A brief glance at yesterday's Leaving Cert higher- and ordinary-level home economics (social and scientific) papers is enough to convince you that the courses are broad in scope, extremely interesting and utterly relevant. You'd almost envy the youngsters who sat the exams. For the most part, the papers were well received and the students were happy with them, teachers said. Although teachers too approved of the papers, there were mixed views about the vocabulary used on the higher-level paper. This was an old bone of contention, Ms Margaret McCluskey - a member of the NCCA course committee - noted, though she maintained that "the examiners must be praised for the straightforward language used this year". Ms Maureen McGivern, also an NCCA course committee member and a teacher at Raphoe Vocational School, Co Donegal, took another view. The paper had received a good reaction from her students but they had found question 3 "off-putting", she said. It was a question of language. The term "pancreatic secretions" had caused problems.

"You can cover a lot of things in class but you can't cover everything," she noted. Similarly, question 4 caused difficulties. "It was very simple question but it was the one which caused students the most difficulty and it was all down to language. They didn't connect the term `biological raising agent' with yeast. The term is mentioned in question 1 but in a way that they were more familiar with."

Question 5, on the social and economic factors that have led to changes in work and leisure patterns, was "a dream question" but some students failed to make sense of t. The use of enumerate as the first word was a bad start, she said. It was the borderline students, who could normally expect to gain Ds on the higher-level papers, who would be most adversely affected by these questions, she said.

Question 6 on childcare was "good, detailed and searching and I expect a lot of students would have tried that - I hope they did," Ms McGivern said. Teachers appreciated the topicality of the questions, which included ones on fats, childcare and food additives. "As a teacher I thought it a super paper," Ms McCluskey commented. Ms Ann McNicholl, the TUI subject representative, who teaches at Cardonagh Community School, Co Donegal, agreed it was a "very fair and testing paper which contained no suprises". Ms McNicholl also found the ordinary-level paper "balanced" - with one exception: question 3, on the composition of blood, was "much too difficult and very long and more suitable for higher-level students", she said. Teachers praised the assortment of topical questions on the ordinary-level paper. These ranged from the use of sugar in food, through chilled foods and microwave cookery to marital breakdown and the role of voluntary agencies in the community - "all very useful and relevant information which will stay with them for the rest of their lives", Ms McCluskey observed.

"A good fair paper" Ms McGivern called it. Question 8, on interior design, required students to plan the refurbishment of the family living room. "It's a very nice question for children who may be floundering," she said.

Exam papers were also sat yesterday for a separate course, home economics (general), by 234 students. This compares to 24,887 who sat home economics (social and scientific) papers.

Sample question

Leaving Cert ordinary-level home economics (social and scientific)

Write an informative account of any two of the following :

(i) the effects of marital breakdown on (a)families and (b)society;

(ii) the causes and the consequences of `anti-social behaviour';

(iii) the role of the media in (a) education and (b) entertainment;

(iv) the reasons for and the effects of the growing participation of women in the workforce.