Leaving Cert figures suggest points may fall

THE points needed for many college places could be down slightly on last year as this year’s Leaving Certificate figures show a drop in the number of students scoring top grades.

Although three students will find out this morning that they got nine A1s in higher-level subjects, those with four or more A1s fell from 709 last year to 637.

These figures, combined with a drop in honours levels in a number of core subjects, resulted in a drop in high points scoring among those of the 57,422 Leaving Certificate students who have applied for college places.