Leaving Cert Biology: horse DNA

The horse meat scandal mightnt first spring to mind for Leaving Cert biology but it was one of the more contemporary issues featuring at higher level.

The paper was challenging according to Una Moroney of the Irish Science Teachers Association. Students were required to think and apply their knowledge, she said.

The short questions were reasonably straighforward although a diagram of body tissue in question three was poor, Moroney said.

Mona Murray of the Institute of Education picked out question four as particularly challenging as it required a precise understanding of the different characteristics and major differences between the organisms in all five kingdoms, she said.

Students were happy with Section B, the experiments. Each of the three questions focused on one particular experiment, unlike last year when one of the questions featured five different experiments, Murray said.

There were some good topical questions in Section C, according to Ciara OShea of the ASTI although there was a heavy emphasis on plant systems throughout, she said.

The role of DNA analysis in horse meat was an interesting approach, teachers agreed, although it may have baffled some students, Moroney said.

A diagram of a joint came in for criticism, It really wasnt clear what joint it was, OShea said. Teachers also raised concerns about part (c) of the question which asked for the symptoms of Alzheimers disease. Thats not on the syllabus, Moroney said.

The language in the ecology question was difficult. Part B [ the rabbit population in Australia] would have favoured students who studied a grassland as opposed to a seashore.It should not have favoured one or the other, Moroney said.

OShea singled out the first part of the question, in which students had to interpret a graph, as particularly good. Students had to apply their knowledge. There was no rote learning there, she said. Well prepared students were rewarded in this exam, Murray said.

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Leaving Cert Biology: horse DNA