A total of 7,870 students are expected to sit Thursday’s Leaving Cert agricultural science paper – 2,981 girls and 4,889 boys. Just 775 of those are expected to take the ordinary level paper.

Approximately one in ten students who sat the higher-level paper in recent years has received an A grade, while almost seven out of ten students sitting the same level has obtained a C grade or higher. Approximately 7% to 8% of students sitting the higher level paper failed it in the last three years.

The number of students taking ag science as a subject for the Leaving Cert has increased by almost 14% since 2012.

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Plans to reform the current 40-year-old syllabus are under way. A syllabus development group has been established and it is expected the new syllabus will be ready to roll out in schools by September 2017.