The Department of Education is to tighten marking procedures for the Leaving and Junior Cert exams after controversy in two subjects last year.
An internal Department report recommends a range of new measures - including closer inspection of the work of examiners.
This will include much more random sampling of corrected papers by senior staff.
The report also proposes that the ratio of supervising examiners to "ordinary" examiners who first correct the exams should not exceed eight to one.
The report is described as a "further quality assurance" exercise by the Department.
It is designed to avoid the difficulties which have plagued the exam system in both England and Scotland recently.
The new moves follow the embarrassment of the Department last year when it awarded revised grades to more than 200 Leaving Cert business studies students.
The Department revised the grades after an inquiry highlighted that grades awarded by one examiner were out of step with the general pattern.
Earlier this year, the Department upgraded the marks of 600 students in Junior Cert CSPE (Civic, Social and Political Education), and launched an urgent review of the marking scheme in the subject. More than one-third of the students who appealed were given an upgrade.
Further up the chain of command, there are chief examiners in each subject and senior inspectors who carry overall responsibility.
The report of the Working Party on the Certificate Exams was completed last May but it has never been published.