Leaving Cert English Predictions 2024 (Higher Level)

Updated January 2024

Long story short: there are no guarantees with the Leaving Cert, and for the last few years it has been particularly hard to predict the poets. I would do four of Ní Chuilleanáin, Plath, Heaney, Hopkins (in that order). All of these are covered in this year’s Complete Guide: H1 Leaving Cert English Notes and Sample Answers.

For 2024: COVID-19 Update

Please note that the choice of questions has been expanded with adjustments.

Students will get away with knowing a lesser portion of the Higher Level English course:

Comparative:

– one Mode of Comparison of three rather than two of three (for example, you can just know Cultural Context rather than Cultural Context and Theme or Issue)

– two Comparative texts of three rather than three of three if you plan to do the one part Comparative question

Since 2023, the obligation to answer on Shakespeare is back.

Poetry:

– it is now necessary to learn four poets of eight rather than five of eight

The rest remains the same and is detailed below.

Introduction

There appears to be a logic to how the SEC structures papers. For HL English poetry, a woman, an Irish person, somebody who hasn’t come up in a while… Yes, that’s right – there appears to be a logic to SEC decisions, but they don’t make any promises.

Are these patterns are too broad to lead to a definite conclusion? Let’s see. Our advice is that you can take risks, but don’t ever risk complete ruin. How to do that? Read on.

The below is based on experience, and it’s not gospel. How you handle your exam is ultimately your decision because you’re the one who will be opening your results in August. Do whatever you feel is best given the full context of the guidance you’ve been given.

The day after the English Papers are finished, there’s always an article in some Irish newspaper or blog saying that the paper wasn’t fair. The only way the paper wouldn’t be fair is if you felt it owed you something. It doesn’t. We are all in the same boat, and what will definitely come up on the exam is unknowable (unless you want to try and infiltrate the SEC – I think they are in Westmeath).

Poetry

Your very clever teacher may say: “I’ve a feeling Plath will be on”. What you may not be consciously aware of is that next week they may say: “I’ve a feeling that Kennelly is going to come up, sure, Yeats has been done to death.” And so they repeat their clever predictions four times, so that you revise four poets. With five poets on the paper this year, having revised four properly, you are 100% percent prepared. They are really clever, those teachers.

Every year, there are eight prescribed poets and five are on the paper in 2024. You have to do one.

Likelihood, poet by poet

The table below has every poet that has been on the syllabus since 2011. The guys in bold are the ones that came up. The observations at the bottom of the table identify the patterns.

Admittedly, the SEC has made the exam less predictable over the last number of years.

For example, they put 3 women on the paper in 2020, which they haven’t done in recent history (max 2 women for as long as I remember and in 2021).

Note that with the assessment arrangements due to the pandemic, you no longer have to know five poets to be safe, you need four.

There is a bit of a debate about whether there is a “rule” about women poets being on. Well, in effect, they do ask a question on a female poet every year, but there is no official rule. Either way, in 2024 it doesn’t really matter because there are 4 men and 4 women on the curriculum.

This year we have 4 men and 4 women poets, of which 5 will be on the paper. If you know 4, you are safe whatever happens.

Ní Chuilleanáin seems to be due an appearance. Irish, female, not see in a while. She didn’t come up on the paper the last time that she was on the syllabus (2020) – and hasn’t been on the syllabus since. A complex poet, but well worth it for those who like English because she’s not likely to be a popular choice among most students. Here is a video summarising Ní Chuilleanáin’s essential features we made a few years ago.

Plath is back on the list for the first time since 2021 (when they asked a most exotic question on her).A female, American poet, she would generally be favoured by the historical patterns of the SEC. Of the 8 times she was examinable in recent years, she was on the paper 4 times and once 2 years in a row. She’ll get a chance again in 2025. She is very much loved by students and is likely to be answered on a lot.

Dickinson is up again in 2025, same as Plath. She gets examined a lot: of the 7 times she was on the syllabus in recent years, she was examined 5 times.

Meehan is an Irish female poet. As we predicted last year, she made her debut on the paper. It’s not impossible that she would feature two years in a row, but the odds are against it.

