The 24 students at Falcarragh Community School, Co Donegal, sitting the higher-level Junior Cert materials and technology (metalwork) paper remained in the exam centre until the last possible moment. "Nobody left early," their teacher, Dr Lawrence Smyth, said. "They needed the full time to get the paper finished."

Dr Smyth praised the paper. "A lot of care has been taken with the presentation. It was set at the right level and the depth was good," he said.

Teachers were enthusiastic about the focus on new technologies. "This year there was probably a greater emphasis on the modern technologies than in previous years," said Mr Padraig Kirk, national chairman of the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association. The fact that the paper covered the whole syllabus meant that students who had done the work would do well, he said.

The ordinary-level paper also came in for praise. "The short questions were perfectly set for the students but were hard enough to get marks on," Dr Smyth said. Take question 5 on electronic components, for example: "It may look easy but it's difficult to identify all the components," he said.

Question 3 "was a lovely question on mechanisms but even though the diagrams were there, it was difficult to get them all correct", he said.