Leaving Certificate students taking the ordinary level maths exam are now 19 times more likely to obtain an A grade than they were in the early 1990s, according to the results of a major study obtained by the Sunday Tribune.


The average number of A grades awarded for the 10 most popular ordinary level subjects has increased by 600% in just 15 years.


As thousands of Leaving Certificate students around the country rush to meet this evening's deadline for CAO applications, the research prompts fresh concerns that the exam has been "dumbed down" in recent years.


The full study, which is being published for the first time, finds that the rate of A grades in the 10 most popular higher-level subjects among students who sat the Leaving Certificate in 2006 has more than doubled since 1992.


Four times as many A grades were handed out in higher-level Irish and almost three times as many A grades were awarded in higher-level English. Twice as many A grades in higher-level Maths and around three times as many in Business and Geography were also awarded.


The new report, entitled 'Grade Inflation in the Leaving Certificate Examination 1992-2006', was conducted by Martin O'Grady, a lecturer at the Institute of Technology in Tralee.


The research also notes large increases in the rates of B grades, and a corresponding decrease in the level of C, D and other lower grades, indicating an overall shift upwards in the level of grades awarded.


But it is among the 10 most popular ordinary-level subjects that the highest increases in upper-level grades were registered.


A grades in ordinary-level English increased by a factor of more than 13, grades in French increased by a factor of 11, and grades in Irish increased by a factor of eight.


Overall, the report finds much greater rates of increases in the number of A grades than B grades handed out at both higher and ordinary level.


For example, among the 10 most popular Leaving Certificate subjects, the rate of A grades awarded at higher level increased by an average of 144%, while the rate of B grades increased by an average of 52%.


The study also reveals that the level of A1s –for a mark of 90% of more – awarded at higher level increased by over 300% during the period, while the level of A2s increased by almost 100%.


Report and analysis, see related articles