More than one in five students who appealed their Leaving Certificate results this year will receive upgrades to their marks, according to the State Examinations Commission.
The results, to be issued to candidates today, as well as online at www.examinations.ie from noon, are broadly similar to last year's figures, although they indicate a small downward trend in the number of successful appeals.
This year 10,305 appeals were made in 32 subjects. There were 2,082 upgrades and seven downgrades.
As in previous years, the most upgrades were given in higher-level English (309), which also had the highest number of appeals (1,998). This was followed by higher-level geography (250 upgrades out of 951 appeals) and higher-level Irish (190 out of 767 appeals).
The number of upgrades in higher-level biology, where a new syllabus was examined, was particularly high at 170 out of 560 appeals. Physics also saw a similar jump, with 74 upgrades out of 414 appeals, in contrast to 35 out of 389 last year.
Subjects such as economics (36 upgrades, 406 appeals) and classical studies (six upgrades, 71 appeals) were among the least likely to be marked up.
Far fewer students appealed ordinary-level subjects. Whereas 536 students appealed higher- level French, resulting in 139 upgrades, only 38 appealed the ordinary-level paper, with seven upgrades. Most students sat the ordinary-level paper.
One notable rise in upgrades occurred in higher-level home economics, where a new syllabus was examined for the first time, indicating some teething problems. Upgrades jumped from 45 out of 352 appeals last year to 83 out of 256 this year.
In an appeal each candidate's work is fully re-marked, question by question, by a different examiner to the original one. Oral exams are recorded and so form part of the appeal.
Significantly, this year saw a drop in the number of upgrades resulting from errors made by the original examiner. Under the State Examination Commission's quality assurance process, if the chief examiner in a subject has reason to suspect there are an inordinate number of an examiner's papers being upgraded, 20 per cent of that examiner's papers are re-examined initially.
This can lead to some papers being upgraded without an appeal being lodged.
Although there were 358 such upgrades last year, there were only 16 this year. A commission spokeswoman said all of these upgrades were in Irish.
Mr Brian Mooney, president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, yesterday advised students who received an upgrade to carefully consider their next move.
"If a student has taken up a place on a course and is now offered a place in a course higher up on their list, they have the option of remaining in the course or taking up a new place," he said.
"My advice is if the appeals process results in getting you a place on a course you wanted, and you now have the points, then grab it because there is no guarantee the points will remain the same for next year."