THE centenary of the discovery of the X ray and, slightly more obliquely, the 10th anniversary of Chernobyl were both commemorated on this year's ordinary level physics paper.
Mr Jim Murphy, TUI subject representative and a teacher in Abbey Community College in Wicklow town said the higher level paper was "lair enough overall", with section A more straightforward than in previous years. Section B was also fair, though he noted that a lot of his students avoided question 5, not because it looked particularly difficult but because there were quite a number of things to do and mistakes could be made if they weren't careful.
In question 6, the spectrometer readings would usually have been given, but the question was more straightforward in the form in which it was presented, he said. Question 8 in section C has traditionally given applied maths students an advantage, but this was not the case this year. Question 12 was unusual in that it gave students a full question on radioactivity, Mr Murphy said, adding that it was a fair and good question.
Mr Matt Bermingham, ASTI subject representative and a teacher in St Colman's College, Fermoy, Co Cork, described the higher level paper as "a fine paper overall", but stressed that there was no question of it being easy. Sections A and B were straightforward, he said, white the semiconductor diode made its first appearance on the paper in question 7. In section C, the problem parts of questions 10 and 11, on resistance and electromotive force respectively, were testing. Mr Murphy also felt that those parts were a little tricky but said that overall the paper was fair and pitched at the right level.
At ordinary level, Mr Bermingham said he couldn't have any complaint at all about the paper and said he was happier with it than he had been for a number of years. Mr Murphy said he had no great complaints about it but felt that, relatively speaking, it was slightly more difficult for ordinary level students than the higher level paper had been for higher level students.
Some parts of question 4 were difficult enough, he said, while question 6 gave students angles of incidence/degree, rather than sines, which might have caught some students out. Questions 8 and 9, on mechanics and tight respectively, were very much along traditional lines, he said, while students could have got bogged down on question 10.
Meanwhile, the X ray tube was the subject of 11(b), while the nuclear reactor came up in 12(b). Question 13 was a little harder than in previous years, Mr Murphy noted, but overall the paper was "fair enough".
Physics and chemistry
Mr Donal O'Byrne, a TUI subject representative and a teacher in St Nessan's Community Cottege in Limerick, described the higher level physics and chemistry paper as very fair".
He noted that there were two or three small items in section 2, the chemistry section, which might have caused some difficulty. In question 7(f) - "Give the structural formula of 2-propanol" - students might not have been familiar with the nomenclature, he said, white there were small difficulties with questions 11(a) and 12(c)(iii).
Overall, however, he said the paper was very fair and students had such a wide range of choice that they could avoid questions of which they were unsure.
The ordinary level paper was "fair and predictable", he said.