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Four Leaving Cert students compare their results - and their overall points score - outside the Catholic University School on Leeson St in Dublin. Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

Explainer: A beginner’s guide to the CAO Points system

Some of your loved ones might be awaiting a college offer – through a system that mightn’t make sense to many. Here’s our crash course.

This post was originally published on the 18 August 2012 but republished here as the CAO points for 2013 are being revealed tomorrow.

TOMORROW MARKS a big day in the lives of thousands of young people in Ireland, as the first round of college placement offers are distributed by the Central Applications Office.

The offers will dictate, for many, what they will study for the next few years – as well as where they might live, and how much college might cost them – or whether they may have to go back to school for another year to secure the grades they need.

For most, though, it brings an end to the Leaving Cert experience – as students take their grades and book their places in the courses that they hope will lead them into the working world.

While the CAO points system has become a rite of passage for many Irish people, it’s also something which can mystify the other people in their lives, who might never have gone through a similar system themselves.

So, for those baffled by the system through which their children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews and friends are going, here’s our guide to how the whole thing works.

No points without a leaving

Let’s start at the beginning: there would be no ‘points’ without a Leaving Cert in the first place. CAO Points are calculated based directly on a student’s grades in their Leaving.

Most Leaving Cert subjects are taken at two levels – either Higher Level (‘honours’) or Ordinary Level (‘pass’). (A couple of subjects are also offered at Foundation Level, but they do not count for the purposes of CAO points.)

While every exam in the Leaving Cert does ultimately result in a percentage grade, this isn’t what students are given on results day. Instead, they’re given a letter grade which corresponds to the percentage score that they got.

Those grades are outlined on this table:

These grades then correspond directly with the points that you get for each grade. For each grade, a fixed number of points are awarded. For ordinary level, these are allocated based on this table:

Solving extra problems means earning extra points

For higher level subjects, the points are exactly the same - except you add 40. (This is the reward that a student gets for opting to sit a tougher exam.) So, for an honours subject, a D3 gets you 45 points while an A1 will get you 100.

From last year, colleges are also offering bonus points for honours Maths.

The idea behind this is reasonably simple: the CAO only considers your best six subjects for points purposes, while many students actually take seven subjects - meaning they'll be doing one subject which they know will not count for the purposes of getting into college.

Knowing this, many students striving for top grades - and who knew Maths wasn't their strong point - simply opted for the ordinary level paper in order to concentrate their efforts elsewhere. This, in turn, has led to fears about the mathematical capabilities of Irish school-leavers.

In order to try and redress this, from 2012 the system offers 25 extra points for those who keep up their Higher Level Maths - giving them an advantage over other students who are happy to concentrate on other subjects.

So, going back to the second table above, when you're dealing with Higher Level Maths you can first add 40 points because it's a Higher Level grade, and then add a further 25 points because it's Maths. So a D3 in honours Maths now gets you 70 points; an A1 gets you 125.

This means that previously, where the maximum points score a student could get was 600, it's now 625.

The CAO auction, and what points actually mean

What many people misunderstand about the points attached to certain courses is that they are not a measure of the difficulty of the course. Although many of the high-points courses do tend to be among the toughest, the two aren't directly linked. This is why students are always told to fill out their CAO forms by ranking courses based on genuine preference and not based on their actual difficulty.

It might help to think of CAO points as a kind of special currency, created only for use in the college applications process.

Put it this way: if you get a B2 in an honours subject, you 'earn' 80 points. Your six best subjects might altogether 'earn' you 400 points. You then use this money in an auction to buy your place on a course.

That, in essence, is what the CAO does: it runs an auction. This is best explained with an example.

Let's pretend there's a college called 'TheScore.ie Institute of Sportology', which runs a course called 'Premier League Liveblogging'. Let's pretend there are 50 places in this course.

Now, let's say that only 40 CAO applicants put this course at the top of their list of preferences. In that case, there are more places than applicants - and everyone gets in. (On CAO lists this is marked as 'AQA' - All Qualifiers Accepted.)

But if there are 100 applicants with Premier League Liveblogging as their first choice, obviously we have a problem - because the course can only take half of them.

So how does it sort them out? By ranking applicants based on their points. This is the auction - the 50 applicants with the best CAO scores are the ones who will be offered a place.