Yeats is the quintessential Irish poet, he was missed on the 2023 paper (it was the centenary of his Nobel prize win in 2023). Of the 7 times he was examinable, he was seen on the paper 4 times.

Heaney came up the last time that he was on the course, in 2021, but none of the previous 3 times. An Irish male poet, he would generally be favoured by SEC paper patterns. He died in 2013, so last year was an anniversary of his death. While in some subjects, for example History, they favour anniversaries, in my experience, they don’t usually in English.

Hopkins – a British male, he has been overlooked a lot of later. Of the 6 times he was on the course in recent years, he only came up once, all the way back in 2013. He is getting another bite at the cherry in 2025.

Donne is a British man who came up last year. The chances of him appearing again in 2024 are slim.

It’s not easy to make predictions this year (I don’t say that every year!). For me, Ní Chuilleanáin is the most obvious candidate. They’re almostcertain to ask on at least 2 women, given the adjustments (5 poets vs the customary 4). The other woman is likely to be an American, given the past paper patterns. Plath is marginally more likely to be on than Dickinson. They are likely to have a question on at least one Irish man, that leaves Heaney vs Yeats – Heaney being more likely. I think after that it’s Hopkins over Donne.

Table of poets who were examinable and who came up by year

PDF version of the table may be easier to view, with coloured highlights: Leaving Cert English Higher Level Poetry Analysis and “Predictions” 2024

From 625points.com
for reference only predicted actual
  2025 2024 (adjusted) 2023 (adjusted) 2022 (adjusted) 2021 (adjusted) 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
Irish man Kavanagh Heaney Kavanagh Yeats Durcan Durcan Kennelly Montague Durcan Durcan Montague Yeats Mahon Kavanagh Yeats
Irish man Mahon Yeats Mahon Kennelly Heaney Yeats Durcan   Yeats Yeats Heaney Kinsella Heaney Kavanagh
British man Donne Donne Wordsworth Keats Wordsworth Lawrence Keats Keats Larkin Donne Larkin Hopkins Larkin Hopkins
British man Hopkins Hopkins Lawrence Hopkins Lawrence Hopkins Larkin Donne   Hardy Kinsella Wordsworth   Wordsworth
Irish woman Boland Meehan Meehan Boland Boland Ní Chuilleanáin Ní Chuilleanáin Boland Ní Chuilleanáin Ní Chuilleanáin   Boland Boland
American woman Dickinson Dickinson Rich Dickinson Plath Dickinson Bishop   Bishop Bishop Dickinson Dickinson Bishop Plath Dickinson
American woman Plath Plath Bishop Bishop Bishop Rich Plath   Plath Dickinson Plath Plath Plath Rich Rich
The other yank (M/F) Eliot Dickinson Rich Frost   Frost Eliot Eliot Frost Bishop Rich Frost Frost
Other Smith Ní Chuilleanáin Yeats Keats Frost Ní Chuilleanáinn Heaney Hopkins Hopkins Plath   Mahon Shakespeare Kinsella  
  Boland              
Observation 2 women: Irish and American 2 women: American 2 women 3 women, Irish and 2 American 2 women: American 1 woman, Irish 2 women, Irish and American 2 women, American 1 woman, Irish 2 women, American 2 women, American 1 woman, American 2 women, Irish and American
  2 Irish men 2 Irish men 2 Irish men 2 Irish men 1 Irish man 1 Irish man 1 Irish man 1 Irish man 1 Irish man 2 Irish men 1 Irish man
  1 British man 1 British man 1 British man 1 British man   1 British man 2 British men 1 British man 1 British man 1 British man 1 British man 1 British man
    1 American man   1 American man 1 American man        
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. 625points.com Repeat: Boland     Repeat: Bishop     Repeat: Plath      

Track record

To give you some idea, we don’t predict all 4 poets every year because of the exact dynamics of the paper and course.

We predicted

Durcan in 2016,

Boland in 2017,

Ní Chuilleanáin and Montague in 2018 and

Seamus Heaney, W.B. Yeats, Brendan Kennelly and Sylvia Plath in 2019.

