‘Mixed emotions’ for two Tralee LC students

AS the dust settles on the huge announcement that this year’s Leaving Certificate exams will not be going ahead due to the crisis involving COVID-19, students from around the county are getting to grips with the historic news.

Two such students are Shauna and Rebecca Rusk, who are currently in sixth year in Mercy Mounthawk.

Speaking to The Kerryman this week about the decision, both Shauna and Rebecca said that they had “mixed emotions” about the recent developments.

“It’s mixed emotions really because we couldn’t really stay focused until July. We’d prefer to be sitting the exams as normal but not in July when it seems like it wouldn’t be safe so this seems like it was the only option available,” said the girls.

As it stands, students will have the chance to get their results based on predictive grading or if they want, they can opt to sit the exams as normal at a later date that has yet to be fixed.

The option of waiting and sitting the exams at a later date is not one that either Shauna or Rebecca will be taking though.

“We’ll be taking the option of the predictive grading because as we understand it, if you choose to sit the exams later, you will be missing out on a year of college,” they said.

When asked whether they think the predictive grading will be a fair method of deciding results, the girls weren’t too sure.

“Not really no, I don’t know really. There’s a lot of different factors that come into it and that could make it potentially unfair,” they said.

As for their college choices for next year - Shauna wants to study Primary Teaching in Mary I and Rebecca hopes to be studying Commerce and Spanish in UCC. For Shauna, there is a fear that this new system will jeopardise her chances of her Mary I place while Rebecca is confident her work over the two years will pay off.

“I feel like I won’t get as much points through this predictive grading as I would in the actual exam,” said Shauna. “I’ve put in the work and I’ve always worked hard so I would hope that would pay off,” said Rebecca.