A record number of Leaving Certificate students are appealing their exam results this year, it has emerged.
According to the State Examinations Commission (SEC), more than 9,000 candidates have made applications to appeal more than 17,000 grades.
This is a 74% increase on the number of students appealing compared to last year, and an 87% increase on the actual number of grades appealed, according to RTE.
The rise follows significant publicity surrounding the appeals process over the past year, following a successful High Court challenge to appeal procedures this time last year.
Rebecca Carter took a case to the High Court alleging an unreasonable delay in the processing of appeals after she narrowly missed out on a college place due to the slowness of the process.
Following a High Court ruling in her favour, the SEC introduced changes this year to speed up the appeals process.
Students now receive the outcome of any appeal more than three weeks earlier than previously, in mid-September.
There has been a 192 per cent increase in the amount of music students appealing their final grade – with 479 applications received.
Design and communication (187 per cent), Higher-level Irish (161 per cent), Biology, French, Spanish, German and engineering are among the subjects being appealed in huge numbers.
Around one in five papers are upgraded after an appeal.
The SEC said the increase in appeals is greater than it anticipated.
However, it said it wants to reassure candidates that the planned issue date of the week beginning 16 September will be achieved.
During the appeal process the original marking of an exam is reviewed by an appeal examiner who was not involved in the original marking.
Last year, 16% of appeals were successful for candidates, resulting in upgrades. However, five papers were downgraded during the process.
