LC Irish common mistakes
LC Irish · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In the listening paper, candidates write their answer while the second and final playing of the item is still running, so they miss the closing clause that often carries the decisive detail (a time, a negation, or a change of plan).
Panic about forgetting the first hearing makes candidates start writing immediately, and the Leaving Certificate format plays each item twice with a gap, so the last sentence is frequently where the speaker corrects or qualifies an earlier statement.
What to do instead
Use the first playing only to mark the topic and note keywords; write the full answer during the pause after the second playing. Practise with past-paper audio at real speed and force yourself to keep the pen down until the item ends, then check whether a late 'ach', 'níl', or 'i ndiaidh' reverses what was said earlier.
Candidates answer a listening question with a word they heard rather than the piece of information requested, for example giving a location when the question asked when something happened, or giving a number without its unit.
Under time pressure the brain latches onto the most salient word in the extract and treats recognition as comprehension, so the answer looks plausible but does not match the question word (cén t-am, cá, cé, cén fáth).
What to do instead
Before the audio starts, underline the question word and the noun it governs in each item. After answering, reread the question and confirm the answer's grammatical category matches it; where a figure is needed, always include the unit (uair an chloig, euro, mí).
In the oral examination, candidates memorise a recited monologue about themselves and deliver it regardless of the examiner's questions, then cannot sustain a follow-up exchange.
Schools often drill a prepared 'saol an mhic léinn' paragraph, and nervousness pushes candidates back to safe learned material; marks are lost because the conversation and picture-description strands go untested.
What to do instead
Prepare five flexible topic banks (family, school, hobbies, plans, a recent news topic) with three possible angles each, and rehearse answering unseen questions on them with a partner. Practise the picture sequence separately: describe what you see, then speculate (b'fhéidir, is dóigh liom) and give a personal reaction.
Candidates use the wrong register or tense in the oral and written work, addressing the examiner with 'tú' forms in a formal context or narrating a past event entirely in the present tense.
Learners translate from English and default to whichever form was drilled most recently, and the Irish tense system with its dependent and independent forms (chuaigh/ní dheachaigh, bhí/raibh) is genuinely complex.
What to do instead
Build a one-page tense grid of the ten most useful verbs in the independent, dependent, and negative forms, and drill them aloud daily. In role-plays, decide the register first (tú with a peer, sibh/múinteoir in formal address) and keep it consistent to the end.
In the composition, candidates write one long unstructured paragraph with no paragraph breaks, no linking words, and no clear opening or conclusion, so the reader cannot follow the argument.
Candidates count words rather than plan structure, and the word-count pressure of the composition encourages padding with repeated phrases instead of organised content.
What to do instead
Plan in three minutes: a two-sentence introduction, three body paragraphs each with one point plus an example, and a short conclusion. Memorise a bank of connectives (ar an gcéad dul síos, ina theannta sin, mar shampla, ar deireadh, dá bhrí sin) and use at least five across the piece.
Candidates learn off a pre-written essay on a predicted topic and reproduce it even when the prompt asks for a different genre, such as a letter, a speech, or a report.
The composition paper offers a choice of tasks and many candidates rehearse only one, so format features (salutation, sign-off, headline, direct address) are missing and marks for genre and register are lost.
What to do instead
Learn the skeleton of each genre separately: an informal letter, a formal letter of complaint, a speech with a direct address and call to action, and a short article with a headline. Write one timed sample of each before the exam so the layout is automatic.
In reading comprehension, candidates lift a whole sentence from the passage as the answer instead of identifying and paraphrasing the specific information asked for.
It feels safer to copy text than to risk an error, but marks are awarded for demonstrating understanding, and lifted sentences often include irrelevant clauses or fail to answer the question posed.
What to do instead
Answer in your own words using the passage's vocabulary but your own sentence structure, and keep answers to one or two sentences that directly mirror the question. Where the question says 'i d'fhocail féin', treat copying as an automatic loss and practise paraphrasing short extracts weekly.
Candidates treat prescribed poetry and prose as plot summary, writing what happens in the poem without naming a theme, a technique, or an emotional effect.
Students revise from summaries and translations rather than the Irish text, so they cannot quote accurately and fall back on narrative description when the marking scheme rewards theme, style, and personal response.
What to do instead
For each prescribed poem, build a card with three key quotes in Irish, two techniques (samhail, allútra, rithim, íomhá), the central theme, and one personal reaction sentence. Practise the answer structure: point, quote, explain the effect, link to theme.
Candidates answer the literature question on a text they have studied but ignore the specific phrasing of the question, writing a general essay on the author instead of addressing the term asked about, such as isolation or the passage of time.
Prepared essays are memorised whole, and under exam pressure candidates reproduce them rather than adapting to the wording, which the marking scheme penalises heavily.
What to do instead
Underline the key term in the question and write a one-line thesis using that exact term before starting. Open each paragraph with a topic sentence tied to the term, and reserve two minutes at the end to check that every paragraph answers the question actually set.
Candidates make systematic grammatical errors in the areas with highest mark density: the genitive case after 'ag', lenition and eclipsis after the article and possessive pronouns, and the correct use of 'is' versus 'tá'.
These features have no direct English equivalent, so learners rely on word order intuition; the genitive in particular is under-drilled because it rarely appears in casual classroom speech.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log from corrected work and drill the top ten patterns weekly: an teach na ndaoine, ag obair, mo chóta, a athair, is maith liom versus tá mé. Write five original sentences for each pattern and have them corrected, then recycle the same patterns into composition practice.
Candidates write in an English-influenced idiom, translating phrases word for word (déanann sé ciall, cuireann sé suas le) rather than using the Irish construction.
Direct translation feels natural and produces sentences that are grammatically possible but idiomatically wrong, and learners rarely read enough authentic Irish to notice the difference.
What to do instead
Keep an idiom notebook of twenty high-frequency Irish constructions (cuir in iúl, tar ar, bí ag brath ar, is mian le) and use each in a written sentence. Read one short Irish-language article or piece of dialogue weekly and copy out three phrases that would not translate literally.
Candidates answer the comprehension or composition question on a text type without identifying its purpose and audience, so a formal notice is written like a chat message and an argument piece has no stated position.
The language-in-use section tests awareness of genre conventions, but candidates focus only on vocabulary and grammar and skip the planning step that would establish register and layout.
What to do instead
Before writing, answer three questions in the margin: who is reading this, what do they need to do, and how formal should it be. Then choose the layout accordingly (headings, bullet points, formal opening) and check that the opening and closing sentences match that register.