How many points did you get in your leaving cert?

freshpopcorn

I got around 300 but I'm not fully sure on the exact amount and I had enough for the course I wanted to.

Raconteuse

430. Did arts in UCC. Yes I do make excellent sandwiches.

DEFTLEFTHAND

480.

Got an A1 in History and A2 in Business Studies.


The rest were all either B, somethings or C's.


Did ordinary level in Maths and Irish.

40 more than I needed and I still regret that extra effort.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

480 points. They got rid of the Honours Maths bonus for a few brief years and I would have broke the 500+ barrier (just about) had it still been in place. Also regret not studying me Art History because my teacher said my practicals were well-scored. But it was my last exam and I couldn’t locate my motivation even if I had an electron microscope.

A1 in Biology. :cool: Which was good because I studied biology in college and it did stand to me. So did the maths. The effort was worth it.

It's been a while, but I think it was 3 Guinness followed by a couple of Bacardi and coke. I was buckled.

Nicetrustedcup

380 myself.

Considering I put no effort at all into it and did not go to school for months I some how got 380 points.

I think to this day if i only made the effort I would have got close to 500 points ha

I got I think a B3 in higher lv English and I have deslexa.

But I did not write my exams at all I used a tape recorder myself.

Rawr

295

Just enough to get into a Cert course and then had to work my way into my degree course, which I then finished with a distinction.

Took an extra year than planned, but got there in the end.

Dawido

330 and I needed 315 for the software development college course... I got 60 in the mocks... Was doing so bad Even teachers told me to go to foundation level maths. Still got first class honours for my bachelors degree!

Enough.

TheMilkyPirate

Zero. I never did it. Left school at 15

No regrets though, Good solid Mon-Fri job and a nice family now.

JohnnyFlash

545

Foweva Awone

515 points. I spent a few years slutting my way around a few different colleges and courses (Psychology in DCU, Radiation Therapy in Trinity, Commerce in NUIG) but the degree I finally saw through to the end was a Business Studies one in a regional IT that I'd have only needed about 200 points for.

I'm one of those eternal students who just keeps on studying part-time for the sake of learning new things. I did a course in Community Addiction Studies earlier this year, and am about to start into a Criminology evening course. Completely unrelated to my current field of work (Finance.)

The Leaving Cert, in my opinion, is really only important for a couple of years after you do it. If you have a genuine passion for a particular course or career, you'll find a back-door into it if it's what you really want to do.

Feisar

450

Lucy8080

I went for pints,missed the leaving. I think there must have been crossed wires between the teacher and the class!

ToddyDoody

290 first time round, 425 after repeating. Got a first in an applied science masters.

17larsson

130.
I was aiming for 25.
That's all that was needed to get into electrical engineering at the time so was disappointed to be 105 points off. I used to have my mam wait outside until the minimum time (30 minutes) was up on some of the exams.

They nearly wouldn't let us in to the English exam cause we were so late but it wasn't our fault they put the exam at the same time as the Ireland v Germany game. I'll never forgive them for missing the second half and THAT goal

Paddy223

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

480 points. They got rid of the Honours Maths bonus for a few brief years and I would have broke the 500+ barrier (just about) had it still been in place. Also regret not studying me Art History because my teacher said my practicals were well-scored. But it was my last exam and I couldn’t locate my motivation even if I had an electron microscope.

A1 in Biology. :cool: Which was good because I studied biology in college and it did stand to me. So did the maths. The effort was worth it.

What do you mean they got rid of the honours maths bonus it's still there?

dudara

580 back in the day before bonus marks. I knew I had done well enough and was going to get my course, but the results came as a bit of a surprise to me.

retro:electro

I think I got something like 320, and I failed maths.
Repeated and got 325 and a D3 in maths :cool:
Took whatever shltty course was offered to me, dropped out after a few months. Finally went back as a mature student and studied something I’m actually interested in and did quite well in.

somesoldiers

Paddy223 wrote: »

What do you mean they got rid of the honours maths bonus it's still there?

“For a few brief years” it says

dudara

dudara wrote: »

580 back in the day before bonus marks. I knew I had done well enough and was going to get my course, but the results came as a bit of a surprise to me.

It's okay, you're a 605 to me.

SusanC10

510 (no bonus points). Got my first choice in Uni. No regrets. Was happy in my chosen profession. But stay-at-home Mum now for too long.

ceadaoin.

I dont even remember. Good enough to do what I wanted but could have done better if I actually tried that hard. But what is it with making young teens feel like it's the be all and end all of your life? It really isn't.

LimeFruitGum

505 in old money. I didn’t *need* it, as my top 3 choices were around the 420-450 range, but I wanted to crack the 500. I absolutely loved history and French in school and it was a given that they’d be my A1 point-bankers.
I did my LC in ‘96; we didn’t even have a landline or cable TV in the house, never mind the internet. There was nothing to do for a non-sporty, non-Mass groupie girl like me to do down the country other than study.

But your degree isn’t the end of your education these days, not by a long shot. I have had to reject candidates with MAs in my degree subject because they had no cop-on or no practical skills whatsoever. I’m not kidding... I had to show one MA grad hire how to send attachments.

