THE Leaving Certificate has become the broad general educational qualification which the vast majority of school leavers aim for and the Junior Certificate is now seen as an effective school qualification.

More than 80 per cent of students now sit the Leaving Certificate, a very high rate in international terms. In Britain, fewer than half of pupils take A levels.

Going on to college has also become the norm. Statistics produced by the Higher Education Authority show that a large majority of Leaving Cert students apply for a CAO place. The success rate is also fairly high: roughly 50 per cent of Leaving Cert candidates take up a CAO college place in the autumn.

This figure does not include the 8,500 who get places on PLC courses or the few thousand who go to university in Britain or Northern Ireland.

However, within this overall high rate of education to Leaving Cent level, and beyond, lurk some very interesting regional variations. Thus while 88 per cent of the relevant age group sit the Leaving Cent in Co Galway, only 76 per cent do so in Dublin and "only 55 per cent in Meath; it's 8-5 per cent in Kerry, 87 per cent in Tipperary, but only 62 per cent in Kilkenny. (It should be pointed out that there is a certain "leaching" of students across county borders. Longford, for example, has over 100 per cent listed as sitting the Leaving, which obviously includes students from surrounding counties going to school in Longford.)

But there is a clear overall pattern, with a considerably higher proportion of the age group sitting the Leaving in the west, (86 per cent) than in other regions. The table alongside shows the highest proportion of the age group sitting the Leaving in the west, which also registers 100 per cent of the age cohort applying for a college place and 58 per cent of Leaving Cert students actually getting into college.

And while Dublin is registering 76 per cent of the age cohort sitting the Leaving, this would include a considerable leaching of pupils in from the surrounding counties in the rest of the east; so the true proportion of Dublin teenagers sitting the Leaving Cert is almost certainly lower.

Virtually everybody who sits the Leaving in the west is applying for a college place (repeats are included in these percentages), whereas only 77 per cent of the age group applies in Dublin and only 48 per cent of Dublin Leaving Cert students get into college, 10 per cent fewer than in the west. (These figures are based on the 1993 Leaving Cert and are taken from a study by the Higher Education Authority's steering committee on the development of higher education.)

As to performance in both the Junior and Leaving Certificates, girls do considerably better than boys. Contrary to popular belief, this extends also to maths - even higher maths. More girls than boys also take higher papers in almost all subjects - maths being the exception here.

The superior performance of girls at Junior Cert level is quite dramatic. In English, for example, while 63 per cent of Junior Cert girls take the higher course, only 49 per cent of boys do so.

Damian Hannan, in his recent ESRI study on gender equality, points out that as the proportion of boys taking higher level is smaller and more select, one could reasonably expect that proportionately they would out perform the girls; in fact, in 1994 72 per cent of girls sitting Junior Cert higher English got a C or above, as against only 55 per cent of boys; at ordinary level 82 per cent of girls got a C or above and only 67 per cent of boys.

Contrary to the popular impression, a slightly higher proportion of girls (33 per cent) than boys (32 per cent) take maths at higher level in the Junior Cert and more girls get a grade C or above (81 per cent, compared to 78 per cent for boys) though slightly more boys get an A (18 per cent, as against 15 per cent of girls).

In science, too, more girls than boys take the higher paper in the Junior Cert, 61 per cent as against 59 per cent; a higher percentage of Junior Cert girls get a higher C or above and 15 per cent get a higher A in science, as against 11 per cent of boys.

The table alongside shows the performance of girls and boys in five Leaving Cert subjects - again showing that, though fewer girls take higher maths, more of them score a higher C or above. The table also shows lower failure rates among girls for all subjects, including maths, chemistry and physics.

With all the emphasis on high points, it is easy to get the impression that the majority of students are aiming for high grades in the Leaving Cert. This is not the case. Indeed, about 20 per cent of all students sitting the Leaving Cent this month will take no subjects at all at higher level - that one in every five Leaving Cent candidates taking only ordinary level papers.

The concept of "failing" the exam no longer exists, but to earn fewer than five ordinary level Ds is generally regarded as not having a full Leaving Cent - and some 12 per cent of candidates find themselves in this situation each year.

About a quarter of all candidates get just a "pass" - i.e. a minimum of five ordinary or higher Ds - and some 60 per cent get at least one subject at higher C level or above. Assuming a similar performance this year, fewer than half of the candidates will reach the minimum registration threshold for degree courses of two higher Cs - about 46 per cent.

Calculating Leaving Cert results in CAO points, the average score of those sitting the Leaving Cert in 1994 was 255. This is a useful figure to keep in mind for putting a student's performance in perspective. Only 10 per cent got 445 points or higher. Interestingly, again, girls outperformed boys; their average score was 275 (235 for boys) and the top 10 per cent of girls scored 450 or above - as against 435 and above for the boys. (What happens to all these high achieving girls afterwards, one might well wonder.)

From studies of the Leaving Cert results of 1994 and 1992 conducted for the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, it is possible to tentatively identify which subjects are taken by the brighter students. This is done by identifying the proportion of students in the above average category (i.e. above 255 points) who take a particular subject. The elective subjects with the highest proportion of above average students are Latin, applied maths, German, chemistry, French, physics, music B and accounting.

Later in the week, this page will report on the proportion of high and low grades awarded in the different subjects.