Dear Parent/Guardian,
I am writing to you in relation to your child’s upcoming mock examinations. This is a very important year in your child’s education. Giving students the experience of being in an examination situation is one of the key reasons why mock examinations are now an integral
part of their preparation for the State examinations in all schools. They give students the opportunity to experience real-life examination style conditions. Feedback from the mocks will then inform and direct a student’s final preparation for the State examination.
The mock examinations provide an opportunity for students to get feedback on their performance in two ways. Firstly from the act of sitting the examination in real- life conditions, they begin to understand how they react to:
• Stress. It is not uncommon for students to be stressed about the mocks, but the mocks give students and their families’ time to develop strategies to deal with this before the examinations in June.
• The unexpected questions
• Examination timing etc.
This form of experiential feedback helps students to regulate their own performance, thus contributing to their long-term success.
The second form of feedback which students receive is the professional feedback from their teachers. Teachers will provide them with an accurate overall assessment of their progress in each subject, but more importantly, students can see exactly where they gained and lost marks
on a question by question basis, allowing them to establish their strengths and weaknesses.
The Junior Cycle mock examinations will take place from Wednesday 1st to Friday 10th of February, excluding Monday 6th of February.
A few important things to note:
• If students do not have any exam on a particular day/morning, they stay at home to study. This will not be regarded as a day’s absence.
• If students do not have an exam on any afternoon, they sign out and go home.
• If an exam finishes before the end of the school day, there will be a study room available until the end of the school day.
• If students have an exam in the morning, they are expected to attend Treoir as normal so their attendance can be taken.
• Students are asked to remain in the exam centre until the end of every exam, only then can they go home, if it applies to them. Exam finishing times vary from day to day.
Please make sure to take note of these times.
If you have any questions in relation to the mock examinations, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school at reception@ballymakennycollege.ie.
Download the JC Timetable by clicking HERE.
Kind regards,
Ann-Marie Comaskey
Assessment Co-Ordinator