I know, I know. I’m slightly late on the whole blogging thing, but I’m here now! That must count for something right??

Well I’m Stacy, I’m 18 and repeating the fabulous experience that we know as the Leaving Cert. Madness. Utter madness but here I am yet again. I will get it this time!!!

So I’m only doing six subjects this year:

French (H)

Geography (H)

Home Ec (H)

English (H)

Business (H) – taking up for the first time

Ag Science (H) – taking up for the first time

Yeah, that’s me now! So I’m hoping to do languages next year. I’m not exactly sure where I’ll go with languages but at the moment I’m thinking of law. Law with french in UCC is looking probable for CAO number one but we’ll see

I don’t mind school to be honest. Last year was a totally different story. Talk about a DISASTOR! I spent waaaay too much time in the bathroom with my best friends and not enough time in Art and Maths. We won’t get into those two just yet!

First blog completed, I really hope I didn’t bore you all too much, just yet any way.. You’ll be sick of me by the time we get to June. Which we will!

Stacy

I got my course, Public and Social Policy in NUIG. Yesterday morning when I clicked accept, I felt the surge of excitement that was missing on results day. I think it’s because it’s more final now; no going back! I’m nervous of course but looking forward to it a lot. Staying at home means I won’t be expecting as big a change as some but it will still obviously be different.

In the end I decided not to view any scripts or get anything rechecked. I was happy with what I got, obtained my course and disastrous episodes of Deal or no Deal have taught me to call it quits while things are going well. It’s strange that this whole Leaving Cert business is completed once and for all. People say it’s nine tough months and then it’ll all be over but between waiting for results and offers, it takes the guts of a year. At first I felt a little sad it’s over (no doubt it was some form of Stockholm Syndrome) but I really wouldn’t go back for all the cans of Druids in a fourteen year old’s schoolbag. Looking at people who were in my year and did TY, with all this ahead of them yet, makes me relieved to be finished secondary school now.

Sadly this is my last post. This website has been a great resource to me since I found it in Third Year and really helpful in getting any exam related questions answered. My remaining question is, what happens now? I read the book One Day over the summer and thought this quote from it summed up the vagueness of the future pretty well;

“‘What are you going to do with your life?’ In one way or another it seemed that people had been asking her this forever; teachers, her parents, friends at three in the morning, but the question had never seemed this pressing and still she was no nearer an answer. The future rose up ahead of her, a succession of empty days, each more daunting and unknowable than the one before her. How would she ever fill them all?”

Yes there’s a lot of uncertainty but it’s refreshing after the year that was. Instead of worrying as I could easily do, I say bring it on.

To Patrick Barry, thank you for taking a chance on me (and then another one) by letting me blog here for the past two years. It’s been a great opportunity and one that I thoroughly enjoyed, although some posts from Fifth Year make me cringe just thinking about them. It’s common knowledge that Fifth Years are blissfully unaware of the plight of Leaving Certs, so hopefully I was forgiven! It was brilliant to be given full creative leeway in all my little rants and I’d like to think my writing has improved, at the very least from the days of “hiiya hunnii wu@ luff yhoo”…yes I was that First Year. Plus it was great to read posts by other bloggers going through the same thing. I hope you all got what you wanted and have a great time at college.

To upcoming bloggers, I advise you to use this blog to your best advantage. Post as much as you can and comment regularly. While I can be accused of doing neither, in the last few months I truly appreciated having this space to vent all my stress, hopes and worries.

To the Leaving Certs of 2012, I’ll share with you a few tips that I would have found helpful starting Sixth Year. First of all, don’t go into the year planning to study every hour of the day. It doesn’t happen and by October you will find yourself slacking-I should know. Instead ease yourself into the work and then do a little bit a lot of the time. Secondly, get familiar with the marking schemes and timing from your first day back. Exam technique can be just as important, if not more, than the material itself. Again, I should know. Thirdly, enjoy Sixth Year. Yes, it’s possible! Between being the oldest in the school to getting a free pass from housework due to ‘Leaving Cert fatigue’, it actually is a nice year. Too bad the exams make you forget that. Appreciate the last few months with your year, it’s all too soon that you’ll be parting ways with some of your friends for college. With that in mind, don’t become a hermit because chances are you’ll only be at home procrastinating when you could be out having a well deserved break. And good luck! Even if you dossed in Fifth Year, I think anyone can change it around in the few months before June. Oh and before you ask, I don’t know what poets are going to be on Examcraft English Paper 2.

