Musicals were a strong theme in this year's Junior Certificate music exam, much to the delight of students. The song of the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz was just one of the musical compositions under scrutiny. The paper also featured works such as When A Child is Born by Zacar and a Lewis Carroll poem, I'll Tell Thee Everything I Can, put to song.

Students were asked to compose a short piece of music to illustrate the mood of one of three poems, including The Desolate City, by Wilfrid Scawen Blun.

“Overall both higher and ordinary level papers were very accessible,” said Miriam McDonnell of St Attracta’s Community School, Tubbercurry in Co Sligo. “They tested both students’ prior knowledge as well as their ability to apply their general listening skills to music.”

Students were content with the appearance of Bizet's Farandole in question two on both the ordinary and the higher level papers. "For those doing higher level, songs from musicals and operas would have been a popular choice," said Ms McDonnell.

Of about 11,000 students studying music for the Junior Cert, four out of five were female.

Kieran Christie, also of St Attracta’s Community School, was pleased with the selection of questions on the higher Junior Cert higher level technology paper, examined in the afternoon.

“The electronics and mechanics questions were testing but fair,” Mr Christie said. “At ordinary level the questioning was appropriate to the level. This was a particularly modern paper with a question on solar panels that students would have found interesting.”

Of the 3,265 students taking Junior Certificate technology this year, about 80 per cent were male.