Should I drop down to ol maths for junior cert

ciara_birch · 02-06-2015 4:05pm #1

I did very poor in my mocks in maths, but my friend told that you can pass with attempt marks as they don't give you attempt marks in the mocks? Is this true , if this is the case would I improve alot?

emersyn · 02-06-2015 4:19pm

Generally, if you make any sort of step in the right direction with a question you will be given attempt marks. The maths course is quite new so it's pretty impossible to guess where marks will be given and what for because they change the allocation of marks so much after the exam is finished, in order to keep the results in the bell curve shape.
I would really recommend staying with higher level at this stage, even if you're not sure whether you'll pass. Remember that at the end of the day the Leaving Cert will matter more than the Junior Cert - at Leaving Cert level you'll have a lot more time to consider what level you want to do, and in most schools it'll be a lot harder to go up into the HL class than it is to drop down, so I think you should stick with HL.

Mr Rhode Island Red · 02-06-2015 4:21pm

How poor did you do in the mock? If I badly failed the mock (like, less that 25%), I would be inclined to drop to OL.

But if you aren't far off 40%, I'd be inclined to stick with it. Many people would consider a D in HL Maths to be a bigger achievement than an A in OL, but it depends on your personal circumstances.

As far as I know, they give attempt marks in the mocks as well. The reason people generally do poorer in their mocks, particularly maths, is because they didn't have all the course covered at the time.

In other words, it would be quite likely that your grade would improve at least a small bit in the real thing.

Mldj · 02-06-2015 5:22pm

In last years junior cert project maths, all questions were either worth 5 10 or 25 marks. Apart from questions that were all or nothing, a low partial credit (attempt) got you pass marks. In a 25 mark question, you get 10 marks (40%). To get these marks you need to provide "some work of merit". In a question involving a theorem, for example, the diagram alone will usually bring you up to a low partial credit. In questions involving the roots formula, just subbing a b and c into the formula gets you a low partial credit.
However, if your attempt is completely wrong and is not at all related to the question, you would not get any marks. The marking scheme can change, so dont rely on attempt marks, which they DO give in the mocks.
Just remerber, even if you do drop to pass, leaving cert pass maths is not that sifferent from junior cert honours. Alot of the material would not be new to you.

GOOD LUCK, with whatever level you choose.:)

Mldj · 02-06-2015 5:25pm

ACTUALLY for paper 2, the low partial credit did NOT give you pass marks in some cases, eg 3 ex 10. Sorry bout that. Just shows unpredictability of project maths.

spurious · 02-06-2015 5:31pm

No, no, no, no ,no!
Do NOT drop levels for the JC.

ciara_birch · 02-06-2015 5:37pm

Why?

ciara_birch · 02-06-2015 5:38pm

I got 28% and terrified im going to fail

spurious · 02-06-2015 5:52pm

For a number of reasons.
1. The JC is designed for you to pass - you might surprise yourself.
2. Even if you do fail, so what? You have attempted a HL paper and can aim towards HL at Leaving.
3. If you do an OL paper, you will not be attempting any of the higher order questions that are on a HL paper.
4. The HL course at JC is not far off the OL course at LC.
5. Many schools will not let you try for HL at LC if you did not attempt it at JC.

Jamfa · 02-06-2015 5:56pm

If you drop levels in the junior cert you generally are required to have a note from the school which is presented to the examiner before the exam begins. This may not be enough as there may not be extra OL papers available. You would need to discuss this with the exam aide in your school and at this stage you are better off giving the HL paper a go.

Mr Rhode Island Red · 02-06-2015 7:08pm

Just checked the statistics from last year.

95.5% of people who attempted honours maths last year passed it. Going by that you have a very good chance of passing HL Maths if you give it a shot.

Go for it shure

ciara_birch · 02-06-2015 7:22pm