Benny is one of the beneficiaries of the deferred Leaving Cert exams

Cork student Benny Enwerem is one of more than 2,000 students to receive their results today from the deferred Leaving Cert and is hopeful of getting a place on his preferred course

Benny Enwerem, a former pupil of Bishopstown Community School, Cork, achieved a H2 in Italian when he received his Leaving Cert result on Tuesday. Picture: Dan Linehan

“IT WAS very strange, very different, but actually it was a bit better in a way.” 

That’s how Benny Enwerem, a former pupil of Bishopstown Community School in Cork, describes sitting a Leaving Cert exam at the end of 2020 as the only student in his school at the time.

“It meant I wasn’t so nervous about all the other students, about everyone breathing on top of each other. I could concentrate on the exam,” he said. 

From the Glen, Benny needs a third language for his preferred course, so he opted to sit the Italian exam when it was held back in December. He is one of more than 2,000 students to receive their results today from the deferred Leaving Cert.

Benny is happy with the grade he received, but he now must wait for another week to see if he will get an offer for his course from the CAO. “I’m praying that I get that call.” 

While the written format may have been familiar to students, for many the deferred exams felt very far from traditional. Held at schools across the country during the peak of winter, on average, students sat just two exams. Many completed these exams in rooms on their own, a far cry from the 'usual' Leaving Cert experience. 

Figures released on Tuesday by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) show that almost one in four students who sat the written Leaving Cert exams in one of the most appealed calculated grade subjects received a top mark.

Biology and English were the most appealed Leaving Cert subjects for students who received calculated grades last summer following the cancellation of the exams.

Of the 806 students who sat the higher level biology exam paper before Christmas, 196 students (24%) received a H1, the highest grade available. A further 170 students (21%) received a H2, the second-highest grade available.

Amy Halion, 19, a student of Presentation College, Tuam, Co Galway, celebrates her Leaving Cert results in history, where she was awarded a H1. Amy had missed out on pharmacy by one point when she received her calculated grade results last year. Picture: Ray Ryan

This compares to 8.2% of students who received a H1 during the 2019 Leaving Cert exams, and 15.7% of students who received a H2 that same year. It is also higher than the percentages of students who received these marks under calculated grades; 10.8% of students received a H1, and 16.4% received a H2.

Students who were not happy with their calculated grades, or with the outcome of the calculated grades appeals process, had the option to sit written exams. Students who opted out of calculated grades or who studied a subject outside of school or at home were also among those who took part in the exams. 

Students who received lower grades in the written exams will not lose the result of their calculated grade. However, students who are now eligible for a higher preference course after receiving a higher mark will be offered a place on that course in September by the CAO.

Grade inflation under calculated grades led to the highest grades issued to Leaving Cert students ever. Overall grade inflation was recorded at 4.4%, according to aggregate data published by the Department of Education last September.

However, this data was published before flaws in the system that saw 15,000 incorrect grades issued to students were discovered in October.