First look: Sample Leaving Cert exam papers for brand new subjects

Sample exam papers for a range of reformed Leaving Cert subjects have been published by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

The changes, regarded by policymakers as the biggest shake-up to the exams in half a century, will see students awarded a minimum of 40 per cent of marks for project work and a maximum of 60 per cent for written exams.

Minister for Education Helen McEntee says the changes are aimed at easing some of the stress faced by students in the traditional written exams in June and providing a broader assessment of students’ skills and competencies over a longer period of time.

The papers have been published in advance of teaching unions’ annual conferences, where the reforms are set to dominate the gatherings of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI).

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Both unions have called for the reforms to be delayed by a year amid concerns over training, equity concerns for students and exam integrity in the face of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT.

Ms McEntee confirmed earlier this week that she intends to press ahead with the reforms, which come into effect for thousands of students starting fifth year in September.

The SEC has published 36 sample exam papers across nine subjects, including samples for two brand new subjects: drama, film and theatre studies; and climate action and sustainable development.

The other revised subjects are biology, business, physics, chemistry, Latin, Arabic and Ancient Greek.

A sample paper for drama, film and theatre studies asks students questions across a variety of productions, including Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, An Cailín Ciúin and High and Low, a 1963 Japanese police procedural crime film directed and edited by Akira Kurosawa.

In the new climate action sample paper, students face questions on topics such as renewable energy, doughnut economics, sea level changes and identifying misinformation and disinformation.

The new subjects will be introduced in schools from September 2025, so the sample exam papers are applicable to candidates sitting the Leaving Cert in 2027.

The SEC said it was making the exam papers available 18 months earlier than has been the case when subjects previously changed, and two years before any candidate sits an exam.

It said the sample exam papers were designed to provide a guide to the structure and format of the final examinations in these subjects.

However, sample briefs for project work or research – worth a minimum of 40 per cent – will not be published until September 2025.

The SEC said the sample briefs will set out requirements such as word counts, number of images permissible, the required structure and section headings, file size etc.

It said issuing these briefs at the start of fifth year will allow teachers and candidates to prepare for the subsequent publication of the “live” briefs in the following term.

Live briefs for these new subjects will issue in January 2026 for candidates preparing for Leaving Cert exams in 2027.

Higher and ordinary level candidates will be asked to respond to a common brief, with arrangements made by the SEC to issue marks at the relevant level, as appropriate, depending on the level at which the candidate goes on to sit the written exam.

“The clear benefit of a common brief is that candidates do not have to nominate their final level at the time of the completion of their coursework,” the SEC said.

“The SEC uses a range of approaches to appropriately reward achievement in the responses to common briefs which includes different weightings for the work completed at higher and ordinary level.”