LEAVING CERTIFICATE/Irish:  After a series of nasty surprises on Wednesday and Thursday, this year's Leaving Cert returned to a more even keel with the second set of Irish papers. Students were delighted to be able to use words like "predictable" and "doable" to describe higher- and ordinary-level papers.

Treasa Ní Chonaola, Irish teacher at St Michael's in Ballsbridge, Dublin, said higher-level students were happy, but ordinary-level students were walking on air.

Yvonne O'Toole, Irish expert with skoool.ie, said the layout of the higher-level paper was "much clearer" than usual; she especially welcomed the guide, on page 2, to the paper's layout and structure.

The set prose was exactly as students expected, she said, and many students would have appreciated the way questions were phrased. Even students who did not like question C (a) (i) had a pleasant alternative in C (a) (ii).

The inclusion of Clann Lir as a text caught a few students out, she said, because it appeared on last year's paper. "It was certainly unexpected," she said.

The gearrscéalta section was also very predictable and students warmed to the choice of questions.

As for poetry, the students could have few complaints, she said, though the questions on the poem Treall would have posed difficulties for some of the weaker students, particularly section (i) which included some difficult phrases. The poem Faoileán was gladly received by most students and the questions based on it were straightforward, she said.

The Irish papers are made up of seen and unseen pieces and students rarely, if ever, pick the unseen pieces.

Consequently most students are well prepared for the texts that do come up, and this years paper's gave them a chance to express themselves, while having the safety blanket of familiar material.

Treasa Ní Chonaola said there were also no nasty shocks waiting for anyone in the Dánta Dualgais Breise section. Students were delighted to see Úrchnoc Chéin Mhic Cáinte included and the questions on it were appropriate to the level.

Yvonne O'Toole agreed, though she said the phrase "Sna hamhráin ghrá" in the first question might have caused one or two students a small difficulty.

Ceist 4 or stair na gaeilge was very student-friendly this year, Ní Chonaola said, with students asked about "An Aisling Pholaitiúil" (a poet's vision).

She said the questions were very factual and would have suited both weaker and stronger students as a result. The last part of the question was manageable, with students asked to reflect on Irish media, from television to print. Ní Chonaola said students were used to watching TG4, reading Foinse and cutting out articles by Irish-language editor Pól Ó Muirí in The Irish Times.

The ordinary-level paper recieved equally glowing reviews, with phrases like "a dream" and "fairly easy" being bandied about. Ní Chonaola said students had to deal with few surprises, and some of the betters ones were finished before the exam ended.

She said the poems were all the ones students had anticipated and the questions were very manageable and not too long.

Because of time constraints, Exam Times was unable to refer yesterday to the aural tests that were sat on Thursday evening. Teachers and students appeared relatively happy with the tape, though some said the pace was a little brisk. There were also some complaints about noise in some exam centres, but most students seemed to go away happy.