Ronaldo, Julio Iglesias and Mexican singer Maria Felix all made appearances on yesterday's higher-level Junior Cert Spanish paper. It's hardly surprising students were delighted.

"It was the first time ever that the paper was testing, fair and interesting," said Ms Chantal Villa Mulcahy, who teaches at Mount Mercy Convent, Cork. "The tape was at the right pace and students found the questions surprisingly straightforward."

This year, for the first time, the guidelines for the letter question on both papers were in English, said Ms Brenda McMahon, who teaches at Sacred Heart School, Drogheda, Co Louth. At higher level, she applauded the humour in section C, question 3, on mistakes in film making; at ordinary level she welcomed the introduction of multiple-choice questions in the listening-comprehension section.

Students were also thrilled to find questions on golfer Sergio Garcia and Prince William on the ordinary-level paper, said Ms Maire Ni Chiarba, who teaches at Colaiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire, Co Cork. The questions were well formulated and appropriate to the level, she added.