A Post Leaving Certificate course is a one or two year further education programme, and for a lot of people it is a better route into a degree than repeating the Leaving Certificate.
The mechanics are genuinely different from the points race, and that is the part most explanations skip.
You are scored on a different scale
QQI awards are not converted into Leaving Certificate points. They are scored on their own scale, and the maximum is 390, not 625.
That number surprises people, so it is worth saying plainly: a perfect QQI result and a perfect Leaving Certificate are different numbers, and courses reserve a separate quota of places for QQI applicants. You are competing against other QQI applicants for those places, not against Leaving Cert students for theirs.
How the 390 is worked out
A full major award normally has eight components. Each component is scored by its result:
| Component result | Weight |
|---|---|
| Distinction | 3 |
| Merit | 2 |
| Pass | 1 |
Multiply each component's credit value by that weight, add them up, then multiply the total by 13 and divide by 12. The CAO's scoring document for QQI awards sets out the full method.
The multiplication is the bit worth understanding. Before 2017 the maximum was 360. When the Leaving Certificate moved to the current points scale, QQI scores were scaled by thirteen twelfths to keep the two systems in proportion, which is where 390 comes from.
The practical takeaway: distinctions are what move your score. The gap between a distinction and a merit on every component is the difference between a competitive score and an average one.
What you actually need
- A full major award at Level 5 or Level 6. Eight components, completed. Individual modules picked up here and there do not score.
- The right award for the course. Courses specify which QQI awards they accept, and an award in the wrong field will not be considered even with a perfect result.
- Any specific requirements the course sets. These still apply.
The timeline
You apply through the CAO like anyone else, by the same 1 February deadline at 5pm. See key dates for the full calendar.
QQI transfers your scored results to the CAO in July, which is earlier than Leaving Certificate results. That is why some QQI applicants receive offers in the earlier rounds rather than waiting for Round One.
Who this route suits
It suits you if any of these are true.
You did not get the points this year and the idea of another Leaving Certificate makes you ill. A PLC year is a different kind of work: continuous assessment, project based, much less riding on one fortnight in June.
You are not sure what you want to study. A PLC year in a related field tells you far more about whether you want three or four more years of it than a prospectus does.
You want a qualification either way. A Level 5 or 6 award is worth something on its own, which a repeat year is not.
What to watch
Places are limited. The quota for QQI applicants on a given course can be small, sometimes a handful. A strong score does not guarantee a place any more than strong Leaving Certificate points do.
Not every course accepts every award. Check the specific award codes a course lists before you enrol on a PLC, not after.
Level 6 is not automatically better than Level 5 for entry. What matters is whether the course accepts the award you hold.
If this route is not the fit, the other ways in covers mature entry, the access routes, and apprenticeships.