Compare Maynooth, a KWETB PLC and a Pfizer apprenticeship — properly, not one at a time.
Five CourseCompass assessments in one package — built for Kildare students weighing Maynooth University, a KWETB PLC, and an apprenticeship like the ones Pfizer runs in Newbridge, side by side.
CAO, PLC and apprenticeships aren't really separate decisions
Most students treat the CAO, PLC and apprenticeship routes as three completely separate questions, usually because the tools to look at them exist separately too. In practice, the honest answer to "what should I do after school" often only becomes clear once you can see all three shortlists side by side.
The Full Guidance Package puts the CAO Course Match Test, PLC Course Match Test and Apprenticeship Match Test together, alongside a Learning Style Test and Career Investigations access to help make sense of what comes back — for less than the five would cost bought one at a time.
Five assessments, one bundle price
CAO Course Match Test — Your Top 5 CAO Courses
Personalised CAO course matches with the reasoning behind each one, plus a full PDF guidance booklet.
PLC Course Match Test — Your Top 10 PLC Courses
Your top 10 PLC course matches from a nationwide database of over 1,870 courses.
Apprenticeship Match Test — Your Top 20 Apprenticeships
Your top 20 matches from every SOLAS-registered apprenticeship, with a 12-dimension trait profile.
Learning Style Test — How You Learn Best
A VARK+M learning-style assessment with personalised study strategies for how you actually learn.
Career Investigations — Career Slide Guides
Slide-deck guides to specific careers — salaries, day-to-day life, and the courses and pathways that lead into them.
A preview of all five reports
Illustrative examples for the same fictional profile used throughout this site (and, for the Learning Style sample, adapted from CourseCompass's own published example) — built to show the structure and depth of each report, not a real test-taker's results.
CAO Course Match Test — top 3 of 5
The full report ranks your top 5 CAO courses in depth, with a PDF booklet to keep. See the complete sample report for the full write-up on each match.
1. Business Studies
“Your #1 match — Business Studies at UL is an exceptional fit for your enterprising personality, strong logical reasoning, and passion for business.”
2. Business – International Business
“A superb fit combining business acumen with an international dimension — ideal for global ambitions.”
3. Business Studies – Enterprise & Innovation
“Directly targets entrepreneurial ambition with hands-on venture creation and innovation modules.”
PLC Course Match Test — top 3 of 10
Full results include your top 10 PLC course matches from a database of over 1,870 courses nationwide.
1. Early Childhood Care and Education
“A strong fit for a profile with high Social and Conventional interest scores — a direct route into a hands-on, people-focused career.”
2. Healthcare Support
“Matches a caring, practical profile well, and is commonly used as a stepping stone into a CAO nursing or healthcare course.”
3. Business Administration
“A solid fit for an organised, Conventional-leaning profile, and a genuine route into office, admin and business-support roles.”
Apprenticeship Match Test — top 3 of 20
Full results include your top 20 SOLAS-registered apprenticeship matches, with a 12-dimension trait profile behind them.
1. Electrical
“A strong, versatile craft apprenticeship — one of the most established SOLAS routes, with demand across construction, industrial and facilities work nationwide.”
2. Software Development Associate Apprenticeship
“Matches a logical, technical profile well — an earn-while-you-learn route into tech that doesn't require a CAO computer science offer.”
3. International Financial Services Apprenticeship
“A strong fit for a profile with financial and analytical strengths — a paid route into regulated financial services without a CAO application.”
Learning Style Test
A VARK+M breakdown with personalised study strategies — this is CourseCompass's own published sample result.
Dominant style: Visual Learner
“A strongly Visual learner with a secondary preference for Reading/Writing — the report recommends combining that visual strength with the reading preference by building annotated diagrams rather than relying on either style alone.”
Study strategies from the report
- Colour-coded revision notes, by topic or by subject
- Mind maps for new chapters before the detail goes in
- Explainer videos for anything that isn't clicking from text
- Labelled diagrams for science subjects specifically
- Small sketched icons beside key points in written notes
Career Investigations — Career Slide Guides
Included access to the full library of 60+ career slide decks once your matches are in hand.
Career Investigations
Unlike the four match tests, Career Investigations isn't a scored report — it's a slide-deck guide for each career, covering what the job actually involves, day-to-day life, typical salaries, and the courses and pathways that lead into it.
- A structured slide deck for each career — what the job actually involves, and what day-to-day life in it looks like
- Typical salaries, plus the courses and pathways that actually lead into the career
- A certificate for every career path you complete
- 60+ career paths to choose from, spanning categories like Law & Legal, Engineering, Construction, Electrical, Agriculture and Plumbing
A real Irish company, not an anonymous website
Career Guidance Kildare is powered by CourseCompass, an Irish company that works directly with schools and students on CAO decision-making — not a faceless test generator.
Real reviews, published with permission
These are genuine testimonials from CourseCompass users — see the full reviews page for more.
“Choosing a college course can be quite overwhelming, especially when there are so many options. I found the CourseCompass results helpful because they gave my son a clearer direction without making the decision for him. It was useful having something personalised to work from.”
“I found the test really easy to get through and it didn't feel like I was just answering the same question over and over. What I liked most was seeing why certain courses were recommended for me. It gave me a much better starting point for researching my CAO choices.”
“As a parent, it can be difficult to know how much to get involved when your child is choosing their CAO courses. CourseCompass gave us something useful to discuss together and helped explain why certain courses might suit them. It was a good starting point for having that conversation.”
Get all five, for less than buying them apart.
The CAO Course Match Test, PLC Course Match Test, Apprenticeship Match Test, Learning Style Test and Career Investigations access, in one package.
- CAO Course Match Test — your top 5 CAO courses, with a full PDF booklet
- PLC Course Match Test — your top 10 PLC course matches
- Apprenticeship Match Test — your top 20 apprenticeship matches
- Learning Style Test — how you learn best, with study strategies
- Career Investigations — slide-deck guides on salaries, pathways and day-to-day life