The future looks good for the 50,000-plus students who received their Leaving Cert results today, writes Seán Flynn, Education Editor
1. The overall situation for the class of 2006
You won't thank me for saying it but the message to the class of 2006 is this- you have never had it so good.
This morning, the reality for this year's Leaving Certs is that the so called "points race" has pretty much ended for all but a small minority chasing places in the likes of law and medicine.
For most students, prospects have never been better. There has been an explosion in the number of third-level courses available in the past two decades. And the number chasing these places is at an all-time low.
Only 51,000 students took this year's Leaving Cert. The numbers of repeats is also down dramatically.
Why? Because most students can now secure one of their top CAO options without repeating the exam. The CAO estimates that some 75 per cent of students will secure one of their top three options.
2. So, what are the prospects for CAO points with the first round of offers due to be published next Monday?
If you want to get a good idea at the prospects for your favourite course, have a look at last year's points published in the centre pages of this supplement. Yes, points will vary year on year but those needed for most Level 8 higher degree courses, in particular, tend to be broadly similar.
That said, it is impossible to predict points in any particular course which reflects supply and demand among students for that course.
All we can say is that the overall trend for points should be downward with fewer students taking the exam and more places available.
This morning, as you reflect on your Leaving Cert score, it is worth remembering that only about 14 per cent of you will achieve 450 CAO points or more.
Yes, your cousin down the country or your neigbour across the road may boast about her 500 points, but she (and most high flyers are female) is in a very small minority.
3. Prospects for medicine /paramedical?
If you are in this elite group of those with very high points, there is every chance you are looking at something in the medicine and health related area.
Studies show that over 40 per cent of those with over 450 CAO points opt for this area.
In the short term, the news is not good for this group. With first-time Leaving Cert students being squeezed by repeat students and those from Britain and Northern Ireland, points for medicine are expected to reach 570-plus. Only 146 of the 300-plus offers made in medicine last year went to first time Leaving Cert students.
But there is good news in the longer term. Next year, new post-graduate courses will begin in UCD, the College of Surgeons and possibly in other colleges. Full details are still to be worked out but this does give you an alternative route into medicine.
You could, for example, take a science degree and complete the post-graduate course in four years time.
Although the points threshold for entry to the post-grad course has still to be set, you will probably need a minimum of about 450 points.
4. Did most students get honours in higher level subjects this year?
The overall picture is encouraging for those taking higher level subjects.
Some 75 per cent of those in higher level subjects managed to secure an honour (grade C3 or higher) in a huge number of subjects, including Irish, English, maths, music, geography, German, art, chemistry and history.
Some honours subjects remain much more difficult than others. Business - often seen as an "easy" honour by some students - is actually relatively difficulty. Only 68 per cent of students secured honours, compared to, say, 96 per cent who took music.
It is worth noting that there was little change in the grades awarded in higher level maths, despite complaints from students and teachers that this year's Paper 2 was grossly unfair. It may well have been but 82 per cent secured an honour (up four points from last year ) and 6.5 per cent of students secured an A1 grade.
5. What about ordinary level ?
The trend here is much less encouraging. For reasons which have never been explained, far fewer higher grades are awarded in ordinary level subjects than at higher level.
Over ten per cent of students, for example, achieved an A1 grade in a wide variety of subjects at higher level including physics and chemistry but A1s remain very rare at ordinary level.
Failure rates are also very high at ordinary level, strikingly so in the case of subjects such as maths chemistry and physics.
One interesting trend this year was the better showing by students at ordinary level in both history and geography. Failure rates in both subjects were down . This may be due to the introduction of project work, which accounts for 20 per cent of the marks in each subject.
6. What about languages such as Polish and Latvian?
Broadly, these students did very well. Some 98 per cent of all students taking Russian secured an honour. The honours rate was also very high in Lithuanian (97.7 per cent ) and Polish (95 per cent). By contrast, 75 per cent of those taking Latvian secured an honour.
The most difficult honours subject in the Leaving? Spare a thought for the 22 students who took Dutch. Less than 64 per cent secured an honour.