It is strongly recommend that all students preparing for Leaving Certificate or Junior Certificate exams practise past papers and acquaint themselves with course marking schemes.
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Leaving Cert Higher Level
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Comments of the Chief Examiner (2007)
Conclusions
In general, candidates showed a good level of ability in extracting, from the text of the given problems, the mathematical processes and equations necessary to solve them. This was particularly evident in Questions 1 to 5 and in Question 10, where the average mark awarded per question was high
The drawing of force diagrams was good
Questions 1, 3, 4, 5 and 10 were the most popular questions, with 90% or more of candidates attempting each. The rate of response declined sharply in other questions. Question 8 attracted only 33·8% of candidates, while questions 6, 7 and 9 attracted less than 20% of candidates
Analysis of patterns in answering suggested that the choice of questions was made by some candidates in advance of seeing the examination paper. There was some evidence that certain parts of the syllabus may not have been covered in detail. In particular, Question 6 (SHM and Circular Motion), Question 7 (Statics), and Question 9 (Hydrostatics) had a low rate of uptake
Connected particles was the topic most adequately covered by candidates. The question was attempted by 94·4% of candidates and the average mark achieved (%) was 72·0%
Taking moments caused problems and candidates should pay further attention to the topics SHM and Circular Motion, Statics and Hydrostatics. Statics also yielded the poorest average mark.
Recommendations to Teachers and Students
Complete coverage of the syllabus is recommended. Confining syllabus coverage to 6 or 7 topics limits candidate choice. Limiting syllabus coverage also presents problems if parts of topics are examined in the same question
The regular practice of examples is an essential part of preparation for this examination
Candidates should read questions thoroughly in order to extract the mathematical methods to be employed in solution of the problems. They are advised to make their question choices after they have read the paper
Candidates should start each new question at the beginning of a new page in the answer-book
Diagrams should be neat and clearly labeled. This is particularly important when the question instructs the candidate to draw a diagram. Good, clear diagrams are a step in the solution of questions and assist in leading to a solution
Candidates should note that when force diagrams are asked for, the component parts of forces are not required
Candidates should check written formulae. They should be aware that some of the required formulae are given on the Applied Mathematics page of the Mathematical Tables and should be able to interpret the formulae given here correctly
Candidates should be careful not to make errors in addition, subtraction etc. These errors are inclined to make subsequent calculations more difficult and, in some cases, impossible
Candidates should note that, when a given differential equation is required to be solved, an explicit expression for the required variable, say y, is required in order to be awarded full marks.
Galway Maths Grinds 