An afternoon paper with a new type of question was tougher than the morning exam for higher level Junior Certificate students of Irish.

The final exams of the Junior Certificate tested students in a number of language subjects.

Junior Certificate Spanish was taken by 9,000 students yesterday morning.

Chemistry and Spanish took the attention of Leaving Certificate students yesterday.

The second higher level Leaving Certificate paper for students of Irish was much tougher than Monday’s first exam.

Maths and Irish were on the menu for Leaving Certificate students at the start of week two yesterday.

The first of two higher level Irish papers offered some 31,200 Junior Cert students, what Robbie Cronin considered quite a good choice of essays.

Most of the 2,000 Leaving Certificate applied maths students took the higher level papers, which had a refreshing blend of new-style problems.

There were very good choices on yesterday’s Leaving Certificate agricultural science higher-level exam, according to Pat Curtin.

Leaving Certificate students completed their Irish exams with well-received second papers in the subject yesterday morning.

Following a tough ordinary level maths paper on Friday for most Leaving Certificate students, reaction seemed much more positive to yesterday morning’s paper 2.

Junior Certificate students were tested on their Irish skills yesterday, with higher level candidates having two papers to sit, but others just having one in the morning.

Metalwork and Spanish were on the timetable for Junior Certificate students yesterday.

The Irish exams for Leaving Certificate students were on the morning timetable and featured some expected personalities.

The inclusion of questions of student opinion on higher level maths for Leaving Certificate students was among the main talking points outside exam halls at lunchtime yesterday.

In the morning, most Junior Certificate students faced into their Irish papers, although it was the first of two for higher level candidates.

Parents are to be targeted in a campaign to explain teacher’s educational concerns about Ruairi Quinn’s plans to replace the Junior Certificate with a new system of school-based assessment.

Residents in Co Cork have been mounting protests against the installation of water meters.

Residents of a Cork housing estate have vowed to continue their blockade against the installation of water meters after a stand-off with Irish Water contractors yesterday.

The last of this year’s Junior Certificate students waved arrivederci to the exams as the Italian papers ended their two-weeks of writing.

Irish Paper 2 was on the morning agenda for Leaving Certificate students, with higher level comprehension pieces about Apple founder Steve Jobs and the 40th anniversary of Raidió na Gaeltachta drawing praise.

The end of maths study for most Leaving Certificate students came yesterday and, while there was controversy over an incorrect angle in one question, teachers were pleased with the second papers in the subject.

Irish was the only subject on the timetable for Junior Certificate students, but ordinary level candidates had just a single paper to sit and the afternoon off for study or relaxation.

For Leaving Certificate students of Irish, sports themes featured strongly at both levels on their Paper 2 exams.

The non-appearance of Sylvia Plath or Seamus Heaney was the talking point for most higher level Leaving Certificate English students last night.

MORE than 6,000 Leaving Certificate students might have been disappointed their higher-level agricultural science paper contained a very strong emphasis on the biological element of the course.

LEAVING CERT students sat their second Irish exams yesterday, and the papers were perceived positively by teacher representatives.

THERE were sighs of relief in most Leaving Certificate exam halls on reading the second maths papers, according to Brid Griffin of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI).

EAVAN BOLAND’S appearance in the poetry section of the higher level English Paper 2 brought smiles in most Leaving Certificate exam centres yesterday.

AN applied maths paper was the final exam for most of the 1,400 Leaving Certificate students tested in the subject yesterday.

THE finishing line in this year’s state exams came into view with the arrival of the Spanish papers for Junior and Leaving Certificate students.

A CALCULATION mistake on part of a question may have caused problems for some Junior Certificate business students but they have been assured they will not lose marks over the error.

THE second round of maths papers was taken by Junior and Leaving Certificate students at more than 700 schools around the country yesterday morning.

THE poems of WB Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Adrienne Rich and TS Eliot were examined in the second higher level Leaving Certificate English paper.

LEAVING Certificate students have committed their Irish books to the bottom drawer but many were angry and upset about the appearance of the same six questions as last year on a section of the second higher level paper yesterday morning.

IT was day three of what has been a tough week for Leaving Certificate students, but no major controversy arose over their maths and geography exams.

WITH only about 5,000 Leaving Certificate engineering students in exam halls because of the rescheduled English papers, Junior Certificate candidates felt most pressure on day two of the state exams.

LEAVING Certificate students faced into a second round of maths papers yesterday morning with reports that the ordinary level exam was much fairer than the one taken on Friday.

THE second papers in Irish kicked off the last day of week one for Leaving Certificate students yesterday.

THE first maths papers faced Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate candidates in hundreds of schools around the country yesterday morning.

LEAVING Certificate students said slán to Irish with the completion of their second papers in the subject yesterday morning.

THERE were angry reactions from some teachers to yesterday’s higher level Leaving Certificate maths Paper I.

AN OVERHEAD photo of a thistle presented itself as a thorny issue in yesterday’s agricultural science higher paper.

ELECTRONIC voting might not have seen the light at the polls but Junior Cert students had to write plenty about it in their Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) exam.