The number of top grades awarded to Junior Certificate candidates has more than doubled this year after changes were made to grade bands.
More than 73,000 students will receive their Junior Cert results on Wednesday, with many set to achieve higher grades than they would have under previous bands.
Some 55,849 distinction grades (8.6 per cent) were awarded this year, up from 23,439 (3.6 per cent) in 2024.
The jump comes as the top three grade bands – distinction, higher merit and merit – were revised after complaints that the previous system was too harsh.
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The proportion of distinctions this year ranged from a low of 3.9 per cent in higher level English to 16.3 per cent in Italian, compared with 2.6 and 7.9 per cent in these subjects last year.
Previously, the top distinction grade was available to those scoring 90 per cent or more, but is now applicable to scores of 85 per cent or more.
The number of higher merit grades awarded this year, meanwhile, increased from 162,943 (25.2 per cent) in 2024 to 196,692 (30.4 per cent).
The grade band was previously between 75 and 90 per cent, and is now between 70 and 85 per cent.
A change in the merit grade band, which is now awarded to those who achieve between 55 and 70 per cent, rather than between 55 and 75 per cent, saw a significant number of candidates falling into the higher merit band this year.
Some 217,678 merit grades (33.7 per cent) were awarded, down from 287,670 in 2024 (44.5 per cent).
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) had previously defended the low proportion of top grades on the basis they were limited to “exceptional students only”.
However, the change was announced earlier this year by Minister for Education Helen McEntee following campaigns and criticism from teachers and pupils that efforts were not being properly recognised.
Separately, the SEC said a “significant” number of candidates answered a question on the higher level English exam “poorly or omitted it entirely”.
Students were asked in the exam to respond to a question worth 15 out of 180 marks about “any short story they had studied”.
However, many students reported that they had not studied any short stories during their three years of the junior cycle, with some teachers saying they struggle to cover the full curriculum of the subject.
The SEC reiterated on Wednesday that junior cycle students must study such texts.
“However, analysis of candidate responses showed that a significant number of candidates answered this question poorly or omitted it entirely.
“In order to be as fair as possible to candidates, the SEC addressed this by awarding all candidates a minimum of 10 marks (out of 15) with a scaled marking approach used to award higher marks based on the standard of the candidate response,” it said.
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