Leaving Cert grades have fallen this year. This is no accident, with the grade inflation that was brought in as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic going through a planned unwinding.Students may have hoped, however, that lower grades might mean lower CAO points.No such luck though – an analysis shows that, overall, CAO points have risen by an average of 1.5 per cent. That average, of course, is relatively meaningless if points have fallen or risen for a student’s preferred course, and the change between 2025 and 2026 is, on average, about three points per course. Back to the good news: most course points have stayed roughly the same as last year, except in high-demand areas such as health and medicine. For some students, the good fortune of 625 points is countered by the misfortune of random selection – in other words, a lottery.Random selection is like the nightmare of the Leaving Cert never went away. A student worked incredibly hard, made a lot of sacrifices, received absolute top marks – but it’s still not good enough. [ CAO points system cannot be used to measure intelligenceOpens in new window ]It’s long been acknowledged that this system is at best unfair and at worst, cruel.In 2025, there were 25 courses with entry based on random selection. This year, that figure is up, with 35 level eight courses requiring random selection, a rise of 45 per cent. Health science and veterinary medicineOf these 35 courses where random selection applies, 60 per cent are in the high-points areas of health, medicine and veterinary science.They include undergraduate medicine at UCC, which is up five points to 735; dentistry at UCC, up from 613 to 625 points with random selection applying (and a second consecutive rise in points since 2024); pharmacy at UCC, which fell from 602 to 590 points; medicine at RCSI, up by one point to 734; dental science at Trinity College Dublin, which stayed steady at 625 points with random selection; veterinary medicine at UCD, down slightly from 590 to 589 points; medicine at the University of Galway, up two points to 730; and medicine at Trinity, which rose two points to 741. Points for undergraduate medicine at UCD remained unchanged at 738. The trend in nursing shows notable increases across several institutions: general nursing at TUS Athlone is up from 389 to 419 points with random selection; up from 424 to 440 at DCU, and steady at 409 at SETU Waterford, though it dipped slightly from 444 to 434 points at UCD.ScienceA relatively low points option before the 2008 recession, demand for science courses soared at the same time as points for arts and humanities plunged. Points for science reached a peak in 2022, but have declined somewhat in more recent years. Has this trend continued?Points for general science at UCD dropped slightly this year, falling from 544 to 540 points. At Trinity, points across its distinct science streams showed mixed movement: biological and biomedical sciences dropped one point to 553, chemical sciences fell from 543 to 534, physical sciences rose from 538 to 545, and geography and geoscience climbed from 472 to 499 points. General science at Maynooth University fell six points from 352 to 346, while at the University of Galway, science climbed from 440 to 455 points. Galway’s biomedical science course dropped from 566 to 544 points, whereas TU Dublin’s general entry science jumped significantly from 445 to 474 points.Engineering and Computer Science Polymer (plastics) engineering at TUS Athlone has always traditionally had low points; it was, indeed, the butt of many jokes among Leaving Cert students. This year, however, polymer and mechanical engineering students are having the last laugh. Perhaps buoyed by an awareness that this is a course where graduates can enter a very specialised technical career and go on to earn big money, points for the course have soared this year, rising from 302 to 413 points. Automation and robotics at TUS Athlone jumped over 100 points, from 251 to 379.[ Got a CAO offer? The temptation is to accept immediately, but take your timeOpens in new window ]At DCU, engineering entry streams are experiencing a rise in demand: mechatronic engineering has moved up from 533 to 543 points, while mechanical and sustainability engineering has risen from 533 to 542 points. In both cases, random selection applies.In computer science, points at Trinity College fell from 543 to 519, while at Maynooth University, computer science through arts dipped from 360 to 347 points. At the University of Limerick, computer science fell 20 points from 382 to 362.Agriculture and Food Science At UCD, agricultural science dropped from 432 to 417 points, whereas food science at the same institution rose from 466 to 479 points.Biotechnology with biopharmaceutical science at TUS Limerick jumped from 408 to 465 points. General science at SETU Waterford held steady at 308 points, while environmental science and sustainable technology at MTU Cork dipped from 339 to 317 points.Business Trinity College’s business, economic and social studies (BESS) course remains one of the most sought-after degree programmes in Ireland. This year, points increased by one, from 566 to 567 points, with random selection applying.Commerce at UCD dipped by just one point from 555 to 554, with random selection also applying. At UCC, commerce decreased one point from 511 to 510, while commerce at the University of Galway is down from 454 to 451 points. General business at Maynooth University stayed steady at 400 points, while marketing, innovation and technology at DCU dropped from 487 to 465 points.Arts, Humanities and Law At UCD, arts (joint honours) rose slightly from 420 to 422 points, while the four-year humanities degree edged up from 463 to 465 points. At Maynooth University, the main arts entry degree stayed completely steady at 300 points.Despite offering a relatively precarious career in a struggling industry, demand for media and journalism courses is staying high, with points for journalism at TU Dublin increasing significantly from 328 to 367, while DCU’s journalism programme edged up by one point from 409 to 410. That said, many journalism graduates go on to work in communications or marketing roles, where employer demand remains high.In law, trends vary widely across institutions. Points for law at Trinity College stayed steady at 578 points, though random selection applied this year. At UCD, law dropped from 567 to 559 points, and corporate/BCL law at Maynooth dropped from 409 to 400 points. On the other hand, common and civil law at the University of Limerick jumped from 518 to 542 points, law (pathways) at UCC is up from 532 to 534 points, and law at TUS Athlone dropped slightly from 327 to 320 points.