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Updated 1.45pm
IT’S THAT TIME of year again, the Leaving Cert results are in.
2017 marks the beginning of the common points system – a new grading system which will alter how points are distributed for exam results.
The new system does away with the lettered grades of old (so no As, Bs or Cs this year) and introduces instead a specific 1-8 scale for Higher and Ordinary levels.
This means the number of grades available in each exam (and the corresponding points) has dropped from 14 to eight.
As well as this, students who achieve a H7 grade (formerly a Higher Level E grade) will pass this year and receive 37 points in that subject (whereas in the past students who received an E automatically failed and got no points in that subject).
This will make comparing this year’s results with previous years more complicated.
Education Minister Richard Bruton was among those to congratulate students.
“Today is a watershed moment for the class of 2017 as their school lives draw to a close. It is a time to celebrate the end of a very important period in their lives, and to recognise the massive contribution of teachers, parents and friends who helped along the way.
For students who may not have done as well as they might have hoped, take time to consider all the options which are available and can lead you to your chosen career. Whatever your results today – there will be opportunities for you.
Bruton also thanked the State Examinations Commission (SEC) for “its work in ensuring the smooth running of the exams and the work involved in implementing the new grading system”.
Overall, a total of 58,543 people took their Leaving Certificate in 2017, this marks a 0.1% rise on last year’s numbers (58,465).
According to the SEC, the results across the subjects are “broadly in line” with previous years, however there has been a notable rise in the number of students taking the Higher Level exam across almost all subjects.
The SEC said these increased numbers had an impact at both Higher and Ordinary levels – most notably at the lower grades at Higher Level and the upper grades at Ordinary Level.
Bruton welcomed the increases in students taking Higher Level exams.
The top six most popular Higher Level subjects taken by students this year were:
Much focus on results day every year is around the three main subjects of Maths, English and Irish.
Maths
In recent years the rate of failure in Higher and Ordinary Level Maths has been the cause of concern and there has been a lot of focus on the subject due to changes to the syllabus and the introduction of Project Maths.
The number of students taking Maths at Higher Level rose again this year to just over 30% – a trend which was welcomed by the government.
This year, 5.8% of students got a H1 grade in Maths.
The H1 grades are directly comparable to an old A1. In 2016, 5.6% of students got an A1 at Higher Level – so there was a slight rise this year.
Just 2.1% of students failed Higher Level Maths this year – compared to 4.3% last year. However, these results don’t directly compare due to the changes to the marking system.
Last year, a total of 4.5% of students got either an NG, F or E. This year, 8.3% of students received either a H8 (fail) or H7 (now a pass).
This means there was an increase in the number of students occupying the lower band grades in Higher Level Maths.
As for Ordinary Level, the number of people who secured at H1 grade was 2.2% – a slight rise on the 2.1% who achieved an A1 last year.
One in 10 of all students received either an O7 or O8 grade in the exam, meaning they failed.
This marks nearly a 1% rise from the 9.1% who failed last year and is up significantly from the 5.8% who failed in 2015.
A total of 32,334 students took Ordinary Level Maths, meaning that roughly 3,233 students failed the exam.
English
The number of top marks for English dropped slightly this year.
A total of 2.9% of students received a H1 in English, compared to 3.2% receiving an A1 in Higher Level last year.
In terms of failing, a total of 0.6% of people received a H8 (fail) in Higher Level this year, while a further 2.7% of students got a H7 (meaning they passed).
This compares to 0.1% of people last year who got an F grade, and 1.1% who got an E.
At Ordinary Level, a total of 15,389 student took the exam. Of these, 1.6% of students received an O1 grade this year compared to 2.1% who received an A1 grade last year.
In total, 5.4% of students received an O8 or O7 in the exam – meaning they failed. This marks a rise on the 4.1% who failed last year.
Irish
In Irish at Higher Level, 5.2% of students received a H1 grade this year. This marks a slight decline on the 5.4% who received an A1 last year.
At the lower end, a total of 0.3% of people received a H8 (fail) in Higher Level this year, while a further 1.9% of students got a H7 (meaning they passed). This compares to 0.1% of people last year who got an F grade and 0.5% who got an E.
The number of students who took the Ordinary Level exam this year was 22,521. Of these, 0.3% received a H1 grade compared to 0.5% who received an A1 last year.
