Leaving Cert - Tips /hints/ guidelines/ resources

Leaving Cert. Art mock Exams 

Exam Structure - Mock Exams - 2014

There are 4 Examinations

2/3 Practical  1/3 History and Appreciation of Art

• 1 - 5 hour Craft Exam.
• 1 - Imaginative Composition Exam / Still Life.

  Timetable for the Leaving Cert. Mock examinations - 

  
  

  Still life drawing exam  - Thursday 13th Feb (2.5hours)

  
  

  Craft exam (poster)  - Friday 14th Feb. (5 hours)

  
  

  Art History exam - 27th Feb.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• 1 - Life Drawing Exam.
• 1 - Art History Exam.

A more detailed pupil information sheet regarding exam structure is available from Art Department.

Marking Scheme for elements of Art Exam

Ordinary/Higher level.
1. Design or Craft 100 (5hrs - completed in one day).
2. Imaginative Composition or Still life 100.
3. Life Sketching 50 (two studies).
4. Art History 150 (3 questions X 50 marks each).
For elements 1. 2. and 3. - Pupils receive exam papers a week prior to sitting exam. These exams are completed at the end of April/beginning of May. 

Timetable for the Leaving Cert. Mock examinations - 

Still life drawing exam  - Thursday 13th Feb (2.5hours)

Craft exam (poster)  - Friday 14th Feb. (5 hours)

Art History exam - 27th Feb.

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Writing Advice

In many ways, writing an Art History paper is no different from writing other kinds of papers in the Humanities. You need to focus your topic, write a thesis sentence, settle on a structure, write clear and coherent paragraphs, and tend to matters of grammar and style.

In some other ways, however, writing an Art History paper requires some understanding of the conventions of the discipline. We've collected a few tips here:

• Be sure to analyse as you describe. The comment we've heard most often from Art History professors is that students often describe a work without considering the argument they ultimately intend to make. Consider carefully the purpose of your paper, then choose and organize your descriptive details so that they illustrate not only the painting, but your analysis of it.
• Be aware that paragraphs in Art History papers are often constructed so that the topic sentences are at the end. Typically, students are trained in their composition courses to begin their paragraphs with a topic sentence. However, in Art History, students will often find paragraphs constructed with the topic sentences at the end. In these kinds of paragraphs, details build towards an observation or argument. When creating a paragraph that ends with it a topic sentence, you need to be especially careful that your details are well-chosen and logically expressed, and that they build towards the point you are making.
• Think about the ways in which you want to structure your papers. Structure them chronologically if you are discussing an artistic movement or a specific artist's progression; spatially if you are discussing the elements of a specific work; relationally if you are discussing a work in relation to a movement or another work; and so on.
• Avoid the subjective "I." You want your reader to feel that your point of view about a particular work comes from some formal aspect of that work, and not from some very personal response of your own. This is not to say that your personal response to a work is irrelevant; rather, it is your job as a critic or scholar to figure out what formal aspects of the work created your response, and then to explain fully how and why

Top Tips for doing well in the CRAFT exam (poster) 

With the ever looming doom of the five hour craft exam it’s always handy to have some tips on how to make those five long hours fly by in the most productive of ways. Although five hours seems like a lot of time, in art exam terms it’s practically nothing. With regard to the craft exam, in particular the calligraphy and graphic questions, there are a number of essential things you can do as prep work which will help you to no end.

• Make sure to disguise elements of your finished piece on your prep sheet. Although you’re not allowed to have the finished piece or, in many cases, the main factor of your piece on the prep sheet, you should have drawings and research which aid you for when you’re in the exam. If you’re drawing a vase, pick vases with similar aspects to the final one you have chosen to go on your prep sheet. Not only will this be practice for the exam (drawing similar shapes and patterns) but if you get stuck in the exam you can always look back on it.

