We’re edging closer to the Leaving Cert results next week, but one Irish university – NUI Galway – is giving students who have applied for engineering and IT degree courses there a second chance to sit a special maths exam if they don’t meet the Leaving Cert maths requirement as part of their overall CAO points.
The College of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway will be offering the special entrance maths exam for students who have already applied via the CAO for an undergraduate engineering or IT degree course and who achieve the CAO points but who do not meet the Leaving Cert maths grade requirement.
The exam will take place on Wednesday, 22 August, at NUI Galway. In advance, the university said it will be holding an intensive preparatory course for students who intend to sit the exam.
The course, which will be free, will run from Thursday, 16 August to Tuesday, 21 August. According to the university, lecturers will be speaking about the relevance and application of maths to engineering during the course.
Dr Edward Jones, who is vice-dean of the College of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway, said each year the college gets a number of students who have not achieved the necessary results in Leaving Cert maths that sit this exam and show they have got the maths skill sets.
“Many of these students are high achievers who are ideally suited to engineering, and they go on to graduate and pursue successful careers because they were given the second chance,” he said.
Those who took either higher-level or ordinary-level maths in the Leaving Cert can apply for the exam.
For students who pass this special entrance exam, NUI Galway said they will receive an additional CAO offer at Round Two. That’s providing they have the necessary CAO points, however.
Engineering students image via Shutterstock