At the lower end, 7.9% of students received either a O7 or O8 grade – meaning they failed the exam. This marks a rise from the 4.3% who failed Irish at this level last year.
Across the main foreign language courses, students in general fared slightly worse than last year. However, at Higher Level fewer students failed thanks in part to the new grading system.
The most popular foreign language course was French, with 15,934 students taking the course at Higher Level, and 9,449 at Ordinary level.
At Higher Level, a total of 5.8% students received a H1 grade, down slightly on the 5.9% who received an A1 in 2016.
At Ordinary Level, the number of students to receive a H1 was at 0.1%, the same as the 0.1% who received an A1 last year.
In terms of failure rate, 12.7% of students received an O7 or O8 grade this year, compared to 7.6% who failed last year – marking a more than 5% rise in the number of fails at Ordinary Level.
In German, the level of students securing top marks in Higher Level was slightly down. The failure rate was also down thanks in part to the new marking system.
At Ordinary Level, the number of students securing top marks rose slightly. The failure rate also rose, with 11.3% of students failing the exam, compared to 6.3% last year.
The results were similar at both levels in Spanish - with the number of top marks slightly lower at Higher Level and the failure rate slightly higher at Ordinary Level.
The number of students taking Latin dropped from 104 last year to 74 this year. Over 21% of students received a H1 in the subject this year.
Examination results followed a similar pattern across the other main subjects.
In Geography, the number of students achieving top marks at Higher Level went up – with 3.4% of students securing a H1. The failure rate also dropped significantly, thanks mostly to the new grading system.
In History, the number of students achieving top marks at Higher Level dropped slightly. Again, the new marking system led to a drop in the number of students who failed.
Across the three main sciences, the results were broadly in line with the other subjects.
There was a slight rise in the number of students securing top marks at Higher Level in Physics and Chemistry, and a slight decline in Biology.
Of the students who took their Leaving Cert, 14,025 (25%) followed the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. A further 2,773 (4.7%) candidates followed the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme.
The SEC advises people to consult the Leaving Certificate Candidate Information Booklet that they should have received earlier this year for advice on what to do next.
The results have been available online for people to view from noon today.
Anyone who wants to view their scripts will have to have an application form completed and submitted by Tuesday 22 August. If a student wants to appeal, they need to have their application in by Wednesday 6 September.
A helpline has been operating from early today by the National Parents’ Council (Post-Primary) on 1800 265 165.
With reporting by Órla Ryan
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Typical of the new generation. Points given even for failure. Hooray everyone’s a winner!!
@Steve: not even one student was consulted for this grading system. It was created by older generations than those who sat exams so stop trying to label younger people as inferior.
@Steve: pretty pointless changing the system anyway. It’s all down to supply and demand. A limited number of places will be filled by the highest achievers, irrespective of the naming of the grades.
@Joseph Bloggs: I completely agree. These teenagers face pressures no other generation has had to face and they do it well. Our youngsters are a really great and aware generation. The are expected to be adults overnight and are open to very harsh criticism just for doing teenage stuff.. leave them alone. We are lucky with our next generations !!! Very lucky !!!
Your article’s total omission of creative practical subjects such as Art and Design, TG, Construction and Music are a sad reflection of our national obsession with academics and the disregard for creativity and imagination.
@Elaine Mc Carthy: Couldn’t agree more. The article shows no reflection of the changes being made in the curriculum, which are moving towards a more holistic view of education. Also, when did Irish become one of ‘The big three’ ? If the focus of the article is on college course admission policies, one of the contenders, for university at least, is another European language. That and the course which interests you. This eradicates the notion of there even being a ‘big three’ in the first place. Curriculum design is striving to move away from subject hierarchy. This article not only reinforces hierarchy, it invents a hierarchy that doesn’t exist. No mention of very important subjects like Economics, Art etc. Not even a reference to them.
@Avril O Brien: Yep. We’re preparing and educating the next generation for jobs of this generation. By the time they finish college, the jobs they were educated for have evolved or disappeared.
@Elaine Mc Carthy: completely agree
@Avril O Brien: I’d guess they are the ‘big three’ because they are the three mandatory subjects for most students – at least they were when I was in school. I don’t know if that has changed.
