GOING TO COLLEGE: Ten per cent of CAO applicants have done their Leaving Cert a second time, the CAO has revealed.
Those most likely to repeat are short of points for medicine, veterinary, law and paramedical courses. This practice is driving up points in medicine and law to record levels.
The CAO process liberated us from cronyism, favouritism and family influence in third-level education by offering a fair and objective measurement.
But there remains an aspect of the CAO which is unfair.
When you compare students sitting the Leaving Cert for the first time with those taking it for the second, there is no competition. First-timers take seven or more subjects and must do all the core subjects.
Second-timers cherry-pick six subjects in which they can get the highest points. They can forget English, Maths, Irish or other essential subjects if they got the required grade for entry. Once they have fulfilled the matriculation requirements for a subject, they can use their second exam merely as a point-raising exercise.
So it's no wonder that doctors and lawyers tend to come from higher socio-economic backgrounds, as a Department of Education report stated. Their parents can afford to pay for an expensive repeat year, when tuition can be as much as €5,000. This is the kind of inequality that free education and the CAO were supposed to prevent.
The Points Commission recommended that this should no longer be allowed, but the recommendation has not been enforced.
The commission believed that students sitting the exam for the second or subsequent time should have to sit the entire exam, including core subjects.
The question of whether or not to repeat is being discussed in homes around the country as students come to terms with disappointment at not receiving their first preferences.
The first issue is this: how badly do you want the course?
And it's not just health sciences that are at issue. You may want an arts course badly enough to repeat your Leaving. You may have failed one of the basic Leaving Cert subjects for entry to cert/diploma courses, so that repeating is the only way to get to third level.
One student I spoke to said the decision to repeat, which raised his score by 100 points, was the best choice he ever made because it had got him into medical school. You can't blame him, because the way the system currently works, anyone without the option of grinds and/or repeating isn't on a level playing pitch.
On the other hand, if you've done your absolute best, had no particular health or family problems, then you really need to think hard about whether it is worthwhile spending a year of your life repeating. Talk it over with parents and teachers.
You will also need to repeat if you have not reached a required grade for a course you are interested in. In this case, you can repeat just that subject in the Leaving Cert. You cannot use the grade to increase your points, however, only to meet matriculation requirements.
You may do your repeat in VEC schools, some secondary schools and private sixth-form colleges. Some require an interview and want you to convince them of your intent before they'll take you on.
Kathryn Holmquist's column will continue this week. The Irish Times Second Round Offers supplement will appear on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Sile Sheehy, careers counsellor, and Kathryn Holmquist will be available for advice on the helpline at 1-850-200592/3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.