Exams home in on topical issues
Both papers were well received by the students who spoke with Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokeswoman Maura McCaul after completing their papers.
She thought the higher and ordinary level exams had a broad range of topics and were both fair tests.
Topical issues such as shopping habits and smoking were mentioned on both, and the higher level exam included a question about water conservation.
Ms McCaul thought a higher level question about blast freezing and quick freezing was more relevant to commercial than domestic knowledge. Students were asked to draw and label structures of the tooth, something which had not been asked for many years but which, she said, would have rewarded students who had worked well on their own diagrams.
She said the ordinary level paper had many questions on dietary habits, one about vegetarianism, in an exam with a broad range of topics. She said these included the use of eggs in diet, and full questions about the skin, and about breakfast.
lASTI German spokes-man Patrick Kavanagh was glad that the morning exam for higher level Junior Certificate candidates was in line with those of previous years, as it has started becoming more accessible.
He said that previously, students were expected to know tenses more in line with the Leaving Certificate, but again this was not evident in yesterday’s exam.
For example, the letter they had to respond to was understandable and so the task was less difficult.
Mr Kavanagh said the listening test for both higher and ordinary level students was quite fair.
He said the ordinary level exam was a fine paper with no surprises, and students who had practiced should have done fine with it.
