Fewer Leaving Certificate students to sit honours maths

THE proportion of Leaving Certificate students set to attempt the higher level maths papers next week has fallen below one-in-five, despite efforts to get more people taking the exams.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has registered 55,383 people to sit the Leaving Certificate, which begins at schools and colleges on Wednesday, up almost 4% on the 53,345 candidates a year ago. The actual number of students who went on to sit the exams in 2008 was 52,143, as around 1,000 people do not go ahead with sitting their papers each year.

Among almost 53,000 Leaving Certificate students predicted to take maths papers next Friday and on the following Monday, just 10,533 (19.9%) have indicated they will be taking the higher level paper. This compares to 21% of candidates whose schools told the commission before Easter last year and in 2007 that they would be sitting the higher level paper.