Most students taking the examination are aged 16–19;[2] in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam.

Core subjects such as Irish, English, Mathematics, and European languages will be changed in due course.

[4] Admission to universities and colleges is by a points system, run by the Central Applications Office (CAO).

The points allocations shown in the accompanying table have been collectively agreed by the third-level institutions involved in the CAO scheme, and relativities that they imply have no official standing in the eyes of the State Examinations Commission or the Department of Education.

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme allows students to take link modules, which have their own grading scheme and associated CAO points.

If students were not happy with their predicted grades, however, they could appeal their results and choose to sit a traditional exam in November 2020.

In 2021, for each subject, candidates were given a choice to sit the Leaving Certificate examinations, take an Accredited Grade or opt for the better of the two.

Students wishing to sit the LCVP Link Modules Exam had to meet specific requirements (This was dropped in September 2022).

A number of subjects in the sciences and arts include the keeping of records or creation of a physical object or project.

In the academic year of the written exam, all practical science subjects are partially examined by student assignments which involve less focus on traditional exam formats and getting students to put the theory they have learned into practice, typically through a project which involves the creation of unique artifacts.

In the case of certain subjects, such as Geography, full-colour photographs need to be printed and as such, all pages but the cover are white.

Details of the leaked paper had already circulated onto many online message boards and social networking sites, many hours after the incident had taken place.

[22] Matriculation is administered by the Central Applications Office (CAO) following requirements laid down by the universities.

Generally, students are required to have pass grades in English, Mathematics, Irish and/or a foreign language to gain entry to university.

[clarification needed] When demand exceeds supply for a university course (the norm), the CAO will award a candidate's points based on their Leaving Certificate performance in six subjects.

The new broader grade bands eases the pressure on students to achieve marginal gains in examinations and encourage more substantial engagement with each subject.

The new grading system also allows for greater flexibility, variety, and innovation in Leaving Certificate assessments.

[25] Some Irish students go to university in the United Kingdom, particularly in Northern Ireland and larger British cities.

Increasingly, Irish students are making use of universities situated within the European Union such as the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy and Poland.

Many universities in central and eastern Europe provide courses in English to attract students from Ireland and other countries.

A small number of students apply to attend universities outside of Europe, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.

A superstition currently exists in Ireland that the weather across the country noticeably improves the moment the exams begin.

[29][30][31][32] Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, then Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, announced on 10 April 2020 that the exams would be postponed and begin on 29 July to early August.

[34][35] A campaign was set up with the aim of replacing the Leaving Cert with predicted grades, with a petition on CancelTheLC.com receiving 20,000 signatures.

[36][37] Political pressure also occurred as the Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin parties were critical of the solution and urged the Leaving Certificate exams to be cancelled.

[50] For students who wanted to take the examinations, the Leaving Certificate was run from 16 November–11 December 2020 in the evenings and at weekends.

Interference such as contacting teachers, principals, or tutors in any manner that could influence their judgement could be punished by the State Examinations Commission withholding any or all of the Accredited Grades of a student.

New consultants, Educational Testing Services, a US-based non-profit organisation were contracted to build the process.

Unlike in 2020, students were also given the choice to select which of the three options they desired for each subject they would take in the Leaving Certificate.

[54] Students made their decisions on which subjects for the Leaving Cert they wished to present for, and which manner of grades they wanted on the Candidate Self-Service Portal (CSSP) website.