The higher-level home economics paper was a very manageable and topical paper that offered students a great variety of choices in the questions, especially with the amendments to the paper this year.
The short questions served as a nice introduction to the paper and were very approachable overall, with a good focus on nutrition, which students should have been well prepared for.
The compulsory long question was very approachable and should have been manageable for most students, given the inclusion of lipids, a topic students had been anticipating for the last few years.
The remaining questions in Section B, of which two had to be answered, covered cheese and calcium, bacteria, the fridge, and the modern Irish family, giving students a great choice and opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge.
In Section C this year, there was also an additional choice, allowing students to opt for question 4 (Core Studies), which examined students on meat and provided the option to answer questions about mortgages or meal planning for the elderly.
Some students may have been disappointed to see that social studies was not included in this question, but overall, it was a very doable question.
The other popular choice of elective question was section 3 (social studies), again, this was a very topical question touching on work, adult education and poverty.
Overall, students should be pleased with the paper, as it covered many of the anticipated topics.
