The Leaving Certificate wrapped up today with two final exams: religious education and applied maths.
There was a mistake on the higher-level applied maths paper, said Oliver Murphy, an applied maths teacher at the Institute of Education.
“Question nine on integration by parts might have become daunting for some students, not least because part A contained an error in that it involved the natural log of zero, which doesn’t exist,” Murphy said.
Although this may cause a worry for some students, the marking scheme will be adjusted to ensure no students miss out as a result of the examiner’s error.
RM Block
Tony McGennis, ASTI subject representative, said there was less time pressure than in previous years.
“Students are often pushed for time on the applied maths paper,” he said.
“We would have practised timings in class, and students are advised that, when they sit down to the paper, they look out for potentially long questions.”
Murphy said that there were clear questions and good diagrams with the occasional tricky moment, but nothing shocking.
“Opening the paper, students will have been pleased to start on a very regular note with question one,” he said.
“They will be well-versed on the different algorithms as they have appeared in various combinations every year,” he said.
“The second question, on a non-homogeneous difference equation, was very clear and doable. Question three was the first appearance on the new course of a classic question: a jolt.”
Both teachers said that question four, on collisions, may have been tricky.
“It was quite long, though choice allowed it to be avoided,” said McGennis.
Murphy, meanwhile, said that the second part of the question, on oblique angles in snooker, may have challenged some, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Murphy said that the second half of the paper had an emphasis on differential equations and difference.
“Question six opened with a very nice differential equation before introducing an interesting scenario: an object dropped from a hot-air balloon. The substance of this question was nice, but students will have needed to catch that the balloon is ascending when the object is dropped, so it is already in motion.”
Overall, Murphy said, the questions were very clear and supported by good diagrams.
