Students warned not to heed AI Leaving Cert predictions

Tue, 26 May, 2026 - 06:05

Jess Casey

Exam authorities have warned students against using AI predictions on what topics and questions might appear on this year’s Leaving Cert papers.

It comes as students are buckling down for the last stretch of revision before the State exams get underway on June 3.

A spate of new AI-powered platforms focused on exam prep have launched in recent years.

A number of these platforms target Irish students, focusing on instant essay grading, exam practice, and, in some cases, offering predictions on what will appear on this year’s papers.

One platform seen by the Irish Examiner claims to have used 15 years of data from the State Examinations Commission (SEC) to build 2026 predicted papers, including “marking-scheme verbatim phrases”.

Another allows users to generate what it described as “likely exam papers using real SEC questions”. Widely- available platforms such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews can also be prompted to offer exam paper predictions or “strong probability-based guesses”.

Attempting to guess what might appear on the State exams is not a new phenomenon. Each year, teachers, grind schools, and media commentators offer predictions on broad topics or texts they believe may feature.

However, most include disclaimers to stress papers cannot be predicted with 100% certainty.

A spokeswoman for the State Examinations Commission said it maintains a watching brief on all issues that have the potential to threaten the security and integrity of the exams, including new and emerging technologies.

“The SEC is aware of online study platforms, including those using genAI, being targeted at examination candidates particularly in the lead up to the State examinations which commence on June 3,” said the spokeswoman.

The SEC would caution that any claims made about predictions on the subject matter of examination papers should be considered spurious whether generated through AI systems or otherwise.

“Candidates should be wary of all sources which claim to have knowledge of an examination paper in advance of it being given to candidates on the day of an examination.”

“Our advice to all candidates is to prepare for their examinations as normal and to ignore these unhelpful distractions.”

The spokeswoman said the SEC makes its archive of past exam papers and marking schemes available online free of charge in order to "provide the best possible service to prospective candidates”.

“The SEC would remind other parties accessing published examination papers and marking schemes that their use is governed by specific terms and conditions to which users must agree in order to access the archive.”