Are the CAO points going to change?

karaokeman · 10-02-2011 8:07pm #1

As in for students sitting the Leaving Cert this year.
I really want to see the points for some courses go down in the next while.
As of now based on my results from recent tests (including xmas), the points I'm anticipating for the Leaving are leaning towards 480/490ish.
I would really love to get into Psychology in Trinity but its 545 points so other than that I'm trying to work a lot harder when these mocks are over, maybe push for an A in Geography and a B1 perhaps in Biology.

10-02-2011 8:11pm

Well first thing you need to find out is how many went for that course in TCD last year because if it was a lot then the pts would have jumped.

Also find out how high they did jump, if they jumped at all. To be honest I doubt they did, because even some of the most "popular courses" like Prim Teaching only went up by 5pts.

Expect a 10% drop or jump if you're anticipating pts changing but then again, yeah the easiest thing to do is to ensure a points change won't affect and get enough first time off.

pancakes rule · 10-02-2011 10:54pm

There is no way of knowing. It's all to do with what people want. Last year nobody knew that all the science courses would shoot way up, and that might have just been that year, the majority this year might hate science and all the arts points will go way up. It's one of the things I freak out about the most :S
Hopefully there won't be much change. If you can, try to find the points from previous years, not just last year, then you can see an average

AlwaysConfused · 10-02-2011 11:33pm

CAO points are purely a supply and demand kinda thing tbh, like if it's a small course and a lot of people want it, then it's going to go up a bit points wise.

Like for example in 2008 a degree in french, linguistics and computing was about 325 or so, then in 2009 it jumped to 450 I think, it was a serious jump anyway and nobody really expected it. Then in 2010 it fell back down a bit again, so it's really a case of it varies from year to year.

Or for example, a lot of people out there said that all the Arts (undenominated) degrees were going to shoot up, maybe even past 400, but NUIM's stayed the EXACT SAME as 2009 at 375 points.

I'm sure there's way more examples, but the main point is, the CAO does some funky stuff every year, so trying to base what points will be this year on last years isn't always the best strategy. Coming from someone who was in your position last year, spend less time on sites like this panicking or trying to make predictions and more time working towards getting good grades

Hope at least some of this helped/was somewhat relevant?

Muggwoffin · 10-02-2011 11:35pm

Does anyone know of any sites where you can find points going back a few years?

AlwaysConfused · 10-02-2011 11:49pm

Muggwoffin wrote: »

Does anyone know of any sites where you can find points going back a few years?

As far as I know ya can get them in PDF format on the CAO website?

RMD · 11-02-2011 12:24am

The CAO points change every year usually, but for a course like psychology in Trinity it more than likely wont change by more than 5-10 points, there's simply to much demand. Drastic changes (30 points or greater) are usually only seen in the ITs, universities are generally consistent. A lot of current prospectuses have the 09 points so check those against the points mentioned on the CAO site for 2010 to get an idea.

NotExactly · 11-02-2011 12:28am

Muggwoffin wrote: »

Does anyone know of any sites where you can find points going back a few years?

[HTML]http://www.qualifax.ie/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=51&Mainsec=courses&Subsec=search_courses&CRAsort=&action=reset&display=&CRT_ID=&CSH_ID=18&PREV_CSH_ID=&AdvancedKeyword=&keywords_and_titles=title&all_or_any_words=all&full_or_part_words=full&FCT_ID=&FDM_ID=&keywords=&CRT_ID=1&QUA_ID=0&CTP_ID=0&COL_ID=0&RES_ID=0&points=&CRS_CODE=&CRA_ID=0&ATT_ID=0&PRV_ID=0&COU_ID=0&DST_ID=0[/HTML]

EuropeanSon · 11-02-2011 2:49am

Of course the points will change. They do every year, and will always do so as long as we have our current system.

The best thing to do is ignore them entirely, and focus on achieving your very best in the exams. Concern yourself with the variable you can change (ie. your performance) and not with the one you cannot change (ie. the CAO points).

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 11-02-2011 6:43pm

When do CAO release the figures about how many applied where and such such???

Brainy · 12-02-2011 10:32am

They usually release the first details in March.

The points each are very much a result of supply and demand.

You should also look at the number of places available on a course. Small numbers, high demand usually means high points.

Are the CAO points going to change?

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