Vol. 462 No. 8
193 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education the manner in which leaving certificate and junior certificate examination papers submitted by students for rechecking are actually rechecked; the procedures involved; and whether the scripts are re-examined afresh. [5756/96]
Applications for a recheck of examination results are accepted only from schools in the case of school candidates and the school authority must certify that the result is substantially at variance with what the school expected. Candidates who do not attend a recognised school and who enter for the examination as external candidates may apply direct to the Department for a recheck.
The application must be made by a specified closing date and is subject to a fee of £25 per subject in the case of the leaving certificate or £20 per subject in the case of the junior certificate. The fee is refunded in the event of an upgrade.
Upon receipt of the application for recheck, the candidate's script is fully remarked. With the exception of a small number of subjects (Italian, Hebrew and Greek) where the numbers of candidates are very few, this remarking is performed by a different examiner.
Where subsequent to the remarking the candidate's new total is greater than the original total to the extent that an upgrade may be warranted, the script is further examined by the chief examiner for the subject who is almost invariably an inspector. An upgrade is approved where the chief examiner and the recheck examiner are both in agreement.
194 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education the manner in which the 1995 honours leaving certificate English papers submitted for formal rechecks by students from St. Mary's school, Dundalk, County Louth in September 1995 were actually rechecked; whether the scripts were actually re-examined afresh or if they were merely reviewed; and the process that took place. [5757/96]
The scripts of the candidates from St. Mary's school, Dundalk, in the 1995 leaving certificate English higher level examination, which were submitted for formal rechecks were fully marked afresh by a different examiner. The recheck examiner recommended that the result of one of the candidates be upgraded. This upgrade was approved following consideration by the chief examiner, who was the inspector for the subject.
