jeez irish education is "believed" to be one of the best educational systems in the world but we dont do half the tests ye do!
when you are 14, 15 ,16 you have to sit ur first STATE exams which are well just a preparation for your Leaving cert which pretty much determins the rest of your life.u sit the leaving 2 or 3 years after ur junior cert.in junior cert u are graded by A, B ,C ,D, E , F , NG.
i have explained these already during this thread.
a grade D means you have got 40-55% where 40% is barely a pass.
a grade C means you have gotten honours 55-70%
a grade B means that you are good getting 70-85%
and the best is grade A which is 85-100%
an E and an F are fails and a N.G is no grade which is 0-10%
as i have said these tests are important but are really just a prep. for the leaving certificate.in junior cert you do about 10 subjects. you have to do Irish, English, maths, (french, german or spanish), history, geography, science (business,music,woodwork,metalwork,technical graphics or art,. you pick 2 out of these) and then you have to do CSPE( civic, social and political education).
in leaving cert the grades are more detailed
ie
a grade A is divided into 2 parts: an A1 and A2
A1= 90-100%
A2=85-90%
and then every other grade is divided into 3 parts
ie
B1= 80-85%
B2= 75-85%
B3= 70-75%
and same for grades C and D
to get into uni you have to fill out a CAO form about 4 months before your exams
in the CAO form you are required to fill in the uni course you most want to do. you have to fill in ur top 10 uni course. with ur 1st being ur preferred course. then u do ur leaving which determins whether u get the uni couse or not.
the grades converted into a points system in which an a1 being the top mark is 100points and an A2 being 90 points and B1 being 85 points and so on.
also in both jc and lc each subject is divided into 2 levels: honours and pass.
in honours an A1 is equal to 100 points but in pass ti is equal to 60 points cause the test is easier.
the top points u can achieve is 600 in which you are guaranteed a place in ur uni course whatever it may be.if u fail all ur subjects u get 0 points
u do 7+ subjects in ur leaving with ur top 6 being counted in the points system.u have to do irish, english, maths and another language in ur leaving. then u have to pick 3 or more from physics, biology,chemistry,accounting,business, tech drawing, construction studies, art , music, history, geog.
each uni couse is also represented by points: ie
most courses require hons maths
Medicing is about 565 points
dentistry is about 535 points
law is about 510 points
electrical engineering is about 510 points
arts (teaching and all that) is about 420points
these points go up and down each year according to the number of places available and the demand for the courses. they usually only change about 5 - 10 points each year
all these courses are degrees. you can also do a cert or diploma for less points.
if u dont reach ur points quota u can repeat ur leaving in the following year.
u enter uni usually at aroung 17 or 18 or 19 years of age.
HURRAY!
cheers
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