BIG CHANGES COULD be on the way for Leaving Certificate students as the Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan plans to bring forward revisions that could overhaul the CAO points system.

One of the ideas being floated is lowering the bar for failing the Leaving Certificate at higher level by awarding CAO points to students who achieve between 30% and 39%.

Fail mark

Currently, anything below a 40% mark is a fail.

However, for ordinary level a fail will remain at 40%.

A change-up of the grading system could also be on the cards, which could see the existing ABC grading system scrapped.

Instead of 14 different grading bands, there is to be eight, with grade gaps ranging in gaps of 10% instead of 5%. 

It is believed that the changes will effect those sitting the exams in 2017.

The minister will bring proposals to Government this week, with further details of the new revisions to be announced later this week.

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