Leaving Cert geography: Topical paper with more choice and time than ever

The higher-level geography exam was fair, balanced and topical, offering students more choice and time than ever before, according to Michael Doran, a geography teacher at the Institute of Education in Dublin.

“Changes to the exam this year meant that students had more time, and for the first time ever did not have to panic their way through answers,” said Mr Doran. “In part two of the exam, they normally have to answer four questions, one from each of four sections. This year, they had to answer three questions, from two sections.”

However, Luke Saunders, Studyclix.ie founder and geography teacher, lamented the lack of a direct question on Brexit.

“The syllabus document speaks of fostering an understanding of global interdependence and developing active citizenship skills,” he said.

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"Despite this, Brexit, one of the biggest issues facing Ireland in recent times, made no appearance on today's higher or ordinary papers.

“I feel the geography examiners could learn from their counterparts in English where exams are kept fresh and relevant with topical contemporaneous source materials.”

Mr Doran said that, for students doing regional geography, there was a pretty fair choice.

“Question 4c was nice and topical and allowed students to refer to Brexit, immigration and environmental issues,” he said.

Mr Saunders was happier with part two of the exam, saying it gave plenty of options for the well-prepared, but some may have struggled with the geoecology questions.

“There were two questions on soils and the popular biome question was unusually specific, requiring students to look at the effects of agriculture, industrial development and tree felling on a biome they have studied.”

Fair

Mr Doran said that the short questions were very fair, and that students would have been happy to see land form development and the deposition process appear in the physical geography section.

Mr Saunders said that the ninth short question offered a novel take on the photo question.

"It required students to compare two aerial photos of Foxford, taken 14 years apart, in order to identify land-use changes around the town," he said.

In the economic elective, the regular questions came up on multinational companies and European Union policy. "Environmental issues featured again, and there was a lovely question relating to renewable energy and the conflict of interest between the environment and the economy," Mr Doran said.

The ordinary-level paper threw up no major surprise and students would have been put at ease with the choices offered in all sections, said Mr Saunders.

Topics on the paper included plate tectonics, agriculture in the EU and energy use in Ireland.

Try this one at home: Leaving Cert geography, higher level

Explain each of the following challenges currently facing the European Union:

• Social challenges

• Economic challenges.