Tot up your points to find the true value of maths

Before most of you leave the horrors of Leaving Cert maths behind forever, the results this morning give you a final opportunity to flex your mathematical muscles.

While you all know the basics, the excitement (or despair) produced by this morning's results can dull your normally alert faculties and students often get the figures wrong.

Don't just tot up the points once, do it several times and preferably with the aid of your parents or someone else. There is nothing more embarrassing than going around on results night telling everyone you are certain to get a place on a particular course, only to discover, the next day, that your addition is wrong.

For parents less familiar with the points system, study the chart on this page and you should quickly be able to work out what your son or daughter has got - or needs to get.

Six hundred points (or six A1s) is the maximum possible and - believe it or not - this impressive score may not even be enough to get you into the newspapers tomorrow. Last year, Cork student Ms Aodhnait N∅ Fhathaigh received nine A1s.

When you are adding up the points, do not forget that pass grades also carry points. A higher-level D can give you between 45 and 55 points, while D on an ordinary-level paper can give you between five and 15 points. They may seem small differences, but they could be vital if there is a tight squeeze for your top choice.

For those who have done the exam before, remember you can only use the points from one sitting. You cannot mix subjects from different Leaving Cert sittings. The best approach is to take out your results from any previous sittings and compare them to this year's. Be careful, it is not inconceivable that your previous attempts are better than this year's attempt.

However, for the purposes of matriculation you can use different Leaving Certs. For instance, if you are using this year's points to get a place at UCD, you can go back to last year's sitting and use your pass in maths to satisfy UCD's maths matriculation requirement. However, you cannot use the points from last year.

Some colleges do give additional points. For example, UL gives 140 points for an A1 in maths, which is a hefty number by any calculation. It gives 125 for an A2, 115 for an B1, 105 for a B2 and 95 for a B3.

The DIT is even more generous when it comes to bonus points for higher-level maths. Its electrical/electronic engineering degree (FT221) gives 150 points for an A1, 135 for an A2, 128 for a B1, 120 for a B2, 113 'for a B3, 105 for a C1, 98 for a C2 and 90 for a C3. Unfortunately, the generosity does not stretch to pass grades. This course also allows for some bonus points for higher-level science subjects and you should check with the DIT, although the points are not as attractive as those for maths.

Thousands of you are doing the Leaving Cert Vocational Programme (LCVP) again this year. Colleges will allow you to present LCVP link modules in place of a sixth Leaving Cert subject.

If you score between 80 and 100 per cent in the modules, you get a distinction; between 65 and 79 per cent you get a merit, and if you score between 50 and 64 you get a pass. So how are these awards treated in points terms? The universities and DIT give 50 points for a distinction, 40 for a merit and 30 for a pass. The institutes of technology give 70 for a distinction, 50 for a merit and 30 for a pass.

One final thing to remember about calculating points: make sure you have the correct subject requirements for the course you want. Many students contact us to say they expected to be offered a particular course because they had the points, but an offer never appeared. This is probably because you did not have a required science subject or language. So, in this rarest of cases, points are not everything.

For those of you at the heady heights of over 540 points, last year the 10 courses with the highest points requirements were: medicine (scholarship option) at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) at 600; medicine at TCD and law and French at TCD, both 570; medicine at UCC and UCD, both 555; medicine at UCG 550; actuarial finance at UCD, 550; history and politics at Trinity 545; management science at Trinity 545; medicine (non scholarship) at RCSI.