THERE will be plenty of students around this week and next who will be muttering: "I wish I could get my hands on the person who set that question." So who does set the exam questions and how do they ensure the contents are not leaked?
Each Junior and Leaving Cert exam subject has a chief examiner, who is usually the senior inspector for that subject with the Department of Education. In big subjects such as English or maths he or she also has help from a panel of advising examiners. They are usually teachers with many years' experience of examining.
Another panel of people sets the questions; some are inspectors, some experienced examiners, some members of the subject's course committee and some from the universities. They are invited to submit questions, then the chief examiner, consulting with advising examiners, chooses from among them.
There is in built security: no one person knows whether her or his questions have been included. In the case of the Leaving Cert the papers have to be approved by a nominated person from both the National University of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin to ensure that they will accept the Leaving Cert for matriculation purposes. But it is more the range, level and suitability of the questions which the university representative approves, rather than the choice of question which will appear on the final exam paper.
A full set of alternative papers are prepared for each subject. This is in case there should be a security leak or something should happen to jeopardise the original set. Thus, if a leak occurs and an exam paper has to be replaced, the examiners are not rushing round preparing a new paper in a hurry; they simply bring the alternative into operation.
All Junior and Leaving Cert exam papers have to be provided in Irish as well as English. The printing, proofreading and checking of all the papers in both languages adds to the examiners work; only a small number of people is involved because of security considerations, so there is a heavy workload.
In setting the questions, the chief examiner takes a number of factors into account. She will be aware, for example, of the questions which have appeared on previous papers and while anxious not to set too predictable a pattern most teachers usually believe that certain trends are discernable if you watch closely.
The exam correctors in each subject provide a report for the chief examiner each year and these are collated into an exam report for each subject. (The Minister of Education has now made a commitment to publish all of these.) This report highlights the questions which posed most difficulty for students, the ones which went well, any regular misunderstandings or mistakes and other notable points. The chief examiner takes all of this into account when setting the following year's paper.
The two main second level teachers' unions, the ASTI and the TUI, both have committees for each subject and they, too, make a report to the chief examiner; any complaints or suggestions from them are taken into account. Subject associations - such as the Association of Maths Teachers - also make such a report.
The examiners are adamant that they are not out to "get" students. "The objective," says one, "is to give students an opportunity to show what they know, not to trick them." So students should take questions at face value; do not bother looking for hidden meanings. The examiners genuinely do want to give you an opportunity to demonstrate all you know. They are, of course, out to test the extent of your knowledge and your ability to use and handle that knowledge.
Rumours have been flying around for the past few weeks as to what will and will not be on papers. Take all of this with a dose of scepticism. "Hot tips" are a waste of time. Nobody but the few people who handle the papers have any idea what is on them.
Students usually take topicality an a possible indiction of questions, and this is not an unreasonable assumption. Essay topics are sometimes related to current trends; history questions can be related to anniversaries of historical events; business or economics questions can also relate to current issues in the economy. But bear in mind that the exam papers were mostly set a year ago, and do not rely on very recent current topics for your predictions.
Some schools try to persuade students and parents that they have an "inside track" on questions or exam papers. This is nonsense - treat it with total disdain.
Sometimes they try to back up this assertion by claiming large numbers of examiners on their staff. "Examiners" are the people who correct the papers, and they have no more notion at this stage than you or I as to what questions may arise. The Department of Education is not stupid - honestly! - and teachers who are teaching exam classes are not involved in setting papers.
