Leaving Cert: ordinary-level maths:Almost 37,000 Leaving Cert students sat yesterday's ordinary level maths Paper I, and the majority were "pleased and relieved" with its contents.
This year's paper marked a return to a more formulaic exam, after last year's quirky paper took strong students by surprise.
The ordinary level maths exam has the largest participation of all Leaving Certificate subjects.
Yesterday's paper was a challenge for weaker students, however, who did not find the usually simple "A" questions easy to get past, some commentators felt.
"There are two types of ordinary level student, the strong one who has come down from higher level or worked well at ordinary level all year, and the weaker student just hoping to pass," Maria Kelly of the TUI explained.
"This year, the borderline students had a tough time. Questions A and B in many sections were not as straightforward as usual, so it was hard for some students to settle in."
Ms Kelly was critical of the tricky opening questions which, she said, might have frightened those students who were considering taking foundation level but decided to stick out ordinary level.
"The very first question, for example, asked students to convert from miles to kilometres. These students have been dealing in kilometres all their lives. They're just not familiar with miles. As a first question, it may have thrown some of them."
Brid Griffin of the Institute of Further Education in Carlow worried that the emphasis on differential calculus in questions six and eight may have restricted some students. Overall, however, she said the paper was well-structured.
For average to strong students, however, the ordinary level paper was regarded as easier than in previous years. Teacher John Brennan described yesterday's paper as "lovely". Students of St Benildus College in Kilmacud were very happy, he said.
"I think the paper was extremely fair to most students. The most popular questions, arithmetic, algebra and complex numbers, posed no difficulty at all."
He noted that the second part of question 5b, on sequences and series, was almost nearly the same as a question on yesterday's higher level paper. Question 6 on functions and calculus and question 7 on differential calculus were thought to be easy, even for weaker students.
"Many students who sat yesterday's paper will be wondering what's in store for them on Monday, since they had such an easy time of it today," he said.
More than 2,600 students sat yesterday's foundation level paper, twice the number that sat it last year. It was described as "well-pitched and accessible".
