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.

The increase also reflects an overall rise in those expected to take the exams, up 1% since June 2015 to 56,595. Actual exam sits is likely to fall just under 56,000, based on previous patterns.

The chief examiner for Leaving Certificate maths said in a report published five weeks ago that some students are not making the best choice by opting to take the higher level exams.

However, the increased uptake of higher level maths, from just 16% in 2011 to 27% in 2014 and 2015, has also helped others who may benefit from the higher standard of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving they were exposed to.

As well as the traditional Leaving Certificate students, 2,811 are entered for the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) which offers an alternative to the academic focus of the main exam system.

This is the lowest figure in over 15 years for the LCA, with declines of recent years attributed by some education groups as evidence of schools forced by cutbacks to drop support programmes for some students. But the Department of Education has explained it as the result of schools doing more to help young people reach their potential and to take the main Leaving Certificate exams.

For 60,652 students, this week will be the first taste of the State exams system, as they begin the Junior Certificate. The number is up around 700 on last year, but has been fluctuating around the 60,000 mark for the last five years.

SEC chairman Pat Burke wished luck to all 120,000 lined up to take exams, which he said mark the culmination of much hard work by students, their schools and families.

“It is our objective to enable each candidate display his or her achievements during what can be a stressful time. I know that the continued support of families and the wider education community and beyond is essential at this time,” he said.

The exams begin for all three groups on Wednesday and end on June 16 for the LCA and June 23 for Junior Certificate. The final Leaving Certificate exams take place on Friday, June 24.

The Leaving Certificate and LCA results should reach students on Wednesday, August 17, with offers of college places issuing the following Monday from the Central Applications Office (CAO). The SEC expects to deliver Junior Certificate results in mid-September.