Leaving Certs have narrow window for exam appeals

There will be a very narrow window for students to decide if they want to appeal their Leaving Cert results or their accredited grade, in the first year that students could avail of both systems.

Results are out tomorrow (Friday) online from 10am for around 3,000 Galway students, who will get the first round Central Applications Office (CAO) offers on Tuesday. Schools can arrange for students to call in at a scheduled time to receive their results personally.

Those who opted to sit exams and receive accredited grades will be provided with the better result between the two processes. Over 90 per cent of students chose to sit at least a number of the exams.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) said tomorrow’s results will not state which form of assessment their result is from.

Next Tuesday from 5pm, students will be provided with detailed information about their examinations and accredited grades, information they will need if considering an appeal under either process.

The accredited grades model is similar to calculated grades from last year in that it is based on a mark from teachers, followed by a standardisation process.

The SEC said the system, developed in consultation with the Educational Testing Service, has been rebuilt since last year, using new computer code, and additional quality assurance checks are in place.

The standardisation process seeks to mitigate against schools applying different standards.

“The standardisation process will not use historical school by school data on past performance in Leaving Certificate exams, but it will use the range of Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate historical data at a national level to determine the particular distributions of results that are most likely.”

An appeal on an assessed grade will only check if the data was correctly recorded.

Students will get the chance to check their written scripts on Saturday week, September 11, when applications for appeals will open. They close at 12pm the following Monday, September 13.

See full coverage – as well as pages of pix from the first day at school – in this week’s Connacht Tribune on sale in shops now – or you can order the digital edition on www.connachttribune.ie