Old Leaving Cert Points to New: Ireland's Points System Change Explained

If you're researching CAO points and coming across figures like "400 points in 2015" alongside "400 points in 2019," you're right to be confused — they're not the same thing. Ireland changed its Leaving Certificate grading and points system in 2017, and the before-and-after figures are genuinely incompatible. For home-educated students planning their qualification pathway, understanding which system applies to them — and how historical cut-off data should be interpreted — is essential before you start making decisions about subject choices or alternative routes.

What Changed in 2017

Before September 2017, the Leaving Certificate used an A1/A2/B1/B2/B3/C1/C2/C3/D1/D2/D3 grading scale. Points were awarded as follows: an A1 in Higher Level was worth 100 points, an A2 was 90, a B1 was 85, and so on down the scale. The maximum achievable was 600 points (six A1 Higher Level grades), with a 25-point bonus for Higher Level Mathematics at grade C3 or above.

From September 2017 onwards, the new system introduced eight grades: H1 through H8 for Higher Level subjects, and O1 through O8 for Ordinary Level. The new points values are:

The maths bonus changed too. Under the new system, 25 bonus points are awarded for achieving H6 (40% or above) in Higher Level Mathematics. Under the old system, you needed at least a C3 (55%+) in Higher Level Maths for the bonus. The threshold dropped significantly, making the maths bonus more accessible.

The maximum under the new system is still 600 base points (six H1 grades), plus the 25-point maths bonus — a total ceiling of 625 points.

Why This Matters When Reading Historical Cut-Off Data

The CAO publishes historical cut-off points for every course going back years. When you see that a nursing degree had a cut-off of 380 points in 2015 and 430 points in 2019, those numbers reflect two different systems. You cannot compare them directly to assess whether entry is getting harder or easier.

The rule of thumb is rough but useful: under the old system, a B2 in Higher Level (equivalent to approximately 75-79%) was worth 85 points. Under the new system, the equivalent performance (H3, 70-79%) is worth 77 points. A student performing at the same academic level would generate slightly fewer points under the new system in that middle range. At the top, performance is broadly comparable — six H1s still yields 600 points.

For home-educated students looking at cut-off data to decide whether a target course is achievable, the safe approach is to only use cut-off data from 2017 onwards. Pre-2017 figures are from a different system and serve as rough historical context at best. The CAO website and CareersPortal both provide current-year and recent-year cut-offs — stick to those.

The National Average and What It Means in Practice

The national average Leaving Cert points figure gets cited frequently in media and by schools. It typically sits in the range of 300-350 CAO points under the current system, though this fluctuates year to year based on marking and cohort performance.

For planning purposes, the average is largely irrelevant if you're targeting a specific course. What matters is the course's own cut-off, which is set purely by demand — how many students applied for that course, ranked by points. A course in a specialist area with few applicants might admit students at 200 points. A high-demand nursing or pharmacy programme might sit above 450.

For home-educated students, the national average matters in one context: understanding where the cohort clusters. Most popular courses sit well above the national average. If your alternative pathway (QQI Level 5, A-Levels, IB) generates points in the 350-400 range, that places you competitively for a wide range of courses — but not the hyper-competitive medicine, pharmacy, law, and certain nursing programmes that regularly clear 500+ points.

Points Under the New System by Qualification Pathway

A key detail for home-educated students is that the points conversion tables for alternative qualifications — A-Levels, IB, and QQI — are set alongside the Leaving Certificate, and all three pathways can reach the same maximum ceiling of 625 points.

A-Levels: The current CAO conversion for A-Levels maps A* to 90 points, A to 77, B to 71, C to 64, D to 56, E to 47 per subject. Points are calculated on the best three A-Level results in one sitting plus one additional result (fourth A-Level or best AS-Level). The 25-point bonus applies for grade E or above in A-Level Mathematics.

IB Diploma: The conversion runs from 7 (the maximum grade per subject) equalling 88 points at Higher Level, down proportionally. A full 45-point IB diploma equates to 600 CAO points. The maths bonus (25 points) applies for a Grade 4 or above in Higher Level Mathematics.

QQI Level 5: A Distinction in a QQI module is worth 3.25 points per credit (65 points for a 20-credit module). Merit is worth 2.16 points per credit. Pass is worth 1.08 points per credit. A student achieving Distinction across all eight modules of a 120-credit Level 5 Major Award generates a maximum of 390 CAO points — and crucially, this is competitive in a separate QQI quota pool at most universities, not directly against Leaving Certificate applicants.

What This Means for Home-Educated Students Planning Now

If your child is 14 or 15 and you're trying to work out which qualification pathway makes sense, the points conversion tables above give you a concrete planning tool. Work backwards: identify the target course's typical cut-off (using data from 2017 to present only), then calculate whether your preferred qualification pathway can realistically generate that points total.

The more important planning insight from the 2017 reform, however, is about the Leaving Certificate itself. The shift to continuous assessment that began in 2017 — and has accelerated significantly with the Senior Cycle redevelopment running from 2025 to 2029 — means that the written-exam-only advantage that made the Leaving Cert attractive for external candidates is being systematically eroded. Subjects like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Business now have 40% of marks tied to classroom-based assessment components that require a registered teacher to supervise and authenticate. For a home-educated student without a host school, this is a structural problem with no easy workaround.

The result is that A-Levels, the IB, and the QQI Level 5 route are increasingly the more viable qualification choices for home educators — not as second-best alternatives, but as the strategically superior options given how the Leaving Cert is evolving.

The Ireland University Admissions Framework contains a full qualification pathway comparison including current points conversion matrices, the QQI maximum points calculation, and detailed guidance on how each pathway interacts with the CAO's course requirements for Level 8 degrees.

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