Leaving Cert geography: Blurred maps mar an otherwise perfect landscape

Blurry maps and poor definition aerial photographs marred an otherwise perfect higher level geography paper, according to teachers.

Valerie Redmond, a geography teacher at the all-girls Presentation School in Wexford, said the the aerial photo had a matt finish and wasn't entirely clear. Students at Adamstown Community College told their teacher, Clare Fannin, that the map accompanying a short question on rivers was of very poor quality. Another short question, on landform and pattern recognition, was accompanied by a low-grade image, they said. Students must answer 10 out of 12 short questions.

In response, the State Examinations Commission said images on the paper and the aerial photograph accompanying it were clear. A spokesman said students were directed (in part one, question 9)  to use the A4 size map accompanying the paper rather than the extract of this map in the question paper. Regarding part one question 10 and the aerial photograph, the SEC said all landforms and patterns can be readily identified on the Ordnance Survey extract on the exam paper. *

Otherwise, said Fannin, the higher level paper was “wide-ranging with lots of choice. If the kids covered the syllabus and made an effort to revise it, they should have managed with ease. The short questions were fine, and they covered most of the syllabus. On the short questions, one of them featured the term “geo”, which is a coastline feature; some of the students may not necessarily have known what this was.”

Redmond said overall, the higher level paper was “more fair and balanced than it has been for many years” – in spite of the problems with some images. “The questions had some challenging parts, but they were asked in a clear-cut manner. There was a nice blend of topics on a well laid-out paper, with students pushed and challenged in parts, which is appropriate.”

The paper assessed the skills and knowledge that students should have from the curriculum, said Fannin. “It was a good taster of the topics they might study in more depth on a third-level geography course or in related subjects such as politics or geology.”

Students at Adamstown Community College, this year’s Leaving Cert diary school, opted to study cultural identity rather than geo-ecology as their elective option. There are over 50 different nationalities represented at the school. “The class looked at migration patterns and they were able to relate this back to their own lives, the lives of their friends and their lived experience. It was hugely relevant for them and it made for a very dynamic classroom experience,” said Fannin.

There was nothing suprising on the ordinary level paper and Fannin said it was “fair and straightforward”. Redmond, however, expressed concern that some of the language used in the questions was pitched “a little tricky”. She pointed to a question which asked students to describe and explain two problems faced by any region they had studied, and said it was a little vague.

A total of 22,375 students sat this year’s geography paper, with 3,285 (15 per cent) taking the ordinary level paper. Geography is the second most popular optional Leaving Cert subject, after biology.

* This article was amended on Monday June 8th to include a response from the State Examinations Commission on the quality of map reproduction in the paper