Leaving cert results: Record numbers get highest possible points

Leaving Certificate students have yet again outperformed those of previous years with record numbers getting some of the highest possible college entry points.

For the first time, more than 10% (5,646) of Leaving Certificate students have scored 500 points or more out of a maximum 600, before the 25-point bonus is added for up to 14,000 students who passed higher level maths.

These students are among the 12,025 — nearly 22% of all 2015 school leavers whose results are being analysed by the CAO — to get at least 450 points. The numbers with at least 450 and 500-plus points are up by 680 and 396, respectively, on the corresponding figures a year ago.

The CAO received applications from 46,676 students of the class of 2015, making up around 60% of 79,000 total applications. It will fill most of an expected 47,000 college places available for the coming year on Monday morning, when students can check online from 6am to see if they have been accepted on one of the courses to which they applied.

The possibility of big rises in CAO points for many degrees due to improved Leaving Certificate performance could be offset by the relatively small increase this year in students getting 25 extra points for sitting and passing honours maths. After jumps of more than 1,700 and 1,000 in 2013 in numbers eligible for the bonus, it is up by just 230 to 13,912 this year after higher level uptake levelled off at just over 27% of students sitting maths exams.

CAO statistics last month revealed rising demand for engineering and technology degrees which, combined with the overall rise in high-scoring students, could see modest increases in points for courses in those categories, many of which require students to have honours maths. But fewer students than last year had a science degree as their first preference, which may limit the size of any points increases in that discipline.

The Leaving Certificate performance data comes from the CAO, which was provided this week with every student’s set of results by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).

The Irish Examiner’s analysis of similar figures over the past five years shows that the points of the average Leaving Certificate student are unchanged from last year at 345. But that is 10 points more than in 2013 and up from 325 points in 2011. The proportion of students scoring at least 450 points has risen from less than 19% to 21.8% since 2011, during which time numbers with at least 500 points or more have jumped from less than 9% of school leavers to 10.3%.

The 2015 figures include over 11,000 who received less than 100 points, which may include students who took less than the six Leaving Certificate subjects that can be counted to calculate CAO scores. That figure is down from 13,405 four years ago, which may reflect falling numbers of repeat Leaving Certificate students and those sitting exams outside second-level schools, who are more likely to sit exams in fewer subjects.

The deadline for accepting Monday’s offers is a week later, with a limited number of offers to be made the following Thursday, August 27.

The points needed to receive CAO Round 1 offers in every course will appear in the ‘Choices for Colleges’ supplement in Monday’s Irish Examiner, with advice and information on repeat options, further education and other alternatives to third-level, accommodation, budgeting and grants.