Week two sums up Maths and Geography

THE second week of State exams began with second papers in maths followed by geography yesterday afternoon.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) spokesperson Brid Griffin said the ordinary level Leaving Certificate maths paper was a fair test of students’ mathematical ability and shouldn’t have posed any major problems as questions followed predicted lines. She felt that most students would have been pleased with the questions on area and volume, and statistics, and that co-ordinate geometry questions were logically structured. However, she said, the wording of the linear programming question may have been quite confusing for some students.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) spokesperson Maria Kelly said it was a fair paper but she criticised the very first question which might have troubled students and unsettled them. They were asked to measure lines shown in an irregular shape and draw a rough sketch of it, something which was not asked before. Students might have spent more time than necessary trying to get right, she said. Ms Kelly also questioned the use of a two-dimensional drawing accompanying the final part of the first question about a three-dimensional object.