The big day: 60,000 students receive Leaving Cert results today

We all remember the moment : Walking into your school assembly, palms sweating, after a summer of stressing, to receive the results of the Leaving Cert. 

You had barely slept the night before, and that slightly sickly feeling of apprehension caused your stomach to lurch as trembling fingers ripped the top off that brown envelope. 

Almost 60,000 secondary school students are going through those emotions this morning, as they collect their results from their respective schools around the country. 

'You shouldn't be nervous for results day, there's nothing you can do about it now anyway!' pic.twitter.com/TrqFHC2ES9

— LEAVING CERT 2017 (@Leaving_2017) August 14, 2017

This year saw a new grading system, where CAO points were awarded for scores over 30 per cent, rather than 40 per cent as was the norm previously.

This could be responsible for the rise in students opting to take Higher Level subjects.

Higher Lever Irish saw a 10 per cent increase of students taking the paper, while Maths saw an 8 per cent increase. 

Grannies all over Ireland tonight #leavingcert pic.twitter.com/jSyc5Yrtvs

— Joanna Ryde (@JoannaRyde) August 15, 2017

The more lenient grading system has seen a decrease in failure rates this year. 

According to The Irish Times, failure rates have dropped by an average of 50 per cent across key subjects.