Sir, – You will be aware of the controversy concerning the 2011 Leaving Certificate Higher Maths Paper I, which was much more difficult than in previous years.
This may be disastrous for the 5 per cent of students who opted to take the Higher paper, many of whom are aiming for third-level courses with high entry requirements. This unusual paper – which they could not have anticipated – will cause many of them to under-achieve and miss their goals.
Question 8 (c) on integration depended on getting the initial substitution right (or no marks would be given), whereas in 1999 the same question gave this initial substitution as a hint. The degree of difficulty was far greater for 2011 students than it was for the students in 1999.
Question 6 involved the interpretation of graphs in an entirely new way. The students had to ignore much of the information provided by the graph, and focus simply on whether the second differential was positive, zero or negative. This would be a reasonable approach in the revised Project Maths curriculum, which commences next year, but it is not reasonable in the last paper of the current syllabus, which emphasises algebraic manipulation over graphic interpretation.
It is not possible to fix this by simply adjusting the marking scheme. Even Grade A students were so thrown by the unexpected difficulty of sections of the paper that they made uncharacteristic errors in the more standard parts of the paper. While Irish universities may compensate for this, foreign universities will not.
A political response is needed to ensure that an independent inquiry is made into the problems of the maths examination system, particularly in a wider context where the State has the goal of increasing take up of Higher Level Maths. This cannot be left to the State Examinations Commission.
There has recently been controversy regarding the administration of exams in the UK, and when questioned on this in parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron said, “You are right, this is not an acceptable situation. I’ve discussed it with the education secretary this morning, who in turn has discussed it with Ofqual, who are taking the toughest possible action to root out this failure and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
There is a long history in this country of official bodies denying and covering up their mistakes. In this instance, the SEC has made serious errors. If the UK prime minister and minister can deal effectively with a body which has similar status to the State Examinations Commission (which operates under the aegis of the Minister for Education), then surely the Irish Minister for Education can do likewise on behalf of Irish students?
Additionally, a fair and effective solution must be found so that the students of 2011 are not disadvantaged. – Yours, etc,