The relief was palpable as the matric learners stumbled, tired, out of the examination hall on Monday 3 November after writing their second maths exam paper.
Across the Western Cape more than 77 000 matrics sat down for this reckoning with the numbers; if they are successful it may open many doors.
Standard checked in with some of the matric learners at Worcester Gimnasium.
Urelia Sauls said she felt the second paper was much more difficult than the first, which learners wrote on Friday 31 October. “On today’s paper I got stuck on some of the questions and took longer, which meant I was concerned about the time. One had to work one’s way around some questions to get to the correct answers.” She plans on studying nursing at the University of the Western Cape next year.
Evana Pietersen, who wrote Maths Literacy, said that many of the questions counted five marks or more and one couldn’t afford not to answer them. “We got many formulae, but had to think of ways to solve the problem.” She planned on studying language and culture at Stellenbosch University.
Chloe Barnard also wrote Maths Literacy. “I always like the second maths paper better! I find the questions more obvious and easier to solve.”
Her next challenging exam paper was Life Sciences, which matrics will write on Friday 14 November. She plans on studying teaching at Unisa, and help with coaching at Worcester Gimnasium next year.
Ryan Muller, who wrote Maths, said he found Paper 2 more challenging, especially with the circle geometry. “The maths papers were a bit of a shock. I really hope it all went well.” He said the rest of the exams had gone well so far. “It felt easier than exam papers of previous years.”
He planned on studying towards a BSc degree in Computer Sciences at Eduvos.
Lhanquin de Bruyn said Maths Literacy’s second paper was much easier than the first one. “The questions were straightforward,” he said, “and one knew immediately what was expected of one.”
Lhanquin planned on studying accounting or law, but said his actual dream was to play rugby.
The exams end on 26 November, with the national and provincial results due to be announced by the national minister on Monday 12 January. The candidates are expected to receive their individual results the following day.
