'Student-oriented' papers praised

Junior Cert business: There was a warm welcome for yesterday's Junior Certificate business studies exam papers at higher and ordinary level, with teachers praising the student-oriented nature of the exams.

According to Ivan O'Callaghan of the Teachers Union of Ireland, who teaches at Pobalscoil Rosmini in Drumcondra, Dublin, paper one at higher level was seen by many students as very fair.

Those students not particularly strong at accountancy may have avoided question two, focusing on the accounts of an angling club, and question four, which was a banking question. As a result, perhaps the "easy route" would have been to answer questions one, three, five and six, he said.

"There was a nice format encouraging them to move developmentally through the exam. This is good as it also encourages them to move onto higher level for the Leaving Certificate."

The ordinary-level paper one was also very clear and straightforward, Mr O'Callaghan said.

"Again the paper is designed to be more encouraging than discouraging at that level, so credit is due for the design of the paper and the style of the questions."

Junior Certificate students studying higher-level business studies also faced a second paper yesterday afternoon, which Mr O'Callaghan described as "a pretty good and testing paper in areas", but with few surprises.

For example, question three on insurance might have thrown some students, he said.

Pat Morris of the Asti, a teacher at Coláiste Chriost Rí in Cork, felt that the second paper was similar enough to previous papers to ensure a comfortable experience for most higher level students. Students chose four out of six questions on subjects such as book-keeping, insurance, loan applications and business ownership.

"The afternoon paper followed the same lines as previous years, so students who practised past exam papers should have had no problem," said Mr Morris.