Assessment for Leaving Certificate
The examination at both Ordinary and Higher Levels comprises four components. A separate examination paper is issued for each component at each level consisting of instructions, stimulus material and specific questions.
- Imaginative Composition or Still Life: 100 marks (25%)
- Design or Craftwork: 100 marks (25%)
- Life Sketching: 50 marks (12.5%)
- History and Appreciation of Art: 150 marks (37.5%).
Imaginative Composition or Still Life
This paper, covering both the Imaginative Composition and Still Life options, is distributed to candidates one week prior to their sitting the examination and consists of a number of passages of prose and/or poetry to act as stimulus material.
The candidate is examined in his/her skills in composing and producing an Imaginative Composition or a Still Life work based on his/her interpretation of one of the texts. A wide choice of media and techniques is allowed. This is a two and a half hour examination.
Design or Craftwork
A separate examination paper is issued to schools for each of Design and Craftwork. The examination paper is distributed to candidates one week prior to their sitting the examination.
In the case of the Design component, candidates answer one question from a choice of ten to twelve options. Each question requires candidates to produce a design for a specific craft in response to a specific question which is based on a number of accompanying passages of prose/poetry. The Design examination is of two and a half hours duration.
Candidates who choose the Craftwork option are required to both design and make an item of craftwork from a choice of fourteen different crafts. Stimulus material for craftwork consists of specific topics/themes. The Craftwork examination is of five hours duration.
Life Sketching
As for the other practical components, candidates are issued with the examination paper for Life Sketching one week in advance of the examination. Candidates are required to produce two drawings from direct observation of the model; the first is of a fifteen-minute pose where the model is in a standing position and the second is a more fully worked drawing of a thirty-minute seated pose. Candidates have the option of drawing the full figure or the head and shoulders for the second pose. The examination is completed in a given time frame of one hour.
History and Appreciation of Art
This written examination, at both Ordinary and Higher Levels, comprises three sections as follows:
- Section 1 – Art in Ireland,
- Section 2 – European Art
- Section 3 – Appreciation of Art.
Candidates are required to answer three questions, one from each of the three sections. The examination paper contained twenty questions for Ordinary Level and twenty-one for Higher Level. The written examination is of two and a half hours duration.