How CAO Points Are Calculated from Leaving Cert Results

What the CAO points system actually measures

In the Republic of Ireland, undergraduate places at universities and colleges are allocated mainly by a single number: your CAO points score, derived from your Leaving Certificate Examination grades. The Central Applications Office (CAO) converts your grades into points using a fixed national grid, then ranks all applicants for each course in descending order of points.

Points are about how you rank relative to other applicants in a given year — not a fixed pass mark. The minimum points needed for a course (the 'points requirement') is simply the score of the last applicant offered a place, so it moves up and down each year with demand. Always treat published course points as historical, and check the current figures on the official source.

The grade scale: Higher (H) and Ordinary (O) levels

Each Leaving Cert subject is sat at either Higher level (grades H1 to H8) or Ordinary level (grades O1 to O8). Higher level grades carry more points than Ordinary level grades, because the syllabus is more demanding. The CAO publishes the exact points value of every grade band in its official Leaving Certificate points grid.

Higher level grades from H1 downward are worth progressively fewer points, with the lowest passing bands worth a small number of points and the failing band worth zero. Ordinary level grades top out well below the Higher level maximum. Because the precise figures are set nationally and can be reviewed, read them directly from the CAO grid rather than relying on memory or third-party calculators.

• Higher level = grades H1 to H8; Ordinary level = grades O1 to O8.
• Higher level grades are worth more points than the same-rank Ordinary level grade.
• Foundation level (in Maths and Irish) is scored separately and accepted by fewer courses.
• The exact points per grade are on the official CAO points grid — verify there.

Counting your best six subjects

The CAO counts your six best results from a single sitting of the Leaving Certificate. You may sit seven or eight subjects, but only the top six (after points are assigned) are added together. Results from different years are not combined for this calculation — the six must come from one examination.

This is why subject choice and spreading your effort matter: a strong sixth subject can lift your total, while a weak seventh or eighth subject simply does not count against you. Note that a course can still require specific subjects (for example a language, or Higher level maths) as a separate matriculation or entry requirement, even if those subjects are not among your top six for points.

The Higher Level Maths bonus

A well-known feature of the system is the bonus awarded for Higher Level Mathematics. The CAO adds a fixed number of bonus points for Higher Level Maths once you achieve a qualifying grade band, and those bonus points are included only if Maths then falls within your best six subjects after the bonus is added.

This bonus can lift a borderline applicant into a higher-points course, which is one reason many students take on Higher Level Maths. The qualifying grade and the size of the bonus are set by the CAO — confirm the current rule on cao.ie before relying on it, as the national points grid is published and updated by the CAO each year.

Things that change the calculation

A few situations affect how points are computed. Matriculation requirements (minimum subjects a college requires to be eligible at all) are separate from points and must be met independently. Some courses also have restricted entry, interviews, portfolios or admissions tests that sit alongside or instead of points.

Applicants using other qualifications — a further-education (QQI/FET) award, A-levels, the International Baccalaureate, or a non-EU school-leaving qualification — are scored through different CAO conversion arrangements, not the Leaving Cert grid. If that is you, see the related guides and the relevant CAO information sheet.