This year's Leaving Cert to offer students more choices and fewer questions to answer
Adjustments made to this year's Leaving Cert exams take into account the 'disruption to teaching and learning experienced by the Leaving Certificate class of 2022', said the State Examinations Commission.
This year's Leaving Cert will offer students more choice and fewer questions to answer as adjustments to the exams will mirror changes to last year's papers.
At the beginning of the month, Education Minister Norma Foley announced that extensive adjustments would be made to this year’s Leaving Cert written exams as she ruled out a 'hybrid model'.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) confirmed on Tuesday evening that the further adjustments made to the 2022 exams are the same as those implemented last March for Leaving Certificate 2021.
The adjustments have been made to take into account the “disruption to teaching and learning experienced by the Leaving Certificate class of 2022”, according to the SEC. It said the changes have been made to provide students with "certainty and clarity".
“The adjustments will provide the fairest pathway to successfully completing their post-primary education and enabling them to progress to further and higher education and training, apprenticeships, and the world of work,” it said.
The adjustments apply to the written exams only. There are no changes to the aural or listening component in language subjects or music.
There are also no further adjustments to practical coursework, orals, and practical performance tests.
In a guide to the changes published on Tuesday evening, the SEC said the changes to this year’s paper aim to maintain the structure and layout of the paper so that it remains familiar to students.
“This means that no new material has been added to the papers and, for the most part, no material removed.”
The adjustments involved “in almost all cases” providing further choice to students by reducing the number of questions to be answered in the examination, it notes.
“While this will have the effect of also reducing the time needed to complete the examination, the duration of each examination will remain unchanged, thus substantively relieving time pressures.”
There is no expectation that students would produce more extensive or more detailed answers because of this extra time, it added.
“The relief of time pressure will allow for more time to read and consider the questions carefully, and will thereby help them to make best use of the additional levels of choice available.”
Full details of the further adjustments made to the examinations are published on gov.ie/LeavingCertificate and on examinations.ie.
A subject-by-subject guide is available in the document, ‘Further Adjustments to the Written Examinations’.
The timetables for the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert were published on Tuesday evening, which will commence on Wednesday, June 8.
The Leaving Cert timetable follows the familiar format with the examinations in new Leaving Certificate Curricular subjects of Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese scheduled to run in conjunction with the examinations in the non-curricular languages on Monday, June 20.
There are also significant changes to the scheduling of the Junior Cycle examinations this year with the introduction of Common Level in all subjects except for Irish, English, and Mathematics.
The timetables can be accessed at examinations.ie.
