Incredibly stupid changes to the leaving cert

errlloyd

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0429/697536-education/

You're only gonna need 30% to pass higher maths. Given you get 3 out of 10 for attempt marks, and 25 extra points for taking higher maths, and now that points are awarded in brackets of 10, sitting the higher level paper and getting just attempt marks will get you 65 points, sitting ordinary and getting 100% will only get you 60.

Assuming they sit higher maths, A student who gets 79% in all 6 of their exams will get 505 points, a student who gets 80% in all 6 of their exams will get 565 points. One has enough points to get medicine anywhere in the country, the other will just about make science in UCD.

Mental.

pmasterson95

CAO points will presumably increase to counter.

Arsemageddon

sums is for losers

brainiac

I never understood why it wouldn't be one point per percentage in a HL module and a half point or something similar for every percentage in an OL module. Simple and effective.

errlloyd

pmasterson95 wrote: »

CAO points will presumably increase to counter.

Well I presume roughly on average everyone will get 15 more points.

Talib Fiasco

I don't think you realise how hard higher maths is though....ordinary maths is the equivalent of higher junior cert at best. Higher maths is absolutely scandalous. I had to sacrifice countless hours on other subjects just to scrape a pass in it. Any incentive to make more people take it on and to have a chance of passing the better in my opinion.

errlloyd

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I don't think you realise how hard higher maths is though....ordinary maths is the equivalent of higher junior cert at best. Higher maths is absolutely scandalous. I had to sacrifice countless hours on other subjects just to scrape a pass in it. Any incentive to make more people take it on and to have a chance of passing the better in my opinion.

Higher level is hard to pass, and 5 years I dropped it having passed the mark because it wasn't worth the time. But they give you 25 bonus points so it definitely is.

Now that 30% in project maths is worth more than 100% they've ultimately they've created a situation where any employer who looks at your CV and sees your did ordinary will think "wow this person couldn't even get 30% in project maths".


EDIT: actually this IT article has more detail, they've changed the grades to a curve for some reason, and won't give bonus points to those under 40.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/leaving-cert-overhaul-out-with-a-b-c-in-with-1-2-3-1.2193430

Egginacup

errlloyd wrote: »

Higher level is hard to pass, and 5 years I dropped it having passed the mark because it wasn't worth the time. But they give you 25 bonus points so it definitely is.

Now that 30% in project maths is worth more than 100% they've ultimately they've created a situation where any employer who looks at your CV and sees your did ordinary will think "wow this person couldn't even get 30% in project maths".


EDIT: actually this IT article has more detail, they've changed the grades to a curve for some reason, and won't give bonus points to those under 40.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/leaving-cert-overhaul-out-with-a-b-c-in-with-1-2-3-1.2193430

Waiting till you're 40 to sit your leaving is a bit extreme though isn't it?

Hans Bricks

I'll never understand this need to shove maths down people's throats once they've passed the junior cert. Even after four years of college doing I.T, the only relevant topics I've retained was the binary (1's & 0's), hexadecimal and an algorithm for encryption. The rest has just been random, filler modules like Vogel's method, simplex method, lamba and u etc. I haven't retained any of it. Kudos for engineering obviously, but for me and many others personally, it's been more of a distraction from the actual other important topics I've studied.

YFlyer

Higher level maths is easier now compared to 25 years ago.

Miall108

errlloyd wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0429/697536-education/

You're only gonna need 30% to pass higher maths. Given you get 3 out of 10 for attempt marks, and 25 extra points for taking higher maths, and now that points are awarded in brackets of 10, sitting the higher level paper and getting just attempt marks will get you 65 points, sitting ordinary and getting 100% will only get you 60.

Assuming they sit higher maths, A student who gets 79% in all 6 of their exams will get 505 points, a student who gets 80% in all 6 of their exams will get 565 points. One has enough points to get medicine anywhere in the country, the other will just about make science in UCD.

Mental.

Pass me a hankey :rolleyes:

MagicIRL

I would have thought that knowing 70% of Pass Maths would serve you better than scraping 30% of Higher Maths?

imitation

errlloyd wrote: »

Now that 30% in project maths is worth more than 100% they've ultimately they've created a situation where any employer who looks at your CV and sees your did ordinary will think "wow this person couldn't even get 30% in project maths".

Probably more likely to be looking at there degree results or wondering why they don't have a degree tbh.

Lollipops23

I always reckoned nobody had any business doing HL maths unless they specifically needed it for a college course (engineering, pure maths, science etc).

A friend of mine struggled and sweated her way through it, gaining a D (and breaking down in tears during the exam). She did archaeology in UCD. She had waaaay more points than needed, so she could have saved herself so much heartache by doing OL.

retro:electro

It's stupid. Ordinary level is there for a reason and its to facilitate those who aren't able for higher level. Now those who still aren't able for higher level will attempt the paper and pass because of this new change, but it won't change the fact that they're still not able for the paper and otherwise would have failed. I don't get the point of it. Why are they constantly trying to encourage those who are clearly not able for higher level maths to do it?

The_Valeyard

You either pass or you fail, none of this failure points.

This just a way to bump up the education system to make us jump ranks in the international scores?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I always reckoned nobody had any business doing HL maths unless they specifically needed it for a college course (engineering, pure maths, science etc).

A friend of mine struggled and sweated her way through it, gaining a D (and breaking down in tears during the exam). She did archaeology in UCD. She had waaaay more points than needed, so she could have saved herself so much heartache by doing OL.

Agreed, I knew a few myself who dumped hours into it only to then go on and do Arts degrees. In a few cases I know that some stuck it out because their parents didn't want them dropping back into a pass class.

Irish Guitarist

30% is almost a quarter.

Jesus Wept

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

30% is almost a quarter.

makes you think