Doing the leaving when you're not Irish :o

frenchy1992

Hi everyone
First of all, I'd like to introduce myself as I am new on the forum ! I am 18, live in Charleville, Co. Cork and I am in 6th year this year so needless to say that... the pressure is on !!
Anyway, as you probably guessed thanks to my pseudonyme, I am french which is kind of a handicap as I have to sit the leaving Cert in my second language (even though it was my choice to do so). Imagine you had to sit the leaving in irish and you'll have an idea of how I feel though :P
I think the leaving cert is way too much pressure anyway.. This "race to the points" is very harsh.

By the way, if anybody needs help for french, I'm here !!

spurious

The balance is though, that you're more or less guaranteed an A1 for your French exam, which will not expect anything like native speaker standard.

Your other papers will presumably have a note to the correctors that English is not your first language. I have corrected such papers myself - in many cases I would not have known without being told.

seriouslysweet

Many people choose to sit their papers in Irish here but admittedly their first language is Irish. Your papers will have a note attached. Did you pick subjects like psychics and accountancy?

Coeurdepirate

pseudonyme
I have never seen that word before, and were it not for context, I'd have absolutely no idea what it meant.
Your English is brilliant, you'll be graaaaaand!

LilMissCiara

May not be right but as far as I know people who's first language is neither English or Irish who sit the leaving cert can apply for permission to use a dictionary. I know a few girls in my year did that for the Junior Cert (they were Eastern European). Ask your career guidance teacher about it (at least in our school thats who deals with things like that!)

At least you're almost guaranteed 100 points in French..!

Darius.Tr

I dont think that permision for a dictionary applies for leaving cert exams, well at least our career guidance teacher haven't told me anything about it...I think u can get an exemption for english exam so that if u make any spelling mistakes they will not count it, but im not too sure about that either.

LilMissCiara

Darius.Tr wrote: »

I dont think that permision for a dictionary applies for leaving cert exams, well at least our career guidance teacher haven't told me anything about it...I think u can get an exemption for english exam so that if u make any spelling mistakes they will not count it, but im not too sure about that either.

Are you sure? Not that I know much about it but I would think the Examinations Boards/Dept. of Education would have a case on their hands over education not being available to all or something.

goose2005

Darius.Tr wrote: »

I dont think that permision for a dictionary applies for leaving cert exams, well at least our career guidance teacher haven't told me anything about it...I think u can get an exemption for english exam so that if u make any spelling mistakes they will not count it, but im not too sure about that either.

No, you can use a dictionary for all exams except English - a Chinese guy in my year was able to do so.

Gordon Gecko

Yeah when I was registering for the exams online last night there was definitely a note about the use of bilingual dictionaries - though by the sounds of it you'll have scant use for one

Darius.Tr

So they should be giving out the dictionaries before the exam starts like they do with maths log tables so that there would be no notes inside of them that u wrote yourself?

MathsManiac

Here's the rule for the dictionaries:

http://www.examinations.ie/schools/S_01A_01_Use_Of_Bilingual_Dictionaries_in_the_Certificare_Examinations.pdf

frenchy1992

Thank you for all the infos everyone !

Your other papers will presumably have a note to the correctors that English is not your first language.

I never knew that ! I presume the correctors would be more understanding if there's any gramatical mistake in my answers as they will be aware I'm not irish !

At least you're almost guaranteed 100 points in French..!

Yea ! that's what I keep saying to myself when I try to figure out how many points I'd be able to get (I need 380 ). I'm just afraid to fail history or Ag. Science (dont ask me why I picked that subject +_+) which are 2 horrible subjects.. Especially history as I'll have less than 3 hours to write about 11 pages.. (the unfortunates doing this subject know what I am talking about hehe)

You also nicely pointed out that I'll be able to use a dictionary during the exams but it's not spelling or vocabulary I'm afraid of. It's more about writing fast enough and therefore being able to finish the questions on time as it takes me longer to do an essay than anybody else in the class.

Cat Melodeon

OP, be aware that you have to apply in advance for permission to use a dictionary in the exams. As far as I remember, the form is called D11 - your school should help you with this. The deadline is early enough so ask them about it now. You will not be able to use the dictionary in your French, English or Irish (if you're doing it) exams, but will be grand in all the other ones. The Dept of Education seems to be having problems with their website at the moment (like the rest of the govt...) or I'd link to the form for you - your school should have copies in any case.