‘Practical work rewarded in paper’

JUNIOR Certificate science candidates who had done all their experiments should have been pleased with yesterday’s exams.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesman Mattie Finnerty said the higher level paper was appropriate on the day when the Green Party entered Government as one question asked about how humans contribute to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

He said students were rewarded for their practical work as most questions had some element related to the mandatory experiments on the syllabus. Mr Finnerty thought the physics section was probably the most demanding as specific answers were sought and many questions required a lot of maths work.