Leaving Cert results: Your first task will be to turn the grades into points

Leaving Cert: Now that you have your results, what happens next?

When you log on to the State Exams Commissions (SEC) portal this morning to discover what grades you have been awarded, you will be full of excitement and anticipation. After six years at second level, you are about to discover the fruits of your labour. Stay calm and ensure that you are clear as to how to interpret the grades in front of you as they relate to college entry requirements, for CAO in Ireland, European universities, or UCAS courses in Northern Ireland and the UK.

If it’s CAO points you are counting, you are only likely to do this exercise once in a lifetime and it is easy to get it wrong and cause yourself and your parents’ unnecessary anxiety. So, take a few minutes to carefully determine your score. You should have a points chart to hand and sites such as careersportal.ie have features to enable you to enter your grades and receive a CAO points calculation.

No matter what the outcome, it is worth remembering that success comes in many forms. For one student, a score of 560 points may be devastating in terms of studying veterinary medicine at UCD; for another, 250 points may represent a huge achievement. Remember, you count the best six scores you’ve achieved across all subjects.

If you did the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) and your score for the module is better than your lowest of the six scores, you can include the LCVP instead. If you got at least a H6 in higher-level maths, you add 25 to the normal points score attached to the grade you achieved.

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There are some slight variations in how points are calculated by some third-level colleges, and all such variations are clearly outlined in the CAO handbook. If you cannot find your copy, it is available online at cao.ie.

Will my CAO points score secure me my desired courses?

There is a widespread misperception among the general public and many students that points are determined by the colleges and that you aim to reach that target over the two years of your Leaving Cert studies.

The UCAS system in the United Kingdom works on that basis. If you meet the target grades the college or course director in question set you, then you secure your place.

Pre Covid-19, the CAO points required to secure the last place offered the previous year was usually a good indicator of whether your hopes would turn into a CAO offer.

In 2020 and 2021, students taking higher-level papers, under the emergency arrangements in place, secured far higher marks than the 2019 or previous years classes.

How this year’s points requirements will play out won’t be known until next Thursday when the CAO releases its offers, but it would be prudent to expect that the CAO points required for the most sought-after courses will stay in or around the 2021 levels.

The good news for those hoping to secure a place on a much sought-after course is that the Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has negotiated with the third level colleges a further expansion of places across a range of disciplines. Included in these numbers are 60 additional places in undergraduate medicine with 11 additional places in each of the five colleges and 9 in UL.

Additional places are listed below in summarised table of course breakdown:

Each one of these additional places will lower the CAO points requirement for the specific course involved.

Is the process fair to all?

There may be a level of justice in what is going to occur next Thursday, as it relates to this year’s Leaving Cert class. The rising tide of grade inflation will raise all boats, but the highest-achieving students will still secure the coveted high-demand courses.

If the upwards adjustment of grades for the class of 2022 increases the CAO points requirements above those that were required in 2021 some who might feel confident of receiving an offer based on Leaving Cert grades received today may end up disappointed next Thursday.

Where this fairness may break down is in relation to applicants who sat the Leaving Cert in previous years, who are applying for a CAO place this year. Given that the adjustment in marks upwards are designed to bring them in line with those awarded in 2021, last year’s Leaving Cert students have no grounds for complaint.

At a distinct disadvantage are CAO applicants who sat the Leaving Cert prior to 2020 and in the years immediately preceding it, who have had no benefit from the easier papers set in 2021 and 2022, which reflected lost tuition time for these year groups, and are stuck with the results they achieved when they sat the traditional Leaving Cert.

Many of them were bitterly disappointed not to receive an offer in 2020 or 2021 and have applied again this year.

They will look with growing trepidation at the celebration of their younger peers today and reflect on what these results will mean for their hopes of securing their longed-for course in the coming weeks.

Other options

There are alternatives to the CAO that are worth considering as well. Ireland has a growing system of further education and training (FET), consisting of an extensive range of PLC courses along with an enhanced and expanding apprenticeship programmes where ongoing training and part-time study are built into the job.

These routes from school to further education provide many opportunities for the tens of thousands of young learners who wish to develop their abilities and skills in a way that is best suited to them. Indeed, many courses ultimately lead to a third-level qualification.

For a significant cohort of those leaving secondary schools each year the option of studying for a QQI level-five or six award at the local FE college or starting an apprenticeship, which mixes working in employment alongside study, is by far the most appropriate choice, even if a CAO place happens to be available to them.

Further education courses are provided in Education and Training Board colleges throughout the country. Courses are designed to consolidate the learning of those who excel in disciplines ranging from IT, science , business and art.

Up to 20 per cent of places in courses with the highest CAO points are reserved for graduates of FE courses each year and see applicants securing places and thriving in those courses even though, 12 months previously, they may have been hundreds of CAO points short of the required entry score.

Other FE courses are designed to prepare students to enter directly into high-quality employment, in vocational/employment-focused courses such as pre-Garda/pre-paramedic, childcare, hairdressing, animal health care, etc immediately on completion of their one- or two-year programmes.

More information on CAO-linked PLC/FE courses is available from careersportal.ie while details of every PLC/FE course in the country are available through the qualifax.ie website.

The Irish Times will publish a special guide to these QQI-validated courses in a special Smart Choices supplement on 6 September.