It’s that time of year again. Some 119,000 students will sit down for the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams. (Cue endless articles about who is and is not doing Higher Level Maths.) #leavingcert is already trending on Twitter.
It’s not an easy time for students, particularly those Leaving Certs who are entering the points race. Lots of last minute studying and freak outs await. But for the vast majority of Irish people, there’s just one thing on their mind:
Met Eireann has announced that we don’t have that to look forward to, making all of us just about as miserable as those set to spend the next one to three weeks hunched over a desk for the Most Important Exams of Their Life™.
Only just about.
The Leaving Cert is the highest level of state examination offered in Ireland. Every June, tens of thousands of final-year students across the country sit exams in English, Irish, maths and a host of other subjects. The results determine what colleges, if any, students will get in to. Understandably, it’s a source of intense pressure for a lot of those students.
Some take it in their stride.
Of course, not everyone is so good at forward planning.
Not that studying is a treat for anyone…
You think the studying was bad? Spare a thought for the poor souls who have to hang on until the bitter end for Italian, Japanese or Applied Maths.
Then when you finally finish, you’ll start to doubt yourself.
And expect some traumatic dreams for a while.
(You’ll still be getting those in your declining years.)
Though bear in mind that, from the moment the exams start, the end is in sight. And you know what that means…
The long summer – such as it is – awaits, and then college!
But, of course, when it comes to your education, we can’t let you go without this final reminder from Sir Ian McKellen:
Study hard, kids. And remember: this is only the beginning!
But that’s a miserable thought for another day…
Best of luck, Leaving Certs! See you on the other side.
Exam image, via Shutterstock
