It's the start of week two for the Leaving Cert class of 2022, but the end of Maths homework forever...
Today's Leaving Cert Diary, with thanks to our friends at the Irish Second-Level Students' Union and the students who contributed, looks back on Maths Paper 2 and Irish Paper 1.
In the video diary Jade Fitzgerald from Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, An Ráth Mhór, Chiarraí shares her thoughts on Irish and Maths. Plus, Olivia McNally from Scoil Dara, Kilcock, Co Kildare tells us about if it all added up to a good day in her Maths exam.
For our written blogs Eoin Connolly from Villiers School in Limerick and Grace O'Duffy from Alexandra College, Rathmines in Dublin tell us how Maths Paper 2 worked out.
But, for starters here's Jamie Mac Giolla Bháin who goes to St MaCartan's College in Monaghan on Irish Paper 1 - as Gaeilge.
Jamie writes...
Wow! Meascán a bhí sa pháipéar sin! Ar dtús, bhí an cluastuiscint an-brúidiúil. Labhair na daoine ar an téip ró-thapa agus ní raibh am ar bith agam an cheist a léamh! Bhí mé i gcónaí go dona ag an cluastuiscint ach bhí an ceann sin go dona. Is cinnte go ndearna mé suas é sa ceapadóireacht, áfach.
Bhí a fhios agam agus mé ag dul isteach sa scrúdú go ndéanfainn aiste, is dócha ar 'Saol agus fadhbanna daoine óga' nó ar ‘Athrú aeráide’ nó ‘an Córas Sláinte’. Ach nuair a chonaic mé an óráid ag bun an leathanaigh ar an gCóras Oideachais, bhí a fhios agam go raibh orm scríobh faoi sin, agus rinne mé! Scríobh mé cúig leathanach ar stair an chórais oideachais in Éirinn agus na fadhbanna leis sa saol nua-aimseartha.
Scríobh mé freisin faoi na córais oideachais i dtíortha Eorpacha eile agus cad atá an rialtas (agus ADIÉ!) ag déanamh faoi. Ar an iomlán, táim sásta le formhór an pháipéir, ach beidh mo phríomhfhócas ar Pháipéar 2 amárach!
Ádh mór!!
Grace writes...
My name is Grace, and today I sat Maths Paper 2 at Higher Level. I've always enjoyed Maths, so my perspective is somewhat biased. I thought the exam went relatively well, and I thought the paper was fair, at least for the questions I answered.
I am very grateful for the choice we had this year, as I never could get my head around probability, and the choice on the exam meant that I could almost entirely avoid it. On Paper 1, I answered extra questions, but on Paper 2 I did not have as much time, so I answered only four short questions and two long questions, which is the requirement for the exam.
There weren't any formal proofs of theorems on the exam, and there was one construction - construct the circumcentre of a triangle. I was surprised that there were no proofs, because there weren't any on paper one either.
The paper was about evenly split between geometry and trigonometry, and probability and statistics. I answered long questions 7 and 9 which were both geometry and trigonometry based.
I thought both questions were interesting, making you think outside of the box a little bit. Question 7 asked about a sphere shaped candle with a piece cut off. I had a hard time figuring it out and I ended up using a quadratic equation to model the curve, which I'm sure was not the most efficient way to answer! (I've always preferred algebra to geometry!)
Question 9 was alright. The second section focused on the sound of a plane reaching an observer. As it dealt with a more physics-related concept, the question was heavily scaffolded (building up step by step), in one part asking candidates to explain an equation rather than creating it. I thought this was an interesting approach, allowing a more complex topic to be introduced, but it did give a certain advantage to some students. As I study Applied Maths, the concept was not as unfamiliar to me.
Overall I think the exam went well, although it is hard to know for certain. I certainly found some aspects difficult but I liked the questions that I answered, and I found them interesting.
Eoin writes...
Maths Paper 1 went really well for me so I had a sense of security going into Paper 2. It's usually the weaker of my two papers but I can still do well in it, especially with the adjustments to our exams. When I opened it up and read through the questions I saw several I couldn't do, unlike Paper 1 where I did almost all of the questions.
I got a few out of the way without issue but ran into roadblocks in several questions in the middle. Fortunately I had over an hour left and other questions to switch to, so I did that and got them done without any obstacles.
I had the minimum amount of questions required fully answered by the time I had 10 minutes left in the exam. With that last 10 minutes I managed to quickly complete an extra question in Section B. Overall I'm feeling pretty good about Paper 2, taken together with my confidence in how I did in Paper 1 I'm very optimistic about my Maths result. Fingers crossed, but time to move on!
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Tomorrow we say slán to Irish with Paper 2 and we hit the first science subject with Biology.
Click here to see all the Leaving Cert Diary entries for 2022!
Have a nice evening and if you need some tips - we have your back...
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There are lots of great resources on RTÉ Learn to help you revise and get ready!
