It is « inevitable » that points for most courses will increase due to record breaking certificate results

The head of the Central Applications Office (CAO) said it was « not inevitable » that college course points would increase after record results in this year’s Leaving Cert.

Pól Ó Dochartaigh said today that the « difficult reality » is that some students will not secure their first choice as the points required for a « significant percentage » of undergraduate courses will increase.

“Points have gone up and so has demand for places,” Dochartaigh said on RTÉ’s This Week radio show.

When everything balances out, I think it’s likely, as it was a year ago, that points, not for all courses, but for a large percentage of courses will go up. This is inevitable.

The percentage of higher grades awarded to candidates in this year’s drop-out certificate has increased significantly compared to last year, which in turn was higher than in 2019.

Scores are up an average of 2.4% compared to 2020. However, the increase is greater for many higher-level subjects. The number of students with H1 grades in some popular subjects increased by more than 7%.

Ó Dochartaigh noted that the increases left students who completed their drop-off certificate in 2019 but deferred enrollment in tertiary education “very significantly.”

“Any student who has been deferred for a year or, for whatever reason, has had to sit out for a year, has now not attained an equal level.

I think we have to find some way to actually reevaluate that, to give these students, who worked hard before 2020, a way to get into university.

« We’ve tried to do our best with this year’s students and past years’ Covid students, but I think we’ve been basically unfair to students before 2020 as a result, » Dochartaigh added.