Junior Cert students were "quite pleased with themselves" after the business studies exam yesterday, with teachers giving both higher and ordinary-level papers the thumbs-up sign.
According to Sister Mary O'Connell, spokeswoman for the Business Studies Teachers' Association of Ireland and a teacher at St Joseph's Community College in Kilkee, Co Clare, students coming out into the sunshine in the seaside town were "quite pleased with themselves".
The ordinary level was "fine, there was nothing unusual in it," she said. The first section, comprising 20 short questions, was "manageable and doable", she said. Her students were also "quite happy" with section B. By lunchtime "they felt that they could have done all of the questions if they had had to," she added.
Students doing the higher level were also "quite pleased and happy". But, she added, her own regret was "that they don't have a choice" in the 20-question section. The paper was "quite testing but they are doing honours and the 20 questions were fair, although they were tricky enough", she said. It was "a good straightforward honours paper. There was nothing unusual or outlandish but they'd want to have had their wits about them."
The second paper in the higher-level exam left her students "quite happy". The questions were regular, reasonable and there were no hidden surprises or nasty parts.
Students were pleased with themselves afterwards, she said. The analysed cash book question was "every Junior Cert's dream", she said. "They were away in a hack doing that."
Mr John Crilly, ASTI subject convenor and a teacher at Ardee Community School in Co Louth, was also positive about both papers. The ordinary level was "straight-forward, there was nothing objectionable in it, it was very doable".
He said students had a good choice and there were no real surprises in the paper. "They were happy enough", he said.
There were no problems with the higher-level exam either, he said. Overall, the morning's paper was "fair". Section A's multiple choice was "pretty okay" and the rest of the paper was "reasonably all right. It was a good honours standard," he said.
The afternoon's paper was "straightforward". It was a testing paper but they had choices within it also, he added.
He mentioned one or two minor difficulties, such as use of the expression "term insurance" in a question on the morning's paper 1, section B, which "students would not have been familiar with. Maybe it's used in the industry itself," he said.
But, he said, teachers don't mind when a paper is tough. They only complain when a question or part of a question is "totally off the syllabus", he explained.
Sample Question: This is part A of the household budget question. At the end of Section A is a partially completed budget for the Clark family for a six month period, July to December.
You are required to complete this form by filling in the missing figures in the "total" column and also the missing figures for "total in- come" and in the section at the end dealing with total expenditure, net cash, opening cash and closing cash.