Leaving Certificate Biology Upgrades

 

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) have upgraded over 600 Leaving Certificate Biology papers country wide, after a parent of one of the candidates questioned the marking scheme’s limited interpretation of the term “predator”. Subsequently, the marking scheme was altered to expand the limited definition in the marking scheme. After the appeals process, in which 56 candidates had their grade increased, 1900 more examinations were assessed. All of these were within 3 marks of a higher grade. Of the 1900, 621 candidates had their scores increased so that they achieved a higher grade. 44 of these individuals have now received offers from universities in Ireland because of their increased grades. This is a welcome development but yet another embarrassing situation for the SEC.

In St. Columba’s, two pupils were upgraded on this occasion. This means that over 32% of candidates in SCC achieved an A grade in their biology examination with 21% achieving an A1 grade.