This morning, pupils can view the outcomes of their 2024 Leaving Certificate through their Candidate Self Service Portal (CSSP) on the State Examinations Commission website from 10am. This year’s grades had been predicted to stay fairly consistent. Following the announcement earlier this year regarding changes to the evaluation procedures for students sitting exams in 2024, Education Minister Norma Foley assured that there would be no regression to pre-Covid grade distributions this year.
This promise to prevent a drastic fall in results necessitated a modification to the scores allocated to students during the recent grading period. Does this make it easier to secure a preferred CAO course? Disappointingly, for some pupils, the delight of receiving adjusted results may be fleeting as securing a spot in a desirable course requires the candidate to be among the highest ranking students applying to that programme through the CAO.
Minister Foley has been faced with the delicate balancing act of planning to slowly restore Leaving Cert grades to pre-pandemic 2019 levels while trying not to disrupt the chances of students applying for the Leaving Cert CAO each year.
The persistent grade inflation since 2020 is a complex issue to address. A uniform percentage increase in everyone’s grades does not improve a Leaving Cert student’s position in the grand scheme of things. If a candidate is ranked 101st on a course list with only 100 available spots, they will inevitably lose out.
So, why did the Minister persist with offering inflated grades to students regardless of it not enhancing their chances? It’s because 60% of the total number of CAO applicants in any given year are students who have recently sat the Leaving Certificate. This year, the CAO process includes between 12,000 and 15,000 applicants who obtained their Leaving Certificate from 2020 to 2023.
If past Leaving Cert high grades are considered, it would’ve been exceedingly unfair to revert the grading pattern to pre-Covid standards, leaving the 2024 batch at a disadvantage.
The issue posed by the Minister’s actions, persistently elevating grades to levels of 2021, 2022 and 2023 for the 2024 cohort, has inadvertently replicated the same issue for the batch following in 2025. The onus of this issue, however, will fall on the next Minister for Education, who will be appointed after the impending General Election.
The shift to online result distribution significantly alters the duties of schools today. Traditionally, on results day, schools have been a source of guidance and emotional support for students. Principles of the school will continue to offer aid by welcoming students to the school premises if they wish to do so, at a fixed time to interact with the student-support team comprising of guidance counsellors, year heads, tutors, and chaplains.
As the commencement of the new academic year is at hand, the previous year’s students, in need of assistance, who have made arrangements to visit their schools, are obliged to schedule appointments to ensure the availability of their preferred teachers.
In addition to this, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will now provide the Leaving Cert results directly to the Central Applications Office (CAO). This will facilitate prompt processing of higher education applications by the CAO, and release the first-round offers by next Wednesday, August 28th at 2 pm. Applicants will then learn whether they have earned enough points to receive an offer from one of their preferred universities.
Key Dates:
In the succeeding days, candidates of the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examinations will be given the chance to review their own marked scripts. Initially, the individual marks for each component will be available to the candidates on the portal on Tuesday, August 27th at 12 noon. The portal also enables candidates to request to view their marked examination scripts, and subsequently, to view them online. Online viewing of most scripts will be accessible from 9 am on Saturday, August 31st for a 24 hour period until 9 am the next day, Sunday, September 1st.
This provision allows candidates to ensure that their work has been marked properly following the marking scheme and also aids them in deciding whether to appeal a result in a certain subject. In the light of the conversion to online marking for most subjects, the procedure would primarily involve reviewing marked PDFs of scripts via the Candidate Self Service Portal.
On Saturday the 31st of August, schools will organise two separate three-hour sessions where students can review paper-marked scripts. These sessions will be between 9.30am-12.30pm and 2-5pm. Irrespective of whether the exam was marked on paper or digitally, students will continue to retain access to the ratings schemes.
Following the SEC’s standard procedures, examination attendees are also promised access to an appeal process. A facility to review the scripts assessed by the examiners is included in this process. The period for appeal submission starts at 10 am on Sunday the 1st of September and closes at 5 pm on Monday the 2nd of September.
A further appeal opportunity will be allowed through Independent Appeals Scrutineers, who are tasked with verifying the appropriate procedures were observed during all appeal instances.
For the first time since 2019, the SEC can confirm a date for the disclosure of the 2024 Leaving Certificate appeals results – the 27th of September.
Lastly, students are recommended to consult examinations.ie for any additional information.