Leaving Cert points bonus may be fuelling failure rate

A further increase in the proportion of school leavers aiming to sit higher level maths exams will be watched carefully after fail grades rocketed in recent years.

While students are encouraged by the prospect of additional points for college selection if they pass honours Leaving Certificate exams, the introduction of these 25 bonus points has also had some negative effects. The numbers failing higher level maths each year has more than doubled from 2.3% in 2012 to 5.2% last year, when nearly 800 got an E, F or ‘no-grade’ (NG).

While around 3,000 people annually decide on or before exam day to go instead for the ordinary level papers, the 35% who have indicated they will take higher level maths is 1% higher than this time last year. The 19,202 signalling through their schools to the State Examinations Commission (SEC) that they will do so is just over 1,000 higher than a year ago.