Leaving Cert Diary: December
For me, December is always an enjoyable time, most people are gearing up for Christmas and there’s a frantic excitement in the air. Students and Teachers alike are counting down the days until the Christmas break. This year, having already done October exams, I had no Christmas exams, so while I reveled in the absence of that pressure, I found it especially hard to stay motivated in any way to do schoolwork. I’d be lying if I said I succeeded in doing anything past the bare minimum. If even that, lol.
December was filled with social outings, I went out every weekend which I don’t think I’m built for, Haha! Hats off to anyone in 6th year who is balancing school and having a social life better than me (not to mention sports, hobbies or jobs.) I know I won’t be able to repeat the likes of this now after Christmas with the mocks and whatnot, but I don’t regret letting myself have a bit of fun because while 6th year is undoubtedly about the leaving cert, I don’t believe that’s all there is to it. It’s in part, about the last times you’ll have a laugh with those people in your class you know you won’t see after June, it’s about 18th birthday parties and going on drives with your newly licensed friend. (me in 2025 plss)
For example, one of these weekends involved the predebs, I’m not sure if other schools have had them but basically, it’s just a night out with your year. Although there was drama galore and it involved a treacherous 80-minute drive to Dundalk, It was so much fun. I think the great thing about 6th year is the sense of togetherness between everyone, I found most people were appreciative of the fact this was the first time everyone or at least most from our year was out together and the next time we would do this on that scale would be graduation.
As for the academic side of things : In English we’re doing the comparative, which confuses me a bit. I’m not getting the whole picture yet because we haven’t finished it I guess, but I’m loving the texts we’re doing. Small Things Like These, The Crucible and The Shawshank Redemption. They’re all brilliant. At times like these, the desire to study English comes creeping back in…. Plus, the fact we get to watch a movie for all three of them is deadly, sure that’s not work at all. We spent a lot of time on The Defence System and viruses in biology which felt very fitting considering the number of people getting sick left right and Centre, tis the season I suppose. Making Quizlets for key terms in biology is doing wonders for me. Regional geography has been a bit of a snoozefest if I’m honest, there’s only so many times I can write an essay about agriculture in a particular region.
I also, for some crazy reason, took on partaking in an Irish Debating Competition with two of my friends because our teacher really wanted to enter a team. It ended up being the best craic, very comical. I don’t know what we scored yet, couldn’t have been overly well i wouldn’t imagine but I did it because I wanted to try improve my confidence in speaking Irish because the oral part of the exam is still the most daunting to me, and also I would just like to be able to speak Irish now and then in my everyday life at the end of the day.
I think that’s pretty much the highlight for December. I hope everyone reading had a wonderful Christmas. The next time you hear from me it’ll be 2025! Here’s to hoping it’s a good year for us all x