How much can leaving cert points increase by?

Darkphenom

Just wondering how much points can increase by. Could course points go up by 100?

Local_Chap

Darkphenom wrote: »

Just wondering how much points can increase by. Could course points go up by 100?

They sure can,Economics and Mathemathical Sciences in UL went from 385 in 2010 to 510 last year

Gumbi

It is, however, highly unlikely in most cases. From what I've seen, courses fluctuate +-30 points on a yearly basis. I'm open to correction on this, though.

Smithwicks Man

It depends on the demand in that particular year.

GoldRush4821

Mixture of demand and the average points of those applying. My course went from 445 to 500 points last year, mainly due to the fact that the people in my class all got in the high 500's. This bumps up the cut off.

magicianz

I would say a lot of the mathematics based ones will increase due to the bonus points of project maths, and the general feel if lecturers of engineering in ucc is that they will increase anyway

J_E

It's course-specific and it has to do with demand. The minimum point figure is usually set at the lowest points someone got into the course with (excluding HEAR allowances)

sarahm1994

I know its really hard but it's best not to drive yourself crazy wondering about points! Our guidance councellor tells us to just do the best exam you can and hope for the course you want to end up within your range. She won't even let us bring up points cause it's such a pointless worry. Hopefully your course will stay the same, or who knows, even go lower in points

Chuchoter

There isn't going to be a general trend. Just taking TCD as an example as they're the only one I know the points for, I can see general science getting up into the 500s, engineering going up to maybe 445 ish. The bonus points for maths will skew things here a lot, but equally that demand has gotten so high

I think the more unusual arts based courses will go into the low 400s, then most of the Law/Arts courses dropping 5-15 points.

lainey108

i heard on the radio that the demand for courses involving science and technology has increased, can the presumption be made that other courses involving the likes of business will go down then?

PictureFrame

lainey108 wrote: »

i heard on the radio that the demand for courses involving science and technology has increased, can the presumption be made that other courses involving the likes of business will go down then?

Not really to be honest. For example, the general consensus last year was that Business courses had reduced in points. My Cousin was going for Commerce with French in UCC, it was 445 the year before and rose to 500, he was lucky as he got 520. However, it goes to show you can't rely on polls etc. from sources.

spurious

Remember there are increased applications from the UK this year.

PictureFrame

spurious wrote: »

Remember there are increased applications from the UK this year.

Yeah, this could increase courses hugely.

Chuchoter

Why has law demand increased does anyone know? I thought law would go down if anything! This isn't fair!

Incompetent

This increase in interest in computer science is driving me crazy. (some) People want to get into it because they see it as an opportunity for a job - which it is. They have NO FECKING CLUE what is actually involved in it though, and they have NO interest in it. Obviously this does not apply to some people, but there are 3 in my year that are like this that will likely drop out after seeing what it is. Just because I can't memorise books and put them on paper means I won't get the courses I want :mad: (though I am a bit lazy too).

/rant

mcpaddington

Incompetent wrote: »

This increase in interest in computer science is driving me crazy. (some) People want to get into it because they see it as an opportunity for a job - which it is. They have NO FECKING CLUE what is actually involved in it though, and they have NO interest in it. Obviously this does not apply to some people, but there are 3 in my year that are like this that will likely drop out after seeing what it is. Just because I can't memorise books and put them on paper means I won't get the courses I want :mad: (though I am a bit lazy too).

/rant

Haha same man! I'm really hoping to get computer science in UCD(1st choice) or in Trinity(2nd choice), and seeing that a lot of people putting it down thinking it's easy and a guaranteed job pushes my buttons. The Irish Times said UCD went up 44% in applicants and Trinity 18% but I checked on the UCD site and it said that it was 255 applicants total, which made me feel a bit better. Really looking forward to college what about you, where you looking to go?

Incompetent

mcpaddington wrote: »

Haha same man! I'm really hoping to get computer science in UCD(1st choice) or in Trinity(2nd choice), and seeing that a lot of people putting it down thinking it's easy and a guaranteed job pushes my buttons. The Irish Times said UCD went up 44% in applicants and Trinity 18% but I checked on the UCD site and it said that it was 255 applicants total, which made me feel a bit better. Really looking forward to college what about you, where you looking to go?

