AT FIRST glance it's a very easy question. Applicants are asked to state where they went to school - and "from" when "to" when. Simple enough to answer, one might think. A bit of a doddle, actually, compared to some of the questions on the higher-level maths paper.
Sadly, this is obviously not the case. Last year, one bright CAO applicant answered the question on the school attended by sticking down the name of the school and, beneath it, "from 9.30 to 4.15". The result is that this year the "from" and "to" sections now have "19.." beneath them just to make sure that everyone gets the message.
The CAO form is not designed to be difficult. It requires the minimum amount of information necessary to process an application which will, if filled out correctly, provide applicants with the opportunity to do the course of their dreams, spend a number of productive years in college, get a good job and eventually settle down with someone who will love them and laugh at their jokes.
Yet every year applicants endanger their future by failing to take the time to fill the form out correctly. For a small amount of concentration the rewards are potentially very considerable indeed: if you can't take the time to fill the form out correctly, then third-level may very well not be for you.
"If they can't complete the form they shouldn't have left national school," says a CAO spokesman. "It's not the form. They just don't seem to pay attention, despite the fact that they are dealing with their futures and perhaps how they will spend the rest of their lives."
At the very least, making a mistake on the CAO form will delay the processing of your application and the CAO will charge you an additional £5 for the trouble of sending it back to you and reprocessing the result. At worst, filling out the application form incorrectly may mean that you don't get the college course you wanted. In fact, you may not get any course at all and then you will be very sad indeed.
"They are not annoying us because we are beyond annoyance by now", says the CAO spokesman. "They are dealing with their futures and £5 is a cheap lesson to learn. We're not aiming at the parents but if the parents do have to pay an extra £5 because of a mistake made when filling out the form then they should make sure that little Sharon misses the disco, just so she'll know."