Big day arrives for 116,500 students

MORE than 116,500 students begin the Junior and Leaving Certificate this morning at the country’s 730 second level schools and other exam centres.

The total of 55,550 school leavers entered to do the Leaving Certificate over the next 13 days is just over 300 fewer than the total last year. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has been notified of 57,732 Junior Certificate candidates, the biggest number since 2007, and 3,245 students are entered for Leaving Certificate Applied.

Junior Certificate students at 24 schools where the new Project Maths syllabus has been piloted will sit a different second paper to those in the other 700-plus second level schools on Monday morning. For those doing the subject at foundation level, the single paper will also be different at these schools.

The first group of Leaving Certificate students to take papers featuring aspects of the new syllabus were examined last year. At the same 24 schools, both paper I on Friday afternoon and paper II on Monday morning will differ from those given to students elsewhere.

The entire Leaving Certificate cohort next year will be examined in parts of the new syllabus, which is being taught at all schools since last autumn. The revised emphasis on practical application of maths theories has led to high hopes that Project Maths will lead to a reversal in the downward trend in the number of school leavers taking the higher level papers. Fewer than one-in-five Leaving Certificate maths candidates have again indicated they will take the harder exam this year. But this could well fall to below the record low of less than 16% who went on to sit higher level in June 2010 as students opt for an easier paper nearer to exam time.

About three million exam papers have been distributed to the 4,750 exam centres in schools, prisons and other locations since the weekend.

At least a dozen people who had been due to sit the Leaving Certificate at a school for the children of diplomats in Libya have travelled to Ireland for their exams because of the ongoing unrest there. Another 50 may be accommodated in an alternative exam centre in nearby Malta following the efforts of the SEC and Irish diplomats.

The students’ answer sheets will be marked by 4,000 examiners over the next three months, with Leaving Certificate results due out on Wednesday, August 17, and Junior Certificate grades issuing in mid-September.

SEC chairman Richard Langford said the exams afford an opportunity for candidates to demonstrate the range and level of knowledge, skills and competencies acquired during many years of study.

“The exams can be a difficult and stressful time for candidates but the support of family, schools and the wider community plays an important role in assisting them to achieve the best possible outcomes,” he said.