Irish students receive boosted Leaving Cert results for third year running

Elanas Zemaitis, a pupil at Donahies Community School, Dublin, celebrates after receiving his results

Tens of thousands of students in the Republic of Ireland have received their Leaving Certificate results.

The qualification is similar to A Levels in the UK.

But unlike in the UK, measures for minimising Covid-19 disruption to students have continued this year.

Marks were artificially boosted by nearly 8%.

That's due to a commitment made by the education minister that grades would be no lower than last years results to "ensure fairness and equity for students" that were faced with disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The same commitment was made last year, but grades then were only hiked by 5.6%. This year's marks have been awarded a significantly higher hike, at an average of 7.9%.

For pupils leaving school in Ireland this year, these were the first state exams they had ever sat. They did not sit Junior Certificate exams (roughly equivalent to GCSEs) because of the pandemic.

71% of all grades awarded this year have risen as a result of the hike, compared to 50% last year.

Ecuation Minister Norma Foley said: “I would like to extend the heartiest of congratulations to each and every one of the over 60,000 students across Ireland receiving their results today.

"Today brings enormous reward and recognition for all your hard work and dedication over the past number of years, including through challenging times."

Pupils Sophie Brohoon, Rebecca Kavanagh and Nimh Woods were among those receiving Leaving Cert results in Ireland on Friday

How does this affect university placements?

For students from Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom that are keen to get into an Irish university, they don't have the aid of an inflated grade system.

A-level grades for 2023 were not inflated in any way.

In 2020 and 2021 A-level students received calculated grades from their schools.

But for the Leaving Certificate students of 2023, none of them sat their Junior cycle exams, so the exams were the first state tests those students had ever sat.

An official for the State Examinations Commission told journalists at a briefing the situation is "tricky - there are different impacts for different groups".

How to read Leaving Cert results

There are options for students to calculate their results to know about their next steps, often students can find a leaving cert calculator online but there can be a wait time on the official Irish careers portal calculator.

To pass, you need to have at least 28 points.

The average Leaving Certificate points received by students in Ireland in 2022 was between 400 - 419 points.

Leaving Certificate exams have eight grades.

Grade 1 is the highest grade, 8 is the lowest.

Marks between 100% and 30% are divided into seven equal bands (Grade 1-7).

Any marks less than 30% are counted as Grade 8.

Those grades are equivalent to points which is how a student will find out whether they have got places in university or higher education.