Updated for Round Two. Of the 1,168 courses scored on plain Leaving Cert points in both 2025 and 2026, 627 rose, 451 fell and 90 were unchanged. The average course went up 5.9 points and the median went up 2. Every course that moved is listed below, with its Round Two 2026 score where the course made Round Two offers.
What changed, and how we counted it
The comparison runs 2026 Round One against 2025 Round One, because Round One is the only score both years publish on the same basis. 1,168 courses can be compared that way. Courses that use a portfolio, audition, interview or entrance test are excluded from the averages, because their scores combine Leaving Cert points with assessment marks and can run past 625. Courses that appeared for the first time in 2026 have nothing to compare against, so they are listed separately at the end.
Set against 2025's final round instead of Round One, 1,173 courses compare: 661 up, 424 down, 88 unchanged, an average of +7.9. Final-round scores are the lowest points at which anyone was offered a place in 2025, so this is the harsher comparison, and it still shows points rising.
Where a course made offers again in Round Two 2026, its Round Two score is shown in the tables. That is the lowest score offered on that course so far this year.
Points went up in a year when grades went down
Leaving Cert grades fell in 2026. The State Examinations Commission's post-marking adjustment was wound back again, and average grades came down by just over one per cent on 2025, leaving them around 4.5 percentage points above 2019. Points still rose on more courses than they fell on.
That is not a contradiction. Points are set by competition for a fixed number of places, not by the national grade profile. CAO had 95,740 applicants in 2026 against 89,347 in 2025, and issued 90,866 Round One offers to 62,166 of them. When the number of people ranked against each other for the same course goes up, the cut-off goes up, even in a year when everyone is scoring slightly lower.
Where points rose and fell by college
Colleges with at least 15 comparable courses, ordered by average change.
| College | Courses | Average change | Up | Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) | 139 | +26 | 103 | 30 |
| Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) | 48 | +25 | 29 | 17 |
| Griffith College Dublin, Cork & Limerick | 16 | +20 | 12 | 4 |
| Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) | 114 | +9 | 62 | 37 |
| Munster Technological University (MTU) | 95 | +6 | 56 | 32 |
| University of Limerick (UL) | 48 | +4 | 28 | 20 |
| University College Cork (UCC) | 52 | +3 | 27 | 20 |
| South East Technological University (SETU) | 131 | +3 | 87 | 31 |
| Atlantic Technological University (ATU) | 200 | +2 | 97 | 88 |
| Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | 51 | +1 | 26 | 20 |
| Dublin City University (DCU) | 68 | -1 | 32 | 31 |
| University of Galway | 62 | -4 | 22 | 36 |
| University College Dublin (UCD) | 35 | -5 | 10 | 23 |
| Maynooth University | 36 | -10 | 6 | 25 |
| Dublin Business School (DBS) | 21 | -16 | 8 | 11 |
Where points rose and fell by subject area
Subject areas with at least 15 comparable courses, using the CAO course categories.
| Subject area (CAO/ISCED category) | Courses | Average change | Up | Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture and construction | 78 | +22 | 55 | 20 |
| Welfare | 43 | +18 | 28 | 10 |
| Engineering and engineering trades | 107 | +17 | 71 | 27 |
| Physical sciences | 45 | +14 | 33 | 10 |
| Health | 115 | +12 | 73 | 35 |
| Biological and related sciences | 77 | +8 | 44 | 26 |
| Environment | 16 | +6 | 9 | 6 |
| Personal services | 78 | +5 | 48 | 26 |
| Arts | 89 | +4 | 44 | 40 |
| Law | 40 | 0 | 18 | 19 |
| Business and administration | 169 | -1 | 67 | 81 |
| Education | 54 | -1 | 26 | 24 |
| Social and behavioural sciences | 50 | -1 | 23 | 23 |
| Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) | 106 | -6 | 38 | 55 |
| Languages | 15 | -7 | 4 | 11 |
| Humanities (except languages) | 21 | -8 | 10 | 10 |
Every course whose points rose, 2025 to 2026
All 627, biggest rise first.
Every course whose points fell, 2025 to 2026
All 451, biggest fall first.
The 90 courses that did not move at all
Courses that are new for 2026
61 courses appear on the 2026 points charts with no 2025 equivalent to compare against. Their Round One score is the first data point they have.
Reading these tables properly
- Small courses swing hardest. A course with twenty places can move a hundred points because two or three strong applicants changed their first preference. Movement on a large course is a trend; movement on a small one is often noise.
- A Round One score is not the floor. 184 courses came down again in Round Two 2026. Where that happened, the Round Two column shows the lower figure.
- Portfolio and audition scores are not points. Anything above 625 is a combined score, and those courses are excluded from every average on this page.
- Work out your own score first. Our CAO points calculator is free, and the Round Two breakdown shows which of these courses came down again on 7 September.
- Last year's cut-off is not a target. It is the outcome of one year's competition. Use it as a rough guide to how sought-after a course is, not as a number you need to hit.
Work out your options properly. CourseCompass has a free CAO points calculator, the full 2026 vs 2025 points table and a course-matching engine covering every Irish course, so you can see what your points actually open up.
Sources