Irish students in secondary school will likely study the Leaving Certificate (Leaving Cert) before they finish their studies.
For students wanting to go onto university or another course, the results of the Leaving Cert could decide whether they get a place on their desired course.
While Leaving Cert subjects are awarded a grade, they're also awarded points by the Central Applications Office (CAO). The CAO is the organisation responsible for undergraduate course applications and the points given will indicate whether or not a student is likely to be accepted onto a course.
So how many points do students usually get, how are they awarded, and are students likely to get more or fewer points depending on the year they do their Leaving Cert?
We have the answers here in this article.
How Leaving Cert Points Are Awarded
Students at Leaving Cert take either Higher Level (HL) or Ordinary Level (OL) exams and papers. Depending on how many marks they get on these papers, they're given a grade.
There are 8 grade boundaries for both higher and ordinary papers from H1 to H8 and O1 to O8 respectively.
Of these grades, a student's best six subjects are taken into account and points are allocated according to the grades received.
The best grade, H1, is awarded 100 points while the lowest grades are awarded 0. You can see the exact amount awarded for each grade in this table.
The Leaving Cert Points
| Higher Level Grade | Points | Ordinary Level Grade | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | 100 | ||
| H2 | 88 | ||
| H3 | 77 | ||
| H4 | 66 | ||
| H5 | 56 | O1 | 56 |
| H6 | 46 | O2 | 46 |
| H7 | 37 | O3 | 37 |
| H8 | 0 | O4 | 28 |
| O5 | 20 | ||
| O6 | 12 | ||
| O7 | 0 | ||
| O8 | 0 |
Average Leaving Cert Points from 1992 to 2016
For the years between 1992 and 2016, the grade structure and points system for the Leaving Cert were different.
Rather than the H1-H8 and O1-O8 grades, there were 14 different grades that had both letters and numbers.
A1 was the highest grade and E was the lowest, with the grading scale as follows:
- A1
- A2
- B1
- B2
- B3
- C1
- C2
- C3
- D1
- D2
- D3
- E
You can convert Leaving Cert grades from 1992 to 2016 using this table.
| 1992 to 2016 LC Grade | New Points Awarded Higher Level | New Points Awarded Ordinary Level |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | 100 | 56 |
| A2 | 88 | 46 |
| B1 | 88 | 45 |
| B2 | 77 | 37 |
| B3 | 77 | 37 |
| C1 | 66 | 28 |
| C2 | 66 | 28 |
| C3 | 56 | 20 |
| D1 | 56 | 20 |
| D2 | 46 | 12 |
| D3 | 46 | 12 |
| E | 33 | 0 |
| F | 0 | 0 |
| NG | 0 | 0 |
Based on the conversions, we can roughly work out the average points awarded for the Leaving Cert each year.
In 1992, when the system was changed, the average number of points awarded was 315. Typically, 300 points were the mid-point and from what we've been able to find, around 52% of students were given more than 300 points and the remaining 48% received less than this.
The average rose by around 2 points per year and by 2002, the average Leaving Cert points received by students was 333 points.
Ten years later, the average was 355 points. By 2016, the last year to use the old system, the average student was awarded approximately 357 points.
Average Leaving Cert Points from 2017
2017 was the first year that the new system with the H and O grades was used. By this point, 300 was far from the average points being awarded.
While 300 points may have been considered the average in 1992, by 2017, students needed to be awarded closer to 400 points to be in the top half of students across the country.
Average Leaving Cert Points in 2017
The change in average Leaving Cert points between 2016 and 2017 was very minimal. The average Leaving Cert student in 2017 received 358 points, just one point more than the average in 2016.
Average Leaving Cert Points in 2018
In 2018, Leaving Cert students saw the most significant jump in terms of the average number of points being awarded.
From 358 points on average in 2017, the 2018 cohort of Leaving Cert students received 367. With a jump of nine points on average, we can't say whether exams were easier, students were smarter, or the ways they were marked were different.
You'll typically find that university requirements scale with the average points awarded. The more Leaving Cert points students receive each year, the higher the requirements for university courses.
