Paper two challenged candidates but was ‘manageable’, teachers sayDylan O’Callaghan and Alex Spremo discuss how their Leaving Cert English paper two went with their teacher Cillian Farrell at Belmayne Educate Together Secondary School on Thursday. Photograph: Fran Veale Jack BradyThu Jun 04 2026 - 19:34 • 2 MIN READLeaving Cert English paper two was overall viewed as “manageable” as poets Paula Meehan and Elizabeth Bishop both appeared.Siobhán O’Donovan, a teacher at the Patrician Academy in Co Cork, said students will be “very happy” with the exam overall as students faced “no curveballs”.“I don’t think anyone had any big problem with the exam,” O’Donovan said.“Its lovely to see them coming out happy,” she said, adding that it’s not always the case that you see students coming out of the exam hall with a smile on their face.Gillian Chute, head of English at The Tuition Centre, said the paper struck a “commendable balance between accessibility and challenge” in which students’ full range of English skills would have been tested.“A thought-provoking yet manageable paper for the well-prepared candidate,” Chute said. While the paper contained its “share of nuanced questions”, Chute said the “breadth of choice available ensured that candidates had ample opportunity to play to their strengths and maximise their potential”. Liam Dingle, a teacher at the Institute of Education, said paper two “challenged candidates to navigate the specifics of the question while also offering them a movable feast of material”.Dingle said the appearance of poets Paula Meehan and Elizabeth Bishop would have given students a “little moment of triumph” before taking on the exam.[ Leaving Cert English paper one a ‘lovely’ exam, teachers sayOpens in new window ]Chute said that for those delighted to see Meehan on the paper, they may have been disappointed by a question that required “careful consideration and some candidates may have struggled to fully grasp its nuances under exam conditions”.Chute said the single-text questions on Macbeth were both “thought-provoking and engaging” and rewarded students for using their critical thinking skills.O’Donovan said the first question on Macbeth was a “very nice question” while the second “may have seemed off-putting” at first but wouldn’t have frightened a well-prepared candidate.In the comparative section, each mode “demanded a careful and attentive reading” before answering the questions, Chute said.O’Donovan said students were particularly pleased to answer the comparative question on the relation of a patriarchal and male-dominated world in the texts they studied.The unseen poem, Alvy Carragher’s Library, had a familiar approach and was welcomed by each teacher.As for the ordinary level paper, O’Donovan said there was one “tricky” element of the single text question where students were tasked with arguing in a debate on the issue of AI in relation to their chosen texts. However, O’Donovan said overall students were happy with the level of choice for the majority of the paper.“Students at ordinary level too emerged from the exam hall tired but happy with the contents of their paper, with one student saying it was ‘very straightforward’.” IN THIS SECTION