Nearly 61,000 students preparing for their Leaving Certificate examinations in Ireland will be able to access their results online via examinations.ie from 10am onwards. In order to maintain the high standard of previous years, 68 per cent of the grades have been elevated in accordance with instructions from the Minister for Education.
Given the high grades, there’s an influx of bonus points in mathematics, indicating a probable steep competition for limited spots at colleges when the Central Applications Office (CAO) releases the results on Wednesday.
The concern for students is how this year’s Leaving Cert grades will impact the forthcoming CAO points. Given that this years’ grades are similar to last year’s, it is anticipated that the CAO points will preserve their high status.
Nevertheless, according to Brian Mooney, a guidance counsellor, improved performance in higher-level maths could lead to increased bonus points, thereby exerting upward pressure on high-demand courses.
In his assessment of this year’s results, he explained that the higher-level maths examination resulted in an overwhelming surge in additional CAO points for Leaving Certificate students with nearly all of the 20,330 candidates who sat the higher level in 2024, attaining 25 bonus CAO points. Consequently, there are additional 490,000 or more bonus CAO points supplementing the total tally. He anticipates this to be mirrored in the following Wednesday’s high point requirements for college admissions. He also highlighted that higher-level Irish students surpassed most subjects with 94% securing grades of H5 or higher.
Prior to the release of student results, a detailed breakdown of student performance in each subject has been made public by the State Examinations Commission.
The level of H1 grades in advanced mathematics saw a significant decrease, from 18% to 11%. However, this year we’ve seen a slight increase with it now standing at 13%. Additionally, a comprehensive illustration has been provided to show the distribution of higher grades by subject and their fluctuations in recent years.
Today, with the release of results online at 10am, countless students (alongside their parents) endure an anxious anticipation. Here’s what we’ve gathered till now:
-The State Examinations Committee has disclosed a comprehensive analysis of the results. It’s evident that most grades from this year’s Leaving Certificate have been artificially escalated to align with the previous years’ unprecedented high records.
-The Minister’s interference has resulted in upwards adjustment of grades for over two-thirds (68%) of the students. This is a direct consequence of an average increase of 7.5% in grades across all subjects.
-If this grade trend continues, it’ll result in a record high for Leaving Certificate results for the fifth consecutive year, which in turn will have a domino effect on CAO points.
Below is a graphical representation that demonstrates how the ratio of top grades has surged noticeably since the onset of the pandemic and has remained elevated since 2021.