Thanks to anyone who read my posts, commented or helped me out in the forum. Best of luck to you all in the future. And with that I say (appropriately in French as I’m still on a high from my grade), au revoir!

It’s all over. I never have to worry about the Leaving Cert or the CAO or school again I’m over the moon with my results.

Maths-C1 (I honestly thought I had failed)

Irish-A2

English-B3 (I never read the novel for the comparative #winning) :L

History- C1 (Once again I thought I failed)

Physics- B2 (Oddly disappointed :/)

French- A2 ( I have nooooo idea where this came out of! I was so shocked )

Biology- A1

Points- 485

As I said, I am delighted Woke up many times during the night to check Boards for the CAO offers, even though I knew I had my course (Galway Science) but I still wanted to be sure. I had the gooniest smile on my face when I clicked accept

So, that’s it. The year is over and overall, it was hellish in parts but amazing in others. Galway here I come

Opening my results yesterday was undoubtedly one of the scariest moments of my life. Even though I knew I hadn’t done atrociously, these are the kinda thoughts that were running through my head as I began to rip apart that envelope. I had my “LC calculator app” at the ready.

So this was it. The moment we had all been waiting for. The product of  a year of pushing oneself to the limits, endless homework and long stressful study-orientated months.

I glanced down at the paper… and then I tallied my points up. I repeated said process three times to be sure. 555. There was no mistaking it. I had about 50 points more than I needed for my course (or so I should have, judging by entry last year). Here was my happy ending. Or perhaps, more aptly, my new beginning.

English: A1

Home Ec: A1

Business: A2

French: A2

Biology: A2

Irish: B1

LCVP: Distinction

Maths (pass): B1.

I was ecstatic. In all my months of studying, I had aimed for 525 at best. I had exceeded my own expectations and the feeling of combined relief and excitement was surreal.

To prospective Leaving Cert students- If I have any advice, it’s timing. Get it right. Whether it’s beginning a study routine, exam technique or even pencilling in a night out – it’s just a matter of finding the time to do it all. All work and no play will make you crack up. Fact. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get as much study done as you had intended way back in September, it’s never too late to throw yourself back into the LC ball game. Don’t listen to everybody else talk about their prison-like study hours… Do your own thing. It’s your life anyway, not theirs. You’ll get there. We all do. The Leaving Cert is a rite of passage and you’ll learn more about yourself in these two years than the previous four. Enjoy it.. or at least attempt to.

To Patrick Barry – Thank you for the opportunity you gave me by allowing me to blog for your website. Allhonours.ie acted as a medium through which I could vent my stress and exam concerns as well as hear from people experiencing the same thing. It allowed me to improve my writing abilities which I fully believe contributed to my A1 in English but most of all, it helped me document one of the most important years of my life.

To my fellow bloggers – I wish you all the very best of luck in college in September. We’ve heard so much about the amazing life of a university student, now it’s our chance to experience that for ourselves.

In my last post, I referred to the Leaving Cert as a domino that sets the rest of my life into action. Well, the path has been built. The momentum is present. All that’s left to do now is watch the whole show unfold… something I intend to enjoy ’til the last.

Sorcha x

10 hours.

It feels odd to be back blogging, especially on a day some people want to be over and others want to last forever. Either way, this day has to come eventually so it’s good that I’m currently feeling okay.

I hope people had a good summer. For me it was nothing extraordinary but still nice, finding pleasure in the simple things and all that jazz. I thought it would take longer to get over the exams but after the first few episodes of Gossip Girl it felt like I had never stopped being a lazy slob (probably because I hadn’t). My highlight was seeing Bell X1 in concert, with Duke Special and Liam Finn supporting. However, that night could still be trumped if my efforts to go to Electric Picnic pan out. It starts on my Birthday and all! What better way to celebrate than seeing Arcade Fire and Interpol live?