• Practice practice practice! You’re probably sick of hearing this by now but you DO need to practice your finished piece at least once full size. It’ll be impossible to make the most of your time in the exam if you have no idea where your image is going in relation to your lettering. Measurements are your best friends here. I found that measuring out every aspect of the piece in relation to the border really helps, especially if you have awkwardly placed lettering. Having a rough idea of the measurements means that if you plan it on your pre-lim as you’ve practiced, it will be so much easier to make sure you have it perfect for your piece.

• Put some effort into your pre-lim. I know it’s only worth about ten marks, but if you have a solid pre-lim you’ll already have half the work done when it comes to planning where everything goes on your final piece. Don’t spend forever and it’s fine to make adjustments on your final piece, but it’s great to have a proper complete visual aid to make sure you’re on the right track.

• Don’t panic. If something goes wrong there is a way to fix it. Remember while you’re drawing to step back from time to time to make sure your piece looks the way you want it to. Don’t rush and end up making a mistake which you can’t fix. If you do make an error, take a moment to figure out how to fix the rest of the piece in relation to the error so it still looks good. This is another reason why you should make sure your pre-lim is up to scratch. If there’s a paint spill or spelling mistake the pre-lim will show the examiner that you do know what you’re doing and that whatever went wrong is just due to nerves or a bad day. They want to give you the points you’re working so hard for. So you might as well show them what you got as much as you can.

• Have the right equipment. There is nothing worse than showing up on the day with cartridge paper instead of watercolour paper. Although you don’t want to spend a lot of money on this and the final result is due to what you’ve created, the examiner does consider all of your prep work which is obvious once they’ve looked at your piece. Spend about half an hour the night before checking you’ve the right pencils, paintbrushes and whatever media you might need. A sharpener and eraser are your best friends right now so you don’t want to be missing them. The aim is to have everything you need at hand when you’re in the exam so you aren’t wasting time, so some extra time ensuring this is not going to go amiss.

• Draw the night before. You’re going to be sick of it by now but if you take twenty minutes to roughly sketch out your plan for the next day it’s going to be fresh in your head and you’ll be ready in the exam.

• Don’t listen to the hype. As with the orals and practicals, you’re going to have people complain and assume and worry with this exam. Your worst enemy is looking at their work during the exam, listening to them and taking what they say to heart before and at the break or comparing yourself to them in any way. If you’ve done the work and prep you have no reason to worry or second guess yourself. You don’t want to be thrown off at the halfway mark and be unable to finish the fantastic piece you’ve already spent two and a half hours working on. It may sound clichéd, but trust in what you’re doing.

• Enjoy it! Unlike other exams you’re not expected to learn off and recite on paper. Here you are permitted to pretty much do what you want. Art is something to be enjoyed so through all the worry and stress, realize that you’ve been given five hours to produce something to be proud of. You’ll do that best if you’re relaxed and enjoying what you’re making.

Remember, art is a subject where you have multiple chances to score well. You don’t want to wreck it with one bad exam, especially when you don’t need to constantly rush. Keep calm and carry on…you’ll have over half the exam done by June!

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History and Appreciation of Art (HL)

Marks: 150

Time Allocated: 2 Hours 30 Minutes

150 marks out of 400 marks are assigned to this paper- i.e. 37.5% of the overall marks for Art

Candidates have to answer THREE questions – 50 minutes a question (40 minutes writing and 10 minutes sketching

 

 

 

Section 1 – Art in Ireland

• Candidates have a choice of approximately 7 questions. 
• must answer one question which can range from Newgrange to questions on the Early Irish art to Georgian architecture – there is always a question on this and Newgrange could come up this year
• Sometimes photographs are provided and candidates are asked to identify various artefacts and then describe & discuss them.
• The questions require you to do quite a lot – name, discuss, describe refer to function, style etc – make sure you cover the bases

Section 2 – European Art

• Choice of 8/9 questions – could be anyone!
• You may be lucky and one of your artists comes up – but it is quite possible that this will not happen – in this case - look at the ‘generic’ question  which may ask you to look at a work of art which falls into a particular category – such as a portrait, a painting of a meal, a landscape, a still-life etc. You will definitely be able to do this if you think creatively…..
• You normally have to describe 2 works of art
• All of these questions are long and require you to do a lot so make sure you read the question & cover all parts of the question.

