Leaving Cert Diary: March
Last year missy.ie writer, Sophie Coffey, kept us up to date in the run up to her Leaving Cert exams with her Leaving Cert Diary series…we all know how that turned out now.
This year another missy.ie writer, Sorcha Kennedy, will be documenting her experience in 6th Year. With a lot still going on due to the pandemic and uncertainty over the 2021 exams, it will definitely be an interesting one to follow every month.
I think March may have been the quickest (and busiest) month of my Leaving Cert so far.
It’s been hard, but not as hard as the last few months which has definitely given me a bit of hope for the rest of the school year (which is coming scarily soon).
I think I’ve cracked the code of how to balance study and relaxation (and not feel guilty) this month but I’m definitely glad to have the two weeks off for Easter.
Slán go foill, Sraith Pictiúr!
However, we are so lucky this year (can you sense the sarcasm?) that we don’t have real easter holidays this year because they have been hijacked by our orals and practicals. As a matter of fact, I am writing this seven hours after my Irish oral and after I’m finished I am going to hold a ceremonial burning of my sraith pictúir book!
I’m glad that it’s out of the way now but I’ll probably the next week and a half stressing about my music practical. It will be great once these are over and we can finally start focusing on the written exams that are creeping up quickly.
The Downside of Accredited Grades
Another downside to leaving cert 2021 is that because we are also receiving accredited grades, we are having constant assessments in school. This added element is just extra stress on top of all the work we have to do and is seriously affecting my ability to study for the real exams in June. I understand that the teachers need data for the grades, but every time I do an assessment I feel like it’s the actual leaving cert (which it basically is).
A Welcome Announcement (for once!)
But, I would be lying if I said I didn’t do a little happy dance when they announced the extra changes done to the exams. After all, we’ve been through these last two years, it was nice to actually have something that would genuinely give us a fair chance.
My personal favourite change was to English because I don’t have to do ANY poetry! How amazing is that? As much as I love Plath and Bishop, it’s definitely amazing to put my poetry book in my cupboard and forget about it forever.
We also have a choice not to do a Comprehension in Paper 1, which is music to my ears because it means I can just do the creative writing questions. It may make me a weirdo but I genuinely can’t wait to sit the English papers!
Please let April be as nice as this month, but maybe not go as quickly because I don’t think I’m ready for my school life to end just yet!