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Is an appeal worth it?

What your total becomes if one grade goes up, what it costs if one goes down, and which single change would close the points gap to a course you actually want.

Everything is worked out again from your grades rather than by adding a band difference, because those are not the same number. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Your grades

Loading your saved grades…

Before you pay the fee

View the script first. That is what tells you whether there is anything to appeal, and it is a separate step from lodging one.

How to appeal, what it costs and what happens to your result are set out by the State Examinations Commission at examinations.ie (opens in a new tab). What a changed result means for an offer is the CAO’s, at cao.ie (opens in a new tab). Read it there rather than here: both can change, and neither of them is us.

What it costs, and when it closes

Appealing a Leaving Certificate Established subject costs €40 per subject, and a Leaving Certificate Applied subject costs €15.50. The State Examinations Commission’s own wording on the refund is: “Appeal fees must be paid in advance and will be refunded to you if your result is upgraded.” Viewing your scripts is free.

  1. Results issue10 AM Friday 21 August
  2. Marks for each component appear12 Noon Tuesday 25 August
  3. Apply to view your scriptsdeadlineOpens: 5 PM Tuesday 25 August. Closes: 8 PM Wednesday 26 August
  4. Viewing of scripts, marked onlineOnline access to view over the 24-hour period between: 9 AM Saturday 29 August to 9 AM Sunday 30 August
  5. Viewing of scripts, marked manuallyCandidates will be assigned to one of two three-hour sessions on Saturday 29 August: Session 1. 9.30 AM to 12.30 PM, Session 2. 2 PM to 5 PM
  6. Apply to appeal, and paydeadlineOpens: 10 AM Sunday 30 August. Closes: 5 PM Monday 31 August
  7. Appeal results issueCSSP: 11 am 25 September, which the Commission calls provisional

The SEC will not accept late applications for viewing or for appeals. Applying to view your scripts and applying to appeal are two separate steps with two separate windows, and the viewing window closes first.

Fees, refund wording and dates read from the Commission’s own candidate guide (opens in a new tab) on 2026-08-21. How to apply is set out there.

What a changed grade means for a CAO offer

An upgraded result changes your position on the order-of-merit list. If it entitles you to a place but the course is already full, the handbook provides for a deferred offer for the following academic year. The college decides the offer; a points increase alone does not guarantee one.

CAO Handbook 2027, printed page 32 (opens in a new tab). Checked 7 September 2026. Exact 2027 appeals dates are not yet confirmed in that handbook. The dated appeal information above remains labelled 2026.

How a deferred place is taken up

Questions people ask

Why does raising a subject sometimes gain nothing?
Only your best six count. A subject already outside your best six can go up a band and change nothing, because it is still outside. This page recalculates your whole total for every change rather than adding the band difference, so it shows what actually happens.
Why does the page show a fall as well as a rise?
Because the arithmetic runs both ways and the decision is easier when both sides are in front of you. What a re-mark can and cannot do to a grade is set out by the State Examinations Commission at examinations.ie.

This is an estimate worked out with the official points scale. It is not the official CAO calculator and it is not the State Examinations Commission. Your results are determined by the Commission, which also runs the appeal, at examinations.ie (opens in a new tab), and the CAO applies the points scale to those results at cao.ie (opens in a new tab). See also CAO dates for the 2026 offer season.