Better exam results may hike degree cut-off

There are almost 600 more students than last year who scored more than 450 points in the Leaving Cert competition for college places, which are due to be offered on Monday.

The Central Applications Office received data earlier this week from the State Examinations Commission about the results of just over 54,000 people who got Leaving Certificate results on Wednesday. Almost 46,000 of them are among 77,977 people to seek college places through the CAO.

The figures show that 11,345 got 450 out of a 600 maximum points, as the figures do not include any bonus points for maths. The figure is up from 10,754 this time last year, or from 20.4% to 21% of all Leaving Certificate candidates.