Wow only 255 total? I thought it'd be much higher. TCD's my first choice! UCD is second (though if I don't get TCD I won't get UCD... ). DIT is my third choice, but I've heard it's not great for computer science. If I don't get TCD I'll be raging! They're the only things on my CAO so I need to get workin

mcpaddington

Incompetent wrote: »

Wow only 255 total? I thought it'd be much higher. TCD's my first choice! UCD is second (though if I don't get TCD I won't get UCD... ). DIT is my third choice, but I've heard it's not great for computer science. If I don't get TCD I'll be raging! They're the only things on my CAO so I need to get workin

You should chuck DCU down as a sort of fail-safe, it's 340 points and supposed to be very good too.

Dwellingdweller

mcpaddington wrote: »

Haha same man! I'm really hoping to get computer science in UCD(1st choice) or in Trinity(2nd choice), and seeing that a lot of people putting it down thinking it's easy and a guaranteed job pushes my buttons. The Irish Times said UCD went up 44% in applicants and Trinity 18% but I checked on the UCD site and it said that it was 255 applicants total, which made me feel a bit better. Really looking forward to college what about you, where you looking to go?

D'you know if it's possible to find out how many applicants other courses got, or just UCD? thx

mcpaddington

Dwellingdweller wrote: »

D'you know if it's possible to find out how many applicants other courses got, or just UCD? thx

No I don't sorry, here's the numbers the CAO published: http://www2.cao.ie/dir_report/pdf/AppStats01Feb2012.pdf but apart from that you could check and see if a certain college published the number of applicants.

SureYWouldntYa

mcpaddington wrote: »

Haha same man! I'm really hoping to get computer science in UCD(1st choice) or in Trinity(2nd choice), and seeing that a lot of people putting it down thinking it's easy and a guaranteed job pushes my buttons. The Irish Times said UCD went up 44% in applicants and Trinity 18% but I checked on the UCD site and it said that it was 255 applicants total, which made me feel a bit better. Really looking forward to college what about you, where you looking to go?

255 people competing for 50 places? Its not looking good for the likes of me who would scape into UCD CS

AnnaKin

PictureFrame wrote: »

Yeah, this could increase courses hugely.

i come in here as an innocent by stander and i leave as a depressed 6th year
:pac:

Truman Burbank

mcpaddington wrote: »

Haha same man! I'm really hoping to get computer science in UCD(1st choice) or in Trinity(2nd choice), and seeing that a lot of people putting it down thinking it's easy and a guaranteed job pushes my buttons. The Irish Times said UCD went up 44% in applicants and Trinity 18% but I checked on the UCD site and it said that it was 255 applicants total, which made me feel a bit better. Really looking forward to college what about you, where you looking to go?

UCD has a 60% increase in applications to its Computer Science course this year, and TCD has a 48% increase to their Computer Science course (both compared to 2011 CAO applicant figures)

Sean.

Theoretically, they can go up or down by any number, but by studying point statistics on Qualifax.ie, you can form an estimate of the safe zone for your course. For example, if a course usually fluctuates by 20 points or so a year, and it was 400 points last year, then you'd aim for 430 points, to be safe. However, if higher level maths is required for the course you can also add the extra 25 points people will get this year, hence you'd probably want to aim for 455 points to be safe, when applying to a 400 course. Don't think too much about the points system, you'll end up going round in circles and stressing yourself out, just try your best, that's all you can do.

Chuchoter

I'm trying not to think about points, was doing well up until the mocks came back. I am so scared of my favorite courses shooting up to 560/570

mcpaddington

Truman Burbank wrote: »

UCD has a 60% increase in applications to its Computer Science course this year, and TCD has a 48% increase to their Computer Science course (both compared to 2011 CAO applicant figures)

Are those the total figures? The first-choice preferences for UCD computer science is 215 applicants, don't know where I got 255 from damn that's a lot of people.