Leaving Cert students are flocking back to their schools today to collect their exam results. It is also the beginning of a new era of transparency in State exams as, for the first time, students and parents can scrutinise the marking process for themselves.
Second glance
This autumn for the first time, students can request a second glance at their marked exam scripts. This arrangement was put in place by the Department of Education to address public fears about the transparency and fairness of the Leaving Cert examining process.
When you collect your Leaving Cert results today, you should also receive a pre-printed application form which you can use to request another look at your exam scripts in 19 subjects.
To view the papers, you must return this form before August 29th to the organising superintendent in the school where you sat the Leaving Cert.
Scripts are available in the following subjects: English, maths, history, economic history, geography, business organisation, accounting, biology, home economics (general), home economics (social and scientific), physics, physics and chemistry, technical drawing, chemistry, economics, Latin, classical studies, applied maths and Greek.
If you are wondering whether you should appeal a result, a look at the available papers will re fresh your memory as to what you actually wrote as opposed to what you thought you had written. Even if you are not considering an appeal, it should be very interesting to find out what the examiner thought of your English essay or your attempt at a physics problem or your Latin comprehension.
Curiosity is sure to impel most students to attend the viewing sessions on Friday, September 4th, or Saturday, September 5th. There will be one session on Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and two sessions on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Individual schools can also make their own arrangements. Each applicant will be advised of the session which they may attend. You can bring one adult with you during the viewing process.
You cannot view the scripts from subjects with an oral or practical or project component, unless you have appealed a result, and the marks for these components will not be provided separately. It is envisaged that all scripts will be available next year for pre-appeal viewing and that marks will be provided for the various practical components.
Appealing a result
The appeals process itself is unchanged from last year, although the date for the final receipt of appeals has been extended until September 10th.
There is one other new factor which students should take into account when deciding to request a recheck. Now you can be down graded as well as upgraded. In the past, students could only be upgraded on recheck.
You appeal through the school you attended which must certify that the grade which you were awarded is "substantially at variance with the grade expected by the school".
The application fee is £25 a subject and this will be refunded if the appeal is successful. While this fee will deter spurious applications, it is also likely to deter those who are less well off. It could be said to disadvantage further disadvantaged students.
The number of students re questing rechecks has been growing steadily for the past few years. Last year, 31 subjects were examined at Leaving Cert and 425,000 grades were issued. Some 11,747 grades were rechecked and 1,364 were upgraded. The appeal examiner completely remarks the students' work, question by question.
If you're still unhappy with the outcome, there is one further court of appeal. Independent exam commissioners, who were appointed for the first time last year, effectively act as ombudsmen, ensuring that due process has taken place - that all components of the exam were marked, that the marks were totalled correctly and that the remarking took place. The commissioners do not further remark the papers.
Last year, 527 students took their appeals to this tier and the outcome was two upgrades.
Unhappy students have an additional safeguard this year as marked scripts in a further 11 subjects will be available to appeal candidates after the appeals process, on request from the examinations branch of the Department of Education.
These subjects are: Irish, agricultural science, French, art, German, Spanish, Italian, agricultural economics, construction studies, music and engineering.
Next year, GCSE and A-level students and teachers will also have the right to inspect their marked exam scripts, although worries have been expressed that disclosure or marked scripts could encourage litigation by disappointed candidates.
Repeat Leaving Certificate
Last June, 5,001 students repeated their Leaving Certificate in an attempt to improve their marks. While many will gain the sought-after additional points and be offered a place on the course of their choice, others will not fare so well.
There is no guarantee. If you studied as hard as you could, could your results this year represent the best you can do? On the other hand, if you know you did not put in the effort, perhaps because of illness or for personal reasons, repeating can be a good option.
It also provided you with a chance to mature before you make the transition from second level to third level.
Five colleges which come under the City of Dublin VEC will conduct interviews for prospective repeat Leaving Certificate students tomorrow and on Thursday, August 27th.
There will also be enrolments on September 1st. Telephone the college between 10 a.m. and noon to make an appointment. Rathmines Senior College, tel: (01) 497 5334 Ringsend Technical Institute, tel: (01) 668 4498 Pearse College, Crumlin, tel: (01) 453 6661 Plunkett College, Whitehall, tel: (01) 837 1689 St Peter's, Killester, tel: (01) 833 7686
University of Wales
Staff from the University of Wales will be in Buswell's Hotel, Dublin, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow to discuss course vacancies.
Northern Ireland colleges
Applications by students from the Republic for Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University have fallen by almost one-third this year. In a reversal of the past, fees up to a maximum of sterling £1,000 may now be charged for courses in these and other colleges in Britain and Northern Ireland while, in the Republic, most undergraduates enjoy free fees for full-time third-level courses.
Lists of acceptances will be published in the Belfast Telegraph tomorrow and the News Letter and Irish News on Friday.
Queen's University, Belfast
Admissions: The admissions office may be reached at (01232) 335081 between 2 p.m.5 p.m. only, tomorrow and Friday. Website: http://www.qub.ac.uk/ado/ucasvac/index.html. Du ring the clearing process, where vacant places are advertised and filled, acceptances will be posted on the website within four or five hours.
Accommodation: The final date for completion of the college's accommodation application form is next Friday, August 28th. Queries about accommodation should be addressed to the student accommodation officer tel: (01232) 273076-7-8)
University of Ulster
From tomorrow until Friday, August 28th, UU will provide a telephone inquiry service for applicants from 9 a.m. to 4.45 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3.45 p.m. on Friday. Courses at Coleraine and Magee College (excluding art and design): (01265) 324941-2 Courses at Jordanstown: (01232) 366850-1-2-3 Courses in the faculty of art and design: (01232) 267201-2-4 Website: http://www.ulst.ac.uk/ admin/registry/uudec.htm