‘Delay releasing results until CAO offers ready’

As nearly 48,000 of those who got their exam results turn to the wait on college offers, a schools’ leader has suggested Leaving Certificate grades be delayed to reduce stress.

The Central Applications Office will make the first main round of third-level offers on Monday at 6am, but National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals director Clive Byrne said the pressure could be alleviated if both exam results and college offers were released on the same day.

“The easiest way to do it would be if the State Examinations Commission didn’t release the results until the CAO was ready to go with their offers,” he said.

“There used to be a full week between the results and the college offers, now it’s down to five days.

“There is speculation about points going up because of more demand, and it just increases the stress and pressure on the students.”

Of nearly 81,000 people who have applied to the CAO this year, 47,654 did so on the basis of sitting the Leaving Certificate in June.

That represents all but around 8,000 of those who got their Leaving Certificate results yesterday, with awards received by nearly 2,800 Leaving Certificate Applied not eligible for CAO courses.

Although some categories of degree courses have shown increased demand since last year, any changes in the CAO points requirements for all courses may also be influenced by colleges increasing or decreasing spaces, and on how the standard of applicants compares to those who were offered places a year ago.

The Round 1 cut-off points for all CAO courses will appear in the 12-page Choices for College supplement in Monday’s Irish Examiner.