Waiting game begins as exam relief starts to settle

THE exams may be finished but the waiting is only beginning for 60,000 students who have just completed the Leaving Certificate.

The State Examinations Commission will deliver the results to schools in just over seven weeks on Wednesday, August 13.

The 63,000 people who applied for college places through the Central Applications Office (CAO) will be watching their postboxes and e-mail accounts for the first round of offers the following Monday, August 18.

In the meantime, almost 3,000 examiners will be instructed at marking conferences in Athlone on how to correct the written papers.

Students who are not satisfied with their grade on any paper have been entitled to review the script at their schools since 1998. This year, they will have a week to apply to see their written paper, which will be sent to schools for students to check with their teachers on August 29 and 30.

After that, those who are still unhappy with the result can appeal the mark to the Exams Commission.

This process resulted in one-in-five of the 9,628 students who appealed a Leaving Certificate mark being upgraded last year.

The CAO expects to issue its second round of college offers on September 1.

Yesterday’s big exam was Applied Maths, in which the higher level paper was quite satisfactory apart from a challenging Question 1 (b), according to ASTI subject spokesperson Damian Cooke.

He said the ordinary level paper had a couple of difficult parts but the six questions most popular with students were fine and should have allowed them do well.

TUI spokesperson John McKeon was quite pleased with both papers.