BOTH ordinary and higher level accounting papers were a good test of the new Leaving Cert accounting syllabus, which was examined yesterday for the first time. Mr Joseph Keating, ASTI subject representative, said that students and teachers should have been happy.
It was expected that theory would be sprinkled throughout the papers, but there was no more theory than before. This may have disappointed some and made others happy, said Mr Keating.
He had a number of criticisms of the layout on both papers. For instance, in question 1, ordinary level, no guide marks were used so students may have become confused.
As to content, he identified a few problems at higher level. In question 3 there was some doubt as to whether the motor car and the investments were private or business assets.
A student from Colaiste Mhuire, Dublin, contacted Exam Times to says that it was impossible to complete question 3 in the allotted 25 minutes. Mr Keating, who teaches in Cabinteely Community School, Dublin, agreed and said that students who chose to answer questions 3 and 4 would have run into trouble timewise.
Part (c) of question 5 was a little cryptic, he noted, while the phraseology in one part of question 6 was ambiguous. "Wilkinson estimated that one third of furniture, light and heat used Students might think that the one third applied to all three items or that it only applied to furniture, he explained. Examiners would have to make allowances, he said.
Ms Shiela Conneelly, a representative of the Business Studies Teachers' Association of Ireland, said that question 1, final accounts, was "a good honours question". Question 2 which dealt with correction of errors and suspense account, was reasonable while question 3, the service firm, was a new type of question. Some students may have been put off by this but, if they steadied themselves, and got to work on it, it was a good question, she added.
There were no surprises in questions 4, 5 and 6 while question 7 was on a new topic. Some students might have hoped for cash flow here, but the published accounts question which came up was quite fair, commented Ms Conneelly, who teaches in Seamount College, Kinvara, Co Galway. Students at her school loved question 8, marginal costing.
Ms Conneelly said that the ordinary level paper was fair and students who had put in the work would be very happy with it. Mr Keating said that there were no problems with the content in the ordinary level paper.