Section 3 – Appreciation of Art

• You must answer one question out of 5
• There is usually a design question and here you have to bring your general knowledge/common sense to the question – you can be asked to talk about anything from chairs, to bags to kettles.
• There is often a question on a gallery or museum visit.
• The main pitfall to avoid is not to choose a question where you will quickly run out of steam.

Hints/Tips

• Always produce sketches – simplified drawings – and annotate them or label the important parts.
• Make sure that you read the question and go back to it as they often require you to do quite a few diffeent thins – highlight the key phrases.
• For Irish art it could be Newgrange, ? and almost certainly Georgian will come up
• For European art adapt what you know to the ‘generic’ question.
• For appreciation have the courage of your convictions – make sure your opinions  are well-supported & well-illustrated

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Leaving Certificate Art – Programme

The practical exams will take place at the start of May 2013 & the Art history Exam takes place in June along with your other exams.

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In the practical paper there are three sections you must complete:

·        Observational studies  45min

     Sketching from real life eg: portrait darwings

      There is a 15min pose: 20marks

      A 30min pose: 30marks

       This section is work a total of 50marks.

·        Imaginative composition & still life  2.5hrs

    For this you choose 3-4 man made objects to sketch, (still life objects)  

    you can use pencil, paint, chalks, charcoal etc...

        This section is work a total of 100marks.

• Design & Craftwork: 5hours – A full day from 9.30 – 3.45 in the art room – breaks will be the same as normal research

     This will be a POSTER – you will have to complete the RESEARCH 

     SHEET a week before your exam, you then bring this research sheet into the exam (for ideas but cant copy direcly from it ) then in the exam you will make your poster, and your PREP. Sheet.

This section is work a total of 100marks.

Art History: - ordinary & higher – Three Sections

Art history is work 150marks – which is 47.5% of the overall Art exam.

Section 1 – Art in Ireland (from prehistoric times to present) 50marks

Section 2 – European Art (from 1000A.D to present) 50marks

Section 3 – Appreciation of Art (based on topics of every day visual experience in their own environment eg: a gallery visit) 50marks

Must answer ONE question from all three sections.  You are given a selection of  13 questions to choose from in each section.

Art Leaving Cert - General

The exam in June ‘History and appreciation of art section’ is  worth 37.5% of the overall result for Art. This section of the overall Art subject examines art in Ireland, European art and the appreciation of art. Up to 62.5% of the final grade is achieved before sitting the actual examination by completing practical coursework, this can be very beneficial to students.

Did you know it is not necessary to study art in the Leaving cert to study art at third level (but WIT and LKIT are exceptions)

Subject Overview

The Leaving Certificate Art syllabus is a broadly based course, which is made up of four units. These units should be linked together and based on the everyday visual experience of the student's own environment.

Content

All students, both Ordinary and Higher level, follow a common course.
The practical work can include Life Sketching, Still Life, Imaginative Composition, Design and Craftwork.

The History of Art and Appreciation is a broad course covering Irish and European Art, and also Art Appreciation. It requires looking at artworks through the use of reproductions, slides and art galleries, reading books and writing essays on different subjects.

Assessment

It is assessed at two levels, Ordinary Level and Higher level

The standard and quality of work determine the difference in levels. The modes of assessment include:

• Three practical examinations carried out in May. These are;
  • Life Sketching
  • Still Life or Imaginative or Abstract Composition
  • Design or Craftwork

All three examinations have papers to help with the preparation of ideas, research, design and materials.
A written examination, involving some sketches, of Art History and Appreciation in June. Three questions are answered, one each on Irish, European and Appreciation of Art in two and half hours