The other 50 will instead have to make do with a lower preference on their form - they'll be offered whichever course closest to the top of their list, which they have also fulfilled the other entry criteria for (some courses, like those in Science, will demand certain Leaving Cert grades in the appropriate subjects).

High points doesn't necessarily mean high difficulty

The whole point of this explanation is to underline that the points needed for the course aren't simply based on how tough the course is - it's merely based on the results of the people who want to get in.

The points value that you'll see listed beside the name of a course on the newspapers, or online, is merely the point beyond which applicants are going to be successful or not - it's the 'minimum price' determined by the CAO auction.

The first round of CAO offers - revealing the results of the first round of auctions - will be released on Monday. Further rounds will be offered over the next few weeks as extra places become available - if, for example, some people don't take up their offers or colleges increase their capacity.

To all those awaiting their offers, and to those standing by their sides: good luck.

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45 Comments
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    Mute Andrew Telford
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:13 AM

    Ive hired a few people in my time… My two weirdest were a 14 pager that included a copy of the cert you got for ‘graduating’ primary school and another that had a whole list of scores, titles and achievements from world of Warcraft/dungeons and dragons type games

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    Mute Gareth Lynch
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:27 AM

    My latest CV addition, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

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    Mute Gordon Guffer
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:16 PM

    I once received a CV which had listed in the work experience section: ‘Worked as a floor in a nightclub’

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    Mute Garrett Moran
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    Oct 14th 2012, 3:20 PM

    yeah… everyone walked all over him!

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    Mute Eoin Bailey
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:03 PM

    My dad once got a CV in the post, included with it were two sheets of toilet paper with the words “I’m willing to start at the bottom” scrawled across them.

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    Mute Marilyn Maroney
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:15 PM

    EX-L-ent. I’ll have to remember that one !

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    Mute Padraig Stapleton
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:35 AM

    Had to design the odd CV in a printers. Once had a girl come in and asked could she put her photo on the front page. Bad enough. But then she wanted same picture blown up as a watermark on each page! Horrific.

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    Mute Andrew Telford
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:09 PM

    LOL… I hope shes was at least good looking

    35
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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:56 PM

    Photos on CV’s are an extremely common occurrence in continental Europe. A potential employer here in holland actually complained to me about the fact that there wasn’t a picture in mine.

    Most random thing I ever saw was an old friend of mine who listed breathing as his only talent. You can guess how many job offers that earned.

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    Mute fizi_water
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:50 PM

    When Spanish people send cv’s in there is almost always a picture. I guess it’s different habit per country.

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    Mute jrbmc
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:51 AM

    Got a CV from an Eastern European a few years back and under his interests it said – cumputer, socialising and I have a Gun !!!!!

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    Mute Maria Cassin
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:50 PM

    Hire me or else

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    Mute Eoin O'Donnell
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    Oct 14th 2012, 4:24 PM

    I’m laughing more about his “cumputer”.

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    Mute Eoin Faz
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    Oct 15th 2012, 1:17 AM

    Similar. I’ve seen qualified chainsaw handler on a couple of CVs applying for office work! Agh!

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    Mute Proinsias Carr
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:39 AM

    Anyone who puts “socialising” on their CV is pretty much saying they enjoy a good drink.

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    Mute Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:59 AM

    At school we were told to replace it with “networking”. Sounds more sophisticated, and usually means the same thing (in Ireland anyway)!

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    Mute ALAN MERNAH
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:29 PM

    Or they never had a job before and it’s all they know

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    Mute Ryan Prior
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:45 AM

    Got a cv into my workplace before and person had “birthplace: The Coombe” written on it… Still trying to work out how it’s relevant!!

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    Mute Waffler Hillis
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:49 PM

    In my last job I got a lot of cvs with email addresses like galwayslut69@blah.com Get a separate address for work girls!

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    Mute Marilyn Maroney
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:08 PM

    My email is the best. EYERISH

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    Mute Aoife O'C
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:11 PM

    Saw a devirginiser69 email once. It’s not just girls.

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    Mute Michael Russell
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:23 PM

    We got a CV with an email
    Like that before. The entire CV was typed in pink, and sprayed with glitter, and perfume. Unreal

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    Mute Jay Thompson
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:30 PM

    We got a cv in work from a far eastern guy whos only hobby was ” I like to smile”

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    Mute A Cole
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    Oct 14th 2012, 3:55 PM

    Awwwwww. That’s nice.