Although I packed up all my school books in boxes (as part of a rigorous clean up that took a fortnight), the summer wasn’t without a bit of hard work. However I preferred this type of stress, which took the form of long dresses, shoes and numerous hairstyle ideas. Yes, my Debs is two weeks from tomorrow. I’m currently not looking forward to it much but maybe once this week is out of the way I’ll get more excited. After all, when this whole LC thing is over once and for all, what will we talk about? College I suppose.

I’d say a lot of people, like me, have been thinking more in depth about their CAO choices over the summer. There’s been talk of who’s moving away, who’s repeating and who’s going to Yeats (Galway’s answer to the Institute)… I’m not going to lie, I had some doubts about my course. Thing is I don’t know if there’s a valid reason behind my doubts or maybe they were just the product of an idle Thursday afternoon. To add to my worries, the one other person I know who wanted to do the same course as me suddenly moves out of the country, nay the continent, altogether! Did the course really seem that bad?

So yeah, results. June and July I was able to forget about them but once August hit I started having results nightmares. They ranged from me getting the wrong results, to the school losing them, to me getting an NG in a subject simply called ‘Cats’, which is pretty ridiculous as I think I know cats better than that. The good thing is that I’m now prepared for any mishaps!

As for opening the results, there’s no real etiquette for it is there? For me the plan is to get the envelope, find a quiet corner and rip the damn thing open. I’ll take a minute to process the results, add them up (without counting Maths as Honours as I so often do and then think “I did good!”) and rejoin my friends. It may sound weird and not what some looking for solace want to hear, but I’m actually so pumped for tomorrow. I mean, the curiosity is really killing this cat and I have a nice day planned provided I don’t flee the country- going for breakfast with my friends, coming home for a nap and then (hopefully) a good night out. I spent most of today with some friends and the amount of times we just screamed “results!” would have made for a good drinking game. Tomorrow morning my friend Petra and I are going to school together for moral support/someone to freak out with.

Wow I think this was the quickest time it took to write a post. Sorry that I’m so out of practice, it has been two months! I’ve missed blogging. I’ve had a Blogspot for a couple of years but it consists mainly of pictures and despite my promise every summer, I have yet to write the great Irish novel. I might start another blog to broadcast my ramblings on but I’m unsure…

Anyway, it’s time for me to go off and listen to some motivational music. I’m appropriately listening to Frank Sinatra’s ‘That’s Life’ and I’d recommend it to you all too. I want to wish everyone the best of luck and hope you’re all happy with your results. Bring. It. On.

It all finished with Biology. It was the last hurdle that stood between my ten month hermit-like existence and freedom.

It was one of my favourite subjects and so for me, Biology was a brilliant way to end the Leaving Cert. The paper was lovely (in my opinion) but I guess I should credit that to my excellent teacher and not entirely my own abilities. I actually found it to be the best out of all my exams, but then it’s a subject that has always clicked with me – it’s straightforward, no nonsense and almost completely composed of short questions. Although he who knows why male ducks migrate further south than females, please share your wisdom with those of us ignorant to the mannerisms of the duck community. I must have neglected those chapters in my last minute revision… But in fairness, it’s the kinda thing that’s meant on a David Attenborough documentary, not the Biology LC paper.

As for French, I found that relatively nice too. I mentioned before that I had spent time in France on an exchange, and so that really stood by me for the exam. However it has to be said that it was no help for the written side of things. I know I made some stupid grammatical errors, so if my results aren’t what I want them to be, I can rest assured it’s because of my opinion pieces. Structure is always the one to catch me out. Still, I was happy enough overall.

