OVER 73,000 STUDENTS will find out how they got on in their Junior Certificate exams today. 

Results will be available at schools from this morning. Some 73,336 students sat the Junior Cert this year, up on the figure of 72,833 last year and the third year in a row that the number has exceeded 70,000. 

Changes to the Junior Cycle grade bands were announced by Education Minister Helen McEntee in April after feedback from teachers, students and parents about the impact the previous grade bands may have been having on teaching and learning. 

The changes saw the marks required to achieve a Distinction widen from any score at or above 90% to 85% or above. The second highest grade band, Higher Merit, was changed from a score of 75% – 90% to 70%-80%.

As a result, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) said the rate of Distinction grades this year has more than doubled from 3.6% to 8.6%, while the rate of Higher Merits has increased to 30.4%.

The SEC also said that this year’s higher level English exam asked students to respond to a question on a short story they had studied. However, during and after the exam, they received feedback that many schools had not taught the short story on the paper. 

As a result, a “significant number” of students answered this question poorly or were didn’t answer it at all.

The SEC responded “by awarding all candidates a minimum of 10 marks (out of 15) with a scaled marking approach used to award higher marks based on the standard of the candidate response”. 

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has congratulated all students receiving their Junior Cycle results today.   

“This is a significant staging post in their personal educational journey and they and their families should be extremely proud of their achievements to date,” TUI president Anthony Quinn said. 

“We would also like to acknowledge the unstinting support of parents and guardians and the dedication of teachers over the Junior Cycle years. As always, students should be careful and responsible in their celebrations.”

He also called for more resources to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, which he said “limits subject choice and often sees students taught subjects by a succession of teachers across both Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle”.

The SEC does not accept appeal applications directly from students. Instead, anyone who wants to appeal their results must apply to their school, who will consider whether the results “is significantly at variance with the result expected”.

Schools must return their applications by 5pm on 14 October. It costs €32 for every subject appealed, though this is refunded if their grade is upgraded.