Students throw shape at ‘fair’ drawing exam as things get technical

THE first of two technical drawing papers was faced by almost 6,000 Leaving Certificate students yesterday morning.

TUI subject spokesperson Pat O’Dwyer said the higher level paper had no surprises but reported thatstudents complained about the pressure of having to deal with seven surfaces in the interpenetration question.

ASTI spokesman John O’Sullivan said it was a fair paper and provided scope for students of varying abilities to do well. He said the ordinary-level paper was very fair and began with a nice introductory question on orthographic projection.

Mr O’Dwyer said the inclusion of four solid geometry questions and three on plane geometry gave ordinary-level students every chance to select which ones to answer. The one major difficulty he had was with a pyramid standing on its apex in question 5, which would prove difficult for most students at that level.

More than 48,500 Junior Certificate students sat the final exam of the old science syllabus in the morning.

ASTI spokesman Mattie Finnerty said the higher level paper was quite demanding, with a major emphasis on practical lab work.

He noted that all of the physics questions were about electricity, which might have restricted choices for some students. The ordinary-level paper had an excellent layout and clearer diagrams, Mr Finnerty said.

TUI spokesman Ray McGough said the diagrams in the short question section at higher level were quite clear.

In the applied science section, he felt that some topics might have advantaged students of home economics, metalwork or woodwork.

Mr McGough thought the ordinary-level paper was a little bit difficult although it contained nothing too controversial. He said it contained plenty diagrams and all answers were to be written on the question book, a trend he hopes will be continued when the revised syllabus is tested for the first time next summer.

The written history and appreciation papers for Leaving Certificate art students were both fair, according to ASTI spokeswoman Jane Campbell. She said both exams covered the main areas of the course quite well and questions on a gallery visit would have been something well prepared by ordinary and higher-level students.

However, a higher-level question about impressionists might have been skipped over by some students because it did not specifically refer to them by name.

The inclusion of a question about the symbolism in Picasso’s painting Guernica might have been a bit difficult for ordinary-level students, Ms Campbell said.

For Junior Certificate religious education students, ASTI spokesman David Martin felt the pictures used in both papers were too small, particularly for students with visual difficulties. He cited a picture of Bono meeting Pope John Paul II and Church leaders in Westport as two examples. He also questioned the absence of a scripture text.