Pens down as examiners finally call time for the Leaving Cert
Kieran Christie, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesperson, said the higher and ordinary level papers were long but said he expects this to be taken into account when examiners devise the marking scheme.
He welcomed the strong use of colour on graphics on both papers, and said the higher level paper contained a good emphasis on conservation and modern technology.
He said the electronic aspects in the exam were testing but fair, however the paper had no hidden traps for students.
Mr Christie said the ordinary level exam featured very topical questions on illegal downloading of music and also covered energy use.
According to ASTI applied maths spokesperson Christy Maginn, yesterday’s higher level paper reflected the progressive examining of the subject in recent years.
He said the question about projectiles contained nothing unfamiliar and another question on collisions was carefully designed, as it was broken into six parts.
Mr Maginn said the differential equations question has often been a stumbling block in recent years but many students should have been able to make their way through it on the exam yesterday. He said part of the harmonic motion question was quite unusual and required students to think slightly outside the box, as did the question on statics.
He said the ordinary level paper contained plenty of diagrams which go a long way towards opening questions up for students. He said many questions were set with more numeric and less algebraic figures, and a lot of questions were also broken into small parts which is helpful at ordinary level.
David Martin of the ASTI said some questions on the higher level religious education exam were awkward, such as one about asking for examples of how experiences in life could make a person question the meaning of life.
Another question he felt was ambiguous asked students to compare a festival in Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam with the way an event from the founding story is marked in Christianity or Judaism.
Mr Martin said it was unclear whether, in relation to Christianity, the founding story was creation or the start of Christian teaching.
He said students would probably have expected to see a question on Charles Darwin which did appear, and the paper was generally fair other than some of the awkward questions he mentioned. He said the ordinary level exam appeared to be quite straightforward.
