ORALS 2011...

keeirs

I can most definatly picture myself fainting before my orals with nerves (like my older sister did!) so i really need some reassurance..I'm doing Honours Irish & German, my two WORST subjects (Im a D student..wayhey!) and sadly im stuck to relying on the orals to bring up my marks..

#1: how the hell am I going to calm myself before each of my orals? I cant even have a one to one conversation in irish with my grinds teacher, nevermind with a stranger for an exam that determines what i do in life (practically!)..

#2. I know the basic questions are about yourself, your family, your home town etc.. but are there any topics that should be expected to be asked simply because theyre in the media, current affairs etc...? What COULD they ask?

AndyC555

Why are you doing honours if you are a D student as you say?

Meller

keeirs wrote: »

#2. I know the basic questions are about yourself, your family, your home town etc.. but are there any topics that should be expected to be asked simply because theyre in the media, current affairs etc...? What COULD they ask?

Firstly, try not convince yourself that you're going to faint just because your sister did. Easy trap to fall into, but you're not her! Don't stress unneccessarily over that.

Yes, current affairs do come up. The expected topics would be fairly self-explanatory, there's no set list - the economy, the government, the environment, etc... you know yourself. There are plenty of phrases and such that can be learned that would apply to most topics, and learn some of the more obvious vocabulary to cover yourself.

A lot of people suffer from nerves - you can look up online ways of coping with that - but there really isn't any quick fix. Just don't focus on it; put it out of your head for now and spend your time learning the content as best you can. Even if you're nervous, an examiner will be able to tell whether or not you know your stuff.

keeirs

AndyC555 wrote: »

Why are you doing honours if you are a D student as you say?

sorry i should have mentioned that! I want to do primary teaching and im already doing pass maths so if i go down in another subject i'll be risking my chances of getting it! im improving on the irish at the mo..and germans only a matter of learning it i guess!

spurious

You owe it to all the kids you will potentially teach Irish to, to be as good as you possibly can at the subject.

Bonkers_xOx

Quick question... What happens if I do my oral at Higher level but decide afterwards that I want to do ordinary level in June. Should the marking in the orals not be different for each level?

Chemistry Ftw

Bonkers_xOx wrote: »

Quick question... What happens if I do my oral at Higher level but decide afterwards that I want to do ordinary level in June. Should the marking in the orals not be different for each level?

They don't know whether you are doing higher or ordinary level when you are being examined. All students get marked the same.

jimcoolding

My advice would be to relax. I got 83% in my Irish mock oral and I spoke some English in mine.

The examiners aren't there to take marks away from you, they are there to help you get marks so if you learn your stuff you'll be fine and do ok.

Also the examiners aren't some demons that will strike you down if you make a mistake so if you do forget something just try and relax and compose yourself.

Good luck!

keeirs

spurious wrote: »

You owe it to all the kids you will potentially teach Irish to, to be as good as you possibly can at the subject.

Im planning on moving to Scotland so I wouldnt be teaching Irish but my mom still wants me to get a degree here, just incase I wanted to come home.

TigerIsa

keeirs wrote: »

I can most definatly picture myself fainting before my orals with nerves (like my older sister did!) so i really need some reassurance..I'm doing Honours Irish & German, my two WORST subjects (Im a D student..wayhey!) and sadly im stuck to relying on the orals to bring up my marks..

#1: how the hell am I going to calm myself before each of my orals? I cant even have a one to one conversation in irish with my grinds teacher, nevermind with a stranger for an exam that determines what i do in life (practically!)..

#2. I know the basic questions are about yourself, your family, your home town etc.. but are there any topics that should be expected to be asked simply because theyre in the media, current affairs etc...? What COULD they ask?

I understand what you mean, I did my LC last year and I would always freeze up and make so many mistakes during orals even just practicing with my teacher for the last 6 years because i hated hated hated speaking the languages.
Before the orals you just need to keep speaking and speaking the languages even just to yourself at home so you become fluid in saying the words.
They can really ask anything but it usually stems from what you've said, they tend not to ask complete random questions (except in honours irish where they usually throw in a random modh coinniollach question at the end if you haven't already used it - this would be, what would you do if you were president/taoiseach/minister for education/prinicipal that you should have already prepared).

