CAO
FORTY four students are getting improved college offers from the CAO, but most will have to wait a year before they can avail of them.

For some, it is a “wasted year”, according to Peter Mannion, President of the Union of Students in Ireland.

He said with mid-term breaks looming, it was too late to switch course this year and he was critical of the delay in issuing the revised results.



Students who get the improved offers are not obliged to avail of them.

But most of those who want to will be told by the colleges that it is too late as the courses are too advanced for them to join at this stage. Instead they will be encouraged to wait until next year.

The offers were made following the upgrading of biology results by the State Examination Commission which has apologised for the inconvenience caused.

A spokesperson for the Commission said that the upgrading could not have been done any sooner.

This was because people who were re-marking the papers were back teaching in schools and had to do the work in the evening and at the weekend.

The papers were re-marked following correspondence received by the Biology Chief Inspector about one question that was worth three marks.

“It was decided to broaden the range of acceptable answers in the marking scheme,” said the spokesperson.

In all, 1,900 candidates were within three marks of the next-highest grade. Their papers were re-examined and the results for 621 candidates adjusted, with 44 getting new offers from the CAO.

None of the students had appealed their exam results, but they benefited from the review of their marks by the commission which said the necessary revision formed part of its commitment to rigorous quality-assurance of the exam process.

The spokesperson said that where a place was deferred for a year as a result of the upgrade, the students would not be charged the registration fee for the first year of the new programme.

Entitlement

Any entitlement to a higher education grant would not be affected.

She added that the manner in which this matter was raised and dealt with reflected the openness and transparency of the commission’s approach.

“The key consideration in all instances must be to ensure that candidates receive the grades which their examination work deserves,” she added.

- John Walshe Education Editor

Irish Independent