How to Get a H1 in Leaving Cert English

A H1 in Leaving Cert English means scoring 360 of the 400 marks across the two papers, 200 marks each, at the standard 90% threshold. No mark on either paper is awarded for a content point. Every task on both papers is marked against the same four criteria, and one of those four sets a ceiling on two of the others.

Which exam you will sit

English is being rewritten under Senior Cycle Redevelopment, the programme replacing every Leaving Cert subject specification. It sits in Tranche 2, the second group of subjects to be rewritten, and both the SEC and the NCCA have attached the same caveat to it.

The SEC's Senior Cycle Redevelopment page lists English under Tranche 2 with an asterisk, and the footnote reads "will not be given effect earlier than September 2027". The NCCA's schedule of subjects for redevelopment marks English the same way, and its note reads "The introduction of these subjects has been postponed until at least September 2027."

September 2027 is a date for teaching a course, not for examining one. A specification that reaches fifth years in September 2027 is examined for the first time in June 2029. Candidates sitting English in June 2027 and June 2028 are therefore on the current two papers, and so are fifth years who started in September 2026.

The papers those candidates sit also carry the assessment adjustments, the extra choice added from 2021 onwards. Page 27 of the Department of Education's Assessment Arrangements for 2026 prints the unadjusted arrangement beside the current one for English. Two things differ on Paper 2. Questions on all three comparative modes appear, where the unadjusted paper carries two of the three. Prescribed Poetry prints one extra question, so five poets appear where four would. The Department of Education's information note for schools states that for the 2027 cohort and beyond the adjustments "will remain in place for all existing subjects until they are replaced by new or revised specifications under Senior Cycle Redevelopment", and that in 2027 they apply to every subject outside Tranche 1.

Paper 1 and Paper 2 ask for different things

The two papers carry the same 200 marks and test different work. Paper 1 gives you texts you have never seen. Paper 2 asks about texts you have studied for two years.

Higher Level Paper 1 from 2025 ran on Wednesday 4 June 2025 from 9.30 to 12.20. Its cover page divides 200 marks into two sections of 100. Section I, Comprehending, prints three texts on a general theme, which in 2025 was Perspectives. Each text carries a Question A worth 50 marks and a Question B worth 50 marks. You answer one Question A and one Question B, and the cover page states that they may not be on the same text. Section II, Composing, prints seven composition assignments worth 100 marks each, and you write one.

Paper 2 ran the next afternoon, Thursday 5 June 2025, from 2.00 to 5.20. Its 200 marks divide across four required answers.

One instruction runs across the first two sections. The cover page states that candidates must answer on Shakespearean Drama, in Section I or in Section II. A second rule says the text you used in Section I may not be used again in Section II.

Inside the comparative section, each of the three modes offers a two-part question worth 30 and 40 marks or a single essay worth 70. The 30-mark part asks about one text and the 40-mark part compares two others, so the two-part route commits you to three texts. The single 70-mark essay requires at least two.

The four criteria, and the one that caps the rest

Page 2 of the 2025 Higher Level marking scheme sets out the criteria used on every task on both papers. Clarity of Purpose, Coherence of Delivery and Efficiency of Language Use are worth 30% of a task each. Accuracy of Mechanics is worth 10%. The same page adds a rule governing how the four interact:

Given the primacy of Clarity of Purpose (P), marks awarded for either Coherence of Delivery (C) or Efficiency of Language Use (L) cannot exceed the marks awarded for Clarity of Purpose.

What each criterion covers, and how the 50-mark Question B splits, is set out in our post on how Leaving Cert marking schemes work. The larger tasks split the same way. A 100-mark composition is marked P 30, C 30, L 30, M 10. A 60-mark Single Text answer is P 18, C 18, L 18, M 6. A 70-mark comparative answer is P 21, C 21, L 21, M 7.

Appendix 2 of the scheme converts each of those criterion marks to a grade band. On a 100-mark composition, a criterion worth 30% runs 30 to 27 for a H1, then 24 for a H2, 21 for a H3, 18 for a H4 and 15 for a H5. Below H1 the bands are single numbers, so each drop of one grade on one criterion costs 3 marks.

The primacy rule is what makes those 3 marks compound. Take a composition where the examiner judges Clarity of Purpose to be H4 standard and awards 18. Coherence of Delivery and Efficiency of Language Use are now capped at 18 each. Add full marks for mechanics and the answer cannot pass 18 + 18 + 18 + 10, which is 64 out of 100. On the same grid, 64 is a H4.

What that arithmetic means for how you write

Accuracy of Mechanics on a 100-mark composition runs 10 to 9 for a H1, 8 for a H2, 7 for a H3 and 6 for a H4. Spelling and grammar at H4 standard cost you 4 marks against a perfect script. A composition marked P 30, C 30, L 30 and M 6 comes to 96, which is a H1 on that task.

Clarity of Purpose moves 12 marks over the same four grades, from 18 at H4 to 30 at H1. It also moves the ceiling on two other criteria by 12 each. So the swing across those four grades is 4 marks on mechanics and up to 36 marks on purpose. Proofreading earns the first figure. Answering the question that was set, in the form it names, from the first line of the answer to the last, earns the second.

The scheme's wording under each task shows what holding the task in view means. The 2025 Question B on Text 1 asked for a pre-match team talk from the captain of an underdog school team. Under P, the scheme asks for "Understanding of genre and register of a team talk by the captain to team mates, who are underdogs in the competition". It then asks for focus on all three things the question listed. Under C, it asks for "Sustained focus" and "Continued control of register" and the management and sequencing of ideas.

