LEAVING CERT CHEMISTRY HIGHER AND ORDINARY LEVEL:BIOLOGY HAS almost four times the cohort of the other science subjects, but the 8,000 students who did opt for chemistry would have been very relieved that they did so yesterday afternoon as they were greeted with a "fair" exam that offered plenty of choice, according to teachers.
“Students were very happy coming out of the exam,” said subject representative with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland Ciara O’Shea, who is a teacher in St Attracta’s Community School, Tubbercurry. “There were no great surprises in the paper.” It was “consistent with previous years”, agreed Tara Lyons, chemistry teacher with the Institute of Education.
The higher-level paper provided students with a gentle opener in the form of a “very, very straightforward,” titration question, according to Ms O’Shea. “It settled students into the exam,” she said.
An emphasis on practical experiments, organic chemistry and atomic theory was to be expected, according to Ms Lyons.
Students would have needed to be comfortable with organic chemistry, considering almost a third of the 11 questions related to that topic. Students are required to answer eight questions so they could not have avoided it.
The paper was not without its challenges. “The final parts of question 2 and question 3 did require students to think carefully,” Ms Lyons said. “Question 10 part (c) required a bit of time and thought,” Ms O’Shea added. The choice available on the paper meant that students could sidestep more difficult questions if they read the paper before beginning.
Chemistry is a subject in which students often do very well. Some 21 per cent gained an A at higher level over the past three years.
Just 666 out of 8,399 chemistry students opted for the lower-level paper. They were greeted with a “straightforward paper”, Ms O’Shea said.