Junior Cert exams:"No surprises if you had done the work" was the reaction of one teacher to a metalwork paper that caused no major problems at either higher or ordinary level.

Unlike colleagues in other exams, metalwork students had most of their work done before yesterday's exam.

Already having completed 75 per cent of the marks by means of projects and an exam in May, the papers yesterday tested the theoretical knowledge of students and accounted for the final quarter of the marks.

At ordinary level students would have been well prepared if they had consulted past papers while revising, according to Phelim O'Doherty, ASTI subject representative and a teacher in Summerhill College in Sligo.

He praised the layout of the higher level paper which had "good, clear diagrams".

The questions were occasionally topical, and one touched on the car engine and how to reduce harmful emissions. "Question seven was about computer hardware and software, which would have been mother's milk to young people."

* Teachers and pupils expressed general satisfaction with the Junior Cert Spanish paper also examined yesterday.