Students advised to view scripts before appealing exam results

ANY student who is unhappy with their result in one or more subjects can appeal the grade to the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

Students are advised, however, to first avail of the opportunity to view their exam script at the school later this month. In order to do so, a form provided by the SEC with all results must be filled and returned to the school by next Tuesday, August 18.

Viewing sessions will then be organised at schools on either Friday, August 28 or Saturday, August 29, at which students can be accompanied by a teacher or any other individual. This is a chance to identify if there are any obvious mistakes in the calculation of the grade and whether it is worthwhile appealing the mark.

An appeal application form must be completed and returned to the school by early on Tuesday, September 1, in order to be received by the SEC the following day. If there are any matters a student wishes to highlight to the appeal examiner, a form available from the organising superintendent appointed to each school can be attached to the exam script.

All appeals must be paid for in advance, with a fee of €40 per subject for Leaving Certificate appeals and €15.50 for the Leaving Certificate Applied. All fees are refundable if the appeal results in a student being upgraded.

The level of success in this regard varies largely between subjects, with most appeals made in Leaving Certificate English last year. The 2,178 higher level appeals in English resulted in 274 upgrades and 31 of the 71 students who appealed ordinary level English grades were successful.

More than 1,000 results in Leaving Certificate biology, geography and Irish were also appealed last year, but the success rates varied from two-thirds of all appeals in Italian to just one-in-10 music appeals.

The outcomes of appeals are notified to students up to mid-October and arrangements about eligibility for college places which might arise as a result of an upgrade are generally an issue between students themselves and the college in question.