Extra marks for maths

WITH respect to Dr Florence Craven’s letter (‘Bad Maths’, October 15), the universities do not reward failure in higher level mathematics.

On the contrary, they fail to reward effort properly. ‘D’ stands for Determination. Higher level maths is a ‘double subject’. It is twice as difficult as ordinary level maths.

Students need to devote twice as much time to succeed in higher maths as they devote to any other subject. I maintain it has twice the amount of subject matter as the ordinary level course.