Reaction to 2025 Leaving Certificate Maths Paper 2 (Ordinary Level) by Jean Kelly, teacher at The Institute of Education.
- Unified topics within questions will help students build momentum
- Useful clarifications made the paper much more accessible than Paper 1
Students feeling uncertain about their performance on Friday’s Paper 1 will have been relieved by Paper 2. Gone are the questions that jump around topics or hide aspects behind the language of the question. The paper was snappy, cutting right to the point and unified in the topics examined. Question 1 was focused on statistics, Q2 on trigonometry, Q3 on the circle etc. This helped students stay focused on the task and feel like they are being helpfully scaffolded as the questions got harder. This feeling of momentum will help them get through the paper and feel much more assured in their performance.
In general the paper was heavy on statistics, probability and trigonometry with Area and Volume having a lesser presence than previous years – likely due to a surprising appearance on Paper 1. While there were enough challenging pieces on the paper to distinguish those striving for the O1, even those who struggle to pass will find themselves in a good position. The paper was often helpful, either through tips or by combining topics into a useful grouping. For example, the appearance of Constructions in Section B was new, but the helpful pairing of dilations and area and volume helped ease students through the material.
While Paper 1 needed students to constantly, even anxiously reread the questions, there was a nice snappiness to this paper. Students who had the fundamentals were able to quickly get their marks without fuss and frustration.