Calculate this

25th May 2007, 1:00am

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Calculate this

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/calculate-1
Higher maths in 2000 hit the headlines because it was so difficult. This year’s is not expected to raise a storm, but Susan Mitchell, faculty head of maths and pastoral care at Larbert High in Falkirk, thought part 2, the calculator paper, was difficult - although the non-calculator paper was the easiest she had seen in a long time.

Miss Mitchell felt the questions in the second paper required a higher level of understanding than in some years, and that some pupils might have had trouble at the start: “Once the kids got into the question, it didn’t seem to be that bad, though.”

There was a concentration of exponentials and logarithms, and a lot of questions required critical interpretation. Question 7, a “trig integral”, did not specify it was to be worked out with radians - which she said would have confused some pupils.

The second paper would have tested Higher candidates and might have put off those hoping for a C.

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