Teachers in Waterford, Cork and Donegal reacted angrily to yesterday's Leaving Cert music the papers, according to Ms Veronica O'Sullivan, who teaches at the Ursuline Convent, Waterford. The standard of the ordinary-level paper was "quite high," she said. There was very little difference between it and the higher paper.

Question 1 required three different key changes within eight bars - this was "above and beyond" the standard of ordinary-level students. The history questions were very demanding and almost of the same standard as the higher paper.

Teachers were equally critical of the higher paper, said Ms O'Sullivan. The key in question 1 was ambiguous, while question 3, on continuous suspensions, was particularly disliked. Question 11 required students to write out an entire Irish tune. This had never been done before and would do little to enhance the popularity of Irish music in schools.

However, Mr Martin Barrett, who teaches at Ard Scoil Ris, Limerick, described the papers as "fair"- he applauded the use of contemporary music, by Phil Collins, and a popular poem by Pam Ayres.

Catherine McFadden, a student at Muckross Park College, Dublin, said that question 1 on the higher paper was "very unfair" and completely unexpected. "It was the last year of the present syllabus and we were expecting a nice paper," she said.