JUNIOR CERT MATHS:BOTH THE higher- and ordinary- level Junior Cert maths papers were well received yesterday, with only a question on breakfast cereals troubling some students at ordinary level.

“Question 3B on the value of breakfast cereals threw some students in terms of the application of maths that it called for,” said Bríd Griffin of Carlow Institute of Further Education. “Otherwise it was structured in the usual way.”

The higher paper was regarded as fair apart from a Venn diagram question that “left a few students scratching their heads”.

Around half of students take Junior Cert maths at higher level but that drops to one in five at Leaving Cert, where the subject is considered to be very difficult and time-consuming. A new syllabus was rolled out in pilot schools at Leaving Cert level last year. The process of replacing the Junior Cert course begins on Monday as students at 24 schools will sit a partially revised maths Paper 2.