Plenty of choice and no ambushes

JUNIOR CERT HISTORY: HIGHER AND ORDINARY:"HARD WORKERS can expect good results" was the conclusion of commentators on yesterday's Junior Cert history exam.

Leonardo da Vinci, Countess Marcievicz and John F Kennedy all featured on a paper that offered plenty of choice and no ambushes for the prepared student.

"Any difficult questions that cropped up on the higher paper could be avoided, if students had covered the course," said Dermot Lucey of Ballincollig Community School.

"The 'People in History' section featured figures that students would be familiar with - a planter and a religious reformer."

The ordinary-level paper was also regarded as fair, but with a peppering of tricky questions. "There was a picture of a Gaelic chief at a feast, and students were asked why the picture might make the Irish appear as wild and savage. That was a tough one for the level," said Mr Lucey.

History is compulsory at junior cycle. About 70 per cent take the subject at higher level. Only one in five students goes on to take history at senior cycle.

The subject has been in decline since the 1980s, but a new Leaving Cert syllabus has helped to boost numbers over the last three years.

A new Junior Cert syllabus is at the consultation stage.