Visual aids are picture-perfect

Junior Cert Metalwork

HIGHER-level candidates were greeted with some style changes on their paper yesterday.

Instead of the usual diagrams in some questions, there were photographs, and teacher Kenny Donagher welcomed the departure because he said it would help students to visualise the solutions.

Question 1 was an example, featuring a picture of engine components. The second part was a traditional question linked to the project already submitted by these students, a model go-kart. He said there was an interesting aspect to it, in that students had to design a seat for the kart.

Mr Donagher, of the ASTI and Summerhill College, Sligo, also liked question 2, where students were required to design a metal handrail for concrete steps, again with the aid of a picture rather than a diagram.

He noted a slightly different layout too in computer-related question 7, which 'if anything, helped the students'.

Mr Donagher said that, overall, it was a manageable and well laid out paper.

Only 25pc of available marks were riding on yesterday's exam.

But Mr Donagher said while many students may have focused on the practical side of the course, the theoretical side was important in preparing for Leaving Cert engineering.

He described the ordinary level paper as fine.

- Katherine Donnelly

Irish Independent