The Leaving Certificate or Leaving Cert is the final course in the Irish secondary school system and closes with the Leaving Certificate Examination. It takes a minimum of two years preparation but an optional Transition Year in many schools means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior Certificate Examination. Most students taking the examination are aged 17-19; in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam. Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission in hundreds of exam centres around the country.

The Leaving Cert operates on a points system. Maximum you can achieve is 600 points or 6 A1's. A2 is worth 90 points, B1 85 and so on. on average, most students score around the 300 mark.

Exams are sat in june and results are given out in mid-august. College offers are then issued to students. Most of the Leaving Cert exams are written exam however there are some practical subjects like art, construction, metalwork etc.. all of which have at least 50% of marks going for practicalm work in the form of portfolio's, projects etc..

http://www.theleavingcert.com - a great leaving cert resource for students created by an ex-leaving cert student