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

I got 490.

I knew anyone who might actually read this would be wondering what I got more than how I felt in the morning, what I wore or how I opened the results. I really don’t want to come across like I’m bragging but I’m delighted. I know some people won’t be happy with what they got but I thought it was appropriate that after two years of blogging I post the results here.

Irish-B2

English-B2

Maths-B1 (pass)

History-C1

Geography-B1

French-A2

Business-B2

I wrote a big long paragraph about how I felt when I saw each result but deleted it. There’s no need to justify it all because in the end, I got more than enough points for my first choice. Everyone I’ve talked to wants to view scripts, out of curiosity more than anything else, so I might as well (even though I’ll have to do it on my Birthday, ew). Even though I’m not counting Maths, I still think I could have gotten an A so I’ll check that out. Maybe Business too. It’s crazy how the one A I got was in French, which was my worst subject since we did it in primary school! This year I improved but still wouldn’t even get that grade in class tests so I’m ecstatic. I hope my teacher sees it! The other grades were such a relief, particularly History.

I hope people are happy with their results? Most in my school were pleasantly surprised, so the overall feeling was positive. For those who are upset, it’s hard to say the right thing but even if things aren’t working out right now, life will take you on this amazing journey in which your biggest mistakes could lead you to something fantastic. I stole some of that from my careers guidance counsellor.

Anyway, today my leg got scraped by a woman with a buggy and it’s turning blue so I should check that out. I’ll write a final blog on Monday after the offers, just to sign off. Luckily I know my course of choice awaits, because even today no one knew what it was so demand remains low.

NUIG anyone?

Up bright and early. Surprisingly enough, I slept through the whole night. I just wanted to wish the best of luck to everyone Is feidir linn

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.

Clock ticks. Pen down. Silence.

Then its all over.  I could almost feel all the definitions, diagrams, quotes and experiments spilling out from memory as I left my script on the desk and headed into mid-term. The feeling of being finished was absolutely surreal.

I made the decision not to study over the break and to be honest, it was the best thing I could’ve done for myself.  For the first time since September, I had the chance to properly relax without the twinging guilt that I should be studying. See I figured that being through the wars was enough, the brain needed “me” time. So yeah, midterm consisted of lie-ins and socialising, nights in and nights out.. reading for the sake of reading (something I’d missed more than I had thought!), etc. The thing I enjoyed most though was simply the opportunity to switch off. I allowed myself to be bored for the first time since God knows when! I can only imagine how good June 17th will feel – I can’t wait!

Naturally, it flew in. A blink, and suddenly we’re back to normal. Mocks are now unfashionable, orals are this seasons must-have. I’m not too worried as of yet, but since these are the first brush we’ll all have with the “real deal” I’m predicting some sorta panic attack between now and April. Whats left, four weeks or so? I’ll take bets for the 3 week breakdown. Probability means its more than likely gonna be a Monday. Just sayin’

And to distract us from this oral pressure, we have the return of the mock papers flying round. In some cases, they even provided a little comic relief, but that aspect of things is definitely best left behind us.

I’m still waiting on a few, but I’m pretty pleased all round. A1 in Biology, B1 (84%) in Home Ec, B2 in Business and English, Distinction in LCVP. I’m still awaiting Irish, French and Maths, which are the ones I’m most interested in… but I’ll keep you posted.

I know I made some stupid mistakes in the mocks, timing being one of them, but I guess that’s the whole point of them in the first place – its a clock based race, so we need to pace ourselves.  The teachers kept telling us all that for ages remember? Lesson learnt. They must love this smug time of year where their cautionary speeches come back to haunt us. But don’t worry, we’ll have our moment soon enough!

Best get back to the desk .. I’ve Irish notes to do. If anyone has suggestions for what they would do if they were Minister for Education/Finance/Taoiseach, it would definitely be appreciated. Can’t get any more topical than that guys.. It’s oral gold.

Sorcha x

It saddens me to inform you, my dear cyberspace pals, that the novelty of being in Sixth Year has finally worn off for me. I now sit here in my study, surrounded by dictionaries, folders bursting with handouts, a leaning tower of textbooks and the shattered remains of my social life. I want out!

While reading through a college prospectus yesterday, it struck me that in order to get into any course, I’m going to need quite a few of these ‘magic points’. Think about it, points obtained from Leaving Cert results really are like magic. You can’t buy them, or sell them (although what a nice money-making scheme that would be) and they have total power over your future. They decide whether you’re going to be the next Marie Curie or the next Marie Curie’s cleaner (hey, someone’s got to clean all those test tubes). And it’s looking like I’m going to require over the 460 mark for anything I want to do. I think it’s time to go into a corner and sob quietly.

On the bright side, my attention span has been at its best these past few weeks. Facebook has been so boring that I’m not even tempted to go on it and would almost rather write my essay on Fianna Fáil’s cultural policy (I said almost). At least on Saturday and Sunday evenings I can look forward to The X Factor, a break I reward myself only if I study. Which I do because I’m not going to miss Cher singing. That girl is too cool.

Is anyone else going to the NUIG Open Day on Friday or Saturday? I’m definitely going because it’s more than likely my future destination. Sunday Times University Of The Year 2009! It’s also moved up to the spot of 232nd best university in the world. Out of 252… It’s getting there.

After a night of sporadic waking, I finally got a glimps of the CAO tables just after four this morning. They picture may have been taken with a camera phone and incredibly blurry, but the fact I was able to make out 545 for Actuarial and Financial Studies in UCD came as a massive relief! No random selection, no 550+, I had just got in with nothing to spare! Nothing, however, quite beats confirmation from the CAO themselves. Despite crashing at 0600 on the dot (Typical Ireland!), I managed to finally accept my offer about ten minutes later!

All last night I had myself convinced it would go above 550 again. In the last 12 years, there have only been three years where it has been less than 545, and considering applications were up 16% this year, I was getting content with settling for DCU. At this stage, I cannot even say it was down to hardwork or intelligence; in my case it was just sheer luck getting the points I needed and for the CAO to work out like that! So it looks like I’ll be starting orientation this day three weeks as a fresher in UCD, as you can probably tell I’m over the moon!

This blog all year has been amazing. Just writing down everything that was going on, even if no one read it, helped to keep the year pretty much stress-free! This website has been a God-send to any LCer looking to do well. I think we all owe its founder, Patrick Barry, a serious thanks. I was lucky enough to meet him during the year, and I have to say, the man is an absolute gentleman. He makes the lives of countless Sixth Years infinitely easier. While the whole blogging experience was entirely new to me, it was certainly an enjoyable one, and definitely worth trying next year! Hearing other peoples’ experiences of what was going on was fantastic and allowed me have a different perspective to the year.

To the class of 2010, congratulations and I hope you achieved what you set out to achieve. Hopefully I’ll see a few of ye around UCD!

To the class of 2011, relax, enjoy your last year of school, work hard and play hard. Don’t become a study slave, get now and again, the Leaving Cert is nothing to be afraid of. What you put in is what you’ll get out of it. I’ll probably write a bit more here later about what’ll help you get the most out of the year, but we’ll see.

So for one last time… good luck people!

Cillian.