Leaving on a high... as maths whizzes multiply

IT was a day that will be etched in the memories of almost 59,000 students for years to come – and for five students, who got eight H1 grades, yesterday’s Leaving Cert results day was extra special.

As a new generation of scholars graduated, there were highs and lows – and a record was even set, as an astonishing 33% of all students sat maths at higher level.

And it was a wise calculation by most who opted to sit the harder paper because of the 18,000 who took higher maths, just 2% failed. This compared to 10% who did the ordinary-level paper.

The multiplication of maths whizzes is thought to stem from a drive to take up STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, as jobs in the tech sector are most sought after.

Along with the fantastic five who got eight H1s – the highest possible grade – 235 high achievers attained six or more H1s. In total, 7,639 got at least one H1.

This year’s Leaving Cert also featured a number of reforms.

Among them is that the results day has been brought forward by one day, while the appeals timeline is shorter and will finish three weeks earlier than previous years, with post-appeal results confirmed by September 20.

The shortening of exam appeal times comes after an 18-year-old student last year almost missed out on a place in college over a delay to correcting her miscalculated points.

Rebecca Carter of Castlebridge, Co. Wexford, won a case she took in the High Court against the State Examinations Commission over the controversy.

And for those who sat their own Leaving many moons ago, the new tests will seem like a world away.

As well as the overhaul of the old A/B/C grade system in recent years, other major reforms have been applied to the State exam.

New subjects that can now be chosen include politics, computer science and PE.

There was also a slight increase in the number of students sitting exams for non-curricular EU languages this year – a total of 1,679 of the 58,787 total as against 1,461 in 2018. Polish continues to be the most popular, with 780 students sitting the language exam, followed by Romanian (340), Lithuanian (177) and Portuguese (116).

There was a rise in the number who sat the exams this year compared to last year, of 2.9%.

Education Minister Joe McHugh congratulated the new graduates, saying: ‘You should be very proud of your achievements.’

‘You should be very proud’