Those die-hard Junior Cert students who stayed the pace to the final day of the exams were rewarded with clear, well-measured Italian papers at higher and ordinary level.

The aural section of the exam was particularly well received in Scoil Eoin, Athy, Co Kildare. "The tape was very clear and very nicely paced," Aidan Farrell, Italian teacher at Scoil Eoin, said.

"The items were well-spaced to allow students time to get everything down and the topics covered everything they should have prepared for the aural."

Students should also have been well-prepared for the higher-level paper, Farrell said, as it held "nothing unusual" or unexpected.

"The reading section began with a very straightforward biographical piece on Jennifer Aniston and continued on well from there. There were no difficulties in any of those pieces."

Section C at the end of the paper examines grammar and is usually the most demanding area of the paper, Farrell said; however this year, it was very manageable and easy to follow.

Farrell said he was "unable to find a single fault" with the ordinary-level paper.