Firm but fair was the general perception of both higher- and ordinary-level Junior Cert history papers.
The higher-level paper was "decent enough", John O'Sullivan, history teacher in Templeogue College, Dublin, said. The only area where there were no choices was in question 5 on the plantations in Ireland, he said. "Part C of question 5 was quite difficult and the terms tended towards the abstract. They might have been phrased more sympathetically."
Question 4 offered adequate choice he said, but part A (iii), asking the student to write about a native of a land discovered by Europeans during the Age of Exploration, would fall outside the remit of most textbooks, he said.
Question 6, which accounts for a third of the marks on the paper, offered "good choices for students", though he said part A (ii) was a bit tricky. "Having said that, it was a good, fair paper."
Dermot Lucey, a teacher in Ballincollig Community School, Co Cork, said the higher-level paper was a fair but testing paper.
"It wasn't trying to catch students out, but they had to show they had done the work to get the marks. It covered a wide range of topics and my own students were quite happy with it."
The ordinary-level paper was also well received, with lots of choice and manageable questions in each section, Lucey said. "The questions were well geared towards the ordinary-level student, but as with honours, marks weren't being thrown away."
