The improved grades in English in this year's Leaving Cert will confound many who thought the new syllabus would create difficulties for students.
In fact, the first major revision of the syllabus since the 1960s has produced outstanding results in the subject.
This year's students were the first to be tested on the new syllabus. On the basis of today's results, it would appear most have come to grips with the more a la carte English course. The new syllabus has an emphasis on contemporary writers and a new focus on such areas as film studies.
The improvement in grades is striking, especially when you consider that most Leaving Cert grades fluctuate only marginally year-on-year.
In the higher-level paper, the number of A1s (90100 per cent) is up from 6 to 9 per cent.
The number of students achieving an honours grade at higher level is up from 65 per cent last year to 75 per cent this year.
Thirty-six per cent of candidates secured a B3 (7074 per cent) compared to 26 per cent last year.
The first higher-level English paper was actually poorly received when it was examined in June. Teachers were critical of the "insular" and "navel-gazing" approach of the paper which considered the theme of Irishness.
It invited students to look at the perspective of people like Mr Martin Mansergh, the Taoiseach's special adviser. In response, one teacher said that while Mr Mansergh was "an important figure who is involved in very important work, he is not an icon for the average 17-year-old".
The new syllabus has had a long gestation. Indeed, as one academic noted, the legendary poetry anthology Soundings edited by the late Prof Gus Martin was meant to be an interim anthology. Instead, it continued to dominate the landscape for 30 years.
The new syllabus combines the best of the old with a dash of the new. Shakespeare, Keats and Emily Dickinson are still there, but other writers have been introduced.
These include Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Jennifer Johnston and Eavan Boland. The plan is to have a rolling syllabus with new writers introduced every year.
This year's students were also given an opportunity to explore such films as My Left Foot and Dances With Wolves. They can also study a broad range of texts including short stories, novels and autobiographies.
Writing in The Irish Times earlier this year, Dr Margaret Kelleher of NUI Maynooth said: "The new syllabus, if opened up to its full potential, should allow scope for students to reflect on a range of writers encountered, and to articulate more confidently their own responses."
The class of 2001 were the first to enter the new world of the English syllabus. Most appeared to have embraced it with gusto.