Unhappy with your Leaving Cert grades?

If you are unhappy with a particular grade in any subject in the Leaving Cert, or if there is an identifiable error in the results you got today, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will give you whatever supports you need to rectify the problem.

First, in the case of an error on your results sheet, bring this to the attention of your school principal immediately, or in the case of external candidates contact the SEC direct. You may have taken a subject at higher level and received an ordinary level grade. Alternatively, you may be missing an entire subject on your results sheet, or have received a grade for a subject you did not take in your Leaving Cert.

In all of these cases it is simply an administrative error, and will be rectified immediately. There may be some delay in the correction being registered with the CAO system, so you may not get the correct offer you are entitled to next Monday, but rest assured if it is a case of SEC administrative error, you will very quickly receive the course offer you are entitled too.

If, on the other hand, there is no factual error on the report sheet, but you believe your grade does not in any way reflect the pattern of your performance in a subject over the past two years, or your perception of how you performed in the exam in June, you have a form in the envelope with your results today to enable you to view your scripts on the weekend August 29th/30th.

To view your scripts you must return this form to your school by next Tuesday, August 19th. You must personally view the script, you cannot send someone to view it on your behalf, although you may be accompanied by a parent or teacher or someone else you nominate.

There is no charge for viewing a script and no limit to the number of scripts you can view. As you will be able to see the exact percentage you got once you view your script, you should view every script if you’re looking for another five or 10 points to secure a place on your preferred course.

Why should you view a script if you are happy with the grade you received?

Each grade such as B1, B2, B3, represents a five per cent band. When the SEC sends out those scripts to be re-marked by teachers every September, approximately 20 per cent of such papers are upgraded. One could therefore assume that those candidates who are within one per cent of the next grade up stand a higher chance of receiving an upgrade that those who are four per cent short. By viewing all your scripts you will know in which subject you are closest to the next grade. It may not necessarily be the subject you are disappointed in.

If when you view your scripts at the end of August you discover a factual error, this can be rectified immediately by the SEC and does not have to go to a full recheck. There may have been a totting error in transmitting the marks from your answer book to the total mark and grade on the front cover. Or the teacher who corrected your script may have skipped a page and neglected to correct some of your work.

If you find any administrative or uncorrected work errors on your script, bring it to the attention of the supervising teacher on the day and they will notify the SEC immediately. Once they receive your script from your school, they will rectify the mistake immediately and your revised grade will be communicated to the CAO so you can receive a revised offer if appropriate.

Finally, if on viewing your script there are no obvious errors in the correcting teacher’s work, but in your view (or that of your subject teacher) you should have received a higher mark for the paper in question, you can then request a form from your principal to have your paper re-corrected. There is a fee of €40 for this work, but if upgraded this will be refunded.

The results of appeals are published in mid-October and if you are one of the 20 per cent who appeal each year and are upgraded, the revised Leaving Cert result will be sent to the CAO and they will make you a revised offer if appropriate.

Unfortunately, given that over half the first semester will have passed by this stage, in most cases you will have to defer taking up your place until the 2015 academic year. You need to discuss the matter with the faculty or college department to see what’s the best course of action. If you are already studying for another course you will not suffer any adverse college-related financial costs as a result of transferring to another programme at that stage.

If you have a query about results or CAO offers, check out our live, free Results Helpdesk at irishtimes.com/results