This year's Leaving Certificate kicked off with a mysterious theme as English higher level students were invited to consider suspense, tension and mystery in literature.
The first exam was generally welcomed, providing "plenty of choice and interest" for the 35,000 students taking the first English exam at higher level this morning.
Some students, however, expressed dismay at the short story option, which involved the solving of a mystery.
"This was a very narrow option for the short story, which is the most popular choice on the composition section," said Michael Doherty, a teacher at Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana.
Recent English papers have seen a trend to towards more defined options in the composition section to discourage students from learning essays off-by-heart, say teachers.
"English exams of recent years have shown this trend, perhaps to eliminate the idea of prepared essays," said Alan Thompson of the Teachers Union of Ireland. "Students should be expecting this by now."
Elsewhere in the paper students were asked to consider the personality of journalist Lara Marlowe based on her Irishwoman's Diary in The Irish Times. The article was about her love of cats.
They were also asked a series of questions based on an excerpt from Colm McCann's novel, Let the Great World Spin.
Teacher Anne Gormley welcomed the paper which her students found "delightful". "In the Leaving cert camp they were delighted - they all considered it a very fair paper and the topic of mystery was different from previous papers where basic human concepts such as the future or family or work and play had been included."
Other composition options on the paper tasked students with describing their dress sense and what it says about them, or writing the plot for the modern fairy tale.
Over 17,000 students took English paper 1 at ordinary level. The paper was described as "fair and manageable" and featured the theme of extraordinary journeys.
"The students were very content," according to Alan Thompson. "The theme on incredible journeys was well-received. The comprehension featuring a extract from the memoirs of Buzz Aldrin was interesting and accessible. Overall the comprehension pieces well-written and well-pitched."
Tomorrow's English paper 2 will feature prescribed texts on poetry, drama and prose. Last year's paper 2 caused a major upset when the expected poet, Eavan Boland, failed to appear.
More than 116,000 students began the Leaving and Junior Cert examinations this morning.
