Are leaving cert results worse then last years

DOHERTY30691

Ive asked a few of my friends in various parts of the country how their schools leaving cert results compared to last years ,, generally it seems that schools seem to have done a lot worse then previous years points wise ,, im just wondering if anyone out there has noticed this aswell ,, im presuming its due to the harder tests and marking ,, do you think that this could lead to points staying similar to last year ,, everyone says they are going up but ive heard of schools average points going down by more then 100 points ,, does anyone think that its possibly points may decrease in more courses then thought and not just the ones with no demand ,, i know your going to say theres load of extra people applying but with about nine tenths of applicants having done the leaving this year its possibly points might not rise atall ,, has anyone got a similar view to me

ldxo15wus6fpgm

I've noticed the same thing. Much worse results all round.

Tbh I reckon that there aren't actually that many people from previous years going into 3rd level this year.

Trying not to generalise/stereotype/condescend here, but the majority of fellas I know who went for an apprenticeship in the last few years (and subsequently lost them) would rather sit on the dole than go back into the education system. And if they would they would more then likely be taking PLCs, or at best a level 6/7 course, where there are (as far as I can tell) more places per applicant (meaning points would not be rising or falling sharply).

It's is likely there are lots more mature students applying. However, they do not apply through the CAO, they don't affect points and they don't take places meant for school leavers.

It is my opinion that this stuff being spouted by the media (the points are going to jump like a kangaroo on steroids) is a pile of rubbish. It happens every year, "Leaving Cert. students this year are set to face a rise in entry requirements this year due to bla bla bla" on RTE news at 6pm. :pac:


I have a theory that the SEC predicted (correctly, but hardly due to sheer genius) that there would be a major drop in demand for certain courses related to the industries worst affected by the rec*ssion (for now I'll just say construction, it's shorter). This would lead to an overall rise in applications for non-construction courses, for example arts, journalism, business etc.

Consequently, points for most courses (again excluding construction) would rise, probably by a fair amount. To allow this to happen would possibly see more students applying and moving abroad to study. Imagine you're sitting your LC next year, or in 2 years time. You've constantly been hearing how hard it is to get over 4/500 points, and then suddenly arts in UCC or wherever has gone up to 450. What are you going to think? You're going to think, "I don't have a chance at anything except useless (construction) courses, I'll go to England." Resulting in Irish students emigrating early, never a good thing.

That's just a theory though. A pretty ridiculous one at that. :pac:

Another theory is that it's the SEC's reaction to the media constantly telling us that our education system is being dumbed down, and we're practically getting thicker by the minute. That one's more likely in fairness.


I wouldn't be expecting points for too many courses to rise that much anyway. If February's statistics from the CAO are anything to go by (they're not, change of mind didn't close till after the LC) points for law are set to drop, which is good news for me anyways.



tl;dr: Chill out, it's all a load of hype about the points rocketing. Sure they might rise a little but nothing phenomenal.

spurious

What people choose for college has nothing to do with the SEC, nor does the SEC have any interest in college entry levels. They run the LC exam. The CAO uses the LC exam to determine most entries, but that is nothing to do with the SEC.

When the percentages are examined, you will see the spread of marks is much as before. It always is, that's why they adjust the marking schemes, otherwise one year's LC would be 'better' than another year's.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

spurious wrote: »

What people choose for college has nothing to do with the SEC, nor does the SEC have any interest in college entry levels. They run the LC exam. The CAO uses the LC exam to determine most entries, but that is nothing to do with the SEC.

When the percentages are examined, you will see the spread of marks is much as before. It always is, that's why they adjust the marking schemes, otherwise one year's LC would be 'better' than another year's.

Yes, but they are a state body are they not?
Also, I did say the first theory was fairly unlikely.

spurious

This time of year is always a bit slow news-wise. We don't really care about millions of people being flooded in Pakistan, or that we still have not got rid of a government of crooks and charlatans, so the newspapers hype up nonsense about the LC and college places, sometimes getting a dig in at teachers, sometimes at colleges.

Most Irish newspapers pander to people who did not go to college. They love to read such stories.

Schadenfreude ftw.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Yeah I thought results had gone down a fair bit this year too. In my school we'd normally have at least 1 600er and a good few over 550 but this year the highest was 590 followed by 585 and 565. They were the only 1's over 550 too which was poor by our standard. A lot of people I know came out with 30+ points less than what they expected.

gant0

^^^haha solid bish crew up here!!!...ya overall everyones points are lower than expected.Haven't heard of anyone that has gotten 600 in galway yet.

monaghanman10

our school has seen the best results in years.there 80 in our year and we had 1 600 two 590s one 565 three 550s a 545 and three on 525.also only 1 person failed maths

TomJoe Wallace

Apparently this years results for our School have been the best so far.. That's saying something.

johnmcdnl

they use a bell curve graph every year so maybe your school's year was just a poor year is all... where in another school the results could have gone up an average of 100 so..

Every year they make the marking schemes to give 2% A1s 3%A2 5%B1 etc etc etc for every subject - might be slight deviations of this but they make it this way every year

it's a joke of a system but that's what we have to put up with - can't see we wouldn't be just let all get A1s if we would have got them one year but because too many people did too well this year the SEC have to stagger the results more so they make the marking scheme harder or easier to get the desired 2% A1s that they want in that subject...

it's not a coincidence that roughly the same number of people get As Bs Cs and fail every year - that's what the SEC do - they grade the exams so these results occur..

kmhenry

unlike some schools my own rarely if ever gets scores of 500+....however in recent years about 1/2 people each year have started to get this. i myself got 535 (apparently one of the highest in years) and my twin 520 so the amount of 500+'s stayed the same. However this was the best year for getting in the 400's with about 8 people getting this. Would my school be below the national standards would you think?? ps my year has about 90 people

DOHERTY30691

2009 ucc arts 360
got 350 this year
got ucc arts
delighted