Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a beautiful day, which is a good signal that it is State exam time again. It is a little late in coming, but the sun has come out today. For the first time in a couple of years, I thought we would go through the examinations without having a question raised about a paper. I wish to highlight a serious matter brought to my attention in recent days about the ordinary level maths paper. I read an article in The Irish Timesabout a recent University of Limerick study that, alarmingly, indicated that between 2003 and 2013, folloiwng the introduction of Project Maths, a student's mathematical ability when entering higher education had declined significantly. The report indicates that a B in a higher level paper in the leaving certificate examination now would have been the equivalent of a grade C ten years ago. This leads to discrepancies in the points awarded. I know many students who dropped from higher to ordinary level maths as late as Easter because they believed they did not need the subject or the extra pressure. We are trying to relieve additional pressure on such students. They thought they had a safe subject in ordinary level maths. However, they were confronted with almost the same question, give or take a few elements, as Question No. 9 on the higher level paper in 2013. To my mind, the same question should not appear on a higher level paper and an ordinary level paper two years later. The difference in the number of points for an A1 on a higher level maths paper is 125-----