Your expert guide to navigating the Leaving Cert and choosing the right study options at university and further educationWith the mock exams now over, Leaving Certificate students across the country are taking stock of their results. One parent wrote to Brian Mooney that the exams “exposed gaps across all [their son’s] Leaving Cert subjects”. To find out how to best use that time, The Irish Times spoke to three friends who graduated from Maynooth Post Primary School last year and all achieved more than 600 points in their Leaving Cert. Marks are awarded in many cases, which are added to an applicant’s CAO points score in August, to determine offers of places. School Easter holidaysThe State Examinations Commission’s (SEC) Leaving Cert oral tests in Irish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Japanese take place in schools throughout the country.

Source: The Irish Times February 21, 2026 19:41 UTC