Q. SOME people seem to be selected for courses such as medicine, veterinary science, etc on a random basis. Why do they not round down the points for all courses to say 400 and then allocate all the places by random or lottery. Is this possible? Agonised Galway Reader

A: WELL, it's not as totally unreasonable a suggestion as some people might imagine. The problem about allocating a small number of places in highly competitive areas such as medicine is that the choice is arbitrary, no matter how you do it. Of course, someone with 400 points might make a better doctor than someone with 550 points.

The problem is that no objective criteria exist for ascertaining in advance what kind of a person would make a good doctor. In the present CAO points system many courses end up on random selection anyway.

There are about 300 medical places there; if you choose the 300 with the highest Leaving Cert points, then you disappoint the remaining 5,000 or whatever. But if you change the system and start doing aptitude tests and interviews, you may end up taking a different 300 in - but there will still be 5,000 disappointed applicants and some of them will complain that they are brighter, more intelligent, with better exam results, than the ones who got in and why can't the selection be made by exam results! No matter how you select you have the same number of disappointed candidates.

It's interesting that the College of Surgeons has dropped its interview system for 1997 entry but will review it again for 1998.

There is something to be said for the lottery system - above a certain points level. There would probably be a public outcry, of course but I do know that some countries have experimented with such a system, allocating a certain quota of places to people on high points and then the rest on a lottery basis. The aim was to ensure that the brightest students did get in but thereafter the selection was at best arbitrary and therefore you might as well acknowledge this.

Q: THE traffic has been appalling since the schools re opened in January. Travelling to school is clearly a huge part of the traffic problem in Dublin and other cities. Could schools start later - say 10 o'clock - in order not to clog up the morning rush hour traffic?

- Frustrated Dublin Commuter.

A: YOU are certainly right that commuter traffic is hugely affected by the ferrying of students to and from schools and the large numbers of school children travelling by bus and train. Various commuters have suggested that it's worse than ever this year. Would delaying the start of school be a practicable solution? I think not. It would mean school ending much later and children, like everyone else, work best when they are fresh early in the morning. Indeed Irish schools start late by European standards - many children in France, Germany and elsewhere start school at 8.00 a.m. or 8.30 a.m. Somehow, I don't think that would work in Ireland.

However, you are right. There is still a very big problem. Sometimes, I think the solution is to force everyone to attend their nearest local primary and second level school and stop all this dashing off to school all over town in cars, on the DART and on buses. It certainly would be easier for everyone if children walked to their local school and sat beside their neighbours - and I honestly think it wouldn't maker the slightest difference to standards.

Q: WHAT is a laboratory science subject as required by NUI colleges? How does it differ from a science subject in the Leaving Cert? - Anxious Student

A: THE colleges ruled by the NUI matriculation requirements are UCC, UCD, UCG, St Patrick's College Maynooth, College of Surgeons and St Angela's College of Education, Sligo. The laboratory science subject you refer to can be chosen from the following subjects in the Leaving Cert: chemistry, physics, biology, physics and chemistry, and agricultural science.

Any one of these will fulfil the requirement of a laboratory science subject for the faculties of science, food science and technology, medicine (including dentistry), engineering and architecture, veterinary medicine and general agriculture. However, subjects such as maths, applied maths, engineering, construction studies, technical drawing, home economics, social and scientific or home economics general are not acceptable though they do include elements of laboratory work. In fact, home economics general is accepted by only one of these colleges and for just one course - the B Ed degree in St Angela's, Sligo.

Q: WHAT purpose do mock exams serve? My son is taking his mock Leaving Cert at the beginning of February - 17 weeks before his Leaving. How could he possibly be expected to have entire courses covered, let alone have time to revise them properly? - Co Wicklow Parent

A: SCHOOLS organise mock exams for the purpose of giving students practice in answering three hour papers over a very intensive period of seven to ten days or so, just as it is in the real Leaving Cert for most students. This requires a lot of stamina as well as huge effort in study preparation for students. It also helps to create the proper exam type situation for orals, aurals, practical tests, etc.

Problem areas can be identified for students such as the time allocation for questions, especially those with varying marks, or forgetting to do the required number of parts of a question or indeed a compulsory part or whole question. In many schools mock exams are used to establish whether a student is capable of taking the higher level in a subject.

I agree about the revision problem when the course has not yet been finished. If the course could be finished then the Department of Education would consider the Leaving Cert to be an 18 month course and not a two year course as it is now. Schools overcome this in varying ways such as setting their own exam papers or substituting questions or areas of the course not yet covered with others which have been. Teachers see the papers beforehand and can decide what areas should be taught. Some schools do have their mock exams at Easter but by then it can be too late to correct bad practice or to get students to work on weaker areas in a subject. The thing to remember is that it is a mock exam - you shouldn't invest such a huge momentum of effort in February so that by June when the real Leaving Cert comes all the energy has been spent.

Remember, grades achieved in February are mock grades and students can improve dramatically if the proper direction is given by teachers - or they can also rest on their laurels and feel they've done the year's work by February. There really is no substitute for a good revision plan for June.