Repeat of 2008 exam questions ‘a concern’

LEAVING Certificate students have committed their Irish books to the bottom drawer but many were angry and upset about the appearance of the same six questions as last year on a section of the second higher level paper yesterday morning.

The Stair na Gaeilge (history of Irish) section asked candidates to answer two out of six questions, with internal choices. But all six were identical to those in the same section of the 2008 exam, apart from the instruction yesterday that some required longer points of information than others.

“This is underhand and mean-spirited, the only explanation I can think of is that they are trying to catch the students out,” said Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesperson Robbie Cronin.

About 16,000 students – more than one-third of all those taking Leaving Certificate Irish – were sitting yesterday’s higher level paper 2.

Irish teacher’s group Comhar na Múinteoirí Gaeilge said it had a large number of calls in the afternoon from members whose students were worried about the use of questions so like last years.

“Obviously, students should study all the course, but it is a concern and we will be asking the State Examinations Commission to ensure it is taken into account for the marking of the exam,” said director Anna Davitt. The commission acknowledged that question 4 was the same as last year, but said the role of the exam is to test candidates’ knowledge of the syllabus and a paper is not invalidated where papers contain and examine the same material as appeared on a previous year’s paper.

It said that any issues arising from the matter will be taken into account in the marking scheme for those correcting the exam, and all students will have the option of viewing their marked paper and appeal their result.

Mr Cronin was very pleased with ordinary level Leaving Certificate Irish paper 2, taken by more than 26,000 students.

The Leaving Certificate higher level business papers should have been quite straightforward for most students, according to ASTI’s John McDonnell.

He was pleased with an applied business question about setting up a solar panel company, although students might have had trouble naming the distinct grounds on which discrimination is outlawed under equality law.

He said there was nothing unusual for ordinary level students on their exam. While some topics such as the Unfair Dismissal Act and contract law might have been more expected at higher level, he said fewer points about them were required from students here.

In the Junior Certificate ordinary level business, ASTI subject representative Pat Morris welcomed the inclusion of an answer sheet on which all the candidates’ work had to be filled in, something he and other teachers had been seeking for years.

He said the higher level paper 1 featured short questions similar to those of other years.

Mr Morris said the second paper for higher level students was fine and he welcomed a topical marketing question, asking students to draft a newspaper advert for a fold-up bicycle being manufactured in response to the new tax on workplace parking spaces.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland subject spokesperson Ivan O’Callaghan said the ordinary level paper had a wide choice of questions which should allow weaker students do reasonably well.