@The Girl: we dont educate children, we treat 30-40 unique individuals as if they are all the same for 14 years and then we grade them on their ability to regurgitate what they were told were facts without any research or self thought. Its a sad and useless system and achieves nothing other than creating obedient tax paying robot slaves
Best of luck to them today. I remember the fear on results morning like it was only yesterday! Hope they get their deserved success.
Anyone else notice that photographs of male students have been whitewashed out of Irish leaving cert reporting?
@Emmet Dillane: there is a photo there of a classroom entirely of male students . best of luck to them, some achieve great results despite their teachers, we thought Irish and maths for 9-10 years and leave school none the wiser.
@Emmet Dillane: looks like a rake load of lads in the picture to me.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh:
A ‘file photo’.
All the centre stage individualistic photos are of girls celebrating. This trend has been at play for a couple of years now.
@Emmet Dillane: Emmet so fecking what ??? Usually it’s just about students who got the highest marks and that’s regardless of gender. Iv seen plenty of shots of boys but in different schools . Get over it !!!!!!!!
@Catherine Sims: he is correct though. In this article there are only pics of young women celebrating. God forbid any of us men should suggest anything resembling gender bias against us, be it real or imaginary!
Anyway, best of luck to all the students getting their results. Very stressful time for parents and students.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: “despite their teachers” and “we thought Irish and maths for 9-10 years”????
I hate the way teachers try their best to make you fail. You do realise that it’s the Dept. of Education that sets out the curriculum and not the individual teachers in the schools. Finally, it’s “we were taught”.
Well done to all those students who sat the leaving cert established, vocational and applied and received their results today. As always, the media report from outside Belvedere College and Loreto on the Green, where many high achieving students will have attended. The Independent.ie was a disgrace this morning with only one tiny segment on a girl from Mount Carmel school in town. The rest of the article was all about who got the highest number of H1 grades and who got the highest number of points and interviews were with boys attending Belvedere College. This seems to be the same tack for the Journal, again students in private schools. A bit more balanced reporting, including information on results of the creative subjects as one commentator mentioned, would make better reading.
I can just see you all wearing your McDonald’s hats!
@Paul Radburn: I see you collecting your dole
The best advice I ever heard was “if you don’t get the results you want, don’t fret! Success in ireland is based on who you know rather than what you know.”
Now that you have passed your LC , we can now tell you its all a charade , you would be better off to spend the next few years hanging around with politicians or Councillors down at the pub.
Dont get me wrong , education is great for personal development, and in new Irish industries like IT , you should be ok, if you work hard, however getting work in traditional industries in Ireland , just forget it , its not a meritocracy , you need connections to even find out about the existence of positions .
While it is indeed wonderful to hear of the terrific academic achievements, of a select few students ( and my whole-hearted congrats and best wishes to them !), I cannot but think, of the many many other young people, who have worked just as hard..with more obstacles to overcome, and they will never get a mention, just because they didn’t happen to be in the “top 10″ !
So…to all of you wonderful young people out there, who have struggled, in one way or another, and worked so hard this year, to try and get the points you need etc…facing challenges that others may not even ever have, or even ever have to endure…
Heartiest congrats to you….May all your dreams come true ! Never ever give up..
@Irene Margaret: My own 2 adult children , faced epilepsy and autism issues, and still managed to get their leaving certs ( in 2006 and 201 respectively ), without all this pomp and ceremony…
I think this points thing is over-hyped. I have seen people who did poor in their Leaving Cert, go on and get really good jobs. Granted they had to go a longer route, but with the ITs now, everyone can get a good chance of a good education. I think what kind of person you are is as important as the grades you get.
Just remember you are free to study in any EU country, so if you have the drive, work a year to afford to study abroad in a course you didnt get enough points for in Ireland.
It’s not what you got today but what you do with tomorrow that counts.
Ill informed here- students who got a H7 (30-40%) still failed the exam, it’s just that now they get points for it. If a student needs to pass a certain subject for a college course and they get a H7, they won’t get into that course but can use it for points.
Well no, reality is most people won’t get doing what they want to do. They’ll do some course that they’ll realise they actually don’t really like & end up in a job they don’t really like that’s not related to the course they did. Also the most important thing is not how smart you are, its who you know because Ireland isn’t a meritocracy.
By the way @journal highest possible results achieved by one girl (so far) in Donegal. Posted on Donegal online.ie
A guy from limerick got top marks on the limerick on line.
@bings: sorry a girl from Limerick I do appologise to her
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