Rich, Wordsworth, Boland and Ní Chuilleanáin in 2020.

Durcan, Heaney, Plath and Bishop is 2021.

Yeats, Kennelly, Dickinson and Rich in 2022.

Meehan, Mahon, Kavanagh and Bishop in 2023.

All of these were spot on except Bishop took Heaney’s place in 2019, Dickinson Durcan’s in 2020 and Boland Bishop’s in 2021.


Revise five (in 2024 – four) poets well

Limit it to women or Irish men if you’re a badass. No promises though. There is no official rule that a female poet must come up. It’s not like you’ll be able to take the SEC to court for sexism/racism should they decide to change up their poetry selection!

Having said that, the SEC probably doesn’t want to be crucified by virtually every newspaper in this country who undoubtedly will take the opportunity to accuse them of setting the paper unfairly should the paper not contain someone Irish or female. Alas, it is a political issue (it is the State examining us after all). Or will they be praised for making the dreaded Leaving Cert less predictable? Or will it be seen as unfair? It’s hard to know and ultimately it is a personal decision that depends on your tolerance for risk: a bit like if you were buying stocks and bonds.

What are the risks like if you go below 5 poets (in a normal year, not 2024)

Even if we assume that each poet is equally likely to come up:

If you only do 4 poets, there is a 1/70 (1.4%) chance that one of the poets you studied doesn’t come up. That’s a ~98.5% chance that you will be fine.

If you only do 3 poets, there is a 1/14 (7.1%) chance that one of the poets you studied doesn’t come up.

If you only do 2 poets, there is a 3/14 (21.4%) chance that one of the poets you studied doesn’t come up.

If you only do 1 poet, there is a 1/2 (50%) chance that the poet you studied doesn’t come up.

When you think about it, the odds aren’t against you no matter what way you play it. It’s a personal decision. Everyone who writes for 625points revised five. Just saying.

Should you do the poet everyone else is doing

Another important point to consider is that everyone is hoping for the same poet. For example, in 2021 everyone wanted Plath to come up. She did. So most examiners were correcting possibly 4 or 5 Plath essays for every non-Plath essay. What does that do?

Well, the examiner (a human being, ultimately) will get tired of hearing the same thing over and over. While a great essay is still a great essay, the people who usually get 70-80% may get lower grades. It’s just harder to engage the examiner if you are (inadvertently) repeating what they have already read 5 times earlier that day. This shouldn’t be the deciding factor in your choice of poet: even if you do an obscure poet, you still need to be excellent to get a high grade.

If all other things are equal, however, go for it. For example, I, the author of the guide, know all eight poets equally well and if one of the more obscure ones came up, I would definitely do one of them. Why? Because I know that their poetry is full of obscure features that are lost on most people and this gives me an advantage. (This year, this logic isn’t as important because the paper is much less predictable than in, say, 2018 or 2017.)

Having said that, don’t do a poet you find annoying for the sake of doing a more “exotic” poet. Your lack of interest is much harder to hide than you might think.

Can a poet come up two years in a row

Yes, though it happened only three times in the above sample of 10 years.

Should you be worried about new essay titles

Almost all LC essay titles are slightly mutated clones of each other. Don’t be thrown. Every single poetry essay title asks you to discuss two things in the broadest sense: imagery (how things are described) and themes (what is described and what does it mean). You know what to say. You’ve done it before. Lakes-birds-metaphors-alliteration-iambic-pentameter and love-country-childhood-loneliness-satire-philosophy… Ok, there’s more finesse to it, but you won’t be asked to split the atom.

Don’t all these titles below look quite alike?

Poet A uses <adjective> imagery to discuss <adjective> subject matter
Poet A is an <adjective> observer of reality that is enhanced by <adjective> subject matter
Reading the poetry of Poet A’s can be both an uplifting and a disturbing experience
Poet A’s poetry is full of <negative emotion> with occasional glimpses/moments of <positive emotion>
Obviously, the exact “adjectives” are important, but they aren’t game changing. Durcan isn’t on this year, but the logic still applies, if you want to read more detail on this: Paul Durcan: what to expect on the paper.