Average Leaving Cert Points in 2019
Following 2018's jump, the average Leaving Cert points awarded in 2019 increased only slightly. The average of approximately 369 points just two points higher than the previous.
The Leaving Cert in 2020 and 2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Leaving Cert exams were cancelled and instead of using the typical grading system that had been in place since 2017, a calculated grades system was used.
Students were assessed based on assessments in school, coursework, and class rankings. The Irish Department of Education and Skills created a process by which schools and teachers could estimate Leaving Cert results for students in the absence of other assessments.
The final grades given to students were known as “calculated grades” and awarded in August 2020 to that cohort. The calculated grades ended up largely inflated in comparison to the previous year, which caused some problems.
After all, students who completed their Leaving Cert in 2019 and had deferred their application to 2020 were disadvantaged against the 2020 cohort with inflated grades.
2021 followed the same idea, with calculated grades still being used. However, instead of going by the name "calculated grades", they called them accredited grades. These grades were accredited by the State Examination Commission (SEC). Find out exactly when is Leaving Cert results day, and put your mind at ease over the summer months!
Average Leaving Cert Points in 2022
In 2022, the grades were again boosted. The average student received somewhere between 400 and 419 points, more than 100 points higher than the average way back in 1992!
The boost was greater than the difference between 2020 and 2021, but this was taking into consideration the fact that the 2022 cohort would have spent its entire Leaving Cert under COVID-19 regulations.
You may be able to secure better marks by selecting from the easiest leaving cert subjects.
How Many Points Do Students Need to Attend University?
While the average points given to Leaving Cert students seem to rise every year, the trend for university requirements is the same. While you can't fail the Leaving Cert, you can fall short of the requirement for a university course.
What this largely means for students, except those with deferred applications, is that any inflation in grades is mostly mitigated by university admissions.
So how many points should you be aiming for?
Minimum Points Needed for University Places
While every different course and university will require a different number of points, the average number of points should be enough for most students to find an undergraduate course.
It should be noted that this won't be the most competitive course or highly-ranked university, but if you're set on studying for an undergraduate degree, the 400-point mark should be the bare minimum that you aim for.
Competitive Places
More competitive and prestigious university places tend to have stricter requirements for potential students. You'll see that many courses at highly-ranked universities and courses are between 500 and 600 points.
The University of Galway, for example, has most of its courses within this range.
Very Competitive Places
The very competitive university places ask for near-perfect scores. Several courses require over 600 points.
With 600 points being the maximum achievable across six subjects with H1 grades in every subject, this means that these students have to get bonus points from Higher Level Mathematics.
For H6 or above, these students will be given 25 bonus points, raising their maximum to 625. These points are added to the points awarded for their grade in maths, too. This means that an H1 grade in Higher Level Maths, which is widely considered to be one of the hardest subjects, is worth 125 points rather than 100.
Get Help with Your Leaving Cert from a Private Tutor on Superprof
If you want help with a certain Leaving Cert subject or the Leaving Cert in general, a private tutor could greatly help.
There are tutors for almost every subject and skill you could think of on the Superprof website and you can search for them today. There are three types of tutoring available: face-to-face, online, and group tutoring.
Each type of private tutoring has its pros and cons and it's up to you to choose which one will work best for you, your schedule, your budget, and how you like to learn.
Typically, a face-to-face private tutor costs more than the others, but offer the most cost-effective tuition. Every minute of every session can be spent focused on you and what you need to learn. Many face-to-face tutors will travel to their students' homes, hence the increased cost.
Online tutors don't need to travel to their students, saving them both time and money. They can schedule more students each week and it costs them less per session, making them often more affordable. For many academic subjects, they can be just as effective as face-to-face tutors.
Group tutoring can't offer the same benefits as one-on-one tutoring, but it can offer tutoring at much more affordable rates.
With most tutors offering the first session for free, you can try a few potential tutors out before choosing the one that's right for you and how you like to learn.
Just search for what you want to learn on the Superprof website today!
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