A record-breaking 140,000 students will begin their Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle exams today.
It means the delivery of this year’s State exams is an even bigger logistical exercise than ever before, involving the secure distribution of about four million exam papers to hundreds of second-level schools and other settings across the State.
A combination of factors is behind the record numbers, including a demographic bubble of young people at second level and greater numbers staying on in school to complete their exams.
The number entered to take the 2025 exams is up by 3 per cent (+4,297) on last year’s entry figure of 136,160 candidates. The most significant increases are in the numbers entered for the Leaving Cert (+5 per cent) and Leaving Cert Applied programme (+11 per cent).
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The volume of students in receipt of additional supports has also climbed to a new high.
While exams will take place in more than 5,800 sports halls and other large settings, there are almost 10,000 smaller settings this year, known as “special examination centres”. These are aimed at students with additional needs or who may suffer from anxiety.
Most education experts put the bulk of these increases down to greater awareness of learning difficulties, more access to expert advice and a broader definition of some developmental conditions.
This year’s exams will run until Tuesday, June 24th for Leaving Cert and Monday, June 16th for Junior Cycle exams.
Once the Leaving Cert exams are marked, the State Examination Commission (SEC) will apply a “postmarking adjustment” to students’ papers.
This follows a direction from the Department of Education to implement a “gradual return to normal Leaving Cert outcomes”, beginning this year.
Grades soared during the pandemic when teacher-predicted grades were introduced and marks have been artificially inflated since 2021 to keep them at 7 per cent, on aggregate, in advance of pre-Covid grades.
This year, the SEC will apply a postmarking adjustment to bring overall Leaving Cert results in the aggregate to a point broadly midway between the 2020 and 2021 levels, or about 5.5 per cent above pre-Covid grades.
The move has sparked some controversy on the basis that it means the class of 2025 will be competing against an estimated 10,000-15,000 students from previous years with bumper grades for college places.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee has defended the move on the basis that a very gradual pace of returning to normal will minimise the impact on students as far as possible.
Universities have also complained that inflated grades risk undermining the integrity of results and make it difficult to differentiate between top candidates for high-points courses.
The SEC, meanwhile, intends to issue this year’s Leaving Cert exam results to candidates on Friday, August 22nd, which is in line with the date of issue of the results last year, but later than pre-Covid times.
The SEC said developing and applying the postmarking adjustment adds time to the results process in comparison to normal years.
“The results issue date of Friday, 22 August, takes account of the time needed for this additional step. The timeline for results must also allow sufficient time for an extensive range of quality assurance checks to be undertaken,” it said.
