items you think symbolise the values held by people of your age in Ireland in 2019.

• This is a discursive essay. You need to discuss what you think symbolises the values held by people of your age today.
• Ensure that you have strong views and that your essay is lively and interesting to read.

6. Write a personal essay in which you reflect on some of the places that have helped to shape and define you, and the significance of these places in your life.

• Think about the some of the places that have shaped and defined you. Can you describe them and say why they were so influential?
• Discuss the significance of these places.

7. Write a speech, to be broadcast online, for or against the motion: We are a self-obsessed generation.

• Consider the following devices:
• Reaching out to and directly addressing the audience.
• Rhetorical questions
• Vivid and contrasting imagery.
• Ensure that you show from the beginning of the task that it is a public speech. The examiner must know that you understand the genre.
• Thank your audience for their time and attention at the end of the speech.
• This is a debate speech, which has certain structures such as addressing the chairperson, adjudicators, etc.
• The speech will be broadcast online — consider how that may influence the text of your speech.
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Short Stories

PowerPoint: How to write a short story

A short story where a character faces a difficult decision

Redemption: A Short Story

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The Leaving Cert personal essay is a well loved and virtually permanent feature of Paper 1 (here is some evidence ).

It belongs in the 100 marks Composition section, the single biggest chunk of the English exam.

What is the personal essay?

It calls for a confessional, introspective tone.

Do you like the sound of these questions:

• Remember those times when you did not say what you really thought or felt. Why didn’t you? How do you feel about it now?
• How would you feel about a terrible event of your past if it happened today?
• What did you learn about building family relationships based on the experience of your parents and grandparents?

You get the message – this is serious life stuff! The Leaving Cert personal essay may be one of the only times you truly get to be yourself in a standardised exam.

The marking scheme allows us to interpret the term “personal essay”’ liberally, potentially even entirely or partly as personal (first person) narratives.

How to do well in the personal essay?

Reading such an essay, you should get the feeling that you are learning someone’s deeper thoughts and reflections. It shouldn’t feel like an opinion piece in a newspaper.

Even though a certain stream of consciousness quality is usually acceptable with these essays, remember that clarity (the P of PCLM) always gets priority .

By reading the correct and H1 sample essays below, you will learn how much to write, what kind of themes come up again and again and how you may be able to differentiate yourself from the crowd.

‘To live is the rarest thing in the world, most people just exist.’ – Oscar Wilde

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Personal essay about significant endings for Leaving Cert English #625Lab

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Personal Essay: Experience of Dramatic Arts for Leaving Cert English #625Lab

• Post published: November 9, 2017

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“The shoes of Irishness fit me well.” Write a personal essay in which you explore your sense of what it means to be Irish. (2001) This is a good essay…

Leaving Cert English Personal Essay: Pretence and Unvarnished Truth #625Lab

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“Let’s stop all this pretence and tell each other the unvarnished truth for a change.”   Write a personal essay in response to this statement. (2006) This is an essay…

Leaving Cert English Personal Essay: Useless Clutter #625Lab

• Post published: September 10, 2017

The village shops in Sara Baume’s novel contain a “surplus of useless clutter”.  Write a personal essay in which you reflect on the “useless clutter” that is a feature of…

Write a personal essay on the tension you find between the everyday treadmill and the gilded promises of life

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Write a personal essay on the tension you find between the everyday treadmill and the gilded promises of life. (2013) Themes: social norms, choice, philosophy, religion ‘To live is the…

Leaving Cert English Personal Essay: one or more moments of uncertainty you have experienced.

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