Total of 20% of rechecked Leaving Cert exams upgraded

A total of 20 per cent of Leaving Cert subject grades which were rechecked in recent weeks have been upgraded this year.

Almost 8,500 candidates appealed just under 17,000 individual exam results this year. These are broadly similar figures compared with the last time exams ran as normal in 2019.

Following rechecks this year, there were a total of 3,769 upgrades (20 per cent). There was just one downgrade awarded in the appeals process this year. The proportion of upgrades this year is up on 2019 (17 per cent).

The State Examinations Commission said the final number of upgrades represents less than 1 per cent of all Leaving Cert results awarded this year.

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These upgrades have been communicated to the Central Applications Office (CAO), which handles college applications and which will issue fresh offers if applicants have qualified for a higher-preference course.

A breakdown of appeals shows the highest number of upgrades were awarded in higher level English (475), followed by higher level business (387) and biology (309).

Candidates who are still unhappy with the outcome of the appeal can refer it to a panel of appeal scrutineers, who are fully independent of the staff and management of the SEC and the marking teams.

These candidates have the option of raising any outstanding issues of concern regarding the marking of their work. The scrutineers review the entire processing of the appeal, in order to provide assurance to the candidate that it has been correctly carried out.

Application forms for an appeal review are available to download from the SEC’s website and all decisions of the SEC, including appeals, are open to review by the Office of the Ombudsman or Ombudsman for Children.

There was no charge to appeal results this year, in line with the Minister’s decision that no fees would be charged for the 2022 examinations.

Some 93,000 scripts were requested for viewing by candidates this year, which took place online and in schools during September.

On foot of this, 14 per cent of candidates made an appeal against one or more results. The number of individual subject appeals represents 5 per cent of the total number of grades issued.