Moving on to Irish, it was a fair paper all round. I had left a substantial amount of work until it was too late… well, I thought I had. I guess the teachers are right about retaining information – somehow, most of it comes flooding back out of no where in the middle of an exam. Just as well too, because I lacked any form of motivation the night before. I was wrecked, my hands were numb from writing and in that moment I genuinely couldn’t have cared less what I said or didn’t say in the pending exam. Trust my rebellious streak to kick in days before I finish…

The following day, I didn’t have time to recover from all the writing in Irish as I had business to attend to. Literally. It was a paper I had previously struggled with, not because of it’s content but because of the timing allocated to the exam. Thirty two minutes for an ABQ? You must be joking. Forty is the average. But in such a structured exam, every minute counts. I finished it (thankfully!) with a mere three minutes to spare.  As far as the questions went, they were predictable enough. Not much on the EU front as far as I remember, but the break-even at the back was a nice treat.

Finally, I got a taste of my long-awaited freedom. I haven’t gone wild as of yet. I’m waiting until next Thursday when all my other friends finish up before the proper celebrations kick in! These past few days I’ve only gone out for a quiet drink or two and I’ve mainly spent my time reorganising things so that my life can get back to normal. My study is now clean, my diagrams are ripped off the walls and the “Hang in there kitty” poster previously mentioned a lifetime ago in my posts has been laid to rest. This kitty has hung in there long enough. Now that her stint is over, she needs her sleep. I didn’t realise it until my exams were over, but I was definitely in need of a serious amount of me time. Sleep, relaxation, sleep again… a day or two was required to wind down before I could get properly pumped up. Nothing is as sweet as waking up the day after you’ve finished exams and realising that this is the first day of the rest of your life.

To finish this post, I’m going to refer back to my final moments as an LC student. There were only three of us left in the exam room as the supervisor glanced at the clock, then towards us again as we all waited in the silence of knowing what he was about to say. I zipped up my pencil case in preparation. My exam paper was neatly folded. I couldn’t hold back a smile. This man, this absolute stranger, was about to say the words that I had waited to hear since this year began. It’s over. It’s finished. You’re done.

I will always hold a sense of nostalgia towards the Leaving Cert. It’s not that I feel any particular ties to the subjects nor the study itself (funnily enough), but it represented a part of my life that is evidently the domino that sets the rest into action. I walked out the front door of my school, down the steps towards my freedom and I swear… I never looked back.

Sorcha x

PS) My Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000484089032

Hi My internet has been down for the past few days so I couldn’t blog. In the aftermath of Maths Paper 1, I eventually calmed myself down enough to have another look at the paper. I think i may have been a bit hard on myself in the exam. I did a lot better than I thought in the exam, so I’ve just forgotten about it now

So heres how the rest of the exams went

Maths Paper 2- I thought it was a lovely Paper. A few difficult c parts but nothing I shouldn’t have been able to do. That doesn’t mean it went perfectly, far from it. But I hope I managed a nice C grade

Irish I do pass so after 5 years of honours I found it a bit of a doddle. I was finished both papers after an hour so I’m not too worried about the outcome of them

French Je l’ai adoré Moi, j’adore francais donc je ne pense pas que cette examen est trop difficle. Maleheuresement je sais que ma production ecrit est faible. J’espére que j’ai gagné une b

History- Even typing this has me in tears. I cannot describe to you my disappointment in that exam. I had worked so hard all year. And not one of the essays I had prepared came up. I was just distraught. I started to panic and had to leave the exam hall. Anyone who does history knows how challenged we are for time but if I’d stayed I would have passed out. I managed to do two and a half pages on each question but it just wasn’t enough. I hopefully passed but I really cannot expect anything more than that. It was just heartbreaking. It was like Maths only 10 times worse. God, even thinking about it sends me into the depths of depression. So I’m not going to

Biology- What a weird paper? Like none of the usual things came up. In saying that, I thought it was pretty good There was alot of “from your knowledge of biology” type questions which is not how we’re trained to think. Couldn’t believe it when I seen plants in question 11 as well?

Just one more left; Physics on Monday. Overall the whole “Leaving Cert Experience” feels like its lasted forever. It seems like a year ago since we sat English paper two but we were actually in it this time last week! Crazy really. I’m just ready for it to be  over now and to start my summer I’ll blog again Monday after my LAST LC EXAM (I refuse to repeat )

Till then,

Niamh

The world is a beautiful place.

