TWO ADDITIONAL DAYS are being added to the Leaving Certificate examination timetable, it was announced today.

Education Minister Joe McHugh announced that the two days will be added to the schedule as of next year’s exams.

The Department of Education said that the additional days will allow for new scheduling options for exams which it hopes will minimise timetable clashes and promote the wellbeing of students taking exams.

In the past, the Leaving Certificate written exam period lasted for 13 days, always beginning with English Paper One on the Wednesday after the June Bank Holiday.

The two new days brings the total to 15, with next year’s exams beginning Wednesday 10 June and finishing up on Tuesday, 25 June.

“I am delighted to be able to announce the revision to the Leaving Certificate timetable from next June,” Minister McHugh said. 

He said that the State Examinations Commission had determined which exams should be moved from their traditional day to the additional days. 

“I am confident that the small number of students who may have to sit three examinations in a single day will be significantly reduced as a result of these changes,” he said. 

The changes have been brought in as a new subject was added to the examinations list last year (Politics and Society) and a further two (Physical Education and Computer Science) will be added in 2020.

Subjects that have changed date or time next year include Agricultural Science, Accounting, Italian, Classical Studies among others.

Reacting to the timetable changes, Director the National Association of Principals Clive Byrne said the move will remove “the unnecessary addition burden and stress on students.

Last year’s timetable put a huge additional pressure on students with some subjected to sitting three exams on one sitting day.

“This is a welcome move by the Department in terms of Leaving Certificate reform with students at the heart of it, and we are encouraged to see that a small step has been made in terms of wider necessary reforms.”

The full Leaving Cert timetable for next year can be viewed here