The first three days of the Leaving Certificate are too intense, writesKathryn Holmquist.
The intensity of the first half of the Leaving Certificate exam period has led teachers' unions to call for more humane scheduling. But the State Examinations Commission has admitted that the exam schedule is designed to save money.
The core subjects - such as English, Irish and maths - are tested in the first three exam days.
These subjects are required for entry to most third-level courses.
In the first few days of the exam period, students sit for six hours a day in exams, then return home to study for the next demanding day.
Less popular subjects are scheduled for the final seven exam days, giving students long breathing periods for study when they least need them.
As the exam period proceeds, the dwindling number of students sitting exams allows the commission to consolidate examination centres towards the end of the examination period. This cuts the number of exam superintendents required and thus saves money.
Four thousand superintendents are paid about €80 per day plus a once-off €200 "setting up" fee.
"The priority should be the pupil and not the logistic requirements of the exam organisers," said Mr John MacGabhann of the TUI.
He would like to see maths, Irish and English spread out over the exam period, to enable students to recover between sittings.
Mr John White, deputy general secretary of the ASTI, agreed: "It would make really good sense to restructure the scheduling of various subjects so as to put a gap between English, Irish and maths, which are taken by almost all pupils."
Logistics continue to dominate the schedule, however.
One important aspect of this is marking the papers.
Since maths, Irish and English are the biggest subjects, the earlier the marking can start the better.
This enables the marking committees to meet early on to agree on grading schemes.
It also gives the markers more time to do their work.
The commission said that the timetable was also designed to maximise the time available to process examination scripts.
"Holding the more popular subjects at the start of the examination schedule ensures that sufficient time is available for marking the scripts and processing the results," it said.
The schedule also minimises the potential for clashes between subjects and allows the majority of students to complete their exams at or before the second week of exams, it added.
The irony is, however, that second-level students in the Republic already have a relatively short academic year compared to their European counterparts at 167 days, not including exams.
From the students' point of view, the first three days especially are, as one student put it, "torture". By the second week, many students are already exhausted.
Many students have complained that the Leaving Certificate is as much a feat of physical endurance as an intellectual challenge. Last week, on the first day, students sat for over six hours in the English exams: almost three hours in the morning, followed by nearly 3½ hours in the afternoon.
Then students had to return home to study for maths and Irish - both taken by the majority of the 60,000 Leaving Cert students and yet held on the same day.
On the second day of exams, students had 2½ hours of maths in the morning, followed by 3½ hours of Irish in the afternoon at higher level. This totalled six hours.
Many students will have finished their exams yesterday, which was the sixth day. For the following seven exam days, minority subjects such as accounting, German, Spanish and classical studies will be held.
This will give students plenty of breathing space, but many would prefer to have this space spread equally throughout the exam period, rather than concentrated at the end.
The commission has said that teachers' unions are consulted in the drawing up of the schedule, although clearly the teachers do not agree with it.