This may be because I’ve just FINISHED THE LEAVING CERT but I suddenly truly understand what William Wordsworth, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Louis Armstrong have been talking about. On my way home, I took delight in the heat, the seaside and even a piece of rubbish floating around. This view may diminish over time but once I put down the pen after History, it’s like the sun came out. Poetic, I know. Too bad English is over.

It hasn’t quite sunk in that I’M DONE (but if I keep saying it, it’s bound to stick) because I’m one of two in my school to finish today. I’m even finished before the Junior Certs. As a result, celebrations will be confined to my house tonight (wild, I know) but tomorrow I can go crazy with some friends. I know how much I’m rubbing it in but hopefully this will spur people on who have another while to go. Well, I really just want to keep bragging.

I suppose I better backtrack to the exams for a moment so I don’t get ahead of myself. Irish Paper 2 yesterday was nice and there were no major shocks, although I was a little surprised that an Cearrbhach came up as the compulsory story again. Being the only person I know that likes Lig Sinn i gCathú, I was sad to say goodbye to the Púca and the secretary, the mad gits. As for Business, I wrote at lightning speed for the whole three hours and all my hard work paid off in the sense that I knew all the answers bar some short questions but despite emerging with bruises on my hand, I could not get it done. I was gutted because I know I could have gotten the A I studied so much for otherwise. I was even talking in my sleep about how much of a tragedy it all was!

French today was lovely. As someone who is quite weak at the language, I was delighted with the written pieces in particular. I did the independence one, the diary entry and the one on social networking websites. Almost all of my material was what I had learned for the Orals, so it was great that things I didn’t mention then could be used now. I liked the listening too but have to admit I’m a bit worried about the couple who were too busy mushroom picking to notice their son was missing… I haven’t had time to dissect History in my head with all the excitement.

Oh wait, I just remembered Coleraine didn’t come up. That was a bit of a shock and the contextualisation question on the Apprentice Boys was a bit iffy, I thought. As for the Irish section, I can’t believe the economies didn’t come up! Anyway, I went for the consolidating democracy, an old reliable. The European was okay, although I hadn’t put in much work for it so I went for Mussolini. What was with the US questions? I laughed at how random it was that the moon landing and Vietnam were in the same question! None of my predictions came up but I tweaked my bus boycott essay to suit the Martin Luther King question. Of course, I didn’t get anything done but that’s a given with me and History. To be honest, my hand wasn’t able for it after yesterday. I jotted down some points in the last minute in the hope that the examiner will have pity on me. I don’t really mind with History because I never get very high marks but I hope I at least get a C3.

So that’s it. Wow, how odd. No more navy nylon, no more Hitler or Gealt or Algebra. It’s strange. Now what do I do with my life? I’ve just spent the first few minutes of freedom writing a long blog post about exams. In my defence, none of my friends are finished yet, okay! I’ll post again in August when results and offers come out and whatnot…but that’s a worry for another time! I’ll say a proper goodbye then because I’m too happy right now to be sentimental. For now I’m going to throw out all my notes, sleep for hours on end, go to the beach and tan. Oh who am I kidding, I just go red and then back to pale white again! If anyone wants to keep up with the trivial events of my life, you can catch me on Twitter here. I might as well give myself a plug.

To everyone who still has exams, good luck! Finishing is fantastic so enjoy it, be safe and have a good summer.

After last Friday, I came in this morning optimistic for Maths Paper 2 (ordinary level). I didn’t think it was as nice as Paper 1 but it still went well. The trigonometry was a bit tricky but the probability was nicer than other years. Imagine how mad I was though when I realised that not only had I forgotten a compass, I needed a compass. I had no choice but to draw the circle freehand and it looked a lot like an Easter egg. Surely I’ll get marks for attempt, right?

I had enough time today between exams to get an ice-cream cone, go home and relax on the couch. Five minutes later, I was back in the car desperately reading over my Irish essays on the media and technology. Fortunately, going over them worked in my favour when we sunk into Irish Paper 1.

