Leaving Certificate Biology

The Leaving Certificate Examination, often simply called the Leaving Cert, is the final examination in the Irish secondary school system. It is taken by students typically around the ages of 16 to 20, and the results are used for Irish tertiary education admissions. Biology is one of the subjects that students can choose to study for the Leaving Cert.

The Biology course is broken down into three units:

Unit 1: Biology – The Study of Life
Unit 2: The Cell
Unit 3: The Organism

These units are further divided into sub-units, which cover topics such as ecology and the environment, food and digestion, the circulatory system, the nervous system, the endocrine system, the excretory system, and reproduction, among other topics.

The Leaving Cert Biology exam consists of three sections:

Section A: This section contains short questions that cover a broad range of topics from the entire course.

Section B: This section consists of questions related to experimental procedures, including the mandatory experiments that are part of the course.

Section C: This section contains long questions that require detailed answers and often involve explaining, discussing, or interpreting biological concepts.

The examination is designed to test not only students’ knowledge of biology but also their understanding of scientific investigation and experimentation, their ability to interpret data and their understanding of the role of biology and biologists in society.