The SEC published a document last week covering the completion of coursework for Leaving Cert 2026 (the current 6th years). Obviously that doesn't include physics but the appendix that covers the use of AI will be of interest to any of us looking ahead to leaving cert 2027 - when I would imagine that similar rules are likely to be in place. I don't want to paraphrase for fear of misrepresenting it, (and the safest thing is always to read the source document here: Important Announcements:...

I just went down a little stats rabbit-hole, looking at the gender divide for Leaving Cert Sciences from 2022 - which is the last year where the SEC have published the relevant stats. The figures relate to Higher level only: the Ordinary level stats are also available, but in a separate spreadsheet and I didn't get as far as combining them. This image is based on percentages. Obviously the number doing each subject varies a lot (28600 took the Biology paper, as opposed to 369 taking the Phys...

Given the release of sample papers for the upcoming Leaving Cert Physics exams a few months ago, and how this coincides with the centenary of the leaving cert exam, I thought I'd continue my occasional review of how Physics papers have evolved over the years, with a look at mechanics questions. I previously look at optics questions here: Dumbing down...or Smartening up: the Leaving Cert at 100! (and in that post, I also looked at how questions choice has changed over the decades). And we...