Leaving Cert chemistry: ‘A good test of knowledge, understanding and analytical skills’

There were lots of choices for students on a higher-level chemistry paper that covered all aspects of the course and was a good test for students, teachers have said.

“Students will likely have left the exam feeling confident that the expected and prepared elements appeared,” said Tara Lyons, a chemistry teacher at the Institute of Education in Dublin.

“The paper was a good test of the students’ knowledge, understanding and analytical skills,” said Mary Mullaghy, ASTI subject representative and a teacher at Eureka Secondary School in Kells, Co Meath.

“There were plenty of questions based on laboratory practical work with particular emphasis on observational skills and analytical skills.

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“The fundamentals of chemistry were well examined, and the everyday applications of chemistry were covered throughout the paper. It was a good test of a student’s ability to analyse data, for example in the graph questions.”

Ms Lyons said that the paper opened with three questions on the mandatory experiment but, this year, adjustments made for lost learning during Covid-19 meant that students had the option to avoid it.

“Those who attempted them found a mostly straightforward blend of practical details, observations and stoichiometry. This would have been as expected by students, and those who practised the 2017 paper might have even recognised question one’s stoichiometric calculation.

“Elsewhere in this section, they veered away from rote learning to test the students’ ability to understand the underlying processes,” Ms Lyons said.

Ms Mullaghy said that, as always, there was good coverage of organic chemistry.

“This is the basis of our pharmaceutical industry.

“Relevant topics such as water treatment and atmospheric chemistry were also addressed and tested the higher order thinking skills such as analysis and synthesis,” Ms Mullaghy said.

Ms Lyons said that section B of the paper was true to form.

“The questions weren’t long-winded or wordy, choosing instead to be clear, pointed, and requiring concise answers. Question four covered a broad range of topics from all over the course but was the usual mix of atomic chemistry, definitions, stoichiometry, and organic chemistry.

“This combination was slightly more atomic heavy than previous years, but this should not pose any distinct challenge to the prepared student.

“The last four questions were also typical for chemistry papers, with the exception that students were not required to draw their own graphs.

“The COVID adjustments made the internal choices of questions 10 and 11, even more navigable than before. Students could thus avoid trickier or more puzzling questions, such as question 11 which mentioned the effect of decreasing activation energy – this will puzzle many as activation energy cannot be decreased. With that being said, this was only a momentary pause in what was a broadly approachable paper,” Ms Lyons said.

Meanwhile, Ms Mullaghy said students coming out from the ordinary level exam seemed pleased enough as again there was sufficient choice for those who had covered the course.