Mixed bag for the last exams of summer

THERE was a Mediterranean feel to the final day of the Junior Cert examinations yesterday with Latin, classics, Italian and Greek papers.

There was a welcome reception to the classics exams from students, according to Bronwyn Ambrose from the ASTI and Mount Anville secondary school in Dublin.

The higher level paper was very "candidate friendly" with high quality illustrations, she said.

"It was a pretty fair paper with straightforward questions and few surprises. Candidates came out happy," she said.

The ordinary level paper featured two-thirds of the same questions that the higher level paper did.

The third section of the paper may have been slightly too long for some students but, overall, it was well received, said Ms Ambrose.

Robbie Cronin from the ASTI and Marian College in Ballsbridge said the Italian higher level exam was "really tough" and in one case featured the word "opuscoli" -- meaning brochures -- in the reading section, which he himself had to look up.

He said some of the questions were more suitable to a higher level paper. However, the written aspect of the exam was "okay", he said.

The ordinary level exam held no surprises with the letter and the grammar sections were relatively straightforward.

In total, 448 students sat Latin, 403 Italian and 21 did ancient Greek.

- Shane Hickey

Irish Independent