So even in english go through what you plan on saying in the oral and think of any questions someone could ask on what you're saying, they ask questions related to things you have mentioned so just be prepared for possible things you might be asked on! Most often they actually wont ask a question related to something in the media because they understand that you're in 6th year and under stress and haven't time to listen to the news let alone talk about it in a different language - they'll only question it if you bring it up.

Main thing is, don't worry too much about it, you'll be shocked at how fast the time goes it feels like only 2 minutes and you're out and finished, and most people do better than they thought they would. Best of luck, i'm sure you'll be fine

Bbbbolger

Try to learn how to dictate the conversation. Being able to manipulate questions to things that you have learned is a very handy ability. For example, in my mock oral I was asked if I agreed with the education system. I hadnt learned anything about the educational system but I managed to work it round to politics (which I had studied a lot) by talking about Fine Gael wanting to drop Irish as a subject. From there it was a mateer of casually bringing in more about politics and less about education.

lilyos

Apart from the usual topics like family, pastimes, school, and what you want to do after school, what else should I prepare for the Irish oral?? I am doind Ordinary level. Thanks!!

Holly91

lilyos wrote: »

Apart from the usual topics like family, pastimes, school, and what you want to do after school, what else should I prepare for the Irish oral?? I am doind Ordinary level. Thanks!!

you should really prepare the same topics the honours are doing...just in more simple irish!! im doing pass aswel and we have covered all about the recession,the banks crisis,the enviroment,the new taoiseach,would you go abroad if you didnt get work here...and then all the conditional qst aswel prepare!! they really can ask you anything as they dont know what level you are doing.....some people say the examiner knows as soon as you answer your first few Qst whether your pass or honours but even so you can still get asked about current affairs...its hell

Violafy

Have an mock Irish Oral (HL) on Monday. :eek: We got given the Sliochts in September and told to pick 5. I haven't looked at them since, oops. :rolleyes: I'll be relying on the 4 Gaeltachts I've been to to get me through the rest of it.
*dies*

seriouslysweet

Do a mock oral with someone who has loads of experience as an examiner and get detailed feedback, gives you something to work with. PM me if ye need any other help, I know two examiners here locally and both give great advice. They're not out to get you!

Rosewaterstone

just try and remember, the examiner is just an ordinary person, and they'll be trying their best to give you marks,they want you to do well! pratice your sliochts well as its the first thing you do in the oral and if you do it well it'll create a good impression and you'll gain marks. if you dont feel comfortable answering difficult Q's just learn your basic Q's well and maybe one Q on the economy (an dtuigeann tu have great notes on that!)....with your german oral, pay attention to questions on pic storys as most of marks go for them rather than describing pictures. with the roleplay,just read directly off sheet and throw in a few verbs here and there!.....you'll bee grand!:)....i have my german oral this Wed and irish following Tue!....at least when orals are over we're one step closer to being finished!Stay positive...take deep breaths and dont hang around people who are talking about orals as this will make you even more nervous!....Good luck!

J_E

Also don't forget, you don't always have to know the solutions for global warming and nuclear fallouts and all of that. If you don't know, don't pretend to know. They're only looking to see you say you don't know in Irish and maybe move onto something you do know about.

vamos!

Rosewaterstone wrote: »

...with your german oral, pay attention to questions on pic storys as most of marks go for them rather than describing pictures. with the roleplay,just read directly off sheet and throw in a few verbs here and there!

Not true! Uninterrupted narration of the picture story is worth 10 of 30 marks, future projection is worth 10 and general questions about individual pictures and the theme is worth 10. Prepare simple versions of the uninterrupted narration. It is easy to get good marks here. Same for the future projection. To be honest the questions about the pictures is the most difficult section. Prepare basics like saying what time the clocks say and describing the people in the pictures, but you are likely to find this section challenging.
As for the roleplays...if you are a D student you will not get away with looking at the sheet and throwing a few verbs. That is a recipe for disaster! Use the sheet to remind yourself of the keywords, but you need to have some prep done. Take your time in the exam, compose yourself and remember that the examiner is there to give you marks...alll you have to do is say a few sentences:)

pancakes rule

I'm quite worried about what they might ask. Our teachers have told us about some horrible questions; space travel, fixing a punctured tyre and about a water cooling plant :S