Depression mode initiated, code blue alert. Week one of the pre-exams is finally out the window and it has been a demoralizing week. I don’t get how ‘mock’ exams can get me so worked up… They mean nothing, but I want to ‘win’, I am a competitor. I am a student of fluid manoeuvres, patiently observing the intermittent pattern of examinations. My specialisation is deciphering the past papers, precisely predicting what will be on the paper and with this I enter the mind of an examiner swotting-up on previous marking schemes and only then can one can gain full control of their nameless assessor.

This was my method up to this week, yes I had a good idea of what questions would come up in each paper but I have entered a whole new realm of problems- Study. I can fabricate half a strategy, but it’s useless without a second half of genuine revision. My slothful behaviour has been induced by hundreds of hours of nonstop TV and gaming. Sinful.

Male, 17, seeking antidote to laziness.

How can I be upset about something I’m not willing to put effort in… Why am I pissed off about pres? I want answers, answers to life!

Over and out,

Colin.

Don’t worry. Its only the pres. It’s not like its the leaving cert, that damn state examination.

Yet everyones going mad?
Pages, wasted ink, insanity, shiny exam paper pages.. I swear that soft shiny paper keeps me amused for a whole one third of the exam time.. nattering, more pages.. god what a waste of paper.. heavy breathing (theres always one person that will get REALLY bored in an exam). or if you go mad like me, its the sound of my little inky pen being thrown against the table in an effort to break it so I’ll have a reasonable excuse not to continue the exam.

One thing I LOVE about my English exam, is usually the essay titles. I guarantee you there will be always at least one title that will allow you to slate the education system, the government, and humanity. The easiest option is always to take this. Think about it, your in an exam, and how many people are usually happy about that? Not many. Your angry. And the essay title (I 200% guarantee you) was put there for you to ‘fuck’ them out of it using big words.

To be continued..got lazy…

Well, actually it really hit me, I should be studying instead of writing. Writing things that may interest like minded people in the same situation. I should be sitting in front of a text book, scrolling through nothing I can relate to. And perhaps disappearing beneath the books like covers. Although, I could do with the sleep…

I am pleased to take these vital moments of my evening to welcome you thrill seekers to the adventurous reality of the leaving cert with the participation of your fellow student (or not) Colin Lowry.

Let me tell you if you find it difficult to study, you’re not alone. If you don’t find it hard, I envy you. My past week on midterm consisted of less study than a school week, and now I find myself stuck in the middle of the mock exams. This morning I prepared myself well, I had set my alarm for 7.30am. I miserably awoke to the “harmonious” song of the early birds and that default fanfare alarm racket; following this I fell back to sleep! It was only at 8.20am I decided it would actually in my best interests to
get up, always trust your body clock.

Without further nuisance (or breakfast), I was sitting diligently in my desk evaluating my paper.

“English – Higher Level – Paper 1

Getting to grips with it, I flicked through the pages - yes, I can deal with this. I happily moved through the paper, but in our stressful situation, we lose all sense of time! In an exam, never trust your body clock! Allocating a mere 35 minutes to the second section of the paper - worth half the paper, I panicked… I panicked! Not bothering studying for paper 1, in my life, I chose the first question my eyes met on the final page, question 1.

“Okay, okay… an article, finest, lash down a few points there or a bit of brainstorming I suppose.”

Finished, oh the satisfaction of completing the paper is sheer pleasure. A solid 2 page article completed in 30 minutes of a 2 hour and 50 minutes exam, worth 50% of the entire paper, I have to say that I felt pleased with myself. Looking around the hall, every student as still writing and an afterthought of worry struck me as to why I wasn’t.
Exiting the hall, everyone was discussing the exam. I tuned into one such discussion,

“Yeah, so section 2, how many pages? 4, 5, 6? I must have spent a good 70 minutes on it.”

Oh well… there goes my 100marks. With a full day ahead of me the plan was to hit the library. Didn’t happen, rarely does. This is the reality of students doing the leaving cert, many consider it laziness, I like to think… PS3 raging hormones.

Here I am 11.00pm and with paper 2 in a few hours, which I am told requires real study, I plan to get in touch with my studious side.

O, Honest Iago!

I wonder if all this writing counts as some form of study,

Colin.

The midterm break has come to an end and apparently the pre’s start on Thursday. While sitting in a cafe yesterday my friends and I debated what day our pres were starting. One of them figured it was Tuesday or Wednesday and I was almost sure it was Thursday. So we settled on Thursday. My friend then turned to me and said “I think i forgot my bag in school actually..“, and before I could say anything he said, “I’m actually raging! I think there was a fiver in the front of it“- Which cracked us all up.

Today I sit here in the comfort of home dossing working on my LCVP modules and Construction Studies folder. I figured it was important enough to require a day off school, don’t you? Keeping in mind that both of these projects were to have been completed before the midterm break for evaluation and marking for our pres. Due to unforeseen circumstances, naturally enough, I was unable to hand them up.

However, after a week of immense study, or should I say - lack thereof, I am facing the pre-leaving cert exams someday this coming week (by now word on the street is Thursday) and I am in no way prepared whatsoever. It will more than likely result in a complete disaster, like the US invading Iraq to borrow their oil rebuild their infrastructure. Such genuine people. Another friend of mine came up with an excellent suggestion the other day, “let’s see how well we can get on without studying” and he was right. I mean, we wouldn’t want to do too good in the Pres, that might make us think too highly of ourselves and result in a lower result in the actual leaving cert. And then there’s that issue, what’s it called.. oh yeah, stress. We wouldn’t want to suffer from such a horrible disease. I have a hunch it will spread like wildfire in the coming months.

Now if you don’t mind, I have some ‘Study’ to do. :-]

~Kevin.

It’s Sunday evening and I have just woke up. In less than 15 hours I, along with my fellow suffering leaving cert students, will be trudging into an exam room to sit the first of our mocks.

Why am I not panicking? This is not good, after a full week of nothing, I find myself glancing over study notes and browsing Bebo… at the same time. I’m tempted to switch off my phone but it’s harder than it seems. What can I say? I’m in demand!

So these are the harsh realities of a 21^st century student. Personally I blame technology. It wasn’t too long ago that students had to make do with skipping ropes, spinning tops, or if they were really lucky perhaps a piece of chalk for hopscotch!

But we are cursed with televisions, computers, mobile phones and social websites. So parents, please do not blame us for poor school concentration, but instead the likes of Bill Gates (send him an email), or other such tech geeks.

You did not have the distractions we have today, except maybe a hard day’s work on the bog. We have an excuse, unlike you who did the leaving cert a hundred years ago in the typewriter days.

Take it easy,

Colin.

Fellow unmotivated students (and motivated). I’d like to welcome you all to our new website leaving-cert.net, those of you reading this have found the website which has not yet been launched. We hope to have everything ready by this coming weekend.

Who’s running the show?

This project will be run by Colin Lowry, Kevin Holler and Amy Flynn. We are all in different schools, Kevin coming from a mixed and Colin coming from an all boys school and Amy from an all girls convent. We, like many of you are just as unmotivated and confused about this leaving certificate. So we have decided to make a blog, documenting our progress from this coming weekend right up to the leaving certificate in June.

All with a touch of humour and a sprinkle of truth. The kind of truth that the Department of Education, parents and even teachers try to ignore. Truth being, that there is quite a number of students out there who are uncaring and unmotivated about this whole leaving certificate.

Our goal?

Our aim is to provide you all with a little insight into the lives of leaving certificate students and what they get up to, while keeping you all entertained of course. So if you’re feeling the pressure of the leaving certificate, get on the internet, read our stuff and relax.

You’re not alone :-]