Leaving Cert 2021 – Timelines for Accredited Grades and Examinations
It has been a difficult couple of weeks for Leaving Cert and Leaving Cert Applied students as you grappled with making choices between opting for Accredited Grades, written exams or a combination of the two. Most of you have taken the advice issued by the Department of Education in keeping your options open for both for as long as possible. Regardless of what choices you have made, the important thing now is plan out your time between this and when the written exams begin on June 9th. Make sure you are clear on all the deadlines and key dates and try to stay as focused as you can on the end goal – to get through the Leaving Cert and beyond it to brighter times for everyone, but especially you as students who have had a very stressful year.
Although the Candidate self-service portal closed on March 16th it will re-open in late April/early May and you will be able to finalise your options for Examinations and/or Accredited Grades as well as the levels you are doing in each subject. You will be able to withdraw from doing the exams at that stage if you wish. Next week (from March 22nd) we expect announcements on changes to be made to written exam papers to give more choice to candidates. This is taking into account the extra face to face time lost this year and it is on top of the changes that were made at the beginning of the school year. It is important to check the detail of the changes for your particular subjects so that you can use your time more effectively and efficiently in the run up to the exams.
At this stage it would be really helpful to put together a calendar for yourself between here and the exams so you can feel organized and stay focused on the priorities on a weekly basis. Mark in all the important dates that are relevant to you and the subjects you are doing. A list of revised completion dates for coursework (including projects) has been issued by the State Exams Commission and is available on https://www.examinations.ie/misc-doc/EN-EX-94915644.pdf It is important to make note of any dates that are relevant to your subject in your calendar. Leaving Cert Vocational Programme (LCVP) Link Modules final exam will take place on Saturday the 8th of May and the Computer Science exam will take place on Saturday the 22nd of May.
Orals and Practicals
Leaving Cert Orals will take place in schools between March 26th and April 15th. Details on how they will be conducted have been issued to the schools so check in with your teachers and school management about them. The Practical Performance Test in Music is planned to take place in the second week of the Easter holiday. Practical Exams will not take place in Engineering, Construction Studies, neither will the Performance Assessment in PE. The proportion of the marks allocated to these elements will be allocated to the project component. The proportion of the marks for the written paper will not change. Orals for Leaving Cert Applied students will take place from Mat 3rd to 12th, the practical performance test will take place from May 17th to 21st and interviews for LCA practical coursework will begin on June 8th.
In subjects where you are opting for Accredited Grades it is only assessments completed up to May 14th that will be taken into account by teachers. You will have other assessments ongoing up to that date but the Department of Education have given guidelines on this so that students are not overloaded with assessments. It has been recommended that such assessments should be limited to a maximum of three class tests. Remember your teacher will basing your grade on your achievement over the two years of senior cycle, not just these assessments.
Written Exams for all Leaving Certs will begin on June 9th and run until June 29th, when you will all be able to take a well-earned rest!
It is important make sure you are fully informed of the correct and accurate information at each stage so always check the detail as it becomes available on https://www.examinations.ie/ and https://gov.ie/LeavingCertificate