- NEWS
Unions opposed to cuts are subject to law, says KennyTeacher unions and others that remain opposed to €300m public sector pay cut proposals will be subjected to laws cutting higher salaries and other work changes, Enda Kenny said yesterday.
UCC plan will save taxpayers millions University College Cork intends to be largely self-funding within five years, saving the Irish taxpayer millions of euro a year.
- WORLD
Woolwich terror killing: Security services face probeThe British parliament is to investigate if security services could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers.
Woolwich killing: Further arrests as spotlight turns on security servicesBritish police arrested two more people yesterday in a hunt for accomplices of two British men of Nigerian descent accused of hacking a soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries.
- BUSINESS
Noonan examining ways to capitalise banks It is believed the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan told the IMF that he will look to Contingent Convertible Capital (CoCo) Notes if the banks need additional capital buffers following the stress tests.
- SPORT
The magic is in the anticipationULSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL:Donegal v Tyrone For too long, we've been decrying the anti-climactic starts to thevarious provincial championships. Now we have a genuine no-holds barred contest in Ballybofey.
O’Brien out for final as Schmidt takes issue with Gatland Joe Schmidt has opted against speculating whether Sean O'Brien will miss the opening weeks of the British and Irish Lions tour after omitting the injured flanker from his squad of 23 for today's RaboDirect Pro12 decider.
- LIFESTYLE
A woman of mettle: how Iron Lady rose to powerFirst volume of Margaret Thatcher's authorised biography is predictably flattering, but not a hagiography, says Shaun Connolly
Best of the Week's TV (Saturday, May 25 - Friday 31)Highlights include Colin Stafford Johnson's new series on the Shannon, and highly-rated new spy drama The Americans.
Breaking stories
Exam ‘quite tough but had balance’
By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent
Almost 6,500 Leaving Certificate students were entered for yesterday’s higher level agricultural science exams, which teachers considered quite demanding.
Peter Keaney, subject spokesperson for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), said it had a good balance of theory and practice but average and good students faced a challenge getting top grades.He considered the genetics question more straightforward than other years, but said there were difficult elements to some questions. One required the same type of cell division as the answer to at least two of the three parts, and another asked about the differences between pairs of phrases.
Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) spokesperson Seamus Hynes said students had to interpret questions carefully and provide a lot of detail in their answers. For example, asking how to show the effects of phosphate deficiency in a plant was harder than the typical soil experiment question.
He considered the genetics question tougher than other years because of the amount of work required, and noted the absence of any diagrams, charts or tables on the paper.
Mr Hynes said the ordinary level exam was reasonably fair, with helpful charts and other images to help students. Mr Keaney considered it very manageable, and was particularly happy about the amount of reading required in the paper.
In the afternoon, Leaving Certificate music students faced into their listening and composing tests. ASTI subject spokesperson Mary McFadden said higher level students reported satisfaction with the core listening exam, particularly a nice section on Irish music.
She said students may have been challenged by the harmony and melody questions on the composition test, as two of the three options on each were set in minor keys.
For ordinary level students, Ms McFadden thought the harmony and melody questions were very nice, making it an accessible exam.
On the final morning of Junior Certificate 2012, Latin and classical studies exams were taken by almost 1,000 candidates. ASTI representative Jim O’Dea said the ordinary level papers for both subjects were reasonable and along expected lines.
He commended the generous support vocabulary in the unseen translation on the higher level Latin exam, but thought there were a few awkward verbs on the comprehension passage. He felt the Latin-to-English translation was quite tough, but said that reasonable questions on Hannibal, Julius Caesar and Roman houses also featured.
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