Connacht
Maths Grinds Leitrim
Leitrim has six post-primary schools, the fewest of any county in Ireland, serving a population spread along a county that is nearly eighty kilometres from end to end. For a subject as specialised as Higher Level maths, that means the local pool of tutors is very small and in some years effectively empty.
Get in touchCarrick-on-Shannon is the obvious centre and has the most options, but it sits at the southern tip. A student in Manorhamilton or Kinlough is closer to Sligo or Enniskillen than to their own county town, and in practice families look to Sligo for anything extra. That is a forty minute drive each way before you have done any maths.
The national broadband rollout has largely finished in Leitrim, which now sits around 93 per cent fibre coverage. That matters more here than in most counties, because distance was the only real argument against online tuition and the connectivity argument has run out.
Small schools have a specific consequence for maths. A year group of forty may run one Higher Level class with a wide spread of ability in it, and the pace is set somewhere in the middle. A student at either end of that class is not well served by it, which is the most common reason a Leitrim student ends up looking for help.
What Leitrim students are up against
These are national figures. The State Examinations Commission does not break results down by county, so nobody can honestly tell you how your county compares.
- 11%
- got a H1 in Higher Level maths
- Down from 12.6% in 2024, and well up on 6.4% in 2019
- 27.3%
- got a H1 or H2
- Of the 23,450 students who sat Higher Level maths in 2025
- 36.3%
- of students now sit Higher Level
- Up from 15.8% in 2011, a 130% rise since bonus points came in
- 25
- bonus CAO points for Higher Level
- Awarded for 40% or above. 22,183 students earned them in 2025
National figures, 2025 exam sitting. Sources: RTÉ, Leaving Cert 2025 results, RTÉ Brainstorm, 2025. The State Examinations Commission does not publish results by county.
Which exam are you sitting?
Students across Leitrim
Online grinds mean the distance from Carrick-on-Shannon to anywhere else stops mattering. Leitrim has around 6 secondary schools, and students come from all over the county.
- Carrick-on-Shannon
- Manorhamilton