Are the Pre’s worth the stress they generate?

The Pre’s. The dreaded process of doing your Leaving Cert exams but instead of immediate relief and liberation from the repetitive cycle of eat, sleep, study, repeat, you are faced with the bitter reality that you must do it all again in three months time. I hope I don’t come across as overly cynical, but as a Leaving Cert student, it is often-times challenging to see the glass as half full.

In theory, the Pre exams are an excellent tool students can use to understand what the exam period is like and help them to see where they are with their study and how they can improve. However, in current day practice, the Pre’s feel almost futile. This year’s Leaving Cert has had many adjustments made to accommodate the interruption of learning due to the pandemic. These changes were announced in early February of this year, which means the Pre papers had already been made and for some schools the exams had already begun.

The exams we have done are not reflective of our actual Leaving Cert, deeming them in some ways insufficient. It’s important we ask ourselves, was the all-consuming burden of stress these purposeless exams imposed on students, an effective use of everyone’s time, or can we recognise them as counterproductive?

Although I understand this article may seem bleak, I do believe there is value to be seen in these exams. Yes, they may be slightly different than the exams we are set to sit in June, but perhaps a sense of over-preparation is not a bad thing. It’s presumed that the changes will make our Leaving Cert easier and in a time of constant stress and pressure, take reassurance in the idea that ‘if we can make it through these, we can make it through the real thing’. This sense of comfort is imperative to us sixthyear students.