At first glance, I couldn’t hide my disgust at the essay titles. It was like all the bad ideas from previous years had accumulated and were put on this paper, as a last sting in the end of quite a bitter course. Next year’s gang are so lucky. Anyway, I diverted my attention away from Ceist 1 and tackled the comprehensions, one on a man teaching Irish in Poland and the other about Mary Robinson. I’ve always had the impression that Irish examiners have an obsession with Barack Obama and surprise, surprise, he had to sneak into Mary’s biography today. I thought the questions were difficult at times and didn’t like all the ones that said ‘and what does the author explain about this?’ It seemed to keep coming back to haunt me! I felt that they were asking a lot at times for a measly three marks.

When I went back to the essay titles, I noticed oh, no recession. Then I saw the speech about a lack of hope in Ireland at the moment and thought, well people are going to bring it in here anyway. Not wanting my work to go to waste either, I did the Aiste on social relationships in the age of internet. My essay on technology from English Paper 1 helped me out here, as I used most of the same ideas! Eh, I mean, it was totally original.

It must be said, that was the nicest listening comprehension I’ve ever done. I don’t think any of the questions were too challenging, except maybe in Cuid C. I liked how it was quite topical, although I think we all had a quiet laugh in the room about the mention of You’re A Star. Blast from the past much? Some of the questions didn’t require listening to the CD, like the ones on Des Bishop, Susan Boyle and the one asking what the website was (with ie on the end, it was quite clearly a website!).

From talking to friends, I think today was the nicest day for a lot of people.

Sadly, with Irish Paper 2 and Business tomorrow, I don’t know how much longer that happy feeling will stay. I’m now off to study my 13 poems, 5 stories and novel. Yes, next year’s Leaving Certs are being envied right about now.

After developing a claw-shaped hand following the two English papers, on Friday I welcomed my calculator and colouring pencils with open arms. That is, until I saw the Geography paper.

It wasn’t impossible, I was just disappointed with how different it was to other years. Other years were so manageable, other years the same things came up all the time, in their simplest forms. This year, I thought even the short questions were tricky. I was freaking out over the “does the information office have regular opening hours?” question. How was I supposed to know? Is this a famous information office? IS SOMEONE OUT THERE TRYING TO MAKE A SICK JOKE? Then I realised it said it on the legend. Phew, crisis averted.

I thought the physical questions were awful, considering the amount of essays I had learned. I couldn’t find any with three parts I liked, so I had to settle for the one where you described the feature on the map. I really hope there was a cliff where I said there was! Even the standard human interaction with the rock cycle asked for economic impacts, rather than a general summary. Regional was the section that the examiner really transformed, from the usual ‘tertiary activities in region X’ and ‘culture in region Y’, to questions such as criteria defining a region. I did that one, as I realised how vague it was and I’m pretty happy with my EU expansion answer, fuelled purely by common sense. The elective section was fine and as for the geoecology…words can’t describe my relief that the biome came up. Twice! I did the characteristics question.

I was initially gutted with the paper but now that I’ve written it down, I guess it wasn’t so bad. What annoys me is the fact that I put in the work for that, especially for the physical section and I feel a little cheated by the SEC. Now I’m questioning the remark that all my hard work will apparently pay off with these exams, especially considering the fact that Maths, which I hadn’t studied for since Easter, went very smoothly.

I found Maths paper 1 (ordinary level) easy as pi. I think I’m allowed to boast a little about that. After all, people didn’t hesitate in telling me how spectacular their English papers went, when I’m still disappointed with my performance. Anyway, unless there is a major upset I won’t be counting Maths so it’s not like it really matters but it’s comforting to encounter a good paper. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for our friends in higher level. Hopefully paper 2 will be better and at least most people seem to feel the same way about it. I know it doesn’t make up for the whole thing but I’m sure the marking scheme will be sympathetic. The bell curve wouldn’t allow it any other way!

I’ve spent the weekend having some much-needed sleep and very little else, although I had planned to tackle some History and Irish. Everyone seems to be banking on an essay on the recession for Irish but I’d prefer something on the media. In the mocks I steered away from the common choice and went for ‘young people listen to pop music too much’. I made quite a strong argument for listening to bands such as Arcade Fire and I think I was marked favourably for being the only one to do that essay. The examiner must have been a rock fan!

Good luck tomorrow everyone.