The State Examinations Commission issued the results of the Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied to candidates on 2 September 2022.
On 1 February 2022, Minister for Education Norma Foley announced extensive changes to the Leaving Certificate written examinations: read the full statement.
On 8 February, The State Examinations Commission released the timetables for the 2022 certificate examinations which commenced on Wednesday 8 June. The Leaving Certificate examinations ran until Tuesday 28 June. The Leaving Certificate Applied examinations concluded on Thursday 16 June and the Junior Cycle examinations concluded on Monday 20 June.
The Leaving Certificate timetable followed the familiar format. The examinations in new Leaving Certificate Curricular subjects of Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese were held in conjunction with the examinations in the non-curricular languages on Monday 20 June.
Further details on the changes to the examinations are available on this page and on the website of the State Examinations Commission. They were sent to schools, which were requested to pass the information on to students.
The changes maintained the overall structure and layout of the examination paper so that the examination papers remained as familiar as possible to candidates. They involved, in almost all cases, providing further choice to candidates by reducing the number of questions to be answered in the examination.
Earlier adjustments to the assessment examinations for the Leaving Certificate 2022 were announced in August 2021, the additional and extensive changes announced on 1 February were in acknowledgement of the challenges that students faced during COVID-19 and built on amendments notified to students in August.
You can find information about Junior Cycle examinations 2022 at the following page: Junior Cycle 2022.
It is intended that the appeal results will issue through the Candidate Self Service Portal on Friday 7th October at 11am.
The SEC will provide these results to the CAO in time for integration with the CAO offers season. The SEC understands that this will allow candidates to take up college places this year (subject to availability of places on certain courses) noting that these are matters primarily for higher education.
Candidates will find information about the services provided by the SEC on its Website If a candidate needs to contact the SEC, the email address for candidate enquiries is candidateportal@examinations.ie and the phone number is 090-6442702.
Students sitting the Leaving Certificate this year have expressed concerns about ‘grade inflation’, and that students from previous years may have obtained results which may make it more difficult for the class of 2022 to compete for places in higher education.
Minister Foley in her announcement on 1 February noted "I am very conscious of student fears about competing with students from previous years, many of whose Leaving Certificate results have been higher than in an average year. To alleviate this concern, I have asked the SEC to put in place measures to ensure that the overall set of results in the aggregate for this year will be no lower than last year. This means that the class of 2022 will not be disadvantaged compared to the class of 2020 or 2021."
Entry to higher education in Ireland is through application process run by the Central Applications Office. Information on how the points for entry for higher education courses are calculated can be found on www.cao.ie.
The Minister for Education, wrote to all EU Ministers for Education and advised them of the date for issue of the Leaving Certificate results and the Minister also requested EU consideration for Irish students who may not have their Leaving Certificate results in time to complete the processing of their admissions in particular countries.
It is important that applicants advise the Admissions Office of relevant higher education institution to which they are applying of the results date of 2 September 2022.
You can send any queries to the following email address: LCinfo@education.gov.ie
Examination fees for the 2022 Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations were waived.
Students did not have to pay the fees which would usually be €116 and €109 for the Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations respectively.
An alternative set of Leaving Certificate examinations was run in 2022, shortly following the main set of examinations. These examinations were limited to certain categories of students, including those who experienced a close family bereavement, COVID-19 illness and certain other categories of serious illness, during the first examination period.
The Minister made an announcement on 20 December 2021 regarding the arrangements for Leaving Certificate Oral Examinations in Irish and the Modern Foreign Languages and the practical performance tests in Leaving Certificate Music.
These examinations took place outside of school time over the first week of the school Easter holidays, with the examinations running in schools during the six-day period: Saturday 9 April to Thursday 14 April inclusive.
All aspects of the examinations were conducted in accordance with the prevailing Public Health advice.
These examinations were held over Easter and outside of school time to minimise disruption for schools and students. Read the full announcement: Meeting held of Advisory Group on Planning for State Examinations 2022.
The SEC in December 2021 provided details of arrangements for the completion, authentication and submission of coursework.
The purpose of the SEC circular was to provide information in relation to the completion, authentication, submission and marking of coursework for 2022. This included information in relation to the extension to 2022 of the exceptional arrangements that were put in place in 2021 due to COVID-19.
In December 2020, changes were announced to the Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle assessment arrangements.
These have been updated to include, where relevant:
- revised dates for the submission of coursework, for the school year 2021/22
- the new assessment arrangements in Junior Cycle subjects being examined for the first time in 2022 including: Technology Subjects, Jewish Studies, Classics and Religious Education
This summary advice note sets out the key curriculum and assessment arrangements for LCA Year 1 and Year 2 students in the 2021/22 school year.
Leaving Certificate Applied 2021-22
Summary advice note for school management and teachers of LCA 2021/22
On 30 June 2021, the Minister for Education announced that there would be adjustments made to the assessment arrangements for students due to sit State examinations in 2022, to take account of the disruption to their learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The adjustments made at this time have been superseded by the announcement made by the Minister on 1 February 2022.
HSE/HSE-funded service providers will be available to support students through the provision of mental health services. Click the following link for more information: https://www2.hse.ie/services/mental-health-supports-and-services/mental-health-supports-and-services.html
