Two in five students who appealed over Leaving Certificate exam results were upgraded, it emerged today.
The State Examinations Commission said that 6,356 candidates in June's exams asked for examiners to re-check marks in 11,567 subjects.
Out of this total, 2,612 results were upgraded and five were downgraded.
The figures relate to over 30 subjects at Higher and Ordinary level.
The students involved will today receive the amended results which will also be updated on the
www.examinations.iewebsite.
The Examinations Commission said the work of each candidate was fully re-marked question by question using the original marking scheme.
"The re-marking is performed by a different examiner to the one who originally marked the work," a spokesperson added.
Students may also opt to view their re-marked examination scripts at the Examinations Commission offices in Athlone.
Students still unhappy with the outcome of their appeal can refer their case to the Independent Appeals Scrutineers.
Almost 375,000 grades were issued to 54,000 Leaving Certificate candidates in mid-August.
Speaking after the release of the Leaving Cert appeals results, the president of Macra na Feirme, a national organisation representing rural young people, Mr Colm Markey, said that although he was pleased for those students whose appeals had secured them higher grades, he was concerned at the high number of papers which received a changed grade once they were re-marked.
"When you consider that almost 22.6 per cent of appeals were awarded an upgrade and, on top of this, that there were actually 58 candidates who hadn't appealed but were also upgraded as part of a routine quality assurance check, questions need to be asked about the standard of the marking system for the Leaving Certificate," he said
Mr Markey also questioned whether there could be more exam papers that had not received rechecks, which could potentially have been marked incorrectly.