They may have left their toolboxes outside but most Junior Cert students doing their metalwork exam yesterday afternoon were in complete control.
They were able to handle terms such as chucks, pistons, inlet valves and sprockets with dexterity and aplomb.
Some may not have known what a jog key was, but teachers did not think they would have much further problem with words like ratchets, pawls, cams and cranks.
Both levels in the metalwork (materials and technology) exam were described as student-friendly and manageable by the teachers Exam Times interviewed.
There were no surprises in the ordinary-level paper, said Mr Padraig Kirk, president of the Engineering and Technology Teachers' Association and a teacher at O Fiaich College in Dundalk, Co Louth. "It was manageable," he said.
The higher-level paper was also described as student-friendly. The diagrams were "very neat and well presented" though part C and D of question 1, which were "too close together, could have confused the students. "They could have been a wee bit off-putting. There was no need for the two questions."
Mr Kirk also mentioned question 7's use of the term jog key, which "a lot of students might not have been familiar with. It might have thrown some of them."
The paper "would have kept them for the two hours. It examined the course."
Dr Lawrence Smyth, a teacher at Falcarragh Community School in Co Donegal, spoke to some students after the higher-level paper and they were "very happy".
The paper, he said, had "a fairly comprehensive range of questions - it was a very fair paper with very attractive, well structured questions, which I think were at the right depth".
Dr Smyth especially welcomed the inclusion of information technology in the exam. It appeared in question 7, which asked students to explain the meaning of terms including ROM, CAD and DOS.