STUDENTS sitting higher level Junior Cert geography yesterday afternoon faced long, testing questions. The ordinary level paper did not present students with many difficulties.
Ms Liz Crummey, a geography teacher in St Raphaela's Secondary School, Stillorgan, Dublin, said that questions 1, 2 and 3 of the higher level paper were a mixed bag, with a little bit of everything included". Question 1 progressed from rocks, to frost and soil, to mixed farming, while question 2 encompassed forecasting, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, tourism in Europe, and city centres and suburbs.
Ms Crummey noted that the Third World and population, both fairly substantial topics, did not feature in the long questions section of the higher level paper, thereby upsetting some students. However, there were a number of short questions which included these areas.
She said that question 9 in the short answer section, which included a chart of climate statistics, confused a number of students. It asked students to select the correct temperature range, but only gave single numbers, which were obtained by subtracting the minimum temperatures from the maximum. A number of students, who didn't realise how the single figures were derived, thought the question contained an error.
Mr Joe Whyte, ASTI subject representative, said that the questions on the higher level paper were skill based and would suit candidates who had spent time acquiring the essential skills of the subject such as map and photograph interpretation, analysis, evaluation and statistical interpretation. It was a testing paper with topics ranging from geo-morphology to map reading to acid rain and traffic management, he added.
The breadth of the paper meant that students had to study the whole course, and that was fair enough, Mr Whyte said.
The paper demonstrated that geography is a subject that has a lot to offer in making students aware of their surroundings and the interaction of human and physical processes that makes the world around them, he added. "The multiple choice questions ranged over the whole course and were proof that geography is a subject that demands a lot of intellectual ability.
"All in all, it was a good paper and the skills, attitudes and knowledge imparted by the study of geography should help to persuade the Minister to maintain geography as a core subject," he said.
Mr Brendan Lillis and Ms May Rooney, geography teachers in Largy College, Clones, Co Monaghan, were agreed in their assessment of the higher level paper as "very long and very demanding". In particular, Mr Lillis pointed to the question which demanded an explanation as to how overfishing had brought about changes in the European fishing industry. The breadth of knowledge required might be more suited to Leaving Cert rather than Junior Cert students, he said.
Students found it difficult to figure out exactly what they were being asked in the forecasting part of question 24 Mr Lillis said. However, questions 4 and 5, which included the Ordnance Survey maps and aerial photographs, were very fair, he said.
"There was a change in the map and a new vertical photograph but the guidelines were followed," Mr Lillis said. As to the short answer questions, he said they were generally all right, but students might find the comparison of two graphs in question 3 confusing. Question 11 was unnecessarily long, he added.
Mr Whyte lauded the clear difference between the ordinary and higher level papers. "The language in the ordinary level paper was straightforward and appropriate to students taking the course," he said. The topics were wide ranging, including manufacturing industry, tourism and developing countries. This gave students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject.
Mr Lillis said that students in Largy College were quite pleased with the ordinary level paper. The vocabulary presented no difficulties and the diagrams were clear. Ms Crummey said that students in St Raphaela's had no problems to report. "It was very fair and there were lots of diagrams, which help that level of student," she said.
A number of schools offer an alternative to history and geography in the form of economic and social studies. One ESS teacher said that the ordinary level paper challenged students to respond to questions on topical issues such as development, colonisation and the industrial revolution through the use of a variety of graphical media such as cartoons, graphs and photography.
"Gladly, once again, practical skills such as map reading and photograph interpretation were tested in an interesting manner," she said.
For instance, students were asked to correlate the extract map of Kilkenny with a photograph of a portion of the city. The higher level paper was very reasonable, she said.