Major changes to the Junior Certificate marking scheme means that students will now only need a mark of 20% to achieve a grade of “partially achieved”, as opposed to a “fail”.
Students that achieve less than 20% will not pass their exam and will be given a mark of “NG”- No Grade.
There will also be further changes to the old ‘honours’, ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ trichotomy of the Junior Cert marking system. Students who earn between 90% and 100% will be awarded a ‘distinction’, with 75% to 89% being worth of a ‘higher merit’ score.
This reform is settl be piloted in the final written exam for Junior Cert English in the academic year 2016-2017 before being expanded to all subjects next year.