THE Leaving Cert is such a central element of our education system that we seldom pause to ask: is it necessary at all?

The news that many other countries manage perfectly well without a single final test like the Leaving Cent will come as poor comfort to the 62,000 students beginning their final exams on Wednesday.

Even less comforting is the fact that other countries are more likely to award marks for work carried out during a student's time in school. In contrast, the amount of continuous assessment in the Leaving Cert is minimal.

In spite of the introduction of the six year cycle at second level, Irish school leavers still tend to be about a year younger than their counterparts in other countries. The latter are more likely, too, to be examined by their own teachers than by a central examining body such as our Department of Education.

Within the EU, only three countries - France, Britain and Ireland - operate exam systems which are set and marked by an outside body. In Ireland, this body is the Department of Education, in Britain it is the examination boards and in France, the 23 regional academies.

The A levels taken by most UK students resemble the Irish examination system in several ways. The emphasis is on a written exam taken in summer, and though the tests set in different regions do vary, the curriculum is broadly the same.

However, the amount of school based assessment is far greater than in Ireland. Students also specialise to a greater extent, taking on average only three A level subjects.

Amazingly, only 40 per cent of young people actually sit A levels, compared to 80 per cent here sitting the Leaving.

BELGIUM, Greece, Spain and Portugal rely solely on school based assessment judging the performance of pupils.

In Germany, a mixed system operates: in many states, one third of the marks is allocated for continuous assessment, one third for orals and one third for a written exam.

"The German system is an interesting example of curriculum centralisation at the level of individual states combined with decentralisation to the school level of much of the assessment of students," the NCCA remarked a few years ago. Dependence on teachers to make fair and reliable assessments accords them a high level of professional recognition."

The written exam is generally take in February or March, and the orals follow before the summer break. Students generally have the option of taking an oral exam in a subject if they perform badly in the written test.

In Japan, there is no final exam, according to Kanehide Seo, deputy headmaster of the Sundai international school in the Curragh, Co Kildare. Instead, students are assessed through the performance in tests held about five times a year. Students between four and 10 subjects pending on whether they are taking an arts or a science stream.

There are separate exams for entrance to university, usually ink January or February. The colleges then conduct their own tests.

The US has no national exam system similar to the German Abitur or the French Baccalaureat. Most Americans graduate from school with a high school diploma upon satisfactory completion of a specified number of courses. Students are usually graded from A (excellent) to F (failing) on the basis of tests given at intervals during the year, participation in class discussions and completion of oral and written assignments.

College bound students generally take standardised college admission tests during their last two years of high school. These tests are usually multiple choice, and designed to measure aptitude and verbal and mathematical skills rather than general knowledge.

Just as the Department of Education retained the "branding" of the traditional Leaving Cert programme when setting up the "Applied" programme, the French have developed three streams for their Baccalaureat. Students can choose between a general Baccalaureat (with literary, scientific and economic/social options), a professional Baccalaureat and a technological Baccalaureat.

Ireland is far more reliant on written exams than other states. And more written exams means more sweat and toil and stress, as this year's Leaving Cert students will readily attest.