Reaction to 2025 Leaving Certificate Design and Communication Graphics (Higher Level) by Rob Kiernan, DCG teacher at The Institute of Education.
- A fair paper with the meat and potatoes of the course
- A paper that was true to form and had something for everyone
Starting into the short questions of Section A, every student will find something that suits them. For the more artistic visualisers, A-1’s question on axonometric axes was pretty standard. This year the examination of axonometries was limited to the short questions as the examiner seems to return to form from previous years after last year’s surprising reappearance in the long questions for a second year in a row. The more mathematically minded will be please with A-2’s conics question. It is rather rare to see the elliptical outline as the hyperbolic/parabolic is much more common, so some might be kicking themselves for leaving it off their revision. A-3 on an oblique plane should be familiar to anyone who has looked over past papers as it has been a meat and potatoes question since 2009 and should be staple to any arsenal. A-4 continued the trend of interpenetration of solids becoming more prevalent on the exams, and so those who had been monitoring how the papers had been progressing will be pleased.
Moving into the longer Section B questions students will have been thrown by a curveball appearance of dynamic mechanism. This is a topic that typically appears in Section C and is totally optional in the exam, so some teachers might not have covered this specific material recently. Students could still attempt the question as it was very fair and reminiscent of rotation, which is part of Junior Cert. transformational geometry. But this would have pushed students to really stretch into a corner of their memories that they were not anticipating, so many may simply skip this question and thus commit to doing B-2 and B-3. Thankfully B-2 was a standard but all-encompassing question on intersecting planes. All the key co-ordinates were given – sometimes they omit some for added challenge – and the tasks would be very familiar to those who had looked at previous questions. B-3 was a question on perspectives which many will welcome, not least because it reaffirmed the old relationship of a short axonometric question means a long perspective question and vice versa. These topics are often studied in tandem and firmly under a student’s belt by the end of 5th Year, so students will be happy that they are back in such familiar territory. However, B-3(C) will be trickier for some depending on how they cognise the material. For those who can fully conceptualize the object in their minds it will be fine, but those who stick strictly to the procedural processing of the numbers and lines on the page will struggle to see how to procure the answer.
Students only need to attempt one question from Section C and so which they covered in class will likely connect to how best the topics overlap with other areas. Schools which include Engineering will tend towards C-4 on Dynamic Mechanism and C-5 on Assemblies. The latter is strict test of draftsmanship in which the conventions are held to a very high standard of precision, but it really suits some. For many C-2 and C-3 will be their area of choice. Those who had looked at the trends of previous papers and anticipated that this year would the hyperboloid of revolutions’ time to appear will be thrilled. This takes the basics of conics from A-2 but adds the 3rd dimension for lots of more complex geometry. For those who had prepared this task, it was a nice chance to shine. C-3 was a standard take on Surface Geometry using a mocha jar as an example. This overlaps with the material of B-2 and really shows the value of transferable skills. Both B-2 and C-3 looked for dihedral angles and while C-3 specifies “one-piece surface development” this is just a synonym for “true shape” in B-2. If this was an area of the course you had any comfort with, this was a lovely question.
Overall, this was a paper that students should be really pleased with. While B-1 was unorthodox and might have caused some a moment of wobble as they move through the paper, the general tone of the paper was one of familiarity – testing things that should be in everyone’s arsenal.