Exams 2000 Factfile

Entries for the Leaving Cert

62,235 (including 4,614 external candidates; 3,889 repeats and 2,821 Leaving Cert Applied students). There is usually a drop between the number of entries and the number of students who actually sit the exams. Last year, there were 64,761 entries and 62,844 candidates sat the exam.

A historical look back at numbers sitting the Leaving Cert

1926: 672

1935: 2,165

1955: 6,098

1966: 12,573

1975: 29,206

1985: 47,736

1995: 66,304

Rechecks last year

Higher level: 6,922 rechecks were requested and there were 1,267 upgrades. Ordinary level: 668 rechecks were requested and there were 146 upgrades. Rechecks cost £25 per subject, refunded if the student is upgraded.

Results last year

60,577 candidates sat at least five subjects. 56,025 received a minimum of five D3s at any level. At the other end of the scale, 2,658 candidates received a minimum of six grade C3s on higher-level papers, of which a minimum of three were at grade A2 or higher.

Repeats

The number of students repeating the Leaving Cert continues to decline. This year, there are 3,889 entries from repeat students compared to 5,013 last year and 5,226 in 1998.

Logistics

More than 800,000 components (written papers, oral, aural and practical work) will be examined in the Leaving Certificate leading to the award of 435,000 grades in 31 different subjects. More than 2,000 superintendents will supervise exams in June and 2,800 examiners will be employed. The cost of running the exams is about £20 million and about £4.9 million will be collected in fees.

Entries by subject

The most popular subjects:

Maths: 60,112

English: 58,984

Irish: 56,045

French: 36,941

Geography: 31,135

The minority sports:

Japanese: 5

Hebrew studies: 6

Greek: 18

Home economics (general): 166

Latin: 167

Arabic: 178

Entries for the Junior Cert

62,746

Results

Leaving Cert results will be in the schools on Wednesday, August 16th, 2000. Results of rechecks will be in schools in early October. Junior Cert results will be in the schools in mid-September.