Exam D-Day lands for close to 117,000 students
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has printed more than 3m exam papers on 38m pages for the 53,749 candidates for the Leaving Certificate, 2,853 entered for Leaving Certificate Applied and 60,243 Junior Certificate students.
It is the first year that all Junior Certificate students will be examined in part of the revised maths course, Project Maths, with questions on the first two strands to feature in next Monday’s Paper 2.
For Leaving Certificate students, all of Paper 2 and — for the first time — some of Friday afternoon’s maths Paper 1 will be on the new syllabus. The second year of 25 bonus entry points being given by colleges through the CAO to students with higher level maths has seen a further rise in the proportion taking that option.
From record lows of fewer than one-in-six students just two years ago, 22% of last year’s Leaving Certificate maths classes sat the higher level exams.
That compared to 25% who indicated through their schools beforehand they would sit higher level papers, but latest SEC figures show 29% entered for the tougher papers.
The 15,132 students — out of almost 52,000 due to take maths — who are currently entered for higher level will likely fall by between 1,000 and 2,000 come time to sit Paper 1 on Friday afternoon.
However, it still compares to the fewer than 10,500 lined up for the honours exam ahead of the 2011 Leaving Certificate.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said he was delighted by the increase in students choosing higher level and encouraged them to have faith in their ability on exam day when they may think about taking the ordinary level exam instead.
“This is an important time for all of the students involved and I wish them good luck as they start their exams. Over the next couple of weeks, students have an opportunity to show all they have learned over the last few years, and it marks the culmination of their hard work,” he said.
Institute of Guidance Counsellors president Gerry Flynn said it was essential for students to get plenty of rest between exams, to eat regularly, and exercise.
“Avoid late-night cramming at all costs and focus on revising material previously covered,” he said.
The SEC is facilitating Leaving Cert candidates from an international school in the Libyan capital Tripoli to sit their exams in Malta, on advice from the Department of Foreign Affairsnot to send examiners to Libya.
More than 30 students from the school took their exams in Malta last year but it is not known how many will be there for exams starting this morning.
The results of Leaving Cert will issue on August 14, with Junior Cert students due to receive their grades in mid-September.
The State Examinations Commission has employed more than 4,800 superintendents to supervise the sittings of this year’s exams.
The logistics involved make the annual running of the Junior and Leaving Certificate a major undertaking, and involve:
*Setting of exams in 90 curricular subjects;
*Printing and distribution of more than 3m exam papers;
*More than 4,000 examiners to mark the written papers;
*Almost 10,000 special exam centres for some of the 19,000-plus students given reasonable accommodations for special needs;
*Almost 1,600 students taking exams in non-curricular EU languages, including 797 due to sit Polish, and 266 entered for Lithuanian;
*About 1,100 examiners for students’ oral exams, and 1,400 who examined practical and project work, most of which took place in April and May.
