Germany, Dubai and back home as second testing week ends
The sound quality of the Leaving Cert aural was quite good but TUI spokesman Neil O’Callaghan said some Junior Cert students complained about sound being muffled and the dialogue being too fast. Otherwise, both Junior Cert papers were well-received.
Mr O’Callaghan said the ordinary level Leaving Cert reading comprehensions were relevant to young people’s lives, such as a piece about the world’s fastest text message writer and one on German students’ holidays. He felt the higher-level paper was easier than recent years, but items about the smoking ban and the Special Olympics might have been more relevant last year.
Pierce Purcell, secretary of the German Teachers Association of Ireland, was also positive about the Leaving Cert aural CD.
He said students who knew their grammar and had a good vocabulary should have had no great difficulty. The grammar questions at higher level were easier than usual, while there was nothing particularly difficult in the ordinary-level paper.
The second Leaving Cert technical drawing papers on building application drew a positive response from TUI spokesman Pat O’Dwyer.
He said they were testing but very relevant to today’s world and he was particularly pleased with an ordinary-level question setting out planning permission requirements for a tower. He said both papers could have been completed within the time allowed, which is normally difficult in this exam.
ASTI’s subject spokesman John O’Sullivan said the higher-level paper gave students a good chance to display their knowledge of various geometric principles. He thought the use in question 1 of a structure which seemed to be based on the renowned Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai was appropriate in a building application paper.
He said the ordinary-level paper included popular questions on topics such as perspective and mining geometry, examined in a manner to which students were accustomed.
The Junior Cert home economics written exam was worth up to half the total marks, with practical work already done.
ASTI spokeswoman Deirdre Healy said the higher-level paper was more challenging than last year, but was well laid out. She felt the ordinary-level paper was well presented but a wide range of topics and difficult language in parts might have caused problems for students with special needs studying the subject.
TUI spokeswoman Maureen Nugent said short questions in higher and ordinary-level papers gave plenty of choice, and students were pleased to see a second question on food in the long questions at both levels again this year.
