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TWO ERRORS IN the grading system calculated for the certificate of completion resulted in 6,500 students receiving lower grades than they should, the government confirmed this week.
The first error was in a line of code programmed by the private company Polymetrika. It affected the way students’ junior cycle grades were included in the calculation.
It showed that instead of including the student’s junior cycle English, Irish, mathematics, and the best two subjects in the calculation, the student’s three core subjects and the two weakest subjects were counted.
When the department examined this error, it detected a second problem contained in the same code section programmed by Polymetrika.
This error showed that the results of the Junior Cycle for Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE), supposedly discounted in the grading system, were included in the calculation.
As a result, some students received a higher grade than they should have, while others received a lower grade.
What if the error affects me and I receive a lower rating than I should have?
All students will receive a text message to inform them if they are affected by the bug.
Those who were downgraded will get their grade back, said Education Minister Norma Foley.
The department will send a corrected file of student results to the CAO so that it can work with institutions of higher education to determine if a student should receive a new offer. The department has said that “everything possible” will be done to facilitate their admission.
Any student who would have been entitled to a different offer will receive this offer or a deferred offer as soon as possible after the results are updated.
An additional 1,000 university places may be required to fix the error.
The minister has said that work will be done to ensure that “a maximum number of places” is available for these students, but acknowledged that some may have to wait until next year to take the course.
Students who receive an offer after their grades are reset will also have the option to postpone their college course for one year, if they so choose.
What if the error affects me and I receive a higher rating than I should have?
Education Minister Norma Foley has said that those who scored higher “will not be affected in any way.”
These students will not be demoted and their CAO offers will not be revoked, even if their true grades were not high enough for that course.
What if I missed a place in college to someone who scored higher than they should because of the mistake?
Solidarity TD Mick Barry asked the minister about this on Thursday.
“There must be students who applied for courses and would have obtained their courses if that mistake hadn’t been made, but they were prevented from getting their courses because of that mistake,” he said.
The minister has recognized that some students may have obtained places in universities that they would not otherwise have had if the system had not had these errors.
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However, it has not undertaken to identify the students who were “expelled” as a consequence or to create additional university places for them.
I want to appeal my grades, can I still do it?
The appeals process closed on September 16 and late applications will not be accepted.
This appeals process is technical and focuses on errors in the transmission and processing of individual student data throughout the process.
It does not investigate the operation of the system in general and does not relate to recently identified errors.
I want to take the formal exam, can I do it?
There is still an option for students who were due to sit their exams in June 2020 to take them in November.
Minister Foley said Thursday that the registration deadline for this year’s exams was extended to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7.
Students can take exams in one or more subjects.
Anyone who was supposed to take the exams in June 2020 and who wants to take the exams in November can register here.
Once students receive the results of the formal written exams, the highest grade, the exam result, or the calculated grade result will appear on their certificate.
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