Timelines for fully removing pandemic-related post-marking adjustment will continue to be informed by the 2026 experienceA post-marking adjustment exercise aimed to bring results on the aggregate to a point no lower than broadly midway between 2020 and 2021 levels. Photograph: Getty Images Fri Aug 21 2026 - 12:01 • 3 MIN READStudents received the results of the 2026 Leaving Certificate when they logged on to their Candidate Self Service Portal on the State Examinations Commission (SEC) portal Friday morning.Enhanced grades this year were expected to drop back by a further 1.5 per cent from those secured in 2025. Last year, then minister for education Helen McEntee gave a commitment to a gradual return to pre-pandemic grade profiles for Leaving Cert results. Her predecessor Norma Foley had already confirmed, in April 2024, that a gradual process of returning to normal Leaving Cert outcomes would start in 2025 with a post-marking adjustment exercise to bring results on the aggregate to a point no lower than broadly midway between the 2020 and 2021 levels. The 2026 results are expected to be above 2019 levels by 4.5 percentage points on average.A further reduction in post mark adjustment will take place in 2027, with no PMA occuring beyond that date. The commitment to avoid a “cliff-edge” in the profile of results had required a 7.5 per cent adjustment to the marks awarded to students in 2024 through the marking process, bringing them to 7 per cent above the 2019 pre-Covid average.How will this new policy affect securing a preferred CAO course for 2026 Leaving Cert students?The 7 per cent grade inflation that has become embedded in the system since 2020 is a complex problem to correct. Inflating everybody’s marks by a standardised percentage does not improve a Leaving Cert student’s place in the overall rankings.If an applicant is the 101st on the course list where there are 100 places on offer, they will still miss out.Why then did the minister continue from 2022-2024 to offer inflated grades to students if it was not going to improve their chances?Students who have just sat the Leaving Cert account for 58 per cent of the total number of applicants to the CAO in 2026. This year, there are again 20,527 applicants in the CAO process who secured their Leaving Cert before 2026, mainly in the past two to three years.With high enhanced marks baked into the results of those who sat the Leaving Cert post-Covid, it would have been grossly unfair to the class of 2026 to have allowed the pattern of results to revert to pre-Covid levels, leaving them on average 5 per cent worse off than CAO applicants from previous years.[ Majority of Irish universities hike on-campus accommodation costs for new academic yearOpens in new window ]But by deciding to gradually revert to pre-pandemic grade averages over a four- or five-year time span, the Leaving Cert class of 2026 and subsequent years will be awarded one grade on average lower than those secured by the 2022-2024 students.The State Examinations Commission have indicated that student performance has increased by more than two per cent since 2019, negating the neccessity to return to those 2019 levels.The key number to look out for today will be the percentage of grades enhanced by the adjustment process. The difference between the previous level of enhancement and those awarded today crystallises the disadvantage this year’s Leaving Cert graduates face compared with those seeking a CAO place who sat the Leaving Cert in the previous six years.The role of schools has changed now that students receive their results onlineSchools have always provided an important role in offering guidance and support to students on results day. School principals will provide support to students by allowing them to come to the school, if they wish, at a scheduled time to meet members of the student support team, including guidance counsellors, year heads, tutors and chaplains.Given that the new academic year is only days away, last year’s Leaving Cert students who arrange to go to their school to seek support will be required to attend by appointment so that the teachers they wish to meet can arrange to be available.The SEC will also now provide the Leaving Cert results directly to the CAO. This will allow the CAO to process applications for entry to higher education without delay and release the first-round offers at 2pm next Wednesday, August 26th.At that stage, applicants will see whether they have secured the required number of points to receive an offer on one of their top college choices.IN THIS SECTION