LEAVING CERT MATHS PAPER 2 ORDINARY LEVEL:"NOT SO nice," was how one teacher described the Leaving Cert's ordinary level maths paper 2, which was taken by four out of five students yesterday.

“This was a tricky paper compared to paper 1,” said Imelda Moloney of Archbishop McHale School in Tuam, Co Galway.

“The ‘c’ parts at the end of each section were unusually challenging in places,” she said.

Question 2, on the geometry of the line, was singled out for criticism.

“You needed to get part one in order to progress through the question,” said one teacher. “Some students found they simply couldn’t go on with that question.”

Mark Lynch of the Institute of Education in Dublin said: “Overall this paper was a lot more challenging than a relatively straightforward paper 1 on Friday.

“Question 2 (b) would have tested the best of candidates. Graphing the question was key to candidates getting a solution,” Mr Lynch added.

“Many students would have been unable to make any progress with this question, without drawing the graph.”

Question 3, on the circle, was described as “time-consuming”. “It demanded a comprehensive knowledge of the relevant parts of the syllabus,” Mr Lynch said.

Some students also complained that question 11 on linear programming was “confusing in parts”.

“Candidates in general found the paper to be significantly more difficult than Friday’s paper,” said one Dublin teacher.

“However the area and volume, trigonometry, statistics and probability questions were straightforward.”

Maria Kelly of Bishopstown Community School in Cork thought the paper was very fair overall, but remarked that some changes on the format of questioning was unwelcome.

“Questions 2, 3 and 7 were not divided up in the normal way. I prefer to see the usual formats. Some students said they found that off-putting.”

Ms Kelly agreed that question 2, on the geometry of the line, was “tricky”.