Examinations
More than 113,000 Leaving and Junior Cert students will begin their exams in 4,500 exam centres tomorrow.

Over the June bank holiday weekend, exam supervisors took possession of the boxes containing the three million papers required over the 13-day examination period.

Almost 4,000 examiners will be involved in correcting the written papers. This is in addition to the some 2,000 examiners required to mark the oral and practical tests.

Changes this year include examinations in the Romanian and Bulgarian languages at Leaving Certificate.

Last year's exams saw the addition of Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Slovakian to the list of examinations in EU languages.

The inclusion of Bulgarian and Romanian for this year's Leaving brings the total number of these language subjects to 15.

The examinations run until Thursday, June 21st, for Junior Certificate subjects and Friday, June 22nd, for Leaving Certificate subjects.

The written examinations in the Leaving Certificate Applied programme finish on Thursday, June 14th.

The results of the Leaving Certificate examinations will be available on Wednesday, August 15th.

Results of the Junior Certificate will be available in mid-September.

Last night, Dick Langford, chairman of the State Examinations Commission, advised students to adopt a calm and positive approach.

"While these examinations are a demanding test of ability requiring dedication, focus and hard work," Mr Langford said, "students can be assured that they are designed to allow them the maximum opportunity to demonstrate the levels of their achievement on completion of their junior and senior cycle studies."

He added: "All students will of course benefit greatly from the support and encouragement of their parents, family and friends in helping them to achieve to their full potential."

The number of pupils sitting the Leaving Cert this year - about 52,000 - is the lowest in more than 20 years.

With fewer students chasing more and more colleges places, careers experts says CAO points should remain at relatively low levels.

It is expected that at least 75 per cent of students will secure their preferred course at third level.

Last night, Tim O'Meara of the Teachers' Union of Ireland said students were well placed to secure their favoured course.

He said: "They should remember that the Leaving Certificate points race is based on the number of students applying for particular courses.

"If the overall numbers taking the Leaving Certificate are down, this presents students with a better chance of securing their course in particular areas."

This should, he said, act as an extra incentive to students as they entered the last 24 hours of study before the exams begin.