In the case of the Leaving Certificate, candidates who wish to sit an examinations(s) in November, will be given the opportunity to apply through the Candidate Portal used for the Calculated Grades process, which will open at 9am on Monday 28th September and close at 5pm on Friday 2nd October.
SEC will process this data and notify schools of the entrants from the school to allow for the necessary planning for the examination sessions at an individual school level.
Candidates will be provided with written examinations only, including the aural tests in Music and language subjects, and use of DVDs in LCA and LCVP. The written examinations will be based on the normal question paper format, content and structure, and duration as in previous years. Candidates taking the postponed examinations will be graded on the basis of their written papers only. It is not feasible at this stage to conduct examinations in oral or practical components, or to try to complete unfinished coursework. The oral and practical components of the exams are school- based, requiring significant levels of support at school level, including the requirement to take serving teachers out of their schools to undertake state examinations work.
In the case of five Leaving Certificate subjects, the coursework involved will be marked as this had been completed prior to school closure and these marks will be included in the grading of these subjects. These are:
· Home Economics journals (already marked by the SEC);
· LCVP Portfolio;
· Design and Communication Graphics coursework;
· Physical Education (PE) Physical Activity Project;
· Engineering coursework.
An earlier arrangement, communicated in March, that full marks would be awarded in respect of oral language and Music performance tests, was cancelled when the summer examinations were postponed on 8 May and the system of Calculated Grades was introduced. The March announcement was intended to support the running of all other examination components in the normal fashion as part of a response to the emergency situation relating to Covid-19 at the time.
Candidates are not being automatically awarded full marks in respect of any examination component in the Calculated Grades system. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate or fair to now award full marks for some examination components in the interest of inter-candidate equity between those sitting a later examination and those receiving a Calculated Grade.
