LEAVING CERT FRENCH: HIGHER AND ORDINARY PAPERS:YESTERDAYS HIGHER- and ordinary-level French papers were straightforward but the higher-level comprehensions may have challenged some students with its vocabulary and phrasing.

ASTI representative and French teacher Noelle O'Donoghue McCaul said both papers were fair but might have caused some upset for students.

"Most students were relieved with what came up and I think they were very straightforward papers. However, I was surprised with the comprehension section in the higher-level paper and it might have been difficult for some students," she said.

She said the Compréhension Écrite (written comprehension) on the Champs-Élysées in the higher-level paper may have thrown some students as some of the vocabulary and questions were testing. "Usually the first comprehension is more journalistic while the literary comprehension is more demanding but I found this year's first comprehension was more literary," she said.

Corrine Gavenda, a French teacher in the Institute of Education, said both comprehension sections were challenging and students found some of the multiple-choice questions in Comprehension I vague.

"Overall the vocabulary of the entire text stretched candidates. In Comprehension II, the questions were straightforward. However, the text itself was quite complex," said Gavenda.

The productive writing section featured none of the obvious topics like the Olympics or cultural diversity which students might have prepared. O'Donoghue McCaul agreed, saying the first question asked students to think laterally.

"They had to think outside the box and around what was being asked. The question asked them to describe a particular happy event they associated with a place in Ireland. As the question describes the Champs-Elysées as being associated with France's World Cup win in 1998, it might have been easy for some students to jump in and write about sport," said O'Donoghue McCaul.

The second choice was to write about the environment and, in particular, on noise pollution. "A lot of students would have prepared for the environment but not so much on noise pollution. However, a good pupil would have handled it well and worked it to their advantage," said ODonoghue McCaul.

The diary and note questions were fair, according to Gavenda, and overall the paper was well laid out, provided plenty of choice and allowed students to shine.

The aural section of the examination was well received. Some parts of the vocabulary in Sections II and IV may have misled students, but there was nothing in it that should have caused too many issues.

The ordinary-level paper did not throw up many great surprises for students and was a very fair paper, according to ODonoghue McCaul.

"I felt it was a very topical paper with the first passage from Section I based on three young people talking about going on holidays without their parents. This was very relevant to the students heading off on holidays with friends after their exams."