Students ‘delighted’ after maths, but Irish exam poses challenges for many

Students were pleased to find there were “no gremlins” to trip them up in Monday’s Leaving Cert higher level maths paper two, according to teachers.

“The consensus was overwhelmingly positive,” said Niall Duddy, maths teacher at Presentation College, Athenry and subject representative for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).

He said there were little hints thrown into questions, which meant it was very “user-friendly”.

“Of course, there was the usual sting in the tail at the end of each question, which is what you would expect anyway,” he said.

Brian Scully, maths teacher at the Institute of Education, said the higher level paper was “an accessible sibling to paper one” with a “few novel moments to distinguish those confident in different contexts”.

Overall, he said there was a good mixture of questions that gradually increased the challenge of the paper.

[ ‘Many will feel deflated’: Live reaction to today’s Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle exams ]

There was a similar reaction from Stephen Begley, head of maths at Dundalk Grammar School and a subject expert with Studyclix, though he said section B of the paper was more challenging.

“Students would have found today’s paper two busier than Friday’s paper one – but fair and doable,” he said.

Begley said many will have found the short questions in section A very standard and reasonable, while section B’s long questions put students through their paces.

“Looking at topics covered the regular features of statistics, probability, trigonometry, geometry, the circle and the line dominated the short questions, while longer questions were based on statistics, probability, the circle, geometry and trigonometry,” he said.

Scully said students would have been comfortable working through the short questions, while long questions required some careful reading and thinking.

“Later questions migrated to distinctly higher level-only concepts, but the progression was logical and offered the opportunity for those students striving for H2s and H1s to distinguish themselves.”

The ordinary level maths paper, meanwhile, was “accessible” with no surprises, according to teachers.

Robert Chaney, maths teacher with Presentation Secondary School, Kilkenny, said there were “plenty of hints and scaffolded questions to lead the candidates”.

Jean Kelly, a maths teacher with the Institute of Education, said most students will feel their work paid off after an ordinary level paper with questions that drew from well-worn study material.

In the Leaving Cert Irish higher level paper, by contrast, teachers said many students will have left exam halls disappointed after a “surprising” paper did not include key issues and topics for which many prepared.

The general consensus from students was that the language in the listening comprehension was challenging and also the pace was very fast

—  Lorraine Finn – Irish teacher, Tuam

Clare Grealy, Irish teacher at the Institute of Education, said much-anticipated topics like homelessness, war and violence did not appear in the essay section.

“At first glance many would have felt disappointed to see those key issues absent,” she said. “There were opportunities to use this material, as there were ample chances to use material prepared for the orals, yet these were indirect.”

Lorraine Finn, an Irish teacher at High Cross College, Tuam, Co Galway, said some areas of the paper may have proved challenging for some students, especially the listening comprehension.

“The general consensus from students was that the language in the listening comprehension was challenging and also the pace was very fast. More time between each section would have been beneficial,” said Ms Finn, a subject representative with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).

In the ordinary level paper, Ms Finn said there was “nothing unusual” in what was a very general paper, while Ms Dolan said the paper was well-received and student-friendly.