Students who may be disappointed with their Leaving Certificate results have "many, many options" and are being urged not to panic as this year's calculated grades are published.
The principal of Fingal Community College said her staff and students are relieved the process is drawing to a close.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Sharon McGrath said it appears that the results reflect very closely the results given to the Department of Education.
She said grade inflation is a concern and the widespread delight of today may not be felt on Friday when the CAO places are released.
Ms McGrath said her students showed great resilience this year and the lessons they learned about dealing with adversity and managing the situation is the real test that they have all passed with flying colours.
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Guidance counsellor Brian Mooney said there is an overall grade increase of 4.4%, but within the higher papers, there has been a 10% grade inflation and this is more pronounced in some subjects.
He said the Department of Education is hoping the additional third-level places will counter balance sufficiently the significant increase in points today.
At Colaiste Bride in Clondalkin the majority of students who have come here are thrilled with their calculated grades. One student expected 550 and got 625 @rtenews pic.twitter.com/yTHfUr6EBC
— Samantha Libreri (@SamanthaLibreri) September 7, 2020
Meanwhile, the Professor of Educational Evaluation at the DCU's School of Policy and Practice, DCU Institute of Education, said he believes shortcomings in the calculated grades system may be highlighted when the CAO publishes the points required for third level places on Friday.
Professor Gerry McNamara said significant grade inflation will affect the number of points required for courses.
He said the Government could ring fence a number of places for students who deferred applying until this year.
Speaking on the same programme, he said: "It remains to be seen if this will stand up to scrutiny, particularly the use of the Junior Cert results to predict leaving cert outcomes, and the placement in classes that was decided by teachers.
"That's fine for the first, second, third in the class, but when you get down to ninth, tenth and eleventh, there will be a bit of explaining to do."
