IT WASN’T quite a walk in the park but higher level maths students were happy enough with a fair, if occasionally difficult, first paper yesterday.

“Initially the reports were that students found it very hard,” said ASTI subject representative Eileen Scanlon, “but later everyone was much more positive.”

“Many of the anticipated questions appeared on the paper,” Aidan Roantree of the Institute of Education said. “It was generally very well received.”

Students may have been disconcerted, however, by the appearance of integration in the complex numbers question, question three.

“It is in the syllabus and I believe it has been asked before but I’d say there’s going to be a bit of fuss about that,” said John Brennan of the Ballinteer Institute. The surprise was mitigated, however, by the fact that the piece was very manageable, according to Roantree.

The algebra question was described as somewhat unusual. “It may have thrown some students,” Roantree said.

Question five may also have caused problems. Although it seemed relatively easy at first, the level of detail in the question was “tricky enough”, Brennan said.

With just 10,500 students opting to take higher level maths compared with almost 40,000 at ordinary level, it is important to note that some sections of the paper were very nice, according to teachers. Question four, for example, is not popular but was described as “lovely”.