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    Mute Padraig Stapleton
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:29 PM

    Also once saw a CV typed up… in Comic Sans. Words fail me.

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    Mute Andrew Telford
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:34 PM

    Oh that’s nothing… That regularly happens. I used to get requests from an assistant secretarial officer in a combo of blue, pink and purple comic sans.

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    Mute Gordon Guffer
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:20 PM

    Another was from a gent who was in his late fifties. His CV was 7 pages long in excel format listing every job he had since the seventies. Every job was short term (from a couple of days to one month). A list of over 200 jobs
    that he had held.

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    Mute Seamus McGrath
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:15 PM

    I once got a cv in with one interesting hobby.. hand milking cows

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    Mute Micheal
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    Oct 14th 2012, 11:07 AM

    Did the MS Word thing. And the “socialising” thing.

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    Mute Little Jim
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:29 PM

    I also like to freewheel downhill, but only after pedaling uphill furiously. (I don’t want to appear lazy!)

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    Mute Mark McGloughlin
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:39 PM

    Not on my CV but on others…

    I used to love seeing CVs in the 90s and the 00s that proclaimed that they had a provisional driving license. I used to laugh to myself that this was basically saying they could fill in a form.

    My other favourite was some guy who had Father’s occupation: Company Director; Mother’s occupation: Homemaker. Why is that relevant?

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    Mute Abi Dennis
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:07 PM

    maybe not so much a weird thing on my CV but got asked to describe a difficult situation I had when I worked in the bookies in an interview for a graduate office job, so i told them (in a very straight forward run of the mill tone) about a guy who lost a bet and came back threw a giant cement block (not brick, was massive thing dug out of the ground from a nearby building site) at us twice (luckily we had a bullet priof screen thar barely scratched) and how we called the gards and they did nothing (said guy drinking accross the way in the pub all day) and then later on when i came back from my dinner break the other 2 were shaking as he’d been back with a gun (fake in the end but they didnt know that!). so finished up with, yeah difficult situation only way we could resolve it was by giving the gards a statement and letting them do the rest

    The 2 interviewers had no idea how to react and awkwardly went ok then asked me about a difficult situation I had in a different job! got the job anyway!

    31
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    Mute John Kenny
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:08 PM

    Achievements:

    climbed carrantuohill once as a scout

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    Mute itaryan
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    Oct 14th 2012, 5:44 PM

    A girl in college with me had a 5-page CV. She’d never had a job. First page had ‘Private and Confidential’. Only other item I recall was ‘Sixer in the Brownies’.
    Think she got a job in FF head office.

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    Mute Dave O'Hanlon
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    Oct 14th 2012, 12:18 PM

    I put ‘Administration’ in my skills section. Its not really a skill is it.

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    Mute Adam Brennan
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    Oct 14th 2012, 3:54 PM

    I had a chap give me a pretty cringey three pager with professional DJ and producer and such like. The third page was him on a boat in Thailand. Wearing a straw pork pie hat. Shirtless.

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    Mute David O' Leary
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    Oct 14th 2012, 6:38 PM

    Cash Escort is my current role. Really need to rephrase that.

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    Mute Aoife O'C
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    Oct 14th 2012, 1:15 PM

    I included writing plot for a live action roleplaying game on my cv. Teamwork, meeting deadlines, writing succinct and memorable briefs for people. Totes relevant skills.

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    Mute Micheal
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    Oct 14th 2012, 2:42 PM

    Thumb dwn 4 de use of de word totes.
    Soz luv, u knw hw it is. Innit.

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    Mute Declan Mannix
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    Oct 14th 2012, 4:57 PM

    a Yank friend of mine, 50, sent me his cv to pass on. very qualified guy. his achievements listed when from most recent all the way back too. ……….. wait for it…………………………………………. wait………………………………………… THE FAST PAPER ROUND IN BURLINGAME, SAN FRANCISCO.

    I asked him, ‘you do realize your are a fifty year old man.. right. ?????????

    Americans…. eh.?

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    Mute Declan Mannix
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    Oct 14th 2012, 4:58 PM

    FASTEST

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    Mute Niall Sheridan
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    Oct 14th 2012, 4:34 PM

    I once interviewed a copoclephologist!!

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    Mute MrKnow
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    Oct 14th 2012, 3:19 PM

    astronaut cowboy! i rented the spacesuit and hat for the photo.

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