The scale of the Leaving Certificate operation has grown enormously since the first 672, mainly privileged, candidates took the exam back in 1926. This morning some 62,235 candidates will be collecting their results.
The numbers taking this year's exam differ around the State. While 13,872 candidates are awaiting their results in Dublin, Leitrim has only 525 candidates expecting results.
More than 800,000 components (including written papers, oral cassettes, aural answers and practical work) have been examined this year. This will lead to 435,000 grades in 31 subjects being awarded.
More than 2,000 superintendents have been involved in supervising the exams and about 3,600 examiners have been deployed between the Leaving and Junior Certificate.
All this work flows through the Department of Education's exams branch in Athlone, Co Westmeath, which has set aside £20 million to run this year's exams. The Department provides about £15 million of this, with the rest coming from fees collected from students. First-time candidates pay £52, while repeat candidates pay £240 for the pleasure of resitting.
In terms of written work, the exams branch is responsible for monitoring 125,000 packets which come from schools to its Athlone centre. These packets bear a bar code which is unique and identifies the subject, the level, paper number and the exam centre involved.
This morning's results will be sent to schools and electronically transmitted to the Central Applications Office and Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) which handles British admissions.
Any student can apply to the Department of Education to view their scripts. Their school will provide them with an application form which they fill out and return to the Department. The viewing sessions will be on: Friday, September 1st, from 6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m; Saturday, September 2nd, from 9.00 a.m. to noon; Saturday, September 2nd, from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.