How to choose your Leaving Cert subjects

Updated October 2026. Facts on this page were checked against Department of Education and Youth, NCCA, CAO, NUI and Qualifax sources on 6 October 2026.

Choosing your Leaving Cert subjects is one of the first big decisions you make on your own. It shapes the next two years of school. It can also open or close some college courses.

The good news is that you don’t need to know your future career to choose well. You need to ask the right questions, check a few facts and talk it through. This guide is for students in 3rd Year and TY and their parents. There is also a section for guidance counsellors at the end.

When do you choose your Leaving Cert subjects?

It depends on your school. If you are going straight from 3rd Year into 5th Year, you will usually choose during 3rd Year. If you are doing Transition Year, you may choose during TY. Your school will give you its dates, and there is often an information evening for students and parents.

Many schools ask you to choose from option blocks. This means some subjects run at the same time, so you can’t take both. Find out your school’s blocks early.

Most students take English, Irish (unless they have an exemption) and maths, and then choose the rest. Many students take seven subjects. CAO counts the points from your six highest results in one sitting of the Leaving Cert (CAO), so a seventh subject gives you some room.

Senior Cycle is changing

The Department of Education and Youth is updating every Leaving Certificate subject in stages between 2025 and 2029, in groups called tranches. Its September 2026 information note says:

• Now in schools (Tranches 1 and 2): students entering 5th Year can study 12 redeveloped subjects: Biology; Business; Chemistry; Physics; Arabic; Latin; Ancient Greek; Construction Technology; Engineering; Geography; Life, Community and Work; and Physical Education.
• New subjects in selected schools: Drama, Film and Theatre Studies, and Climate Action and Sustainable Development.
• Coming next (Tranche 3): Agricultural Science, Computer Science, Applied Graphics and Design, History, Music, and Chemical and Physical Science (previously Physics and Chemistry), for students entering 5th Year from next year onwards.
• Timing changes: Accounting is now planned for 2027, and English no earlier than 2028.

Each new and revised subject includes an additional assessment component that is not a traditional written exam. These components are worth at least 40% of the marks and are assessed by the State Examinations Commission (gov.ie, Senior Cycle Redevelopment).

What this means for you: before you choose a subject, find out what its additional assessment component involves and when it happens. The subject specifications and assessment guidelines are on Curriculum Online, the NCCA’s curriculum site. Ask your subject teachers too. Plans can change, so check the latest information at gov.ie/seniorcycle.

The three questions to ask about every subject

1. Do I enjoy it?

You will spend two years on each subject. Interest keeps you going when the work gets hard. Think about the topics you look forward to, not just the teachers you like this year. Your teacher may change in 5th Year; the subject won’t.

2. Am I good at it?

Look at your Junior Cycle results, your class tests and what your teachers say. Your MyAptitude results add another view. They show your strengths in areas such as verbal, numerical and spatial reasoning, compared with other students your age. A subject you are good at is usually a subject you can do well in.

3. Do my future courses need it?

Some college courses need particular subjects, or a certain grade in a subject. If you drop a subject now, you may not be able to apply for those courses later. You don’t need to have picked a course yet. But you should check the courses in the areas that interest you.

The right subject usually scores well on at least two of these three questions. If a subject scores well on all three, keep it.

Minimum entry requirements: what colleges ask for

Every college sets minimum entry requirements, sometimes called matriculation. CAO is clear: you will not get an offer for a course if you don’t meet its minimum entry requirements (CAO Handbook 2027). Points only count once you meet them.

NUI colleges

The National University of Ireland (NUI) sets the minimum requirements for UCD, UCC, University of Galway and Maynooth University, and for RCSI and the IPA (NUI entry requirements). At the time of writing, NUI asks for:

• six subjects, including English and Irish
• a grade H5 in two subjects, and H7 or O6 in the other four
• a third language for most degrees in Arts, Human Sciences, Law, Social Science, Commerce, Medicine and Health Sciences
• maths for Commerce and science-related courses.

So maths is not part of the basic NUI requirement, but many courses at NUI colleges need it.

Other colleges

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Limerick, DCU, the technological universities and other colleges set their own minimum requirements. Check each college’s website or prospectus. CAO lists contact details for every college at cao.ie/hei.

Course-specific subjects

Many courses add their own subject requirements on top. For example, in October 2026 Qualifax listed UCD Engineering (DN150) as needing “H4 in Mathematics, H6 in a laboratory science” (Qualifax). Requirements change, so always check the current year.

Exemptions

If you have an exemption from Irish or from a third language, colleges have their own rules about how they treat it. See cao.ie/exemptions and NUI exemptions.

Where to check

• Qualifax, the national learners’ database, for course details and entry requirements
• CAO course search
• college websites and prospectuses
• your guidance counsellor.

