For the first time, over 140 thousand students are sitting the state exams.
The Junior Cert and Leaving Cert exams get underway today with English Paper One.
140,457 pupils from over 800 schools will sit papers over the coming weeks in 5,846 main and almost 10,000 special examination centres.
It's a 3% increase on the number of people to sit the exams last year.
The exams will run until Tuesday the 24th of June for Leaving Cert, Thursday the 12th of June for LCA and Monday the 16th of June for Junior Cert.
Results for the senior cycle will be released on the 22nd of August, while Junior Cycle grades are expected in October.
Today, students will start with English, while Leaving Cert students have Home Economics this afternoon and Junior Cert students have Religion.
The last exams to take place will be Leaving Cert Religion and Applied Maths.
‘We extend the very best of luck to all taking the State examinations this year.’
‘Those sitting the Leaving Certificate should take comfort in the fact that there has never been a wider range of routes to pursue their career of choice.’
‘In general, students will usually find that they are better prepared than they might think. As much as possible, they should maintain a balanced lifestyle over the exam period, taking regular breaks and making sure to eat and sleep properly."
Jacinta Stewart, Chairperson of the State Examinations Commission said:
“Today marks a real milestone in the educational journey for the thousands of candidates taking the State examinations. On behalf of my fellow Commissioners and the staff of the SEC, I want to offer our sincere best wishes to all those taking examinations this year. I also want to express my appreciation to parents and families as well as school communities for supporting these candidates at this very important time in their lives.”
Full timetables for the exams can be found on the State Examinations Commission website at https://www.examinations.ie/?l=en&mc=ex&sc=e25.
