Know your rights: Appealing Leaving Certificate calculated grades

I’m not happy with my results.  Can I appeal my Leaving Certificate calculated grades?

Due to the
postponement of the Leaving Certificate 2020 written exam, students were
offered a State Certificate of Calculated Grades in their subjects for the: 

• Leaving
  Certificate
• Leaving
  Certificate Applied (LCA) – for your outstanding assessments, including your
  subjects, vocational specialisms and tasks due to be completed in the current
  LCA session.
• Leaving
  Certificate Vocational programme (LCVP) – Link Modules

Your
calculated grade in a subject is arrived at by using:

• Your estimated percentage mark in that subject from your school
• Your position in your class/subject group as ranked by your school
• A standardisation process is then applied to ensure consistency across all schools

From 14 September at 9am, you can log in to the Calculated Grades Student Portal to appeal your calculated grade results. There is no fee to appeal your Calculated Grade result. 

However, if you want to appeal your grade, you must submit your appeal by 5pm, 16 September 2020.

The
Calculated Grades Executive Office will follow three stages when considering
your appeal:

• Stage
  1: They will check that the information was recorded and transferred correctly
  by the school
• Stage
  2: They will review that the data was correctly received and processed in the
  national standardisation process
• Stage
  3: If you are unhappy with the outcome of the appeals process you can ask for a
  review by Independent Appeal Scrutineers

The estimated percentage mark provided by your teacher cannot be reviewed.

If you have exhausted the appeals process and you remain unhappy you have recourse to the Office of the Ombudsman or, if you are under 18 years of age, to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office.

A helpline
for students is available from 7 September 2020 until after the CAO first round
offers on 11 September 2020. You can call 1800 265 165

The Calculated Grades Executive Office helpline is also available from 7 September 2020 to 16 September 2020. You can call 1800 111 135 or 1800 111 136 (from 9am to 4pm). Outside of these hours, you can email lcsupport2020@education.gov.ie

If you are
unhappy with the outcome of the calculated grades awarded or with the result of
your appeal, you can choose to sit the written Leaving Certificate exam in the
subject(s) in November 2020. Detailed
information about the written exams will be published on the SEC
website.

If you achieve
a higher grade in the written exam than in your calculated grade, your results
for that subject will be amended. If the higher grade means you would have been
entitled to a higher offer of a CAO course, you will be facilitated in taking
up that place as soon as practicable. However, it is not possible to guarantee
that you will be able to take up a college course this year.

You can find
out more about how appeals will
work with the timing of college courses.

You can get detailed information in the Department’s guide Leaving Certificate 2020: Your questions answered and in Leaving Certificate 2020 and calculated grades.

---

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find comprehensive integrated information online at citizensinformation.ie/covid19/ and you can get daily updates on what’s changed on Twitter at @citizensinfo. You can also get information and advice from:

• The Citizens Information Phone Service: Call 0761 07 4000, Monday to Friday, 9am – 8pm
• Our national call back service: Visit citizensinformation.ie/callback to request a phone call from an information officer

A limited number of appointments are being made in Citizens Information Centres offices where social distancing can be facilitated. You can continue to contact your local centre by email or phone using the details in Find a Centre page on citizensinformation.ie.