How to prepare for Leaving Cert results day

After weeks of waiting, there can be many mixed emotions when the time for Leaving Cert results comes around. Planning out what you’ll do on the day can help you to stay grounded.

Getting your Leaving Cert results

There are two ways to find out your results: in person, or online.

Picking up results at your school

The traditional way of getting results is to go to your school on results day. They will give you a hard copy of your results, which you can open and read there, or you can take home with you to look at later.

Some people like to share the joy or the disappointment with their classmates or teachers, others prefer to keep their results private. Whatever happens, it can be helpful to talk to someone about how you feel after receiving them.

Getting your results online

You also have the option of logging on to examinations.ie to get your results. The results will be available to access from 10am on results day. This is a great option if you are abroad, or for some other reason you are not able to travel to your school.

Calculating Leaving Cert results

You are given a grade for each subject you sat, which earns you points in the points system. Your results paper will list out how many points are applied to each grade. You can also consult a points table to help you.

Many people find the best way to work out how many points you got is to use a points calculator. Make sure it has been updated to the points system that was introduced in 2017.

Remember that you can only use the results of your best six exams to calculate your points total.

Options if you don’t get the Leaving Cert points you hoped for

Some people will be feeling disappointment on results day. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out the way we hope it will. However, it is important to remember that Leaving Cert results aren’t everything and there are always plenty of other options available. There are many people who ended up on a different path to the one they were expecting, but still found something to do that they loved. If you’re feeling down, make sure to talk to someone.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you didn’t get the points you were hoping for:

Consider appealing your results

If there are certain exams you felt went well but your results weren’t what you expected, you could look into applying for an appeal to have your exam looked at again. Find out more about appealing a Leaving Cert result.

If you are not happy with your grades, you can submit an appeal. The appeal process will go through these steps:

• Checking that the data was entered correctly by the school
• Checking that the data was received and processed correctly by the Department of Education
• An option to have the process reviewed by independent appeal scrutineers

If students are still not happy, they can choose to sit the exams at a later date.

Consider all of the things you could do next

Whether you decide to go to college, apply for a PLC course, take a gap year, find a job or look into an apprenticeship, there are many paths you can take. You don’t need to have it all figured out right now. Find out all of your options when finishing school.

Remember there are always other options

Remember, if you don’t get the results for the course you want; there are so many different ways to get to where you want to go. Take the time now to research and think about a ‘Plan B’ in case you don’t get your first choice on the CAO. Take a look at the different study options which could get you to your chosen career via an alternative route.

Talk to someone about your choices

It is a time where you will make many tough and exciting choices. Make sure you talk them over with someone, whether that’s a guidance counsellor, a teacher, a parent, or a friend.

Check in with how you’re feeling

This can be an exciting time, but it can be challenging. While Leaving Cert results aren’t everything, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by how much change is going on in your life right now. Take some time to check in with yourself, and with your friends, and notice how you’re feeling. It’s normal to feel anxious around the time of exam results. Find out how to handle exam results stress and anxiety.

Leaving Cert results night

If you’re planning on going out after getting your results, it’s important to stay safe. Emotions are running high, and whether you’re feeling happy or disappointed, alcohol can cause a lot of ups and downs. Find out how to make the most of your results night here.

Need more information?

We are here to answer your questions and talk through your options. Our online chat service is for 16 to 25 year olds and is available Monday to Friday, 4pm to 8pm. Chat to us now about your situation.

• Chat now to a trained Youth Information Officer
• Or leave us a message and we will email you back

Feeling overwhelmed and want to talk to someone?

• Get anonymous support 24/7 with our text message support service
• Connect with a trained volunteer who will listen to you, and help you to move forward feeling better
• Free-text SPUNOUT to 50808 to begin
• Find out more about our text message support service

If you are a customer of the 48 or An Post network or cannot get through using the ‘50808’ short code please text HELLO to 086 1800 280 (standard message rates may apply). Some smaller networks do not support short codes like ‘50808’.