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A Leaving Cert student who had six of her grades lowered through the grading process has said she feels “lost and desperate.”
A breakdown of the calculated grade figures, released earlier this week, showed that nearly 100 Leaving Cert students had six or more of their teachers’ estimated grades under the Department of Education system.
Victoria Xu, who attended the Dublin Institute of Education, was one of those students.
The 17-year-old intended to study engineering at Trinity College Dublin, however, following the standardization process, she lost 66 points and received no Level 8 offer from the Central Applications Office.
“I’m sure the other students feel the same as me: really lost and hopeless. I don’t know what to do right now, ”he said.
Ms. Xu has expressed concern about how the standardization process worked, saying that she doesn’t understand how “they choose who to upgrade and who to demote and who to keep the same.”
Lottery
She has written to TDs on this topic, asking “is our future simply based on a system of luck? Is our future just a lottery after all our hard work and study? “
The Dublin student appealed all six grades, but she doesn’t think that will change her situation as the appeal process is limited to verifying that all data was transferred and processed correctly by the schools and the department.
Now she is preparing to take four Leaving Cert exams in November, feeling she “has no other choice.” Exams were postponed for the summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the planned grading system was introduced as a means to provide students with a foundation to enter the higher education system this year.
Ms. Xu feels that she faces a disadvantage by showing up late for exams, as she is resuming her studies after six months out of school. She and other people who will be taking the exams in November will be in competition with students who will complete their graduation certificate next summer for college places.
Lost year
“There is a huge gap between when we had school and when exams were canceled and it is very stressful to prepare for exams in such a short time,” he said. “I’m not afraid of taking my exams in November, but it’s about having to miss a year and start college in 2021.”
Ms. Xu believes that the appeals process should examine the grades of individual students rather than errors in the system and has said that “the government should change the process as soon as possible for students who were treated unfairly.”
A record 12,000+ Leaving Cert students have sought to reverify their calculated grades, while several have initiated Superior Court proceedings over the process.
The deadline for applications to take the 2020 certificate of completion in November is Friday at 5 pm
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