Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams

An eerie silence has descended on some 130,000 homes around the State. For today, the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams begin.

Parents, sisters and brothers are in stealth mode as they try not to disturb the carefully-packed brains of the examinees. Shakespearian quotations, mathematical theorems, historical dates, irregular French verbs and hydrogen bonds must be laminated for the appropriate day.

Beginning with English this morning, the exams continue until June 24th for Junior Cert students who are taking technology, Latin or classical studies while Leaving Cert students taking music or engineering must wait until June 25th for close of business.

Some 64,761 students are entered for the Leaving Cert this year, a drop on the 65,584 entries last year. For some 60,000 students it's the first time they will sit the Leaving. About 5,000 candidates are repeating the experience. And 64,823 are scheduled for the Junior Cert. The actual numbers sitting exams always falls somewhat short of the entries.

Almost all Leaving Cert candidates will take the three staples - English, Irish and maths. The next most popular subject is French, with almost 38,000 entries followed by geography (31,000 entries) and biology (just over 30,000 entries). At the other end of the scale an exclusive club of 133 will take Latin while 220 students are entered for Italian and 10 for Greek.

The numbers taking the hard sciences continue to slide. This year, there are 9,495 candidates entered for physics compared with 10,011 last year, while 7,206 students have entered for chemistry compared with 7,544 entries last year.

At Junior Cert, Irish, English and maths are also the most popular exam choices closely followed by geography, history and science. This year, the new junior cycle subject, Civic, Social and Political Education, will be examined for the first time. Some 19,329 candidates are entered for CSPE.

The results of the Leaving Cert will be in schools on August 18th. This year, for the first time, Leaving Cert candidates will have the option of viewing their marked scripts in all subjects. Students will receive a personalised form with their results and they must indicate, on this form, that they wish to view their scripts. The completed form must be returned to the organising supervisor by August 26th.

There will be three three-hour viewing sessions on September 3rd and 4th and appeals must be with the Department of Education by Wednesday, September 8th. Mr Martin Hanevy, principal officer with the exam's branch, says students must get their bank giros stamped (£25 appeal fee per subject, refunded if the mark is upgraded) and have the appeal in the post by Tuesday, September 7th.

The reason for the tight timetable, says Mr Hanevy, is "that we must try to get the results of the appeals out by early October. This gives us roughly three weeks. Papers are completely re-marked to the original marking scheme by a different examiner. If the new examiner agrees with the original mark, the process ends there. But, if there is disagreement, then the paper must be remarked by a second and, possibly, a third examiner, in order to get a majority decision." And there's a further court of appeal in the form of exams commissioners who will ensure that due process has taken place but who will not re-mark the papers. Results of the re-checks should be in schools in early October.

At Leaving Cert, an increasing number of students are opting for the new options of the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. LCVP students take a minimum of five traditional Leaving Cert subjects from vocational subject groupings. They also take three link modules which comprise enterprise education, preparation for work and work experience. This year, 10,923 candidates are entered for the link modules.

The three link modules are given a composite grade and are recognised for the purposes of points for college entry. The institutes of technology (other than DIT) give 70 points for a distinction (80-100 per cent), 50 for a merit (65-79 per cent) and 30 for a pass (50-64 per cent). The universities and DIT are less generous giving 50, 40 and 30 points respectively.

The Leaving Certificate Applied is now in its fourth year. Last year, 1,700 students graduated and this year it is expected that some 2,500 students will sit the terminal exams.

The LCA is a totally different form of the Leaving Cert. It is modular with ongoing assessments and is cross-curricular in its approach. So, LCA students should not have the same fear and trepidation quickening the blood in their veins this week, for the terminal exams only account for one-third of the overall marks.

The programme includes preparation for work, practical courses and general education. Students undertake a number of tasks over the two years and credits are awarded for successful completion of the modules, tasks and for the final exams. The LCA is the only Leaving Cert which examines oral English.

Last year's students fared well in the marketplace, with 91 per cent finding work or going on to the further study, according to a study undertaken by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.