The HANLON Exam Method™ — Overview
The six-step routine explained for students. Watch this first — it works in every subject below.
🎓 Exam Success Hub
Study smarter. Write stronger answers.
A free hub for Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert students built around The HANLON Exam Method™ — a six-step routine answer that turns a basic answer into a Distinction one. For students, teachers and parents.
Phase 2 — June 2026. This hub will grow each term as new resources go live.
Choose your path
The same study skills, framed for the way each audience uses them.
I'm a student
Watch subject exam-tip videos, learn the six-step HANLON Exam Method™, and build a study plan that fits your week.
Watch exam videos →
I'm a teacher
Use the HANLON Exam Method™ to give your students a shared vocabulary for answer quality — Basic → HANLON → Bradán Feasa.
Teacher resources →
I'm a parent
How to support your child's study habits without becoming the homework police. Quiet, practical tips.
Parent guide →
★ The HANLON Exam Method™
One routine answer. Every subject.
A six-step exam-answer routine designed for Irish JC and LC students, explained by Oide Rolando Hanlon. Move beyond basic answers to Distinction-level work using a process you can apply in any subject — Spanish, Maths, English, Business, Science.
- Highlight what the question asks
- Answer with a clear opening
- N¹ Name · Link · Organise · N² Notice
- Built for JC and LC · works in any answer-based subject
Exam-tip videos · by subject
Short, focused walkthroughs from Oide Rolando Hanlon. Each video covers the key exam tips, the most common mistakes, how to apply the HANLON Exam Method™ — and extra tips for English as an Additional Language (EAL) students. Filter by level or subject below.
JC Spanish — Exam Tips (Part 1)
Junior Cycle Spanish exam tips and common mistakes, with the HANLON Exam Method™ applied. Opens on YouTube.
JC Spanish — Exam Tips (Part 2)
More Junior Cycle Spanish exam tips, common slips, and the HANLON Exam Method™. Opens on YouTube.
LC English — HL Paper 2 for EAL students
Paper 2 tips and common mistakes, with extra guidance for English as an Additional Language students.
LC Mathematics — HL Paper 1
Paper 1 exam tips, common slips, and the HANLON Exam Method™ applied — plus extra EAL tips.
LC Mathematics — HL Paper 2
Paper 2 exam tips, the examiner's hidden catches, and the HANLON Exam Method™ — plus extra EAL tips.
LC — Reading data, tables & graphs
How to read charts and tables for marks across subjects, common mistakes, and the HANLON Exam Method™ — plus extra EAL tips.
JC — Reading data, tables & graphs
Reading charts and tables for marks across subjects, common slips, and the HANLON Exam Method™ — plus extra EAL tips.
No videos match that filter yet — more are on the way.
🔔 New subjects are added through exam season. Videos play from our YouTube channel @OideRolandoHanlon — subscribe there to be notified, or join the mailing list at the bottom of this page.
Español · Spanish
Spanish exam zone
Taught by a native Spanish-speaking teacher and practising examiner. Resources for Leaving Cert Higher and Ordinary Level and Junior Cycle Common Level, a worked example using the HANLON Exam Method™, listening practice, and more.
★ New · JC practice app
Spáinnis Play — Junior Cycle
The JC Spanish writing toolkit on your phone — vocabulary, verbs, idioms, accents and exam-style practice across 11 sections. Learn the building blocks, then put them together like the real exam.
€7.99€3.99
Get the app →
☘️ New · LC Higher Level · Beta
Spáinnis Play — LC Spanish Higher Level
Writing practice on your phone — model answers, high-value words, idioms and structures, plus wellbeing & gamified activities. Built by a native Spanish-speaking teacher.
FREE
this exam week
Open the app →
this exam week
Junior Cycle
JC Common Level
- Vocabulary by topic (NCCA-aligned)
- Informal letter & functional writing
- Aural / listening practice
- Seán Feasa Adventures reader
The HANLON Exam Method™ in Spanish
One Spanish opinion-piece prompt, three answer tiers — see how the method lifts a basic line to Distinction.
Basic
Me gusta el deporte porque es bueno. ......
The HANLON Exam Method™ answer
En mi opinión, el deporte es muy importante porque me ayuda a relajarme después del colegio. ....
Bradán Feasa — Distinction Booster™
Personalmente, creo que el deporte es fundamental, ya que no sólo me mantiene en forma sino que también me permite desconectar del estrés de los exámenes. ....
Brief example — the final version will map each line to the H·A·N¹·L·O·N² steps.
🎧 Listening
Spanish listening practice
Short audio clips with comprehension prompts — train your ear for the aural exam. Native-speaker audio at JC and LC pace.
🚧 Coming soon. Listening clips are in production. Subscribe at the
bottom of the page to be notified when the first set goes live.
📖 Read the LC Spanish guides as flipbooks
Flip through our LC Higher Level Spanish guides — built around the HANLON Exam Method™. Designed to be read on a phone, on a laptop, or projected in class.
🇪🇸 LC HL Spanish
Using “modismos” to lift your writing in the LC Spanish HL exam
How to weave high-value idioms (modismos) into your Higher Level Spanish writing to move an answer up the Answer Ladder towards Distinction.