Try* to mention six poems

*This depends on the poet. In my actual LC I wrote about four of Eliot’s poems. It depends on the depth you go into.

However, the marking scheme does say: “Normally the study of at least six poems by each poet would be expected. (DES English Syllabus, 6.3)”. “Study”, not “mention”, but by and large, six is a good guide.

Know your quotations

As a rough guide, try to have a quotation, even a short one, 3-4 times per average paragraph. Same goes for Single Text.

Engage with the poems, less so with the biography

Don’t write a paragraph about a poet’s life and so on without talking about a specific poem. The context is important: Plath’s failed marriage, Bishop’s troubled childhood, etc. The context is only a supporting part. The main focus is on the poem. 

Don’t obsess about being exactly right

The examiner is required to keep an open mind as per the marking scheme. Make your points and back them up.

“Note that there is not a finite list of any ‘poet’s themes and interests”.

Read more in our Poetry FAQ

Single Text

As for single texts, there really isn’t much point in trying to predict it.

Is a character question guaranteed every year

No. Sorry.

However, there are almost always somewhat different angles on the same core themes.

Types of questions

There may be a a very specific question that requires in depth knowledge of a character and relevant quotation and at least one broad question that mostly tests your writing skill rather than your knowledge. We go into depth on that in the Complete Revision Guides for this year and next year.

“Hamlet”

For people asking for predictions on “Hamlet”:

A broad question can be about general themes and dramatic techniques, loyalty, power, pride, kingship, appearance vs reality, imagery, a key character such as Claudius.

A specific question could be anything really: for example, the role of women in the play, a specific type of imagery or some other very particular question like that. I typically would steer away from the specific question unless it’s very appealing to you – which is fine too of course.

As long as you know 4-5 key themes, aspects of imagery and characters, you will manage just fine with the broad questions. So know the basics and you will be ? Oh, and don’t forget the quotations! They are key!

Comparative

Is one mode enough – in 2024, yes.

In other years, no. More detail below:

General Vision and Viewpoint (GVV), Literary Genre (LG), Theme or Issue (TI) and Cultural Context (CC) are modes. Three are on every year. Two are asked usually, but all three will get asked in 2022 to give you more choice. 

Which 2 modes? Usually, CC, GVV and TI are “better” than LG.

LG is a lot more technical (you definitely cannot “waffle” there), so it’s usually preferred by people who really like the subject. It’s not harder, it’s just different in a way that may not suit people who don’t enjoy studying English. If you do like your camera angles, soundtracks, metaphors and symbols – absolutely, go ahead, no reason not to do it.

Because the modes on the syllabus change, I don’t think you can narrow it down much more than that by pouring over past papers. Plus, if you did, you would be risking not being able to do a question. So pick one that you prefer, and no point in worrying after that.

Note that TI, LG and CC are on for 2024.

Paper 1

What’s the theme going to be

What difference will it really make if I told you the theme was going to be Peace, Change, Choice or Diversity, or whatever? Your writing skill and ability to draw on your reading of the texts and previous experiences won’t be much enhanced if you spend 4 weeks thinking about a specific theme.

Is personal essay/short story guaranteed on the paper

Nothing is guaranteed, but do judge for yourself:

2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Descriptive essay Address Descriptive essay
Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story Short story
Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay Personal essay
Discursive essay Discursive essay Discursive essay Discursive essay Discursive essay Discursive essay Discursive essay Speech Discursive essay Short story Short story Short story Short story
Speech (debate) Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech Speech (persuasive) Talk
Short story Short story Fable Short story Personal essay Personal essay Dramatic dialogue Persuasive essay Short story Personal essay Personal essay Article Article
Article Article Article Article Short story Short story Article Short story Article Article Article Article Article

Lastly…

Don’t summarise, back up your points, stay relevant to the question, proofread….
https://www.625points.com/p/leaving-cert-english-notes-sample.html
Leaving Cert English Sample Essay and Notes