Years of preparation- useless! Nothing has prepared us for this, life altering experience, a test of strength, ability and endurance. After months of training we are thrown into the battlefield, no, the mocks were nothing like this. The supervisors give us our commands and we sit anxiously waiting for the go-ahead. Tick-tock, tick-tock… with a perplexed look on our faces we look around for familiar faces, seeking comfort. But nothing. There’s no going back now.

We begin. Advancing through the wild trenches of our inner mind we seek answers, we seek help, we seek success. Peering over every corner we hunt for a comfort zone, something recognizable, some thing we can relate to. But nothing. Feeling helpless, we do what we can. But in the end we will survive and we will experience the sheer pleasure that we, we did it. We accomplished the ‘Leaving Certificate’!

Best of luck to everyone!

Good Morning!

Welcome to the Leaving Certificate!

Remember to keep calm, eat well and sleep appropriately… and enjoy!

The exam timetable can be found online, here we shall link you,

http://examinations.ie/exam/Written_LC_EV_%202008.pdf

Best of luck to everyone!

Hours, only hours left to go! When I started this blog I never saw it coming but here I am, sitting outside in the merciless sun practising paper 1 for maths. Finding myself to be still struggling on questions I am getting anxious, I try and remain positive. The pressure begins on Wednesday. I have a few hours to regain my confidence.

The English papers being spread across two days has taken away a lot of pressure, I am still scared, worried about what I will do for my composition, wondering if I’m leaving my study for paper 2 much too late. I break down in utter fear and anxiety at the prospect of poor results, internal failure. I’m sure 8 hours of study for a full paper will get me a promising result, I’m sure… I hope! I pray!

Looking back I really never saw this day coming, thinking about it I was so sure that I would be doing so much more work, but it’s not easy, is it? I must head back to my studies…

Colin.

Three days and counting. Its a bank holiday weekend, the sun is splitting the rocks and all I feel like doing is heading out to a beer garden and enjoying a cold pint of cider. Perhaps the leaving cert should be in winter, which would make it a lot easier to study.

With little or no study done at all, I now sit here and contemplate while enjoying a hot mug of tea. Had I been more motivated or caring, would I have done more study?. And for some reason I doubt it. I have never really agreed with the schools system, which resulted in a a rather negative approach to school. School for me, at this stage, has turned into some form of G.A.A sport for me. I want nothing to do with it. Right now I just want it all behind me, so that I can move on with my life, regardless of the outcome. And if I don’t get my course, than so be it. Its never the end of the road. Never.

Its hard to know what to say at this point. But all this worrying and stress aside, not that I seem to be haunted by either, I have to say that I had the best fun of school in this year. Sitting by the lake, enjoying the sun, taking photographs and enjoying the company of school friends.

Time to finish up this mug of tea and head into the real world. Leaving cert in three days.

Shall we?

Tags: 2008, cert, exams, leaving, leaving cert, life

The Grad Mass

This week has seen the end of school life; Thursday last I spent my last school day unproductively. End of year pranks had been executed the night before consisting of a large penis being artistically outlined onto the main pitch in line marker. My final day was spent practicing music for the grad mass that night. I would be singing at the ceremony.

The mass felt like a ten minute event but lasting more like 2 hours, as a tribute to our year, the school president gave a well performed speech followed by our final song ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. Absolutely touching!

School was over and it was time to celebrate our coming of age, we ventured to the pubs. Here I practiced my final moments of youth, yes; I was the idiot that got inebriated. I was the one that took teenage drinking to the highest level. Being my last school day I celebrated with teachers that I found in the night club. God help them, as shameful as it is to say, I have no idea what I was saying to them! I was assisted out of the night club at the end of the night by my very obliging friends. And to my friend- I apologise about your shoes!

The following days saw the road of recovery from a hazy night and an opening to a whole new plane of studying. Since Thursday I have been experiencing study like never before, sitting down for hours at a time eating books as if a famine was approaching. Today sees me practicing my new business skills, testing myself on years of past papers (I only took up business 3 months ago).

