It all adds up in exam finale

The Leaving Certificate ended with a range of subjects including technology papers for 1,100 students.

Fiona Byrne of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the higher level exam was very current. It had a nice focus on Irish design and innovation such as Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh’s product Sugru and Laois company Cynar’s recycling technology, while some students had difficulties in an ICT question on internet trolling.

She said the ordinary level paper was quite predictable with one question extremely like another in a previous year, and students could have been carried well just with the knowledge and experience of the design brief work completed earlier in the year for half the subject’s overall marks.

- Aisling Flood of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said the religious education exams both unfairly featured full questions on primal religions, a topic barely covered in the text books. She thought the higher level exam was very fair otherwise, with particular favour from students for opening questions in the meaning and values section and for questions on Christianity that followed on well from the junior cycle course.

She said ordinary level students also faced tough questions in the second unit on Christianity, world religions and moral decision-making.

- For applied maths candidates, ASTI’s Christy Maginn thought the higher level paper taken by the vast majority of the 1,700 entrants would have been difficult to complete in 2.5 hours after more than two weeks of exams. Students were made to think on their feet in a welcome way when examined on a waterflow problem, while some might have been un-nerved that a question on oblique collisions did not appear where it might normally be expected.