The points for some high-demand courses, such as medicine and pharmacy, are expected to rise this year.
The Irish Times reported today that some 700 leaving certificate students who sat the written exams in November have been awarded places in higher-points courses than originally offered to them under their predicted grades.
The majority of last year’s candidates had initially accepted offers based on their predicted grades. Some 2000 students chose to sit written exams in the hope of achieving higher grades.
Those who accepted offers last year and have completed a year of college can now transfer to a higher-points course if offered to them in Round A.
Due to the extra places being filled by last year’s candidates, this year’s CAO applicants may find points have risen – particularly in high-demand courses such as pharmacy and medicine – unless more places are made available.
The number of places in health-science programmes are highly dependent on the availability of placements in hospitals and other medical facilities.
Some 6,698 people in total – including some leaving certificate students from last year, mature applicants, mature nursing or midwifery applicants and deferred applicants – received Round A offers on Wednesday.
Students must accept by 3pm next Tuesday. CAO offers will be issued to all other applicants on September 7th.
The Department of Education announced last week that adjustments would be made to the 2022 leaving certificate to take into account the disruption of students’ education due to the pandemic.
The department also said that it is intended that an “alternative” set of leaving certificate exams will be held for students who cannot sit the main exams due to bereavement, coronavirus or other serious illnesses yet to be determined.
The adjustments will be similar to those made to the 2021 leaving certificate.
This year’s leaving certificate candidates had the option to either sit regular exams in the summer or to avail of “accredited”, or predicted, grades due to the disruption to teaching caused by the pandemic.
The class of 2021 missed out on around six months of classroom time when schools were closed due to lockdowns.
Students could opt to sit all their exams, receive predicted grades for all their subjects or a combination of the two. They could also sit the exam and receive a predicted grade, in which case the higher of the two will be the student’s official result.
