Online Test Preparation for Irish Students
One-to-one online exam preparation built around the Irish system, from entrance assessments in Sixth Class through to the Leaving Certificate and CAO points. Every plan starts from where your child actually stands against the specification.
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Preparation at Every Stage
Four points in an Irish school career where preparation genuinely changes the outcome. Pick the one your child is approaching.
Entrance & Standardised Tests
Sixth Class into First Year
Preparation for the assessments many secondary schools use on entry, alongside the standardised tests sat in primary school. These often influence class placement, which shapes the next three years.
- Entrance and placement assessments
- Reasoning and numeracy practice
- Settling into First Year
Junior Cycle
First to Third Year — JCFE
Preparation for the Junior Cycle Final Examinations and the Classroom-Based Assessments that feed the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement, across all core subjects.
- CBAs and Assessment Tasks
- Common Level and Higher Level
- Foundations for Senior Cycle
Transition Year
The year with no exam
Keeping maths and languages sharp through a year with no state examination, so Fifth Year Higher Level does not arrive as a shock in September.
- Maintaining maths fluency
- Bridging into Senior Cycle
- Subject choice guidance
Leaving Certificate
Fifth & Sixth Year — CAO Entry
Subject-specialist grinds at Higher and Ordinary Level across the full Leaving Cert, including orals, coursework and the Additional Assessment Components now carrying real weight.
- Higher, Ordinary and Foundation
- Orals and practical components
- CAO points planning
Why Irish-Curriculum Preparation Matters
Ireland runs its own curriculum, its own examinations and its own grading scales, entirely separate from the UK system it is often confused with. Tutoring built for GCSEs will not serve a student sitting the Leaving Cert.
Built Around SEC Marking Schemes
Sessions work from State Examinations Commission marking schemes and past papers, because knowing how marks are awarded is a separate skill from knowing the subject.
Grade Bands, Not Vague Targets
We work in the language of the results: H1 to H8 and O1 to O8, and what genuinely separates one band from the next in each subject.
Oral Exams Taken Seriously
The Scrúdú Béil and modern language orals carry a substantial share of the marks and are sat months before the written papers. Preparation has to start accordingly.
Do the Arithmetic Before Dropping Down
Students who sit Higher Level Maths and achieve a H6 or better receive 25 additional CAO points on top of the points for the grade itself. That single rule changes the calculation more than most families realise, and it is worth working through properly rather than reacting to one bad result.
A modest grade at Higher Level can therefore outscore a strong one at Ordinary. Dropping down is sometimes exactly the right call, particularly where the workload is damaging performance in other subjects. But it should be a decision taken on the numbers, with the CAO requirements of the target courses in front of you, rather than in the week after a difficult Christmas test.
Talk It Through With a TutorGrading at a Glance
Higher Level
H1 to H8, with H1 the top band
Ordinary Level
O1 to O8, awarded on a separate scale
Maths bonus
25 extra CAO points for H6 or better at Higher
Points basis
Calculated from the six best subjects in one sitting
Coursework
Additional Assessment Components worth at least 40% in redeveloped subjects
Grading, points and coursework weightings are set by the SEC, the NCCA and the CAO and are revised periodically. Confirm current details with your child's school.
How the Irish Exam Years Unfold
The pressure concentrates in Sixth Year, but the results are largely determined by what happened in the four years before it.
Sixth Class
Standardised and entrance assessments, plus the step up to secondary. Placement decisions made here can shape which levels are available later.
First to Third Year
Junior Cycle, with Classroom-Based Assessments running alongside coursework. This is where the foundations for Leaving Cert maths are quietly built or missed.
Transition Year
No state exam, which cuts both ways. Students who keep maths ticking over return ready; those who put it down often struggle with Higher Level in September.
Fifth Year
The Higher or Ordinary Level decision is genuinely made here, not in Sixth Year. Coursework and Additional Assessment Components also begin falling due.
Sixth Year
Mocks in the spring, orals before Easter, then the Leaving Certificate itself in June. CAO points from these results decide third-level entry.
One date families routinely overlook: the Irish and modern language orals fall around Easter, months ahead of the written papers. Students who plan their revision around June alone arrive at the orals underprepared, having spent no time on the one component that cannot be crammed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Irish parents ask us most often about CBAs, mocks, orals, levels and CAO points.
Not sure which stage to prepare for?
Book a free assessment lesson. The tutor will establish where your child sits against the specification, say plainly what would help, and recommend the level worth aiming at.
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