Post Tagged with: "Billy Ryle"

CAO applicants have a last chance to register a change of course choices online by 5pm on Friday, July 1, says Guidance Counsellor, Billy Ryle… CHANGE OF MIND With the state exams concluding next Tuesday, June 28, the thoughts of exhausted candidates are no doubt turning to holidays, travel or […]

You’ve done the hard work so ‘play a blinder’ in the 2022 State Exams says Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle who has some last minute advice for candidates… The waiting is almost over for about 120,000 Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle students as the exams get under way on Wednesday, June […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says the major overhaul of the Leaving Cert makes Norma Foley the most reforming Education Minister since Donagh O’Malley’s free secondary education in 1967… On Tuesday, 29th March, Minister Norma Foley launched ambitious plans for a major overhaul of the Leaving Cert in a comprehensive document […]

Career Guidance Counsellor and Educational Commentator, Billy Ryle on the interim statistics released by the CAO which heralds good news for college applicants… Interim figures released by the Central Applications Office (CAO) suggest that the rush to college may be levelling off. The data covers the period up to 1st […]

Billy Ryle says the announcement delivered yesterday is good news for students as it gives clarity as regards the Leaving Cert… The 1st of February brought welcome relief and certainty for exam candidates with a reduction in CAO applications and clarity on the format of the 2022 Leaving Cert exam. […]

It’s January, so 2022 CAO College applicants must keep a close eye on a fast-moving timeline says Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle… As a new year begins with alarming omicron variant uncertainty, college applicants must focus on the CAO form as the deadline looms large. Indeed, it’s shaping up to be […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says Minister Simon Harris must intervene immediately or many of Kerry’s talented young people will be denied their right to a third level education… Very few college students set foot on campus during the last academic year. Instead, they spent the year at home as lectures […]

Unprecedented grades inflation increases CAO points requirements, but Kerry’s applicants sweep up a copious supply of college offers in Round One says Billy Ryle… The record-high Leaving Cert grades have caused a dramatic increase in points requirements for many third level courses for the second consecutive year. There was an […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle congratulates Leaving Cert students on their results, but after the celebrations it’s important to pay attention to what comes next… The long wait for 61,125 Leaving Cert candidates (57,952 LC Established & 3,173 LC Applied), including 1806 candidates from Kerry (1700 LC Established & 106 LC […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says the Leaving Cert exam is almost over, but there is still an important task to be done by third level aspirants… Applicants to the Central Applications Office (CAO) should now turn their attention to the ‘Change of Mind’ facility which allows them to register a […]

Students are guaranteed accredited grades so they should regard next week’s written Leaving Cert exam as a bonus says Billy Ryle… Exam Time The waiting is almost over for Leaving Cert students as the exam begins next Wednesday, 9th June. Students are assured of accredited grades so the written exam […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says it’s last chance Friday for Leaving Certs to complete the application form and to finalise subject levels for accredited grades… Applying for the Leaving Cert exam is usually straight forward.  But this year, because of Covid-19 uncertainty, it’s a three phased process. Initially, students entered […]

As the latest data reveals 87% of Leaving Cert students are opting for both written exams and SEC-accredited grades, Billy Ryle says students have a great deal of clarity about the exam… The vast majority of Leaving Cert students have signed up for the written exam in June as well […]

After a reversal of a decision on mask-wearing for the orals was made yesterday evening, Billy Ryle asks was a direct online interview between the examiner and the student the way to go, instead of a two-step approach… IN an embarrassing U-turn on Wednesday evening, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) rowed […]

Guidance counsellor, Billy Ryle, says it’s a win-win situation for students with SEC-accredited grades offered to all Leaving Cert candidates and the option of a Leaving Cert exam… Young people had little chance to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day or any other significant milestone during the past year. Their education has […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says it’s remote learning until 1st February, but CAO applicants must keep a close eye on important deadlines… As if to show its contempt for deadlines and the emotional health of young people, the coronavirus is back at with a virulent strain. Just when students most […]

Billy Ryle says the 17% of Leaving Cert candidates, about 10,000 young people, whose teachers’ calculated results were downgraded by an error-strewn Canadian algorithm are entitled to ask why… There was considerable disappointment when CAO Round Four offers were published on Thursday morning as only 485 applicants from a total […]

Billy Ryle gives no marks to the Department of Education in the calculated grades blunder reported yesterday… The Leaving Cert calculated grades process has been a comedy of errors by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and an emotional roller coaster for exam candidates. The first mistake, in a […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says excellent Leaving Cert results in Kerry will ensure CAO offers will be plentiful on Friday… After six very difficult months of emotional turmoil, at long last, 60,419 Leaving Cert candidates (57,569 Traditional Leaving Cert and 2,850 Leaving Cert Applied) awoke on a day when they […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says if any Leaving Cert cohort ever deserved success, the Class of 2020 most certainly does… The long wait for 61,000 Leaving Cert candidates finally comes to an end on Monday, when the results of the calculated grades process will be published. Leaving Cert results will be […]

After the embarrassing British U-turn on grades, Billy Ryle says the Leaving Cert results need to be published as soon as possible… What a fine mess they’ve made of it! It would be laughable if it hadn’t such serious consequences for emotionally drained candidates. Despite assurances that standardisation, moderation and […]

Billy Ryle says Leaving Cert candidates have a civil right to appeal calculated grades… Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Scotland’s exams’ authority, released the results of the Scottish Highers on August 4. The A Level results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland will follow on August 13, while the Irish Leaving […]

Guidance counsellor, Billy Ryle, says the decision to delay the Leaving Cert results until September 7 must be revisited as a matter of urgency… The decision not to publish the Leaving Cert results until 7th September adds the final insult to the many injuries already inflicted on 61,000 young people […]

Leaving Cert exam candidates can opt for ‘calculated grades’ or sit ‘a postponed exam later in the year’ as Billy Ryle explains… After a commendable, but unsuccessful, effort to provide a Leaving Cert exam for 59,000 candidates from 29th July, Minister Joe McHugh has finally conceded that it won’t be […]

Billy Ryle says it was a case of relief at last for Junior Cert candidates as Minister McHugh abandoned his plan for token September exams… Clarity has finally emerged for the 63,000 anxious Junior Cert candidates, who were in limbo since the official Junior Cert exam was cancelled on Good […]

Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says Minister McHugh should abort the doomed Junior Cert substitute exam this year…. The powers that be in the Department of Education and Skills must immediately step up to the plate and take note of the negative impact that the current uncertainty is having on the […]

Billy Ryle says the best decision in adverse circumstances was to postpone the Leaving Cert and cancel the Junior Cert… In a press conference on Good Friday afternoon, State exam candidates were provided with as much certainty about the exams as these exceptional times allow. Minister McHugh said that the […]

It’s time to decide whether to go ahead or to postpone, but not to cancel the State Exams says Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle… To be or not to be? That is the question being asked by over 125,000 anxious and stressed Leaving Cert (LC), Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) and Junior […]

As calls are made to postpone the Leaving Cert exams until the autumn, Guidance Counsellor, Billy Ryle says working at home presents new challenges but students have the resources to meet them headlong… In normal times, young people look forward to school holidays so that they can enjoy the freedom […]

Guidance Counsellor, Billy Ryle, looks at an important few weeks ahead for prospective third level students… With CAO applications season in full swing during January, it’s shaping up to be a very promising year for the 80,000 plus applicants seeking a third level college course. There should be more than […]