You could say it was a measured response. There weren't squeals of delight but there were satisfied faces. Teachers welcomed the technical graphics exam at both higher and ordinary level.
There was "an easing in the degree of difficulty and I welcome that", said Mr John O'Sullivan, an ASTI subject representative and a teacher at CBS Secondary School in New Ross, Co Wexford. He welcomed "the move to be more reasonable in terms of time". But he added "there's still room for development in that area".
The short questions on the higher-level paper were "testing but fair". Also "the scale of diagrams" in questions 11 and 12 was "a little bit small". The long question in section B were "fair" and "the factor of difficulty was appropriate". Overall, he said the questions in this section were "sufficiently challenging for the students at the higher end of the ability spectrum and there was sufficient opportunity for weaker students also".
The ordinary level was "a fair paper", he said, and questions in section B "were fair and in line with what would have been expected". Question 3 in the short questions sections "was a little bit vague".
Students and teachers were "very satisfied", said Mr Patrick McVicar, chairman of the ASTI subject course committee and principal of Falcarragh Community School in Co Donegal, about the higher level. It was "very much in line with the pattern of recent years. The questions were more reasonable in terms of time. It was more carefully managed. That was welcome. It's something that teachers would point to."
He was happy with the ordinary level also but he did mention one or two questions where there was an element of ambiguity. Mr Gerry Walsh, a teacher at Wesley College in Dublin and a spokesman for the Association of Materials Technology and Graphic Teachers, said the students liked the higher level although "there were some tricky sections especially in section A . . . but it compared well to other years".
The ordinary level was of the "usual standard", he said. One or two questions may have caught people out but there was nothing too demanding."