Relaxed students are taking exam season in their stride
LEAVING CERT students at both Pres and Loreto in Bray were very much taking things in their stride on Monday afternoon, between Maths paper two and Irish paper one.
The obligatory exam-time sunshine meant their two-hour break could be spent outdoors, whether the plan was to study, eat lunch or just relax.
At Pres, Seán Kavanagh said that he found paper one easier than Maths paper two. ‘Overall I’m not doing too bad. The Leaving Cert is very overhyped when it comes to the panic and nerves. After day one it was grand.’ Simon Reynolds found that morning’s paper harder than he expected. ‘I thought it would be way easier but I still did alright.’ He and a number of other students said that the afternoon’s Irish paper was one to get out of the way, as they wouldn’t be counting it towards their points.
Aidan Lacey said that his best subject would be art. With the practical work all done, the Art History exam awaits on Thursday. Aidan had the afternoon available to study as he is exempt from Irish. ‘Maths is my only Ordinary Level subject so I didn’t have to put all that much effort into it,’ said Dylan McKenna Murphy. ‘I’m kind of nervous about Irish paper one later,’ he said. He was hoping that something like homelessness would come up, and thankfully it did, along with Brexit, and the essay subject ‘Society of Ireland in 2017 is a just and fair society’.
‘It wasn’t too bad,’ said Ryan Mecalf on Maths. ‘I thought it was quite difficult for an Ordinary Level paper. I answered everything. Now it’s done and dusted for the rest of my life!’ He and Ben Clarke would both like to study science in college next year. ‘I’m doing ordinary Irish and Maths which leaves more time to focus on Biology, that’s what I want to do in college,’ said Ben. On exam-pressure, he said that it can be tiring. ‘It’s a marathon. You just have to sleep loads and eat well.’
Exam aid Ger Fleming said that the young men seem to be doing fine. ‘The atmosphere is quite good so far. They seem to be quite relaxed, which is a good thing.’
Eleanor Haughton at Loreto said that she was quite nervous that morning before Maths. ‘Some of the questions were tough, some of them weren’t,’ she said. She agreet it was good to have the weekend to prepare for a tough day.
Eibhlin Laffan Downes is hoping to study science in college next year. She said that Maths paper two wasn’t too bad. ‘I was a bit worried about Maths after paper one which was quite tough, because this could be the difference between me getting into college or not.’