Press Esc to exit fullscreen
🇪🇸 LC HL Spanish
High-Value Adjectives for the Leaving Certificate Spanish Exam
A bank of high-value adjectives to elevate your Leaving Certificate Spanish writing — with examples of how to use them in exam answers.
Press Esc to exit fullscreen
🇪🇸 LC HL Spanish
LC Spanish HL — Opinion Piece Exemplar — 3 Answers, 3 Tiers
One opinion-piece prompt answered at three tiers — Basic, the HANLON Exam Method™ answer, and Bradán Feasa — so you can see exactly what lifts a response towards Distinction.
Press Esc to exit fullscreen
Study skills · five things that actually work
Most study advice is generic. These are the five moves that consistently lift a student's exam answers — drawn from the HANLON Exam Method™ and from working with Irish JC and LC classes.
01
Get your head in the game
The hardest part of studying is sitting down to start. Sort that, and the rest follows.
- Set out everything you need before you sit down — books, pens, highlighters, notes
- Make a short list of what you'll cover. Three items, not ten
- Phone in another room, not "face down on the desk"
- Wear your uniform if you study after school — keeps you in school-mode
02
Apply The HANLON Exam Method™™
Use the same six-step exam-answer routine in every subject. Examiners reward structure — this gives you one. Basic → HANLON → Bradán Feasa is the answer-quality ladder we use throughout HCP resources.
- Highlight the command word (describe, evaluate, compare, justify…)
- Answer with a clear opening sentence
- N¹ Name the key terms or concepts
- Link the evidence back to the question
- Organise your conclusion with an evaluative line
- N² Notice the slips and correct the answer
📖 Read the method as a flipbook
Flip through the HANLON Exam Method™ and our student checklist — designed to be read on a phone, on a laptop, or projected in class.
📘 See the method
The HANLON Exam Method™ — General Overview
The six-step exam-answer routine, explained for students. Read it once to learn the framework — then keep it open beside you when you're answering past papers in any subject.
Press Esc to exit fullscreen
✓ Before you hand it up
The HANLON Check — Student Checklist
Six tickable checks every answer should pass before you submit. Open this on your phone before you hand a written task up — or print it and stick it in your copybook.
Press Esc to exit fullscreen
03
Plan your study — by week, not by hour
A weekly plan with realistic targets beats a daily timetable you'll abandon. Build in space for the subjects you avoid, not just the ones you enjoy.
- Pick three subjects per study session, not all of them
- Schedule the subject you least want to study first
- One hour focused beats three hours scrolling between tasks
- Use the 90-minute / 10-minute break rhythm — it actually works
04
Practise on real exam questions, not summaries
Reading your notes makes you feel ready. Writing exam answers actually makes you ready. The work is the writing.
- Use past papers (SEC) — exact format, exact wording, exact difficulty
- Time yourself — answer in the time the real exam allows
- Compare your answer to a marking scheme or sample answer afterwards
- Rewrite one answer per week to Distinction standard using the HANLON Exam Method™
05
Last-minute moves that actually help
The night before isn't for learning new material. It's for protecting what you already know.
- Sleep is more important than one extra hour of revision
- Skim past papers — don't try to memorise new content
- Pack your bag the night before. Calculator, pens, ruler, ID
- Eat breakfast. Your brain needs glucose for a 2.5-hour exam
For parents
Quietly supportive · not the homework police
The single biggest predictor of how a child performs in exams is whether home feels like a place where studying is possible — not whether you're sitting beside them checking their work.
A few low-effort things that genuinely help:
- A quiet space and a fixed study time, agreed in advance — not negotiated nightly
- Food and water on the desk before they ask
- "How was study?" beats "Did you study?" — open question, not interrogation
- Trust the teacher's plan. If something's off, contact the school — don't tutor at home
- Phones out of bedrooms at night. Sleep matters more than one more revision hour
Tip: If your child is studying Spanish or another language, reading even a few pages of the same book signals you take it seriously — without needing to know the language.
HANgs together · LONg together™
Looking after yourself through exam season
Short, practical resets from Oide Rolando Hanlon — because rest is part of the work, not a break from it. A minute each, for the moments when you need to steady yourself and keep going.
Every hour adds up
One past paper, one fixed mistake, one good sleep — it all sums. Count on yourself.
The 10-minute tea rule
Every 50 minutes of study, take 10 fully away — no screen, no notes. Rest counts too.
When your mind races
A simple grounding reset — five things you can see, four you can touch — to get back in the room.
These tips are for everyday study and exam nerves. If things feel like more than that, please talk to someone you trust — a parent, your year head, or a free, confidential service. In Ireland you can reach Jigsaw (youth mental health support, ages 12–25), find resources at yourmentalhealth.ie, or text 50808 any time to chat with a trained volunteer. You don't have to carry it alone.
Useful resources for teachers
Free downloads and pages on this site that pair with the study skills above. This section is updated regularly to add more resources.
Free downloads
Checklists, sample answers, and HANLON Exam Method™ one-pagers — PDFs you can print at home or share with a class.
Browse downloadsGet notified when new resources go live
Roughly one short email per month. New downloads, The HANLON Exam Method™ updates, exam season tips. Unsubscribe in one click — and we never share your address.
🚧 Phase 2 is coming. A deeper hub with topic-by-topic video walkthroughs,
Distinction-Booster answer banks, and live sample-answer reviews is in development.
Subscribe above to hear when it's live.