JUNIOR CERTIFICATE/Civic, Social and Political Education: While the Junior Cert Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) paper offered a colourful variety of topical questions, in presentation it was "disappointingly dull", teachers said.

"The colour was really missing, particularly in section 2. It was much nicer last year with the glossy insert," said Róisín Farrell, a teacher in Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, Co Dublin.

The association of CSPE teachers was also disappointed with the new look. "The presentation was very dull," said spokesman Brendan O'Regan. "All those blue boxes, it was very untypical."

CSPE is a common-level paper and it is difficult to get the balance of questions right, said Farrell. "A lot of the paper was more like an English exam and it didn't have a lot of bite in it for the better students. Others found the wording of some questions difficult and only the very politically-minded would have attempted question 4 in section 3."

The paper did offer topical questions on Traveller discrimination and refugees and asylum seekers, however some issues were conspicuous by their absence. "Many students were expecting the UN, which didn't come up, and there was no real question on the environment either."

O'Regan would also have liked to see a question on the environment, although he said there were good questions on the Euro and voting.

He also felt there were too many "wordy comprehensions" and the paper tended to lose the CSPE focus. "Some questions were more geography and economics-orientated, which may have given business and geography students an advantage."

The exam accounts for 40 per cent of the marks, 60 per cent are awarded for a project.