Reaction to 2025 Leaving Certificate Chemistry (Higher Level) by Tara Lyons, Chemistry teacher at The Institute of Education.
- An exam that will be familiar to those who had gone through the past papers.
At the heart of the study of Chemistry is an understanding of the Periodic Table – not a regurgitation of rote-learned information, a real grasp of what the table means. This paper represented that perspective in a manner that demands the students really think about the material on which they are being asked. There were no twists; neither strange inclusions nor excess verbiage to disturb the diligent. Students who had spent the time going back over the past papers will recognise the core concerns of each one of these questions.
Unlike some previous years, the questions on this paper were quick and to the point. In other years long blurbs would have students trying to decipher what they were really being asked to do. In this case, questions got straight to the point. Students would have needed to put in the hard work to grasp the precise language of the subject (its terminology and vigorous application of deceptively familiar words) as there was no room to waffle out a correct answer. Either you could state Avogadro’s law and explain the term “biochemical oxygen demand” or you could not. The correcting of Chemistry is typically very picky with wording, so knowing that core tenets was essential.
Indeed, much of this paper leaned on those core tenets as a source for questions. Atomic theory played a large role on the paper, accounting for over 100 marks (25%). This is usually the subject’s launching point at the beginning of 5th Year as it lays the foundation for all that follows. If students had taken the time to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the previous exams they will find nothing new or amiss here. Those who had paid particular attention to Organic Chemistry will find that roughly 180 marks were up for grabs across various questions (Q6, Q8, Q10(B)). One slight deviation from previous exams was the Organic Chemistry experiment in Q2, which has only previously appeared as a full question on one of the deferred papers. Examining a student’s grasp of methods for steam distillation and solvent extraction, the question was straightforward and required a demonstration of the typical skills honed over senior cycle study.
Elsewhere the span of material was in line with previous years. The stoichiometric calculations were consistent in the demands of the students and even when novel variations were introduced, they were simply extensions on what they would already be doing in that scenario. This continued elsewhere in a question on tracking a radioactive water molecule, tasking students to simply pay attention to the factors in a process they would already be applying. As the emphasis of the papers is always the extra step beyond mere iteration or rote reciting of definitions, students are always pushed to really think about what they are doing.
Students who were well drilled in their past papers will recognise some version of everything here and should find the paper offered a fair chance to show their work.