Exam body under fire as ship question goes off course

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) is under fire for a Leaving Certificate maths mistake that may have cost thousands of students valuable time.

The higher level trigonometry question showed a triangle to mark a ship’s journey, but the wrong value was given for one of the angles. The Irish version showed no value for this angle, but students were told in a note read by supervisors to insert the same 36° that appeared for the rest of the estimated 13,000 who sat the exam.

While different methods were possible to answer the questions, those who used the incorrect angle may have been confused when verifying their answers.