Reaction to Leaving Certificate 2026 Maths Paper 2 (H) by Aidan Roantree, Maths teacher at The 91制片厂.
- More familiar questions with the proportion of听innovative,听challenging听补苍诲听conceptual questions听scaled听产补肠办.听
Students entering today鈥檚 exam will have been anxious after Friday鈥檚 paper but will leave feeling that they performed better. They were not given a free ride听as听most听questions听involved some听sting, and not always in the tail.听
The first questions of Section A will have given students a reassuring start on some steady, familiar ground allowing听them听to gather important marks early on. The challenge starts to increase around Question 4, whose difficulty is not听apparent听at first glance and will only reveal its sting once students have gotten into it. This became a trend for other questions too as the familiar starts gave way to novel challenges.听听
Moving into听Section B,听Question 7 was on听trigonometry, the predominant topic of Paper 2. While the introductory sections were approachable,听the move into听counting听techniques in the final stretch will have pushed students鈥� comfort zones. The single most approachable question in this section was Question听8, a mix of听correlation with minor elements of trig and听probability.听No matter which three questions out of four a student chose, at least two will have had a tricky bit. The challenges themselves where not minor but in the scheme of the exam听as a whole they听constituted听a minor听portion.听This is听perhaps most听notable in the Questions 9 and 10. The former begins with a reassuringly structured task but ramps up to the trapezoidal rule in a manner that will catch many out. Similarly Question 10鈥檚 (a) and (b) parts will be familiar but (c) novel and听one of听the least approachable questions听on the paper.听But听in spite of听these, students鈥� reactions to the Section B questions will听likely have听been favourable both now and on reflection.听
Students will feel better about this paper when compared to Paper 1 but that does not diminish the reality of the challenges presented here.听