Maths P1 - #LC2017 #OL- Michelle Chiperi Aivazova
Michelle Chiperi Aivazova - Colaiste Einde Salthill GalwayOrdinary Level
LC Economics
ISSU Commentary (Higher Level)
Students in exam centres across the country sat the Leaving Cert Higher Level Economics paper this morning. The paper got off to a reasonable start with some very topical short questions that would have required students to adapt knowledge from the course.Section B began with a nice long question on demand and supply covering price equilibrium and price elasticity of demand. However question 2 on the markets will have been not so nice for many students who will have been surprised that Oligopoly “did a Boland” by not bothering to show its face on the paper. It was substituted instead by monopoly which would have been a lovely question for those that had prepared it rather than over-relying on the oligopoly prediction.Labour (as a factor of production), taxation, the nationalisation of Irish banks and the International Monetary Fund appeared, among other topics, on the following questions alongside a particularly pleasant National Income question that students will have been delighted with if they had studied the topic well.Like the rest of the paper, the final long question was extremely topical with the performance of the Irish economy over the past year, the effects on the economy of our ageing population, the economic consequences of the recent increase in emigration as well as the factors influencing and the economic effects on the economy of the increase in the rate of savings in Ireland over the past year up for discussion.Overall, it was a fair paper that would have tested students’ knowledge of the course thought the lack of many straightforward "define" questions may have thrown students. Instead the paper required students to think independently and have a strong knowledge of the current economic climate.
ISSU Commentary (Ordinary Level)
Like the Higher Level paper, there were some very topical short questions in Section A of this morning’s Ordinary Level paper with the rise in unemployment and economic effects on the Irish economy of cross-border shopping.Monopoly also appeared in the markets question on the Ordinary Level paper with students asked to label a diagram of a monopoly in equilibrium as well as explaining barriers to entering the market followed by a part (c) based on the example of An Post as a monopoly.Question 2 on demand and supply featured marginal utility, the economic reasons for, effect of and measures to combat the recent decrease in demand for hotel accommodation in Ireland as well as the demand and supply for Rihanna’s recent concert at the O2… nothing to cause too much “Disturbia” for students here!The circular flow of income, the rise in emigration, the canons of taxation, the regulation of commercial banks, the European Central Bank, the recent increase in savings within the Irish economy and the rise in value of the euro against the British pound were among the topics that appeared on the following long questions.On a whole, there were no major surprises on the Ordinary Level paper with many of the same topics appearing on both the Higher and Ordinary Level papers. Students that knew the course well will have been happy with the paper.
LC Engineering
ISSU Commentary (Higher and Ordinary Level)
While many Leaving Cert students across the country used this morning for some last minute English revision, engineering students returned to their exam centres to sit their Leaving Cert paper.Higher LevelThe Higher Level paper contained no major surprises with the first and only mandatory question on the paper being quite straightforward – students were given the option of outlining Steve Jobs’ contribution to technology and the outlining the benefits of the use of accelerometer technology in mobile phones among other more technical questions.Students then had to answer four of the following seven questions with questions ranging from the mechanical testing of metals to the use of heat treatment processes in lathe maintenance to industrial welding process and their applications. Some of the questions were tricky in places but students will have been relieved with a very nice final question which would have been quite manageable even for Junior Cert HL Technology students.Ordinary LevelSimilarly, the Ordinary Level paper’s first and only mandatory question was very fair with students asking to explain “broadband” and “DVD-R” among other terminology.The following six questions, of which students had to answer three, were manageable with heat treatment and welding processes appearing on this paper too along with the application of robotics in the car manufacturing industry among other topics and again an extremely approachable final question on this paper too.Overall, a nice start to the Higher and Ordinary Level engineering papers with some challenging questions in places but a very nice optional question to finish up with on both papers.