Results released as more than half of Class of 2022's Leaving Cert grades bumped up

Carrigaline, Cork, Ireland. 02nd September, 2022. Joyous students who received their Leaving cert results at the Gaelcholáiste in Carrigaline, Co. Cork.- Picture: David Creedon

As some 61,000 Leaving Cert students received their results this morning, it has emerged over half of all grades have been bumped up to ensure the class of 2022 does as well as their peers did last year.

Students are able to access their results via the dedicated online portal.

After seeing grades rise hugely last year due to the hybrid system, they have held steady this year, with slightly more top H1 marks achieved at higher level in 2022 compared to 2021.

One of the biggest jumps was seen in maths, where 18.1% of students got top marks at higher level compared to 15.1% last year. While more students also got top marks in Irish at higher level in 2022, the proportion getting top marks in English fell. Students also performed well in popular European languages like French, Spanish and German.

Grade inflation, an increase in the average grades given to students, increased across the board in 2020 as ‘calculated grades’ were introduced for the first time. It continued to skyrocket across the board in 2021, where students had the ‘two-track’ option of written exams and accredited grades.

The Government had pledged that students would, on aggregate, do no worse in 2022 than last year.

Some of this year's cohort sat their Leaving Certificate exams having not had the opportunity to do their Junior Cert exams due to the pandemic. All would have missed large swathes of in-class time due to various periods of Covid-19 restrictions.

It was the State Examinations Commission's role to ensure grades were no lower this year than last. After all papers were marked, it did ‘post-marking adjustment’ in a bid to meet that commitment while trying to minimise further grade inflation.

After the initial marking, results were lower across the board but this was more pronounced at lower levels of achievement than those performing at a higher level. 

It meant these grades were then adjusted, with greater weight given to those at the lower end. Where an exam gave marks out of 100, it added 11 marks to a score of 0, seven marks to a score of 50 and three marks to the highest scores.

Once these marks were adjusted, 50.5% of grades were improved under this system. No one had marks downgraded under the system.

Another year of high grades is expected to make competition for third-level places fierce, with students set to receive their first round of CAO offers on Thursday.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said an extra 1,056 “targeted” college places will be made available through the CAO for this academic year, including 60 additional places in medicine.