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THE VAST MAJORITY of Leaving Certificate students have signed up the Calculated Grades system being implemented in place of exams this year.
As of 10pm, 59,859 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied students had registered – over 98% of the 61,029 students due to sit the Leaving Cert this summer.
The initial deadline to register closed at 10pm, but this has been extended until midday tomorrow.
The Department of Education said it is working to support students who missed the deadline but still wish to sign up.
The Calculated Grades system will involve teachers assessing what grade they think a student would have received if they had sat the Leaving Cert exam, based on classwork done (eg, Mock exams, essays, projects or Christmas/summer exams).
Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh has welcomed the high level of registration and thanked students for doing so.
“This is a totally new process, established as a result of Covid-19, so it is great to see the high take-up in such a short space of time.
“Many thanks to all the students, teachers, parents and others who helped get the word out about this important process, fair play to everyone for their efforts.”
Working with schools
McHugh this evening said his department “will continue to work with schools and with stakeholders” to reach students who haven’t registered and “ensure they have access to Calculated Grades if they wish to receive them”.
A spokesperson for the department said there are “some outstanding queries in the portal’s helpdesk system and those are being worked through”.
“The helpdesk will continue to engage with those students over the coming days,” they added.
The next stage of the process will happen later this summer. Students have provided contact details through the portal and will be contacted directly when it is time to indicate if they wish to opt-in to receive their Calculated Grades.
“It is hoped that the Calculated Grades will issue as close as possible to the usual timeframe for examination results,” the spokesperson said.
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Well best of luck to every single of them them!…
@Martin Mc Donagh: (correction) best of luck to every single one of them*…
@Martin Mc Donagh: make sure you read the whole question before writing your answer martin
@Martin Mc Donagh: Best of luck to every single one of them.
There’ll be a lot of unhappy kids when they get their ‘predicted’ grades… Exams could have happened.
I totally disagree with this method. The whole fear factor is taken out of the exams. I know I was briken it when I did it. So the mistakes you made under pressure will not be accounted for in this instance. Of course 98% signed up straight away and the other 2% are the ones that actually did the studying for it…
@James Hayes: dont speak for everyone there my daughter was to sit her exams nxt month has been studying none stop for the past 2 years and signed up for the new grading system. There was alot of tears stress and worry. She needs high points put in the work and now has no idea if she will get them. So please stop judging kids when you dont know them.
Why the need to sign up and what of those that don’t ?
@Gary O CONNOR: if you sleep in on the day of the test then you don’t get a grade. I presume this is the same
@Clay Davis: there are currently 1,200 students who have yet to sign up.
@Clay Davis: I reckon there’s a bit more to it Clay. Thanks for your explanation though.
@Gary O CONNOR: repeat the year
@Gary O CONNOR: I was wondering the same. It seems pointless and another waste of money, just enrol the lot of them automatically, they’ve the choice of doing an exam after regardless.
@Gary O CONNOR:
AFAIK any student can wait and sit the exams towards the end of year when deemed safe but they won’t start college until 2021.
I would have loved a calculated grades system, I HATED exams with a passion. However, almost all of my teacher and continues assessment would have failed me for school and every college. Yet almost every teacher said they were surprised on how well i did in my exams because they couldn’t tell the difference between exhaustion and laziness. Least students have a choice now.
Why did they not just have an opt-out system rather than an opt-in system? Genuine question. Was it so people could change from Higher to Ordinary if necessary? Or was it because of GDPR?
Over 98% of the rest of us want the media narrative to move past the leaving cert at this stage – honestly its done – please for the love of god stop with hourly updates on how the leaving cert is progressing
What about students who intended sitting the Leaving outside of the school system, e.g. mature students who might study independently?
have your say