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Leaving Certificate 2021 information for students
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Published on
Last updated on
The results of the 2021 Leaving Certificate Appeals are available to candidates through the Candidate Self Service Portal. If a candidate appealed both an examination grade and the related Accredited Grade, they will see whether there has been any change in grade in the Examination or the Accredited Grade.
Students who did not submit an appeal can still view their results.
If a candidate received an improved result following the appeals process, but had already received a grade equal to, or higher than, the appeal outcome through the other process (examinations or Accredited Grades), there will be no change in their final result in that subject.
Appeal outcomes have been transferred to the CAO.
The CAO will issue its Round 5 offers, the final round of offers for 2021, on Wednesday 13 October. Candidates entitled to CAO offer in this round will receive an offer to commence their course in the current academic year subject to any space limitation on individual courses.
Candidates were provided with the option of appealing their written examination grade, their Accredited Grade, or both, on a subject-by-subject basis. In the processing of the written examination appeals, appeals were marked by a different examiner to the examiner who originally marked the work. The appeal examiner considered whether the mark awarded by the original examiner was correct and reasonable, in line with the marking scheme. If it was, the appeal examiner awarded the same mark again. If it was not, the appeal examiner awarded what they considered to be the correct mark. The entire process is subject to extensive quality assurance overseen by the Chief Examiner for each subject.
The Accredited Grades appeals process was a process review focused on looking for errors in the transmission and receipt of candidate data. The scope of the appeal excluded the professional judgment of the school in providing the estimated marks, the design of the statistical model and the application of the national standardisation process. In the Accredited Grades appeals process, checks were undertaken by schools on the forms completed to check that the information was transferred correctly from the forms to the data collection system. This step was subject to further quality assurance and review by the SEC. The SEC also undertook a further stage of checks to ensure that the data was correctly received and transmitted through the systems used in the national standardisation process conducted by the SEC.
Candidates have a number of post-appeal review processes available to them.
Candidates who appealed their examination results may view their remarked examination scripts. The deadline for applying to view re-marked scripts is 5 pm on Monday, 11 October 2021.
Candidates may also refer their appeal, for either the examinations or Accredited Grades, or both, to the Independent Appeal Scrutineers (IAS). The scrutineers will check to ensure the correct procedures were followed throughout both appeals processes.
The deadline for applying to the Independent Appeals Scrutineers – Examinations is 5 pm on Friday, 22 October 2021. Candidates can access the Independent Appeals Scrutineers application form on the Candidate Self Service Portal.
Since 5 pm on 7 September, candidates have access to more detailed information about their results through the Candidate Self-Service Portal.
Candidates who took only the certificate examinations in any subjects can see the marks awarded in the written examination for those subjects, and the marks awarded in any components.
Candidates who opted only for Accredited Grades in any subjects can see the estimated percentage marks submitted by their school, the accredited mark following the process of standardisation and the SEC Accredited Grades for those subjects.
Candidates who opted for both examinations and Accredited Grades in any subjects can access information in respect of both sets of results for those subjects.
Candidates could submit an application to appeal before 12 pm on 13 September. The State Examinations Commission has advised that the intended date for issue of the 2021 Leaving Certificate appeal results is in week ending Friday 8 October
Two candidate information guides have been published:
The Guide to Results and Appeals contains information about accessing provisional results and what happens after results day. This includes:
The Candidate Information Guide to your Examinations Results by Subject contains information:
Each subject is dealt with individually in this guide.
Students are advised to read these guides carefully.
The purpose of this guide is to provide candidates at the 2021 Leaving Certificate with further information about the system of Accredited Grades and is accessible here.
Students are encouraged to read this guide to understand the Accredited Grades process.
The guide also provides information on the key dates for the viewing of scripts and application to appeal. A further, more detailed guide, Candidate Information Guide on Results and Appeals, is available here.
The Department of Education and State Examinations Commission also prepared a Q&A video in collaboration with the Irish Second Level Students’ Union (ISSU) and SpunOut.ie.
The video provides information on common questions asked by candidates in relation to Accredited Grades.
Previous guides on the process are available in the Document library .