It may be too late for the Leaving Cert class of 2007 but there is increasing optimism that the punishing exam timetable may be revised in time for next year.
In a significant move yesterday, the two main school management groups - representing more than 600 second-level schools - said it was time to spread the burden of the exams more evenly and end a situation where students are asked to write for more than six hours on successive days.
Michael Moriarty, chief executive of the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), representing more than 280 schools, said the current timetable was "like asking a pony to run the Grand National; it makes far too many physical demands of students and does not give them the opportunity they deserve to do themselves justice".
Mr Moriarty said he wanted to see the core Leaving Cert subjects - Irish, English and maths - spread evenly over the 13-day exam period, instead of being squeezed into the first four days.
Ferdia Kelly, of the Joint Managerial Board (JMB), which manages 400 voluntary second-level schools, also backed reform. "No one in their sane senses would want to inflict the current level of stress and tiredness on pupils," he said.
Last night, the Teachers' Union of Ireland said it would even support the scheduling of Leaving Cert exams on Saturday if this would help ease the pressure on students. Bernie Judge, education and research officer of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), said the current timetable, in which exams in Irish, English and maths are "front-loaded", was "not in the best interests of students".
John White, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said reform, which would see major subjects spread across the timetable, was sensible and reasonable.
This week, the Labour Party said the current timetable represented a kind of "wanton cruelty".
By next Wednesday evening, some higher level Leaving Cert students will have spent a total of 28 hours and 20 minutes in the exam hall.
A working group established by the State Exams Commission, which runs the exams, is examining the issue of "undue demand on candidates in the written examinations in June".
Its interim report is being finalised.
The only stumbling block to any reform of the timetable appears to be the CAO, which manages third-level applications.
The CAO likes to have Leaving Cert results by early August so that they can issue points level for the various college courses. It could oppose any move which would delay the correction of hugely popular subjects like Irish, English and maths.
But one senior education source said he saw no reason why the CAO could not be more flexible on this issue.
