Q&A: Education Correspondent Jess Casey answers your key Leaving Cert questions
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Almost 62,000 students who sat their Leaving Cert exams in June will receive their results at 10am. They can be accessed through the online Candidate Self-Service Portal.
This year, the written exams in June more closely resembled the pre-pandemic exams as students had fewer choices and were required to answer more questions when compared to 2021 and 2022. This meant that results were typically lower after they were initially marked than in 2022. However, they were then subjected to a ‘post-marking adjustment’ applied by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) to bring them broadly in line with last year’s results.
As grades on average will be no lower this year than in 2022, competition for college places is likely to remain tight again this year, but it is worth remembering that a few different factors influence whether or not a course's cut-off points go up or down. Due to supply and demand, points can go up, down, or stay the same during any CAO round. There is never any fail-safe way to predict this in advance.
Next Wednesday, August 30, the first round of college place offers will go to students when the first round of CAO offers is released. They’ll be available from 2pm online, and also issued by email and text. Students will have until 3pm on Tuesday, September 5, to accept.
It might be worth checking your scripts to see how the marking scheme was applied to you. Keep in mind you have a very short window to decide if you would like to do so. The facility to view your scripts opens on Tuesday, August 29, at 5pm and closes on Wednesday, August 30, at 8pm. For manually marked scripts, students will be assigned to one of two three-hour sessions taking place on Saturday, September 2. For scripts marked online, access to view will be available for 24 hours, from 9am on Saturday, September 2, to 9am on Sunday, September 3.
The deadlines to apply for an appeal are very strict, so it is worth taking note of them. This year, there is a fee of €40 to appeal each Leaving Certificate subject. However, if your appeal is successful and your result is upgraded, you will be refunded. Appeals must be lodged between 10am on Sunday, September 3, and 5pm on Monday, September 4. The date for appeal results has yet to be confirmed by the State Examinations Commission.
First of all, don’t panic. The subject does carry significant weight when it comes to college places, but not all hope is lost. Several colleges offer students 'second-chance' opportunities or maths entrance exams in certain circumstances, notably Munster Technological University (MTU), University of Limerick, and Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), and Limerick (formerly LIT). It doesn’t apply in all cases, but it is worth checking with your preferred course now.