LEAVING CERT HOME ECONOMICS: HIGHER AND ORDINARY LEVEL:RECESSION-SAVVY students were rewarded yesterday with Home Economics papers that contained a fair smattering of doom and gloom-laden topics at higher and ordinary level.

At higher level, the short questions – which created havoc for a few years when the new exam paper was introduced – were welcomed.

They seem to have ironed out those teething problems, commented the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland representative Maura McCaul.

The range of questions asked was good. A student with good knowledge of the course would have been happy, said the Institute of Education’s Sandra Cleary.

Question one in section B is compulsory and worth 20 per cent of the overall marks. The inclusion of a pie chart of Irish food and drink exports may have put some students off initially, according to Ms McCaul but teachers agreed the question was reasonable. The inclusion of iron in the second part of the question may have been predicted by students. Overall, the question was a bit disjointed, Ms Cleary said. There was no connection between the pie chart presented in the first part of the question and the subsequent parts. But it was a reasonable question despite this.

A question on fish posed some sticky language issues for some candidates according to Ms Cleary. The exam used the expression “palatability”, which is confusing and it also used the expression “nutritional”, where candidates would normally have expected the question to use the phrase “nutritive”, she said.

Food preservation came up in question three but the section proved challenging. Candidates would typically allocate 22 minutes to questions in this section, Ms Cleary said. Question three was too long and disjointed, she added.

The section on household finance plunged students into recessionary topics. “I thought the inclusion of Mabs, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, was nice and topical considering the good work theyre doing at the moment,” said Ms McCaul.

The place of family in modern society rounded off the second section of the paper and drew no complaints.

About half of all students opt for elective one in the elective section of the paper. It’s little wonder at this stage as parts of it have become predictable. Part C of the question covered housing which has appeared every year since the introduction of the new syllabus and at this stage candidates expect this topic to appear, Ms Cleary said.

The question on water hadn’t appeared before, said Ms McCaul. But that was predicted by many students.

Other elective sections posed no real problems and the higher level paper was well set teachers agreed. But for students who spent hours studying this extensive course, there is a sense of disappointment this paper did not reward dedication, said Ms Cleary.

Most students (more than 10,000) sit the higher paper, with just over 2,000 opting for ordinary level. While overall, the paper was deemed fair, there was a sting to some of the questions. Short questions were fine, according to Ms McCaul and most students seemed satisfied.