Assessment at Junior Cycle

Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement 

Junior cycle students will receive a new Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA).
The JCPA will reflect a much wider range of your child’s achievements over the three years of junior cycle and it will report on a number of areas, including:

1. Subjects
2. Classroom Based Assessments
3. Short Courses
4. Other Learning Experiences

Students can study a maximum of 10 subjects for the JCPA, or 9 subjects plus 2 short courses for certification purposes.

The state examination that students sit in their subject at the end of their junior cycle will also be graded differently. Instead of A, B, C, D, E, F and NG which you would see on the traditional Junior Certificate transcipt of results, the following descriptors will now be used:

• Distinction
• Higher Merit
• Merit
• Achieved
• Partially Achieved
• Not Graded

Please click here if you would like to view a sample JCPA. 

Classroom Based Assessments (CBAs)

Classroom Based Assessments (CBAs) provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning and skills in ways not possible in a pen and paper examination, for example, their verbal communication and investigation skills. CBAs are undertaken in subjects and short courses and they are facilitated by the classroom teacher.

CBAs are undertaken during a defined time period within normal class contact time, and to a national timetable. Students will complete one CBA in second year and one in third year, with the exception of Irish, where both assessments are completed during third year. Please click here to access the CBA calendar for the current school year. 

After students have completed the second CBA in third year they will complete a written Assessment Task, which is set by National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and which is worth 10% of the overall mark in most subjects. It is carried out during normal class time and is sent to the State Examinations Commission (SEC) for marking. At the end of third year, students will sit the final SEC examination in June.

CBAs will be reported on in every student's JCPA using the following descriptors:

• Exceptional
• Above Expectations
• In Line with Expectations
• Yet to Meet Expectations