There was a “substantial increase” in the number of appeals lodged by Leaving Certificate candidates this year, according to the State Examinations Commission (SEC).
This year’s students were the first to experience a lowering of grade inflation as part of a gradual phasing-out of the measure introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some 10,048 candidates, or 16 per cent of those who sat exams, appealed against one or more of their results. This was up on the 7,268 students who appealed last year, some 13 per cent of the total number of candidates.
Appeal applications were made against 20,764 individual results, a “substantial” increase of some 45 per cent compared to last year when there were 14,287 individual subject appeals, the SEC said.
RM Block
The increase in appeals comes in tandem with a larger cohort of students sitting the exams this year, with the number of candidates rising by about 4,600 across the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), although fewer than 10 LCA students appealed their results.
While post-marking adjustments were not open to appeal, when an overall mark changes as a result of review, the adjustment is calculated again based on the new total.
Overall, 19 per cent (3,935) of the Leaving Cert results appealed this year were upgraded after review and recalculation of post-marking adjustments, the SEC said. This compared to 22 per cent last year and 23 per cent in 2023.
The final number of upgrades was equivalent to less than 1 per cent of all Leaving Cert results issued.
Students requested to view more than 142,000 scripts after results were issued last month, a 16 per cent rise from the 122,000 scripts viewed last year.
Those who subsequently appealed their results had their work fully reviewed, question by question, by a different examiner.
The SEC said it uses the appeals process as a “further quality assurance check” on its processes.
Quality assurance checks this year resulted in 42 candidates, who had not appealed their result, receiving an upgrade.
All appeal results have been transmitted directly to the Central Admissions Office (CAO) and will be made available to students from 11am on Friday.
“The issue date of the appeal results ensures that the Leaving Certificate appeals integrate with the process for entry to higher education through the Central Applications Office,” the SEC said.
The CAO will be issuing its fifth round of offers on Tuesday.
Candidates who appealed their results may view their re-marked scripts online. The deadline to apply to do this is 5pm on Monday.
Separately, the SEC confirmed that this year’s Junior Certificate results will be issued on October 8th.
