Long paper suits the poker-faced

Card-playing skills would have stood higher-level maths students in good stead yesterday.

The chairman of the Irish Maths Teachers Association, Mr Cammie Gallagher, was critical of question 7(b), the probability question, because, he said, not all students would be familiar with a deck of cards. Otherwise, it was a fair, if very long, paper.

The unhappiness cast on students by higher-level paper 1 in Mount Temple Comprehensive, Malahide, Co Dublin, was dispelled by paper 2. Teacher Mr John Evans said: "Trigonometry fans should have benefited from their diligence and there was general relief that the vectors question this year was designed for students who attend school and not the Massachusetts Institute of Technology," he said. "The optional questions were fair and of equal levels of difficulty," he added.

Mr Mark Slocum, a teacher at Loreto Secondary School, Youghal, Co Cork, said there was a mixed reaction among students to the higher-level paper. The trigonometry proof required in question 4(c) was long and difficult as was question 5(c)(iii), but questions 6 and 7 were very nice.

And at Post Primary School, Maynooth, Co Kildare, teacher Mr John McKeon said none of the higher-level students appeared to be under stress leaving the exam hall.

At ordinary level, Mr Evans said the paper was thorough and well-structured if very lengthy. Mr Slocum said students at Loreto Secondary School, in Youghal, were pleased with a good choice of question. Mr Gallagher said it was a very long but fair paper.

ASTI subject representative Ms Maria Kelly also said the paper was long but contained no shocks. "A criticism would be that the part (a) questions were long and some had hidden steps. For instance, question 1(a) looked straightforward but actually required five steps," she said.

The foundation-level paper was thorough and well-structured, Mr Evans said.