Has the Leaving cert been 'dumbed down'?

[belvoboy]

A long time since I read this thread so apologies if this is a repeat. What they could also do is give percentile scores (as they do for SATs in the US and also GREs for grad school entry, IIRC). Thus scores from different "eras" could be compared.

[peterc661]

I dont think maths turned out that well this year again

[riker1969]

Firstly congratulations to all students on Leaving cert results and to those teachers (yes there are many) who worked hard to help their students.

For old timers like myself I am often somewhat surprised at the number of very high grades achieved in recent years. Some say it is because students and teachers are working harder and I am sure that this is the case often enough but the suggestion that the exam has been 'dumbed down' is often made and deserves to be treated in a manner that will address whether there is some truth in this assertion.
Is it possible to objectively measure whether this is so?
I would not be tempted to take at face value anything from the Department of Education on this and was wondering is there any independent way of investigating this.

Based on your posts you were always dumb and cant be dumbed down any further.