Junior Cert materials technology (wood):Students were happy with the Junior Cert materials technology (wood) exams, with papers at higher and ordinary level described as "balanced" and "topical".
More than 16,000 students sat the exams, over 75 per cent of which were taken at higher level. About 87 per cent of the candidates were boys.
Noel O'Keeffe, a teacher at Bridgetown Vocational College in Wexford, said both papers were fair and as expected. "Students were presented with a broad spectrum of questions and there were no questions seeking to catch anybody out."
The exams accounted for 60 per cent of the overall grade for students taking materials technology. The rest of the grade is made up of a project and brief.
ASTI subject representative Noel Scott said: "The higher- level paper was student friendly and it covered the breadth of the course. The higher questions were grounded in traditional knowledge-based skills that students would have been familiar with."
Ordinary-level students were asked to answer questions on joint design, wood turning and wood carving. Mr O'Keeffe described it as "a practically focused paper that was fair to weaker students".
