LEAVING CERT ENGLISH ORDINARY LEVEL: PAPER I:THE FIRST moon landings and the sci-fi television series Star Trekwere two of the subjects covered on an English paper that was described as "horribly dated" yesterday.

Overall, students and teachers found the paper manageable despite the subject matter.

More than 17,000 students took English Paper 1 at ordinary level yesterday.

It was described as “fair” by most, featuring the theme of extraordinary journeys.

“The students were very content,” said teacher Alan Thompson. “The theme on incredible journeys went down well.”

However, Jim Lusby of the Institute of Education was disappointed with the content of the paper, which he described as “horribly dated.”

The comprehension section featured an extract from the memoirs of Buzz Aldrin.

Students were also quizzed on an extract from Dervla Murphy's book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle.

A third text was drawn from Marco Palmieri's Constellations, a collection of short stories celebrating 40 years of Star Trek.

“Dervla Murphy’s travel book was published in 1965. The other two pieces were from the 1960s, making them largely irrelevant to Leaving Certificate candidates.

“In addition, the vocabulary used would be outside the normal range of ordinary-level candidates,” he said.

Michael Doherty of Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana, Co Donegal, said his students were happy with the paper and enjoyed the theme.

“The questions in the comprehension section were more structured than in previous years.

The three questions had internal subsections. Students found this easier. The overwhelming response was relief to have the first one over with.”