Higher-level students faced the music in an exam that greatly tested their ability with certain questions - comparable to Leaving Cert standard, one teacher commented.

Ordinary-level students were greeted with a "less challenging" paper and shouldn't have encountered too many obstacles. While both papers were generally considered manageable, some surprises did appear on the higher-level paper.

"Part of question 3 [one of the listening questions] should have been more specific. It was too open. It reminded me a little of a Leaving Cert question," said John Francis Murphy, ASTI subject expert who teaches at Holy Family secondary school in Newbridge.

Mr Murphy's main complaint was with the question requiring higher-level students to compose a melody. "It wasn't straightforward . . . Again, it was more like a Leaving Cert question."

Another surprise came in a compulsory question that usually tests higher-level students on two musical features, but this year quizzed students on three. "They haven't been asked to discuss three musical features in a few years . . . Some students would have been thrown."

Ordinary-level students completed a "very fair" paper and Mr Murphy's only issue was with question 2, a listening question, which he said was more in line with higher-level. He described the paper as presenting "only one or two challenges" while the higher level was "manageable but certainly challenging".