Leaving Cert: Details revealed for this year's assessment process

Students opting for accredited grades will sit a maximum of three 60-minute in-class tests per subject as part of the assessment process.

The details are included in a Department of Education guide to written exams and accredited grades for this year’s Leaving Cert class, published this evening.

Students will be asked to make their choice between accredited grades, written exams, or both when the online portal opens on Monday, March 8. 

Students will have approximately one week to do this, and review it at a later stage when it reopens around late April, early May. 

Assessment model similar to 2020 

Similar to calculated grades, the assessment model used last year, teachers are advised to consider a range of different sources when deciding on a student's assessed grade.

This includes in-class assessments, end of topic tests, aural and oral assessments, presentations, project work, and course work over the last two years.

Fresh in-class tests or assessments may also be used once students return to in-person learning on Monday, but these are to be limited to a maximum of three per subject, to be concluded by May 14.

Schools' submission deadlines

Schools are expected to have their end of the data for accredited grades submitted to the Department of Education no later than June 3. These will then be submitted to a national standardisation process. 

While a number of changes were previously made to the written papers, further adjustments will also be made in a bid to “reduce the load on students”. 

The majority of these adjustments will involve reducing the number of questions that students will be required to answer. The duration of exams will remain the same as set out in the published timetable.

Orals and coursework

Students who wish to sit the written exams in June will be able to participate in orals and coursework, with orals set to take place between March 26 and April 15.

“Schools will hold the examinations at times outside of normal tuition time so that students’ normal tuition is not interrupted to take the examination.” 

This may be after school, during the Easter holidays, or at weekends. Teachers will conduct these examinations with students, which will be recorded electronically and sent to the State Exams Commission (SEC) for marking. Further guidance will be issued by the SEC on March 22.