Reasonable Accommodations

Post-primary students with special needs may have special arrangements made for them while sitting State examinations (the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations). Candidates with disabilities can apply through their school for Reasonable Accommodation in Certificate Examinations (RACE). These reasonable accommodations are intended to:

  • remove, as far as possible, the impact of the disability on the candidate's performance and enable them to demonstrate their level of attainment
  • ensure that while giving candidates every opportunity to demonstrate their level of attainment, the candidate is not given an unfair advantage over other candidates in the same examination.
Examples of reasonable accommodation include the following:
  • Exemption from some components of an exam if a student’s particular special need means they cannot complete it (e.g. students with a hearing impairment may be exempted from the aural exams as part of their language subjects)
  • The provision of enlarged and/or Braille versions of questions for visually impaired students
  • Use of voice-activated computers, tape recorders or scribes (other people to do the writing)
  • A reader to read the questions to the candidate
  • In the case of aural examinations, the candidate may be allowed to sit in a separate room
Schools also have the authority to make a number of other arrangements to facilitate examination candidates with special needs without requesting advance permission from the Commission. These include:
  • Granting breaks or rest periods in each examination session that are warranted by the physical or medical condition of the candidate.
  • Allowing candidates to take medicine, food or drinks into the examination centre where this is required for medical reasons.
  • Allowing the candidate to move within the centre.
  • Allowing the use of a special desk or chair used in the classroom.
  • Allowing the use of low vision aids used normally in the classroom.
  • Ensuring that a candidate with a hearing impairment is positioned close to the superintendent.
(Information adapted from State Examinations Commission and Citizens Information Bureau Websites)

Note: Where an element of an examination has been waived, or the method of examining has been significantly altered, this will be indicated by the presence of an explanatory note on the candidate's certificate.