Yesterday's Junior Cert Materials Technology (Wood) papers were described as "practical" and "suitably pitched" by students and teachers.

The questions were largely based on common workshop practice, said John Culloty of ASTI, who is a teacher at Tralee CBS.

The paper accounted for one- third of the overall marks for both higher and ordinary level students. Material Technology students are also assessed on a practical project completed during the academic year.

The Materials Technology course, previously known as Woodwork, is a popular choice among male Junior Cert students, with 13,632 entered to take the exam. Almost 2,000 female students took the course this year.

The layout and content of the paper followed the design of previous years and there was a "considerable range of questions in each paper," said Mr Culloty.

Both papers were divided into two sections. Section A consisted of a series of short-answer questions while the questions in section B demaded more detail.

According to Noel Scott, ASTI, Loreto Community School, Milford, Donegal, students on the higher-level paper had ample time to complete the exam.

The ordinary-level paper relied on the practical elements of the course and steered away from theory, said one commentator.