The State Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle written exams begin this morning with record numbers of students registered.
A total of 71,698 candidates are expected to sit this year's Leaving Certificate exams.
This is 9% more than last year.
The overall number registered for the State exams has surpassed 146,000 for the first time.
In total, 146,553 intend on sitting this year’s State exams, which is an increase of 4% compared to 2025.
The rise is the result of population growth in the exams age cohort.
A new measure will see around 30,000 students receive 10 minutes of additional time this year in each exam.
This is an interim arrangement introduced for Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle students who have additional needs which entitle them to a range of accommodations under pre-existing rules.
Calling this a "major milestone", Chairperson of the State Examinations Commission Jacinta Stewart said it was part of a wider review of its reasonable accommodation scheme.
"Our work on the review of the RACE Scheme continues, guided by two key principles which seek to balance, on the one hand, access for candidates with special educational needs and, on the other, equity and fairness for all candidates undertaking their examinations," she said.
The exams are being held at centres across more than 800 post-primary schools as well as other approved venues.
They run until Tuesday 23 June.
The Leaving Certificate exam results are due to be published on Friday 21 August, and once again this year’s marks will be boosted in a post-marking adjustment.
This is part of the commitment given by the Government a number of years ago for a gradual return to pre-pandemic results levels.
Results from 2025 were boosted to rest in aggregate at a point broadly midway between 2020 and 2021 levels.
"Continuing this trend in 2026, will see the overall Leaving Certificate results just below 2020 levels which were ahead of 2019 levels by four percentage points," the State Examinations Commission said in a statement.
As in previous years, the boost will be applied after all initial Leaving Certificate marking is complete.
This process has contributed to the later publication of the results in recent years compared to a normal, pre-Covid year.
This year’s results are being published roughly a week later than would have been typical in pre-Covid times.
The Leaving Certificate exams begin for most candidates at 9.30am this morning, with English Paper 1.
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