Science and religion take centre stage for pupils
She said the biology section, which is many students’ preference, was particularly difficult. She felt that students were expected to show a greater understanding of the course material than the usual emphasis on practical experiments they have done in school, while photo-graphs were not in colour and some were unclear.
She felt the vocabulary in some questions was difficult for Junior Certificate students and said that a physics experiment in which copper is placed in hot and cold water was one candidates would not have seen, although they should have been able to apply knowledge from a particular topic to answer about it.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland’s (TUI) Junior Certificate science spokes-woman, Carmel Crowley, thought the exam was quite fair and said a few tough questions are to be expected for higher level students. She said it was balanced with a mix of topics from across the syllabus and, while testing in places, was generally student-friendly.
Ms Crowley said there were good graphics and clear diagrams and those students who put in the effort during the junior cycle should have been pleased.
She said the ordinary level paper was very clear, with questions of an appropriate standard. It was well structured and laid out, and students should have been familiar with all the topics examined, she claimed.
Ms Shevlin said yesterday afternoon’s exam appeared fine and caused no problems for students she had spoken to afterwards.
Less reliance on practical experiments was also a concern for TUI subject representative Tim O’Meara. He was disappointed with the practical section of the paper as it required more detail about their understanding of the theory than the actual doing of the experiments on the course.
Religious education exams were taken by 27,000 Junior Certificate students in the afternoon and ASTI’s Aisling M Flood said the higher level paper was fair but demanding. She said there were some very specific questions, but those who worked hard should have been rewarded.
She thought the essays were particularly challenging as the topics were quite narrow in focus and some of the six options had language that might have put students off answering.
Elsewhere, she thought a question about the life of Jesus was quite limiting, asking students to describe an incident at the Sea of Galilee or the River Jordan, which also had to be identified in a map of Palestine.
Ms Flood praised the examiners for a clear ordinary level paper with straightforward questions.
The higher and ordinary level Leaving Certificate art papers were considered very tough by ASTI subject spokeswoman Jane Campbell. She felt most questions on both exams were too narrow and specific from a course spanning prehistoric to present-day art history.
She cited the example of a question about techniques in the building of Irish pre-Christian burial sites, without naming one, such as corbelling used at Newgrange and Skellig Michael, and which could not be covered in enough detail in 45 minutes. She said almost every question looked for too much detail on narrow topics, citing another example asking about a choice of art styles or movements, which would be more suited to a third level exam. However, the gallery visit question was thought fair.
Ms Campbell said the gallery question for ordinary level students was too narrow, limiting them to discuss just one exhibit, and the questions on Gauguin’s The Vision after the Sermon were more suitable for higher level students.
TUI’s Maureen Roche was more positive about the exams, saying there was a good enough choice to answer three of the 20 questions at higher level or from 21 at ordinary level. She thought well-prepared higher level students would have been pleased with the wide range of the course included and, while the pre-Christian burial sites was initially cryptic, those who recognised they could write about Newgrange should have answered well.
Ms Roche said the ordinary level paper was very straightforward, broad and offered plenty of choice.
