More students with lower Leaving Cert points get medicine

JUMPS in scores on the aptitude test for prospective trainee doctors have seen more students with lower Leaving Certificate results gain entry to medical school.

The combined points in the Leaving Certificate and the Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT), introduced in 2009 to widen access beyond highest-performing school leavers, rose by between nine and 13 points for all five undergraduate medicine degrees.

A planned review of the system is already underway. The system caused controversy in its first two years because of the perceived disadvantage to students with more than 550 out of a maximum 600 Leaving Certificate points. Up to 2008, the minimum points needed for CAO Round 1 entry to any of the five undergraduate medicine degrees was 570.