Q&A: Specialist questions on Leaving Cert results

Expert guidance counsellors Brian Howard and Deirdre Garrett were working on irishtimes.com on Thursday answering people's queries about Leaving Cert results and the CAO.

Here is a selection of the questions and answers on more particular topics.

An asterisk was on my French result indicating I had not done an oral, but I did do one. Can I get it changed?

I would advise you to contact the State Examinations Commission (SEC) office on 090-644248 or email orals@examinations.ie.

Call for review of Leaving Cert maths bonus over third-level fears

---

Brian Mooney: How many points will I need for my course?

---

Q&A: Viewing my Leaving Cert exam scripts

---

Brian Mooney: Waiting almost over for Leaving Cert students

---

How is it possible to check the mark given for the Music practical?

This mark will not be available to see when viewing your written paper. I would advise you to contact the head of music in the SEC office. The email address is practicals@examinations.ie.

How do you know if your CAO offer is through Dare? Is it written on the offer?

Nothing is written on your offer. You will know yourself if you get an offer for a course for which you haven’t met the points requirement but are still being offered a place.

My daughter received a letter saying she is eligible for Hear but is unsure of the next step. Will she be informed through the CAO?

The next step is to just wait until Monday and see what offer she receives from the CAO. She does not need to do anything until then.

When the offers arrive, she will have a few days to decide what she wants to do with them. If she wants to she could talk to the college involved about their offer.

My daughter got 466 points. Her first choice is B Ed in Mary Immaculate College, and she has been accepted through Dare. Could she get a place without Dare and still get supports or are you only considered through Dare?

If a student who has been accepted onto the Dare scheme gets enough points for a course without the help of the Dare scheme, then he/she will be offered a non-Dare place.

This does not mean they will not get the supports they may need when they get into college. An assessment of needs will still be carried out when the student arrives in college and any supports deemed necessary will be provided, even though the student did not enter via the Dare scheme.

Have you any insight into why the results and offers are published five days apart? In the UK the results and offers are on the same day, which is a lot easier than the anguish and speculation that happens here.

It’s a totally different system. UK colleges make an offer in early March, grade depending. This happens before exams are even sat.

In Ireland, results come first. Admissions officers from each institution meet and work through the variable issues around making offers. They will be working hard to ensure that all candidates get an offer to which they are entitled.

If you accept a place offered through CAO, do you incur any financial obligations? Specifically, can you choose later not to take the course, possibly because you are repeating the Leaving Cert, without being forced to pay for the fees?

You will only have to pay for your course if you register as a student in that college. This will be sometime in September. Although you may accept a place next week, nothing is definite or comes with a financial cost until registration day.