How Did the Ukranian Paper go? - Valeriia

A year has passed, and now it was my turn to do the LC Ukrainian exam! Similarly to last year, many students like me were worried as it was the second year of this exam, so the paper was still very unpredictable.

Despite that, when I opened the paper, I was delighted to see the reading comprehension and the tasks.

This year’s theme was about “Can Artificial Intelligence recognize emotions and will humanity retain its uniqueness?”, which is very different to last year’s theme of “Myths and Truths about Ukrainian Vyshyvanka”. Overall, I found the text very nice and interesting as I learned so many things about AI. For example, did you know that in order to simulate its emotions, the scientists created "artificial hormones" in neural networks allowing AI to respond to stimuli more individually?

The exam followed the very same layout to other non-curriculum languages and to previous year’s exam. It consisted of three sections. In Section One, there were six comprehension questions. In some parts, we were asked to explain something while pulling information from the text. For example, one had to write about the effects of AI on human behaviour. In the other parts, we had to comment on certain statements referring to the text and using our own experience. 

The paper also contained an “ethics” question as it asked for the students to comment on the statement “If AI can not only simulate emotion, but also “feel”, it must have rights” and express the opinion about it. Nevertheless, I really liked this section as I had a chance to discuss various topics. 

Sections Two and Three were written tasks. Just like last year, the first asked for a commentary on a quote, and the second asked us to write an essay about one of the two prompts provided. I found them pretty broad as I showcased my knowledge of artificial intelligence.

Overall, I am happy with the exam and I still cannot believe that I actually did it. It is genuinely very nice that we - Ukrainians - are given a chance to do an exam in our own mother tongue.

I would like to express deep gratitude to everyone - teachers, friends and family - who helped me prepare for it and supported me throughout the past few years. 

Good luck to everyone doing their exams in the next few days!

Go raibh míle maith agat and слава Україні!