Students' knowledge of food safety and hygiene was tested in the hotel, catering and tourism paper.

Ms Teresa Ryan, a teacher in Presentation Secondary School, Limerick, said the paper was very reasonable. "Question 1 on fast-food restaurants was very appealing to students. All sections of the paper were related to their own experiences and also tested their awareness of environmental issues."

Teacher Ms Loretta Wrynn, who teaches at Liberties College, Dublin, said the four sections: eating out the fast-food way; eating out, hotels, restaurants and institutions; hospitality, home and away; and catering for diversity - related directly to the modules, so students were very comfortable with the paper.

Students at Middleton CBS, Co Cork, were very pleased with the Gaeilge Chumarsaideach paper. Ms Claire Murray, their teacher, said it was of a similar standard to last year and was quite approachable.

Students listened to a tape and answered questions to gain 90 of the 200 marks. "They found that quite easy. The reading comprehension and the writing sections didn't pose any problems. The one hour allotted was plenty of time," she said.