Leaving Certificate (Ireland)
The Leaving Certificate Examination (Irish: Scrúdú na hArdteistiméireachta), commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert or (informally) the Leaving (Irish: Ardteist), is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination in Ireland. It takes a minimum of two years' preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior Cycle examination. These years are referred to collectively as "The Senior Cycle". Most students taking the examination are aged 16–19;[2] in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam. The Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission. The Leaving Certificate Examinations are taken annually by approximately 60,000 students.[3]
Acronym
LC
1925 (first examined)
- H1–H8
- O1–O8
- F1–F8
Sixth Year (~17–19 years old)
Repeating permitted with some restrictions
Ireland
English, Irish
60,210 (in 2022)[1]
€116
In 2018, the Department of Education alongside the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment confirmed that the senior cycle is under review with Politics and Society, Physical Education, and Computer Science the first of the new subjects to be part of the reforms. Core subjects such as Irish, English, Mathematics, and European languages will be changed in due course.
Exam paper leaks[edit]
1969[edit]
On 12 June 1969, exam papers were stolen in a break-in to a Dublin secondary school. Examination papers, including English, Mathematics and Physics were circulated among students.[16] The repeat examinations for English and Mathematics paper 2 were rescheduled for 27 June 1969 and 28 June 1969 respectively.[17]
2009[edit]
On the first day of examinations on 3 June 2009, the second paper of the Leaving Certificate English examination (initially scheduled for 4 June) was accidentally distributed instead of Paper 1 at an examination centre in St. Oliver's Community College in Drogheda.[18] It was confirmed that a number of candidates had seen the paper before the mistake was acted upon. The invigilator had failed to report the incident straight away and was immediately suspended. A State Examinations Commission (SEC) official had visited the examination centre on the day in question as part of a routine inspection, and no report was made by the invigilator to the official.[19] Owing to the time at which the SEC was informed, it was unable to distribute the contingency paper in time for the following morning. Details of the leaked paper had already circulated onto many online message boards and social networking sites, many hours after the incident had taken place.[20] The exam was rescheduled for Saturday 6 June, from 09:30 to 12:50.[21] About 10 Jewish students, who could not sit the exam at the rescheduled time because it conflicted with Shabbat, were sent to an Orthodox household in Dublin, where they were sequestered from all electronic media (as is normal for Shabbat) and kept under supervision until they sat the exam on Sunday morning.[22]