Thinking about a PLC course or an apprenticeship? Check their entry requirements on Qualifax too.

Higher or Ordinary level?

You choose your subjects now. Your levels are usually settled later, with advice from your teachers. But it helps to understand how levels and points work.

CAO points depend on your grade and level (CAO points scale). A few examples from the CAO scale:

Grade	Higher	Ordinary
1	100	56
4	66	28
5	56	20
7	37	0

So an O1 earns the same points as an H5, and an H7 (37 points) earns more than an O4 (28 points). Higher level maths at H6 or above also earns 25 bonus points.

Points aren’t everything. Some courses need a Higher level grade in a particular subject, like the H4 maths in the example above. Try our CAO points calculator to see how different grades and levels add up.

How EirQuest and MyAptitude help

Your school may use MFC’s programmes to help you choose. They support your guidance counsellor’s advice. They don’t make the choice for you.

• EirQuest is MFC’s careers programme for Irish students aged 14 to 17. It reveals your occupational and academic interests, related abilities and personal qualities. It matches you to career areas, such as law, and to related careers, such as barrister or solicitor, including some you may not have thought of. It lays the ground for subject choices that meet the entry requirements of your likely careers and courses. You get a PDF report with worksheets and a Mind Map, plus WORKBRIEF career profiles in your Student Portal.
• MyAptitude is a set of eight psychometric aptitude tests, normed for Irish students. Your results show your percentile, speed and accuracy on each test. MyAptitude is included on the Irish Department of Education and Youth’s published list of psychometric assessments for post-primary guidance.

Together they answer the first two questions: what you enjoy and what you are good at. Your report’s career matches then point you to the courses to check for the third question.

Common mistakes

• Choosing because your friends are. You may not even end up in the same class.
• Choosing for a teacher. Teachers change. Choose the subject.
• Dropping a language without checking. A third language is needed for many NUI courses. Check before you drop it.
• Picking what looks like an easy subject. No subject is easy if you don’t enjoy it or aren’t suited to it.
• Ignoring the workload. Check the additional assessment components, practical work and projects for each subject.
• Not checking course requirements. Five minutes on Qualifax can save you from a closed door later.
• Thinking you must know your career first. You don’t. Choose a mix that keeps several areas open.
• Leaving it to the last week. Start early, so you have time to ask questions.

A checklist for parents

• Ask your child which subjects they enjoy and why.
• Look at their Junior Cycle results and teacher comments together.
• Read their EirQuest report and MyAptitude results, if the school uses them, and talk about the career matches.
• Pick two or three career areas and check the entry requirements for a few courses on Qualifax.
• Check the option blocks, so you know which subjects can’t be taken together.
• Ask about the additional assessment component in any new or revised subject.
• Go to the school’s subject choice information evening.
• Book a meeting with the guidance counsellor if you are unsure, or if your child wants to drop Irish, maths or a language.
• Let your child make the final choice. They will be the one studying it.

For guidance counsellors: running subject choice with EirQuest reports

Subject choice is one of the clearest places where guidance meets the curriculum. When inspectors evaluate a school, they look at the subject choice process, the guidance, support and advice students get within it, and how staff, parents and students are involved (Inspectorate, A Guide to Inspection in Post-Primary Schools, August 2025).

A sequence that works with EirQuest reports:

1. Before testing: explain to students and parents what EirQuest and MyAptitude are for, and get parents’ consent, as Circular 0023/2026 advises.
2. Assessment: students complete EirQuest and sit MyAptitude under supervision. MFC recommends MyAptitude first, though either order works. MyAptitude takes about 90 minutes and EirQuest about 30 to 40 minutes.
3. Report lesson: take the class through the report, the Mind Map and the worksheets. Each student picks two or three career areas.
4. Requirements lesson: students check the entry requirements for courses in those areas on Qualifax and compare them with their draft subject choices.
5. Parents’ evening: use the reports at a Senior Cycle programmes and subject choice evening. The Department’s Information Note 0001/2024 gives this as an example of whole-school guidance for TY students.
6. One-to-ones: prioritise students whose interests, aptitudes and draft choices don’t line up, and students considering dropping Irish, maths or a language.

MyHQ lets you add and track students, keep an archive of their reports and use ready-made resources such as PowerPoints and parent brochures.

“Having used these instruments for many years now, I find them highly effective in facilitating student subject choices. The percentage of students who subsequently request a change is insignificant.” — Brian Mooney, Fellow and former President, Institute of Guidance Counsellors

Book a demo to see the EirQuest report and MyHQ.

Your next step

Ask your guidance counsellor about EirQuest. Your report is a good place to start the conversation about your Leaving Cert subjects.