May 5th: The CAO change-of-mind facility opens, which enables applicants to amend, or list for the first time, their course choices. Applicants have until July 1st to reorganise their course choice lists as often as they wish during this two-month period. A limited number of restricted application courses, which carried out assessment processes in March-April, cannot be added at this stage.
Mid-May: The CAO will send an email to all applicant's accounts notifying them to follow a set of instructions and to check and confirm that all their account information is complete and correct, including their Leaving Cert examination number where appropriate, which will have been provided directly to the CAO by the State Exams Commission (SEC). If an applicant has previously sat the Leaving Cert, they also need to check that their previous examination number is recorded in the space provided, as well as any other relevant qualifications.
June 8th: Leaving Certificate written examinations begin and will continue until late June.
On the day of the final Leaving Cert written paper: Applicants under 23 who sat the Hpat test in February receive results to enable them to factor these marks into their final consideration of course choices before July 1st CAO deadline.
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July 1st (5.00 pm): Final date for any amendments to course choices and order of preference on all CAO applications for entry to college in September 2022. Most current year Leaving Cert applicants make their final course choice decisions/amendments during this "Change of Mind" period in May-June each year.
First week of July: Initial CAO offers. The CAO makes approx. 6,000 offers to mature (over-23) applicants, and to applicants who accepted and then deferred college offers of places in 2021. These offers are made online at cao.ie and remain open for about a week. Mature and deferred applicants who may be away from home should ensure any offer in early July is dealt with, as offers lapse if not accepted within the specified time period.
July 22nd (5.00pm): An exceptional closing date for registered third-level students who wish to drop out of their current college programme and re-apply for a new list of course choices through the CAO (€60 fee).
Early August 2022: Round zero offers. More than 4,000 places on courses are offered to applicants presenting further education (FE) awards and to an additional cohort of mature applicants. Applicants for graduate medicine are also offered places in this round. Offers are open for approx. one week.
In August: The State Examinations Commission (SEC) delivers 2022 Leaving Cert results to more than 730 second-level schools, and makes them available through a secure online service at examinations.ie from noon. Full analysis of the results in the Irish Times Results supplement.
Results day plus two: An application to view scripts can be made online only on the SEC Student Portal. Students will also have access to the component marks of their various scripts at this time.
Results day plus five: The CAO releases round one offers to candidates online that afternoon. Minimum points required for entry to each course will be available on the CAO website at that time and are printed in full in The Irish Times Round One Offers supplement on that date .
Shortly Afterwards: Leaving Cert students who are unhappy with a grade they received and wish to view their marked exam scripts may do so online. There is no charge for viewing your marked exam scripts.
Students who wish to appeal the result in one or more Leaving Cert subjects can apply online through the SEC Student Portal to do so between these dates. A fee of €40 per subject applies, which is refunded in the case of an upgrade.
A few days following Round 1 CAO offers: Closing date for receipt of acceptance of CAO round one offers.
A few days later: The CAO makes round two offers available to applicants online. The minimum points required for entry to each course are released on the CAO website on that date.
A few days following Round 2 CAO offers: Closing date for receipt of acceptance of CAO round two offers.
Mid-September: Results of Leaving Cert appeals released by the SEC by this date. Final offers of places by the CAO will be made in the days following the release of appeal results by the SEC.
Note: Due to the uncertainty around the level of Covid-19 disruption which could occur during the written exam process in June and the correction of scripts subsequently in July, the exact dates for the release of this year's Leaving Cert results and the subsequent CAO offers, and all that follows, have not as yet been determined.
The Irish Times will update these details online when the dates have been confirmed.
