last year for current maths paper

fairyribbon

so seen as project maths is going to be the maths paper from 2012 onwards..does that mean they will make this years maths paper super hard becauses its the last year of it ? god i hope not .im in ordinary level and hoping to scrap a pass

brownlad

that's awesome logic;) ..... lol ah i doubt it itl be as hard as other years ...im in pass too btw:D....

Chuchoter

I would strongly doubt it. Its hardly like theres some big exam writing party somewhere and theres all these drunk teachers saying hey its the last year...lets make the whole thing in Chinese!! :P

partyatmygaff

It's quite likely to be a hard paper this year. Last year's paper was supposedly one of the easiest ever examined and the marking scheme reflected that by being absolutely brutal.

The thing that's worrying me is that some topics on the syllabus have never been examined and I do all my study on past papers.

spurious

If it turns out this year's paper is 'harder' than others, they will adjust the marking scheme. The SEC go to long lengths to make sure the exams are of equal standard every year.

partyatmygaff

spurious wrote: »

If it turns out this year's paper is 'harder' than others, they will adjust the marking scheme. The SEC go to long lengths to make sure the exams are of equal standard every year.

Even so, i'd much rather be meticulously careful with an easy paper than to be struggling with a hard paper.

Grindylow

Noone knows to be fair.

The SEC can throw out a hard or a difficult paper.. If it's so difficult that a lot of people have managed to get a wrong answer then it'll probably turn to a case where you'll just get the marks if you have it in anyway right at all..

The most important thing to do is either draw down a diagram or throw in a formula even if it's in the log books.. at least that way the examiner can give you some marks!

Chuchoter

Yeah always put in the formula or draw a picture, you never know what they'll give marks for.

Patriciamc93

Probably the only one who thinks it or maybe its me just being an optimist but i think it will be easier this year (for higher level at least). Not drastic but just a little bit more than the 2010 paper!

For these reasons:
1. This is the last year that the current person who sets the papers are setting this paper....... a course which has been around for a very long time with a few tweaks in the middle! Plus alot of teachers think the new course is a bit of a joke so maybe the examiners do to.

2. Last year....... as they screwed up the vectors question badly they are going to have to do a better job or else they will have all the teachers in the country on their backs.

3. Last year the average in a school participating in project maths was higher than that doing the old course......... this is unfair as the same point were applied for both.

4. Extra points next = unfair on those sitting it this year as they have the old "harder" course with no extra points.

There was something else that i can just not remember...........

Its only my opinion though!

Aoifums

I guess I'm the only one who wouldn't mind a harder paper I like a challange and it's not as if I'm at risk of failing maths.

AddictedToYou

I can see it being harder. The Dept of Education are anxious to show people that Project Maths is the way forward etc etc, so they're going to make this year's harder in order to make it look like Project Maths is making students better at maths.

I'm not making this up either, but it's what our teacher said when she reported back to us after going to SEC conferences about LC maths.. A lot of teachers are, obviously enough, angry about this so hopefully the SEC will listen..

LilMissCiara

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

Probably the only one who thinks it or maybe its me just being an optimist but i think it will be easier this year (for higher level at least). Not drastic but just a little bit more than the 2010 paper!

For these reasons:
1. This is the last year that the current person who sets the papers are setting this paper....... a course which has been around for a very long time with a few tweaks in the middle! Plus alot of teachers think the new course is a bit of a joke so maybe the examiners do to.

2. Last year....... as they screwed up the vectors question badly they are going to have to do a better job or else they will have all the teachers in the country on their backs.

3. Last year the average in a school participating in project maths was higher than that doing the old course......... this is unfair as the same point were applied for both.

4. Extra points next = unfair on those sitting it this year as they have the old "harder" course with no extra points.

There was something else that i can just not remember...........

Its only my opinion though!

My thoughts exactly.. Thinking higher Irish will be very predictable this year because it's the last year.. Politics for the essay, Lig Sin i gCathú..

MathsManiac

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

For these reasons:
1. This is the last year that the current person who sets the papers are setting this paper...

How do you know this? The people who are full-time in the Exams Commission are the same from year to year, unless they retire or get a job somewhere else. And nobody knows what people they use as drafters and setters, so: (1) You don't know whether it's been the same drafter/setter for any particular time in the past and (2) if it was, you don't know whether or not the same person is going to be doing the new one.

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

Plus alot of teachers think the new course is a bit of a joke so maybe the examiners do to.

I'm sure that if the Exams Commission thought the course was a joke, they'd have made the Department aware of that opinion before it got rolled out to everyone.

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

2. Last year....... as they screwed up the vectors question badly they are going to have to do a better job or else they will have all the teachers in the country on their backs.

I didn't here of any particular problem with the vectors question last year. What are you referring to here?

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

3. Last year the average in a school participating in project maths was higher than that doing the old course......... this is unfair as the same point were applied for both.

It's only unfair if they weren't any better at maths than the others - which you have no way of knowing.

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

4. Extra points next year = unfair on those sitting it this year as they have the old "harder" course with no extra points.

It's none of the Exams Commission's business what the universities decide to give points for. UL has always had bonus points for maths. So I don't see how this issue is going to affect the papers one way or the other.

magicianz

@ maths maniac,
1. There's a new course next year, so it IS the last paper being set for this course by anyone, ever.

The course is horrifyingly bad and the fact that universities are actually playing along with the DoE makes no sense and makes me think there is some underhanded scheme underlying this, mainly govt. trying to raise the international view of the education of Irish students fresh out of college courses to attract investments.

I wholeheartedly agree with patricia on her 3rd point, if you look at the papers you will see that it is extremely simple to get higher in project maths ad it is a cut down course with a concentration on easy to handle topics such as probability.

My own thoughts on this years paper, I think after the drama of last years pass paper, the honours paper will be kept straight forward, a few tricks here and there and not a walk over but a fair paper to all students. The pass paper could be easier than the average past paper but not by much. The examiner has been reeled in since he started back in ('02?) and you can see trends in his papers and that he as been including less and less nasty little twists in his questions. Overall I'd say a fair paper this year for honours, easy A parts, B parts that most average students can attempt and get some marks in and harder Cs to whittle down the number of As.