Trying to understand the new Leaving Certificate grading scheme and the new CAO points system? SETU Registrar Dr Derek O'Byrne gives an overview
The Leaving Cert results in August 2017 sees the introduction of revised Leaving Cert grading bands and a new way of distributing CAO points.
It’s important to note that the standard of the Leaving Cert has not changed and the marking will remain the same as in previous years.
How the overall student grade is reported has changed with the old 14 band scale (HA1, HA2 and OA1 etc) changed to an 8 band scale H1 to H8 and O1 to O8.
The change in grading bands and points allocation effectively means that the new system is entirely different to the old system. Therefore 2016 points cannot be compared or contrasted with the points awarded for 2017.
The new CAO points distribution has been designed to minimise random selection arising from the increased number of students falling into the larger grading bands.
It does this by adopting a non-linear scale or in simple terms has different intervals between grading bands. For instance a H1 will get 100 points, a H2 will get 88 points and a H3 will get 77 points, drops of 12 and 11 respectively. As a result of the scale the common practice of CAO points cut-offs falling on multiples of 5 or 10 will cease.
Another key component of the new system is that H7s (30-39 marks) will be accepted for matriculation and will be allocated CAO points.
In terms of the likely impact on cut-off points for programmes, it can be expected that the new system results in less CAO points awarded generally (this arises from the new points system – the standard of the leaving certificate will remain the same) although because of the non-linear design the impact is quite different on different ranges and distribution of grades. Broadly, the 300 point student of 2016 getting exactly the same Leaving Cert in 2017 will have a lower CAO total in the new scheme. This overall lessening may be mitigated by a move to students taking more higher level subjects.
Finally, it is worth noting that all candidates will be competing on the new scale with conversion of previous years Leaving Certs to the new system. See the CAO website for a points calculator.
There is a useful website www.transition.ie that outlines the full (and long) history and all the information on the changes.