The form is named in the question every time. Across the 77 composition assignments on the eleven Higher Level Paper 1 papers from 2015 to 2025, every one states the form to be written. Short story is the most frequent at 20 of the 77, then personal essay at 19, speech at 12, discursive essay at 10, and descriptive essay and feature article at 5 each. An essay written in the wrong form is a Clarity of Purpose problem before it is anything else, and Clarity of Purpose caps two more criteria behind it.

Choice mistakes the scheme prices

Appendices 3 and 4 of the 2025 scheme set out what happens when a candidate breaks a choice rule. Each of these deductions removes whole answers or fractions of answers, so they run to tens of marks.

On Paper 1, a candidate who answers Question A and Question B on the same text has both attempts marked out of full marks, and the lower mark is disallowed. On Paper 2, where there is no attempt at Shakespeare, the comparative answer is marked and then cut. A single-part 70-mark comparative answer loses one third of its mark. On a two-part question, either the 30-mark part (a) is disallowed or half the marks on the 40-mark part (b) are, whichever leaves the candidate better off. Using a text that is not prescribed for comparative study is penalised the same way.

Prescribed material changes from year to year

The single texts, the comparative texts and the prescribed poets are set for one examination at a time. The 2025 scheme names its source in one line on page 2, saying the list of texts prescribed for assessment in 2025 is set out in a departmental circular. In 2025 the Shakespearean options were King Lear on the Single Text and King Lear or The Merry Wives of Windsor on the comparative course. The 2026 assessment arrangements name Macbeth in both places.

So check the circular for your own year on curriculumonline.ie or gov.ie, and take your poets and texts from your teacher. Any list you find in a blog post, including this one, is a list for a year that has already been examined.

Nobody can tell you which poets will come up

We will not predict the prescribed poetry question, and no prediction of it has any standing. The five questions on the 2025 paper were on Eavan Boland, Patrick Kavanagh, T.S. Eliot, Derek Mahon and Tracy K. Smith. Naming those five tells you what was set in 2025 and nothing about any later year.

The SEC has warned candidates directly about sources claiming advance knowledge of a paper, and we quote that warning in full in our post on whether Leaving Cert questions repeat.

Two features of the poetry question make a prediction worth less than it looks. The adjustment prints five questions where the unadjusted paper carries four, so more of the prescribed poets are reached. The question also sets its own terms each year. The 2025 Kavanagh question named "simple language" and "a parochial perspective". The Mahon question asked whether reading the poetry aloud would improve an audience's appreciation of it. Knowing a poet is on the paper answers neither of those.

Working from the papers

Every Higher Level paper and marking scheme is free from the SEC, and the Leaving Cert English past papers page puts each paper beside its scheme. The 2025 papers are the most recent set with a published scheme. The corpus behind this site also groups those questions by section, so the Composing and Comprehending pages gather the Paper 1 questions from several years on one page.

When you mark your own answer, give yourself four marks rather than one. A composition scored 68 out of 100 does not say which criterion held it there, and the criterion is what you would work on next. Marking P first is the useful order, because it sets the ceiling for C and L.

Both English sessions on the 2026 timetable were printed in red, and note 1 at the foot of that page says such sessions include 20 minutes over and above the time traditionally allocated. Our post on exam time management works those durations into a rate of marks per minute for each task on both papers. Paper 2 comes out at one mark a minute, which makes the trade easy to hold in your head while you are writing.

The threshold itself is the same in every subject, as our post on Leaving Cert grades sets out. If you are working towards a H1 in more than one subject, our posts on Biology and Higher Maths cover the structures of those papers.

FAQ

What percentage do you need for a H1 in Leaving Cert English? 360 of the 400 marks across the two papers, which is the standard 90% threshold.

What is the difference between English Paper 1 and Paper 2? Paper 1 is unseen material. It carries three texts you read on the day, with a comprehension question and a functional writing task, plus a composition worth half the paper. Paper 2 is on the texts and poetry you studied, in four answers covering the Single Text, the Comparative Study, an unseen poem and prescribed poetry.

How is Leaving Cert English marked? Against four criteria applied to every task. Clarity of Purpose, Coherence of Delivery and Efficiency of Language Use carry 30% each, and Accuracy of Mechanics carries 10%. Marks for Coherence of Delivery and Efficiency of Language Use cannot exceed the mark for Clarity of Purpose.

How much do spelling and grammar count for? 10% of each task. On a 100-mark composition, mechanics at H4 standard rather than H1 standard costs 4 marks.

Do I have to answer on Shakespeare? Yes. The 2025 Paper 2 cover page states that candidates must answer on Shakespearean Drama, in the Single Text section or in the Comparative Study. Where there is no attempt at Shakespeare, the scheme cuts the comparative answer.

Which poets will come up this year? That cannot be known and should not be guessed. The SEC has warned candidates about sources claiming advance knowledge of a paper. The adjusted paper prints five prescribed poetry questions rather than four.

Is Leaving Cert English changing? Not for candidates sitting in 2027 or 2028. English is in Tranche 2 of Senior Cycle Redevelopment, and both the SEC and the NCCA state that its introduction is postponed until at least September 2027. A course reaching fifth years that September would first be examined in June 2029.

How long are the English exams? Both sessions include 20 minutes beyond the time traditionally allocated. On the 2026 timetable, Paper 1 ran on Wednesday 3 June from 9.30am to 12.20pm and Paper 2 on Thursday 4 June from 2.00pm to 5.20pm.

The ExamAI tutor works through a real Leaving Cert English question with you, holding the official criteria for that task. It asks what the question is actually setting you before you write anything, then tells you where your answer drifted off the task and what that drift does to the marks underneath it. That is what making learning personal means here.