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Kate Ryan was in the middle of her Leaving Cert studies last March when her school suddenly closed.
Eight months later, the 19-year-old is still going through her textbooks and scribbled notes in preparation for exams.
“I definitely never thought I’d end up taking my exams on a dark, windy November night,” says Ryan from Galway City. “It’s going to be strange.”
The delayed departure certificate finally goes live on Monday, and it will be unlike any other.
Only 2,800 candidates are registered to take it, compared to 61,000 who were required to sit for the June exams.
For most, it won’t be traditional marathon work; students are seated an average of only two or three subjects each.
Most exams will take place in classrooms rather than drafty exam rooms due to the small number of exams.
Exams are held during the afternoons Monday through Friday, starting at 5.30 pm. M., And on weekends, starting at 9.30 a.m. M., To facilitate students who have started their university courses.
Unhappy
Candidates must wear face masks and sit at desks separated by at least 2 m.
Biology, the first subject, is the most popular exam, but many subjects will have only a handful of students taking them. In total, the exams will be conducted in approximately 600 of the 740 high schools.
It may all seem like a big effort for a small number of students, but the government pledged testing when it announced that a new system of calculated grades was being introduced due to coronavirus health restrictions.
Students received these grades last September, based on their teachers’ estimates and a standardization process overseen by the Department of Education.
However, many who were unhappy with their results or missed their chosen college courses have chosen to take the Leaving Cert exams, which run through December 11.
Also, a small number who chose not to receive calculated grades at all, usually adult students, have chosen to sit for exams, while another group of students, around 200, were unable to get calculated grades for the subjects they took outside of the school.
The exams give students a unique opportunity to maximize their points by combining the best results from their calculated grades and written exams.
If a student is eligible for a place at the university in their chosen course based on CAO points in 2020, they can start next fall.
Any student who has already started a college course and is entitled to a higher preferred course based on their CAO choice will be able to start the new course next year, without any financial penalty.
That’s the situation Kate Ryan is in. He narrowly missed the course of his dreams, medicine, based on his calculated grades.
“Most of the people who take the exams, from what I can see, are in the same boat,” he says. “They do not intend to pass; their goal is to outperform the calculated grades they received for the courses they really want to do. “
She is still frustrated by the decision to delay exams and provide calculated grades.
“It’s one thing to miss a course after an exam, but it’s even more crushing when it’s a process that you have no control over.”
Countries like South Korea managed to get their exams done in April, with staggered starts and a variety of health precautions, he says. He believes these options should have been explored in Ireland.
The department says the decision to provide calculated grades was made with the best interests of students in mind and with the full agreement of educational partners. It also says that the exams, had they been carried out, would have been truncated in length and would have been nothing that students would have prepared for.
Kate Ryan ended up receiving 578 points with her calculated scores, below NUI Galway’s entry requirements for medicine.
He got a course in genetics and genomics at NUI Galway, which he loves, but his dream of studying medicine remains.
Marking process
“I’ve always wanted to do something in science that engages with people and involves solving problems,” he says.
She will sit in French and Physics for the next week and hopes to earn an additional 20 points and qualify for medicine next year.
While in normal years there is a “bell curve” in the grading process, in which student results are adjusted or standardized for consistency, this will not be the case on these tests.
“We have appointed high-level, experienced examiners to score these exams,” Andrea Feeney, appointed executive director of the State Examinations Commission, said last week. “. . . We are not looking at a statistical norm, but the expert opinion presented by the examiners ”.
Meanwhile, Kate Ryan concentrates on the work at hand and counts down the days until she can finally put her Leaving Cert books away forever.
“I’m in robot mode right now, trying to juggle my course work and Leaving Cert study. . . Feels like the last hurray now I just want the saga to end. “
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