Entry requirements 1970s-Present

jimi_t

I can't find anything on the web and I've googled and searched extensively.

A beligerent member of my family maintains that the teacher training course in St.Pats required one of the highest entry requirments in the country in the 70s, requiring 6 honours compared to needing only 2 for medicine under the old CAO system.

This seems completely ludicrous and patently untrue to me - could anyone point me towards some statistics that would equate the requirements for the various 3rd level courses in the country during the 70s in the present day, 600 points system.

oliviah

You're mixing up points and entry requirements. Look at this years entry requirements for UCD medicine. Ordinary D3's all over the place. The points on the other hand are high. This is because a lot of people appy for the course - supply and demand.

In the 70s there was no free 3rd level, very little demand, so once you met the entry requirements you got in.

It's not as crazy as it sounds to you.

Rosita

oliviah wrote: »

In the 70s there was no free 3rd level, very little demand, so once you met the entry requirements you got in.

This slightly misrepresents it. There may have been greater supply restrictions in those days also.

Certainly I know of two members of my family one of whom did the Leaving in 1973 (5 Honours), one in 1974 (6 Honours) and a family friend who did the Leaving in 1976 (5 Honours) who did Primary Teaching. All would easily be 500+ Leaving Cert people these days. So I would say the standard was probably quite high alright as they certainly appear to have seen the Leaving Cert as a pressure exam rather than one where you could just get your five passes and pick your course.

It is also a fact that in those pre-CAO days that colleges had their own points systems and there were bonus points for Leaving Cert subjects germane to the subject area you were going to study in University so direct comparisons are difficult. But there certainly was a points system in operation. I would imagine that the idea of passing the Leaving Cert and turning up to enrol at Uni if you had the money finished with free second-level education when demand would presumably have jumped.

J.R.

The leaving cert, on it's own, didn't get you a place in the teacher training colleges in the 70's.

There was an interview process and marks were awarded under 4 categories:

4 categories:

1. Marks for General interview for suitability
2. Marks for Oral Irish Interview
3. Marks for Music interview, singing & ability to play instrument.
4. Marks calculated on Leaving cert results

The results of the above four were added up and places allocated.


Interview is now gone & places based entirely on points system.

funktastic

5 honours wouldn't necessarily mean 500 points. At C3 higher Level 5 hons amounts to 300 points.

Rosita

funktastic wrote: »

5 honours wouldn't necessarily mean 500 points. At C3 higher Level 5 hons amounts to 300 points.

The reason I mention 500+ points is that I would be very confident that with the current day support systems such as widespread grinds, buckets of notes and primers on all subjects, greatly enhanced knowledge of exam technique and marking schemes as well as much greater emphasis on getting specific grades and knowledge of how to do so, as well as suggestions that there is grade inflation these days people like that would very easily raise their game to that level.

I know people who got 7 honours in the Leaving Cert, mostly As and Bs and would consider them quite unremarkable academically.

Let's not exaggerate this - 6 C1s bags 420 points. 6 B1s bags 510. You don't even need one A3 to get there.