Old syllabus bows out with predictable questions

Leaving Cert geography: higher and ordinary: The old Leaving Cert geography syllabus went out with a whimper yesterday as students were treated to a "predictable" paper containing widely anticipated questions on Norway, France and the erosion of Irish coastlines.

"This is the last time the old syllabus will be examined and there was nothing dramatic in store for the last crop of students," said Jackie Brennan of Rockbrook School.

"The higher students were very pleased to see predicted topics on the paper as well as some topical questions on global warming, traffic management and EU enlargement," he said.

The social geography section of the higher paper looked at infrastructural management in Mullingar and the potential impact of refugee crises on sustainable development.

ASTI subject representative James Staunton agreed that the higher paper was very predictable. "The long question on Mullingar was a very nice, topical theme and just the sort of area that should be explored on the geography syllabus," he said. "Students were very happy with today's paper - next year will be a different story."

Geography is one of the most popular elective subjects on the Leaving Cert curriculum, after French and art. A total of 28,840 students entered for the exam this year; 5,180 took the ordinary level paper. Around 45 per cent of geography students are female.

The ordinary-level paper was comparable in difficulty to the higher paper, according to Mr Brennan, who is a subject expert for skoool.ie. "The paper contained questions on falling family sizes in the developed world and a question on the Luas - fine if you come from south Dublin," he commented.

The ordinary-level paper also featured a predicted long question on France and offered students plenty of choice.

There is some apprehension in schools concerning next year's exam as no sample papers have yet been made available. The new syllabus has been extended to include elective modules on world geography.