Junior Cert maths: Higher level paper ‘very tough’

The Junior Certificate higher level maths paper was the most challenging one in recent years, with some questions that were Leaving Certificate standard, according to teachers.

Maths teacher at St Laurence College in Loughlinstown, Tony McGuinness, said that overall his students found the ordinary level paper OK.

“One notable aspect this year is that a question that came up on the ordinary level paper also appeared on the foundation level paper,” said Mr McGuinness.

“There was one question on speed, distance and time that was presented a bit differently to how it usually would be.

‘Dad’s Silly Triangle’

“Students traditionally expect to be asked about constant speed and use the Dad’s Silly Triangle formula, which is a mnemonic for distance, speed and time,” said Mr McGuinness.

Mr McGuinness said the functions question may have proven difficult for students because they were asked to equate two functions.

Mr McGuinness said the higher level Junior Certificate maths paper was “very tough”.

“It was one of the more difficult higher level maths papers I have seen in recent years. It would have proven problematic for students who are borderline ordinary level, but taking higher level,” he said.

“There was a very tough question 8 on sequences and series that was almost Leaving Cert standard. It used a variety of letters that students may have experienced confusion with.

“Students of Junior Certificate find it difficult to deal in abstracts, so the way some of the questions were presented would have been a challenge for them or thrown them off,” said Mr McGuinness.

“The higher level Junior Certificate maths paper was a step up from last year’s paper and I think the marking scheme will have to be changed to reflect this,” said Mr McGuinness.

Eamonn Toland, founder of TheMathsTutor.ie, said this is the second year the higher level maths paper one has been completely based on the new Project Maths syllabus.

“Paper 1 focuses on Number, Algebra and Functions. Students write their answers directly into the exam paper, not on a separate script. This was very much a Project Maths style paper, and quite challenging in many places,” said Mr Toland.

‘Real-world scenarios’

“Last year, the functions questions were quite traditional, but this year they were much more prominent and much more challenging, with complicated real-world scenarios involved. A question on graphs of a race was leaning towards calculus, and would be more of a Leaving Cert standard,” said Mr Toland.

Mr Toland said a “John and Yoko” reference featured in a question on sequences would have flummoxed young students. “I wonder how many millennials would get the reference?” he asked.

“In an unusual move, some questions were recycled between ordinary and higher level papers. We’ve seen this before in sample papers but not in the real exams,” said Mr Toland.

“Junior Cert Ordinary level paper one was a Project Maths style paper that had a mix of wordy and non-wordy problems as expected. Overall, the paper was quite long with only two hours to complete it. As a Project Maths style paper, it requires a lot of interpretation and analytical skills.

Mr Toland said the paper had a Venn Diagram question, featuring Snapchat and Twitter that was quite technical.

The paper had another nod to social media with a question on functions where a smiley emoji was used as a variable.