Exam time

As if anybody needed reminding, today marks the start of the written exams of the Leaving Certificate and the Junior Certificate. The exams are organised by the State Examinations Commission (SEC). Its website, www.examinations.ie, is a valuable source of information.

What numbers of students will take the exams?

Some 116,334 candidates will begin their written Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations.

This year, 55,783 candidates have entered for the Leaving Certificate examination, 3,418 candidates for the Leaving Certificate Applied and 57,133 candidates for the Junior Certificate examination.

A distinction is made between 'entrants' and 'sits', the candidates who sit the exams. Some who entered to sit the exams will not actually sit them. Last year there were about 1,200 fewer Leaving Certificate 'sits' than entrants.

When do the examinations finish?

The final exam of Junior Certificate finishes on June 24, while the Leaving Certificate finishes on June 25. The written exams of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme finish on June 17.

Many candidates will have finished their exams earlier than the final date, because the most commonly taken subjects are examined in the first week.

What happens if a candidate becomes ill or suffers some other emergency during the examination period?

The first thing to do is contact your school. The SEC will provide assistance to schools and to candidates, while maintaining the highest standards of fairness and equity.

Where an emergency occurs, the SEC believes the school is in the best position to make the alternative arrangements at short notice. Schools have the authority to make arrangements to facilitate candidates based on local knowledge of what is in the best interest of the candidate and without requesting advance permission of the SEC.

If candidates are unable to take the examinations in their normal centre, they may be allowed to take them in a special room in the school or in a hospital. Other arrangements can also be made depending on the individual circumstances.

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides assistance to schools and candidates in crisis situations during the exams.

SEC personnel are on hand from 8.30am to 9.30pm on examination days, and often outside of those hours and at weekends. Contact may be made through the main number 09 06442700 on a 24 hour basis and a message can be left with the security staff if the office is closed. Alternatively details can be faxed to 09 06442744.

Many people will remember the rescheduling of last year's second Leaving Certificate English paper, when the second paper was distributed inadvertently in the first examination session in one centre. This year, the SEC has introduced procedures to prevent this happening again.

Leaving Certificate results will be available on Wednesday, August 18, and Junior Certificate results are issued in mid-September.

Irish Independent