Lu Tze

540 pre-bonus points, did 8 subjects though so if I could have counted them all it would be 700!

Amazing considering language based subjects weren't my thing, and three are mandatory.

valoren

490. Mixed feelings.

Expected an A at a minimum in Accounting but section C which was worth 20 % had 2 questions on the same topic which our superstar teacher never covered as it rarely came up. Having been rote taught accounting, hadn't a clue how to answer so effectively marked for 80%. Scrambled a C but lost 20-30 points which I had deemed bankers. Didn't get an A in Irish despite going to Gaelscoil, made a mess of the exam. A in History and Geography. B in everything else. Would have liked to have gotten my expected 520 and just got my first choice course which was 480 on first offer, BIS in UCC. 1998 was a stressful summer.

looksee

Didn't do it, or equivalent, left school at 16 and did a shorthand typing course, which is what was expected at the time. Got a decent job and many years later went to college and ended up teaching.

Buford T. Justice XIX

I got 20 points which was enough, just, to do the course I wanted.

That was in old money, do I multiply by 1.27 to convert it to new points?:pac:

alchemist33

28 including Matric, when 32 was the max for a NUI college. I needed 26.

Clareman

525, should have done honours maths for the bonus, got the course I wanted but didn't like it, ended up getting a job at the end of year 2 and haven't looked back since.

TonyStark

465

2 A2's in Biology and Latin

C1 in honours Maths which I was a little disappointed and yet unsuprised with. I remember Maths being a time sink and everything else seemed to fit in around it.

Work in IT now. Maths is by far the least of my worries these days.

Salary Negotiator

460 in old money, only needed 380 and didn’t do much work but was disappointed not to get an A in both History and Maths.

Took this level of effort into college and scrapped through each of my 3 years, regret that ever since. Graduated with a 3rd.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

480 in old money as many are stating No bonus points or any of that nonsense. Completely neglected the language based subjects (scraped passes) and excelled in maths and scientific subjects. It's strange because I started studying Spanish and Italian on my own years later and discovered I had an aptitude for languages but was completely apathetic towards them in school as I found them 'boring'. I put that down to how languages were taught when I was in school.

Flibble

405 on the first go, because I had a nervous breakdown before my history exam and decided I wanted to repeat before I'd finished all my exams. I was just gone 17 and was freaked out at the thoughts of the massive life changes ahead. I wanted to study psychology, so I repeated.

I decided mid way through repeat year that I didn't want to do psychology, just arts. Which I'd already been offered the previous year. So... I gave up again and got 425. Did English and History, which- to be fair- was very enjoyable and has stood to me.

Then I went on to study something entirely different afterwards privately, and have managed to make a successful career now out of something I'm very passionate about. I work for myself, and I'm constantly upskilling for the craic- I've not spend longer than 6 months without doing a course of some sort since 2012 and I've no intentions of stopping. I love my job- some days I do a happy dance at the end of the day. I feel so lucky to be doing this. And it had exactly zero to do with my leaving cert, beyond the requirement to actually have it. Points didn't matter at all.

Vowel Movement

245, I put zero effort in but got the course I wanted. Dropped out of college after a year to do an apprenticeship instead. Best decision of my life.

tedpan

I passed every exam by barely even going in after transition year. Never did homework and refused to go to detention. Was so proud of myself.

BuboBubo

320 points. I remember adding them up. I hadn't applied for college though (early 90's).

Didn't do the "mature student" thing as I got so used to earning my own money and driving my own car by my 18th birthday.

Looking back, I should have gone to college and done "something". Never too late I suppose but my bills and mortgage says otherwise

Holy feck, surrounded by brain boxes in here haha.
I got 245 or something. Did some courses but chose not to pursue as a career.
Started a career and did 10 years before realizing I hated it and had no long term options.

Changed career just recently and finally feel happy. At 33. Hopefully it says this way lol

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Foweva Awone wrote: »

515 points. I spent a few years slutting my way around a few different colleges and courses (Psychology in DCU, Radiation Therapy in Trinity, Commerce in NUIG) but the degree I finally saw through to the end was a Business Studies one in a regional IT that I'd have only needed about 200 points for.

I'm one of those eternal students who just keeps on studying part-time for the sake of learning new things. I did a course in Community Addiction Studies earlier this year, and am about to start into a Criminology evening course. Completely unrelated to my current field of work (Finance.)

The Leaving Cert, in my opinion, is really only important for a couple of years after you do it. If you have a genuine passion for a particular course or career, you'll find a back-door into it if it's what you really want to do.

Sometimes. It’s not always possible, for many reasons. And sometimes a person doesn’t have the aptitude for their dream job.

This will be an unpopular viewpoint but I learned so much from sitting the LC. It’s a good challenge for a teenager. It’s a broad courses of study compared to, say, the A-Levels. The A-Levels might be more in-depth but there’s fewer subjects. With the LC, you have to figure out how to approach the broadness so it really sharpened my organisational and time-management skills.

