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Irish Examiner
11-06-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Tough French comprehension exam challenges Leaving Cert students
Leaving Cert students required a high standard of vocabulary and a "careful, methodical approach" to tackle a challenging French reading comprehension on this year's paper. The Leaving Cert exams continued Wednesday morning, as students sat the French exam. The Junior Cycle also progressed with the 2025 Home Economics exam. This morning's Leaving Certificate Higher Level French paper was overall fair, according to Barry Hennessy, ASTI subject spokesperson and teacher at Coláiste Éanna, Dublin. There was a wide variety of familiar topics in the written production section, most of which students would have prepared for in class, he added. While the reading comprehension passages were generally "fine," students faced some challenges with Question 2. "The literary text in particular," he said. "The journalistic reading comprehension, question 1, was on the growing popularity of scouting and the text was overall accessible with lots of familiar vocabulary especially to do with outdoor pursuits and household chores." He added: "As always, some questions required a greater amount of grammatical manipulation or deeper reading of the text, however, this is normal and aims to reward candidates of differing abilities. "The French marking scheme always awards pretty generous partial marks to those whose attempts fall short of grammatical perfection." Question 2 focused on an author who wanted to write a book about an elderly woman he met by chance, Mr Hennessy said. "Students here needed to read the full text and the questions very closely, both of which were very nuanced at times." "Students in the middle ground are likely to have found this passage and the questions quite challenging." "Specifically, students were asked to find a verb in the passé composé past tense as opposed to just the past participle of the verb concerned, meaning that they ideally should have included the auxiliary verb but not the subject to achieve full marks." He reassured students that the marking scheme may be more "lenient" in this area. "Overall, a high standard of vocabulary and a careful, methodical approach were necessary to do well on this question." "However, it must be pointed out that the marking scheme will be carefully designed and, if necessary, modified to ensure that candidates are rewarded for valid attempts, even where these fall short of full marks." He also believed the written production section would have been well received by candidates, with questions on topics such as the benefits of club membership, treatment of older people, a diary entry about whether to cancel a party due to a red weather alert, drug use among young people, and political involvement. "All well-prepared candidates should have found sufficient choice in this section." Ordinary Level The Ordinary Level paper was "fine overall," Mr Hennessy said. "Candidates and teachers will have been pleased to see the recent pattern of the popular form-filling question in written production focusing on applying for a job." "Candidates will have been well-prepared for and reassured by this question." Junior Cycle Meanwhile, Megan Friel, Studyclix subject spokesperson and teacher at Mercy College, Sligo, said she believed this year's Junior Cycle Home Economics paper was 'very doable, fair, and relatable to students' lives.' 'All the short questions were very straightforward with no tricks or curveballs,' she said. As predicted, themes like sustainability and smart technology appeared in the short questions, she added. 'The inclusion of the Return Deposit Scheme, also seen on some mock papers , was likely a welcome relief for students.' 'Overall, the exam featured very topical and student-friendly questions that were manageable and free of unpleasant surprises — sure to bring a smile to both students and teachers.'
Irish Examiner
03-06-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Leaving Cert: The mix ups, leaks, and cancellations
A rite of passage for thousands of students across the country each year, the smooth execution of State exams is taken for granted, more often than not. It involves the delivery and distribution of thousands of scripts to exam halls across the country, as well as their collection and the redistribution for corrections. We've taken a look back on some of the years where the State exams stood out more than others due to mistakes, leaks, and cancellations. The English paper mix up and rescheduled exam In 2009, a major probe was launched by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) after it emerged that an exam official had handed out the wrong exam paper to Leaving Cert students. Students at a school in Drogheda had the wrong English paper placed on their desks for just 25 seconds. Instead of paper one, the students had been given paper 2. However brief, it was just long enough for them to identify the exam's key topics, like which three poets would appear on the paper the next day. With the internet in its infancy, the potential was there for its content to spread to thousands of students via online exam message boards. The SEC was forced to revert to its backup papers and to reschedule English Paper 2 for a Saturday morning. It was later reported that the blunder cost approximately €1.7m. Human error to blame for mistakes on papers In August 2013, the SEC confirmed a series of embarrassing mistakes that appeared on the year's Leaving Cert papers due to human error. A review found as many as 13 mistakes across 2013's Leaving and Junior Cert papers, the most serious of which related to a question on the Leaving Certificate Higher Level math paper. This trigonometry question, worth 10% of the paper's overall marks, gave the wrong value for an angle. Approximately 4% of the students sitting the exam were adversely affected due to the mistake, according to the SEC. The SEC blamed the errors on the loss of experienced senior staff. "We are embarrassed, but not just embarrassed, we certainly apologise first and regret what has happened and the impact it may have had on candidates," former SEC chief executive Dick Landford told RTÉ's Morning Ireland at the time. "Each of the undetected mistakes was in fact a human error,' he said, adding that somebody 'just made a mistake'. "People make mistakes, it's as simple as that." High Court case overhauls appeal system In 2018, 18-year-old Rebecca Carter from Co Wexford sued the State Examinations Commission for its decision not to re-check her points score in time to allow her to obtain a place at UCD. Justice Richard Humphreys ruled in her favour, saying that had Ms Carter's points been correctly added up, she would have achieved an extremely high mark that would easily have qualified her for a place on the vet medicine course. The Judge said the situation faced by Ms Carter was highly unfair, describing the appeals process as 'unfit for purpose'. The outcome of her case led to significant changes with appeals, shortening the process by three weeks and allowing successful students to take up their college course that academic year rather than deferring. Covid cancellations and algorithm woes After public health restrictions forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the State exams during the summer of 2020, 'calculated grades' were instead introduced for thousands of anxious students. While the decision was taken at the time to allow students to move on to college and further education, the introduction of 'calculated grades' was far from straightforward. Right around the time students were logging into lectures and attending virtual orientation weeks in late September, then Minister for Education Norma Foley announced that errors had been discovered in the calculated grades system. The mistakes affected approximately 7,200 students who received incorrect grades. Random selection post-pandemic The CAO process can be cruel, with sometimes a margin as narrow as a single point determining a student's entry to their dream college course. As grade inflation increased due to several years of adjustments to the Leaving Cert exams post pandemic, so too have instances of 'random selection' determining course selection amongst the students who achieved the maximum CAO marks available - 625. In 2024, 23 courses nationwide allocated places through a lottery, many of which required exceptionally high points. 'Cruel' Maths paper leaves students in tears The Maths paper 1 exam in 2023 prompted a barrage of complaints from students, teachers and principals who felt the paper was unfair. Held on a Friday afternoon, many students took to social media to voice their upset over the paper, and worries that paper 2 would put them through a similar situation come Monday. The SEC later confirmed that the feedback would be brought to the attention of the Chief Examiner. Commentary and correspondence on the exams from students, parents, teachers, professional bodies, and other interested parties is a normal part of the examinations process, a spokesman for the SEC said at the time.
