LEAVING CERT: AGRICULTURAL SCIENCEHIGHER-LEVEL:A TRICKY opening may have thrown some, but students soon settled into what was, overall, a "very fair" agricultural science paper yesterday afternoon.

The higher-level paper spanned a range of topics. "Most of the syllabus was referred to on the paper, giving the paper balance and allowing students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge," said the Institute of Education's Donal Power.

"A lot of the questions were quite specific," said the ASTI's Peter Keaney, a teacher in Wilson's Hospital Multyfarnham. "There was no way around the question if you didn't know the exact answer in many cases."

Some of the short questions in section one may have caused difficulties, according to Mr Power.