From grades to points

If you've collected your Leaving Cert. results this morning, the odds are you'll soon be reaching for the calculator or the back of an envelope to translate those results into points.

It's a straightforward calculation, but do get someone else to double-check - nerves can cause silly mistakes.

The chart above shows you how the Leaving Cert. results relate to CAO points. Points are calculated on the basis of your best six subjects - so simply add up the points for your best six subjects.

Remember, you cannot add points from a number of Leaving Certs. If this is your second or third try, you must use the best six subjects from one particular sitting. However, you can use combined Leaving Cert. results to satisfy college or faculty requirements.

For instance, to secure a place in medical lab sciences in DIT Kevin Street you must have a higher-level C or better in chemistry. This can be acquired in any one of a number of Leaving Cert. sittings; however, your points must come from your best six subjects in one sitting - which needn't include a higher-level C in chemistry.

If you were one of the 11,000 students who took the Leaving Certificate Vocational option this year, you can use your link modules for points purposes in place of a sixth subject. The three link modules are given a composite grade.

The institutes of technology (with the exception of Dublin Institute of Technology) award points as follows for the LCV option: 30 for a pass, 50 for a merit and 70 for a distinction.

This is the first year that the universities are awarding points for link modules. They are not as generous in their allocation, giving 30 points for a pass, 40 for a merit and 50 for a distinction. And the link modules do not qualify as a subject for the purposes of matriculation. The DIT gives the same points as the universities for the link modules.

The University of Limerick gives bonus points for higher-level maths, while DIT also awards bonus points for maths and a number of science subjects in the case of the degree course FT221 (electrical/electronic engineering).

Having calculated your points, you now have time to sit back and reflect - the CAO will not post out offer notices until next Monday. By next Tuesday, you should have heard from the CAO and know whether you have secured your desired place.

Also on Tuesday, The Irish Times will publish a complete listing of the cut-off points in a special College Places supplement.

Each year, the cut-off points for the various courses move up and down in response to demand from students and supply of places by the colleges. It is you, the applicants, who set the cut-off levels, because it is the number and quality (as measured in points) of applicants and the number of available places which determine the cut-off points for each course.

The cut-off point for a particular course is simply the points level achieved by the last student who was offered a place on that course. For instance, there could be a course offering 20 first-year places and 19 applicants with more than 400 points. If the next highest points score among the remaining applicants was 350, then the cut-off would be 350.

All that the points tell you is that all students who were offered places had at least that number of points. They don't measure the quality of a course.

Last year's points are only a rough guide to what may happen this year, but several courses with limited places consistently attract high-points applicants. Last year, the 10 courses with the highest points requirements were law/French in TCD; medicine in TCD; psychology in TCD; veterinary medicine in UCD; law/ German in TCD; pharmacy in TCD; medicine in UCD; medicine in UCC; actuarial/ finance in UCD and medicine in NUI Galway.

The points which will be published on Tuesday are the cut-off levels at the end of round one. Some students will reject their offers and these places will be re-offered at a subsequent date (see "`Key Dates" on page 3 of this supplement). In addition, a number of colleges advertised vacant places last year, so students had a second opportunity to apply.