Honours students find paper a difficult challenge

Leaving Certificate maths/higher level: Students reported mixed feelings about yesterday's Leaving Cert higher maths paper one. Some students of Coláiste Chroí Mhuire said they "just loved it" while others were very disappointed by the appearance of sequences and series, which were not expected to come up this year.

Overall, the paper was considered to be somewhat harder than last year.

Higher-level maths, which retains its reputation as one of the most difficult subjects on the Leaving's curriculum, only attracts about 20 per cent of students, but is a required subject for many third-level courses in science and engineering.

Student numbers are falling in these disciplines and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is planning a review of the Leaving Cert maths syllabus to attract more students.

"Students believe that maths is not as easy to get an A in as other honours subjects," said ASTI subject expert Eileen Scanlon. "Many bright students who take honours level at every other level are shying away from honours maths, even though they should be well able for it."

Ms Scanlon thought yesterday's paper was a step in the right direction because it tested basic concepts and more advanced ideas.

Andy Carolyn of the TUI felt that anyone predicting the dumbing down of the Leaving this year would have been put in their place by today's higher level maths offering. "If anything, I think my students found this year's paper a bit more difficult than last year's. It was not a good paper for any student who was hoping to wing it. You needed to know your stuff."

Ollie Murphy of Belvedere College in Dublin said his students were satisfied, if not elated, by the higher paper.

"The part C questions, where the students hoping for As and Bs can show their stuff, were searching, but that's how it should be. Those who struggled with the subject during the year should have been able to get enough for a C3."

One bonus for students, according to Mr Murphy, was the relative brevity of the paper. "The students had plenty of time to complete their questions and some even had time to take on a few more, maximising their chances of high points," he said.

Higher maths paper two will be held on Monday.