Some of the subjects also really stood to me in college. And I think people complain too much about the rote-learning element. In any subject, there is a certain amount of stuff you just need to know. Learning something off AND understanding it too aren’t mutually-exclusive. In subjects I liked, I wanted to really understand the stuff I was learning off. Or there have been times where a poem I learned off for the Junior Cert pops into my head because something has happened that related to it. The poem was there in the vaults, waiting to be used.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Paddy223 wrote: »

What do you mean they got rid of the honours maths bonus it's still there?

For a brief period in the late ‘90s, early ‘00s, they did away with the Honours Maths bonus points. If you reread my post, I never said they didn’t bring it back but when I was sitting my Leaving Cert, the bonus wasn’t there.

Martina1991

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

480 points. They got rid of the Honours Maths bonus for a few brief years and I would have broke the 500+ barrier (just about) had it still been in place. Also regret not studying me Art History because my teacher said my practicals were well-scored. But it was my last exam and I couldn’t locate my motivation even if I had an electron microscope.

A1 in Biology. :cool: Which was good because I studied biology in college and it did stand to me. So did the maths. The effort was worth it.

Samesies. I was fairly confident I'd have the points for my course so I probably didn't push myself as hard as I could have.

But sure, even those with 500+ may not get the offer they want. It's a mad awl system.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

sugarman wrote: »

300 or so, it was more than enough for my college course at the time so I went in having done the bare minimum required.

I focused on getting 2 A1s in my 2 best classes to make up the majority of the points and the C1 minimum I needed in Maths. The rest I just needed to pass.. and I done just that.

Leaving Cert is so much unnecessary pressure for 17/18 year olds.. having it drummed into you that it's the be all and end all for 5/6 years of secondary. I know plenty who either didn't do it or made a balls of it and ended up in better jobs than those who smashed it.

I have to say, we were lucky, our Careers teacher was great at explaining all the different ways to get into a particular job or that you don’t need to choose a high points course, just because you got the points for it or are expected to. She was very level-headed and that put me at ease.

One thing I dislike (not saying you said this) is the need some people have to run down those who do well. “Oh well, the LC is pointless anyway!”. The 500+ pointers from my year are all still over-achieving in life. And even just applying yourself that way at that age deserves credit.

SCOOP 64

SusanC10 wrote: »

510 (no bonus points). Got my first choice in Uni. No regrets. Was happy in my chosen profession. But stay-at-home Mum now for too long.

A talent wasted:D

Dravokivich

I never checked out the score. I was accepted into the course I did before I received them.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Martina1991 wrote: »

Samesies. I was fairly confident I'd have the points for my course so I probably didn't push myself as hard as I could have.

But sure, even those with 500+ may not get the offer they want. It's a mad awl system.

Very true. One of my friends got 520 points. I was delighted for her and was enthusiastically congratulating her but noticed she looked sad. She wanted veterinary science and already knew she didn’t have the points. Luckily, she only just turned 17 around the time of the LC so kind of had a year to play with. She repeated and got in. But doing well the first time wasn’t much good to her as it wasn’t what she needed.

touts

40 something. Can't really remember. It was more than I needed to get into uni back then.

That was before they decided the easiest was to improve grades and make kids feel better about themselves was to multiply all the points by 10. That worked out well.....

Buford T. Justice XIX

Dravokivich wrote: »

I never checked out the score. I was accepted into the course I did before I received them.

I remember checking out the newspaper for my CAO number and course and it wasn't there at all. I just felt drained and dreaded the thoughts of having to go back and repeat.

And then looking through the numbers again later and finding mine and my course which wasn't where it was supposed to be printed. A pretty messed up day, tbh.

Loved the course I did, though the first two years were crap but needed doing for the basics. The final two years were fantastic, absolutely in my element and studying was a pleasure. Got offered a few Masters courses and took one but never finished as job offers came and the money and locations were ideal for me.

Ficheall

Worked my ass off at maths, did feck all study for anything else. All higher level, got two As, four Bs, a C and a D.
The C and D were in maths and applied maths.

Idiotically decided to do maths in uni, and spent four years memorising answers I did not understand - far worse than the LC.

After graduating, I had no idea what to do, so I applied for a masters. No one else applied for the masters so they didn't run it, and they didn't want to leave me in the lurch, so one of the professors who had some research funding asked if I wanted to do a phd. Having no better ideas, I agreed, and got through that as the work was almost entirely computer based.

Then did a terrible maths postdoc and produced very little after a pretty crappy eighteen months research, and decided maths wasn't really for me.

Difficult to sort of back out of maths now, though, so I now (it's been just over three years) proofread the grammar and typesetting in real mathematicians' research papers prior to journal publication. The only mathematics I ever use is to decide whether I need to add parentheses when unstacking a fraction.

Wouldn't mind leaving maths behind entirely some day..

Mad_maxx

One of my sisters got 525 yet can't walk and chew gum at the same time

Never had a job in her life despite being thirty two

Mousewar

Weird how many 480s there, especially since that's what I got. It was the second highest in my school that year. 485 was the highest. (Not a great school).
A1 in English was my highlight.
I only put one course down on the CAO form and it ended up needing 480 points. Scraped in by the skin of me teeth.