Over 3,100 students in Galway are receiving their Leaving Cert results this morning, with the highest grades on record due to the calculated results system.
More than 60,000 students across the country can access their Leaving Certificate results online as of 9am this morning.
The average grades across all subjects and levels are 4.4% this year under the new system brought in for the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is after the national standardisation model used by the Department of Education brought down the estimated grades given by teachers.
The increase in grades this year was more pronounced at the upper end of the spectrum, with a 3% increase in the number of students getting H1 results, with the biggest jumps being in Applied Maths, Geography, and Irish, where top results all doubled.
There were 57,569 sitting the regular Leaving Cert this year, along with 2,855 taking the Leaving Cert Applied.
In the LCA, the number of students who received a Distinction, the top award, almost doubled from 608 in 2019 to 1018 this year, while the number of Merit, Pass, and Record grades fell marginally.
The Leaving Cert Vocational Programme, which 13,470 students took on top of the regular LC, has also seen a spike at the top of the grade scale.
There were 2,885 students who received a Distinction in the LCVP in 2020, more than twice the figure of 1,109 last year.
Last week the government abandoned plans to alter the estimated calculated grades given by teachers using schools’ grades from previous years.
The about face came after a huge backlash in Britain when less well off schools disproportionately had their students’ results downgraded.
“This has been a challenging time for students, their families and school communities,” Minister for Education Norma Foley.
“However, I do believe what has been created is the fairest possible solution given the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves as we journey together through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Today, with confidence, you can look back with pride on all that you have achieved and look forward with courage to the next exciting phase of your lives.”
The spike in Leaving Cert results will almost certainly result in an increase in points requirements for