Pre Grad Mass

The last few weeks of school included my art practical exam. I was anxious about this exam, I am not the most creative by nature but my doodles might just pass for the new abstract style. I am relatively pleased with my masterpieces work and with this exam completed I become apprehensive of nothing more but hours of written exam material lying just weeks ahead.

The Long and Winding Road

In 9 days thousands of students will be entering their exam centres, after a long 6 years we will be proving ourselves as scholars. College is just few months away; I smell the sweet life of a college student. Who’s coming accommodation hunting? Anything to avoid study right now!

Tags: college, grad, study

May

2nd - Finishing date for assessment of LCA Task Work
(Session 2 Year 1.)
• Finishing date for the LCA Personal Reflection
Task.
6th - Leaving Certificate Engineering Practical
(10.00 – 1.00 & 2.00 – 5.00).
• Start date for monitoring Leaving Certificate
Agricultural Science and Agricultural Economics.
7th - Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme – Link
Modules – Written Examination (10.00 – 12.30)
• Leaving Certificate Construction Studies Practical
(9.30 – 1.30).
8th - Leaving Certificate Art Craftwork
(9.30 – 12.00 & 2.00 – 4.30).
• Leaving Certificate Art Design (9.30 – 12.00).
9th - Leaving Certificate Art Imaginative Composition or
Still Life (9.30 – 12.00).
• Leaving Certificate Art Life Sketching
(2.00 – 3.00).
• Final date for return of LCA Personal
Reflection Task to the Commission.
12th- Start date for LCA Practical Performance tests in
Hotel Catering & Tourism, Office Admin &
Customer Care, Active Leisure Studies, Hair &
Beauty & Agriculture/Horticulture.
16th - Finishing date for monitoring Leaving Certificate
Agricultural Science and Agricultural Economics.
• Finishing date for LCA Practical Performance
tests.
19th - Start date for LCA Oral tests in English and
Communication (Year 2 candidates) Gaeilge
Chumarsáideach, French, German, Spanish and Italian
(Year 1 and Year 2 candidates).
21st - LCA Information Technology (Specialism)
Practical performance and written test (10.00 – 12.00).
23rd - Finishing date for LCA Oral Tests.

Best of luck to everyone participating in any of the above examinations!

Tags: deadlines, exams

Art. 4 days to my leaving-certificate art exam. Today I took the day off school for a little preparation. I am here googling images for the theme of the poster, I like what I see and fear getting caught for plagiarism completely by accident. Anything that may compromise my exam scares the life out of me.

The art exam confuses me. What can I do, what can’t I do? Someone please reply! I’m getting images for my research page but I’m not allowed copy them onto my finished design. Am I allowed bring in lettering I have printed off the computer? so very very confused.

History. I recently handed in my research study report and I am satisfied, quite pleasing to get a fraction of the exam out of the way before June.

June is quickly approaching and I must admit I have not been studying as much as I planned with the interruptions of an unplanned social night or a game of GTA IV. I try and try but sometimes it’s hard not to give into temptation, in fact impossible.

With just 3 weekends left before the exams, approximately 534 hours or so. I hope to spend long nights in cramming for hours at a time, sleep as little as possible and guzzle as much caffeine as imaginable. Colin Murphy plays town on Thursday… shall I attend?

“A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons.” - wikipedia

Tags: art, history, june

The end is near. No, not global warming… well that too, but I’m talking about the leaving cert.

Arriving late for school, desperately pushing your mind to its limits in an effort to come up with yet another unique excuse for being late. Trying to exit the school a class before lunch to have an extra half hour for lunch. Challenging the school system, the teachers and their stubborn ways. Participating in a race with 300 other students to reach the canteen and indulge in those breakfast rolls prepared with Ireland’s finest goods? Or not.

Those are some of the things that I will probably miss. That excitement and buzz that seemed to grow within the school on a daily basis. Walking mindlessly in a trance from class to class.. Actually, that was one of the downsides. It really is hard to talk positively about school for so long.

Next stop, grad mass. The night where we get drag our teachers out on the town and get drunk look back on those beutiful moments of school with our parents and teachers, as we embrace ourselves for the rest of our lives.
So from now until the 4th of July, do as Barry said - ” Hit the books. Hit them hard. It’ll be worth it”

Tags: end, exams, grad, mass, school