LEAVING CERT MATHS: ORDINARY LEVEL PAPER I:SEVERAL STUDENTS were distressed yesterday when they discovered they may forfeit marks for using unauthorised calculators.

The State Exam Commission issues guidelines regarding the model of calculator authorised for use, but according to some students and teachers, the guidelines are not clear enough.

"I have been using the same calculator all year, which I believed to be authorised because it is not programmable," said Roscommon student William Wright.

"At the last minute I found out that it cannot be used because it can solve quadratic equations."

Overall, an "unpleasant start" was how one teacher described yesterday's ordinary level Maths paper, as students accustomed to a straightforward question 1 were disappointed.

"Yesterday's question 1 did not put students at their ease," said ASTI subject expert Maria Kelly. "The language was convoluted and it took quite a while to extract the figures. Part C of question 1 was particularly difficult."

The offending question described a retailer marking up an item by 40 per cent and then adding VAT. After determining the new price, students were asked to "adjust the price charged to the customer so that it is 1 cent less than a multiple of €10, while keeping the mark-up as close as possible to 40 per cent."

Aidan Roantree of the Institute of Education in Dublin noted some agitation among students around this question. "Question 1c could have been presented with more clarity and this phrasing seemed to cause confusion," said Roantree.

The paper continued to challenge students throughout, Roantree contended.

"The ordinary level Maths paper I was unusual in that there were challenging elements in each of the first three questions, which may have been unsettling for candidates. The final parts of the Algebra question (2c and 3c), candidates found difficult."

Students who chose question 5 and 6 generally reported satisfaction. "The reaction of students to this paper was dependent on their individual question choices," said Roantree.

Jim Healy of Terenure College in Dublin expressed concern about the impact of yesterday's paper on students whose first language is not English.

"Question 1 was not an unfair question, in terms of the Maths, but the language was hard to handle."

Otherwise, said Healy, the rest of yesterday's ordinary level paper was fair, and he hoped that students did not become "flustered and panicked" by question 1.

"Questions 2 and 3 looked harder than they really were," said Healy. "If students took the time to absorb them, they worked out quite easily."

Maria Kelly felt that the first three questions on yesterday's paper were tougher than in previous years, and that some on the C parts would have been more at home on a higher level paper.

"Students attempting question 3 would have been surprised to find an isosceles triangle in there," said Kelly. "They don't expect to see that until paper 2."

Ordinary level Maths is the single biggest exam in the Leaving Cert, with 37,700 students predicted to sit the exam yesterday.

The actual figure often rises, as a significant minority of students take the ordinary level paper despite having studied the higher level curriculum.

Ordinary level Maths Paper II will be held on Monday.