University Life

The Leaving Certificate

A brief summary of the Leaving Cert for my readers around the world.

Wikipedia describes it as

"The Leaving Certificate Examinations (Irish: Scrúduithe na hArdteistiméireachta), commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert (Irish: Ardteist) is the final examination in the Irish secondary school system. It takes a minimum of two years preparation. These years are referred to collectively as "The Senior Cycle." Most students taking the examination are aged 16–20; in excess of eighty percent of this group undertake the exam. The Examination is overseen by the State Examinations Commission."

A nice description...however, they forgot to mention HOW EXTREMELY DIFFICULT it is. I love explaining the Leaving Cert to Spanish friends. No offence but the Selectividad is like an exam for an 8 year old compared to this.
One choses 6 subjects to study. Well, one choses 3 subjects, as Irish, English and maths are compulsory. I on the other hand decided to make things difficult on myself and do two extra subjects, LCVP and Spanish.
I'm very proud to say, I'm the first student to do an exam of Spanish in my school, and apart from the help of Marcos, and a weekly hour class, I taught myself. My other chosen subjects were French, Business, Art and Music.
So between the dates of the 4th of June and the 19th of June, I sat my 8 exams. You may think that's fairly spread out, however take note of the times in this image:

Fair to say, it was pretty intense! For the week off before my exams I studied for at maximum 10 hours a day... If any of my readers knows a more intense exam timetable, I'd love to see it to restore some of my faith in the Irish Education System. I can think of only one person who thinks this is a fair system and his name is Hitler.

Opening THE Envelope

The 13th of August is a day I will probably never forget - Results day. As I walked to the school reception to collect my results, my mind was full of thoughts about my future. Will I be a McDonalds worker?(no offense to anyone in that  line of work, but I dream of a MacBook rather than a McBurger), or will I be waking up every morning in a penthouse apartment in New York? (with a MacBook). I believed that my future was concealed within that envelope. As if my life depended on the grades written on that piece of paper. 

Trembling I opened the brown, long, ugly envelope and pulled out the page. I wish to keep some privacy, so I will just say that I achieved an excellent result. Of course, it was not got enough for me, but then again, I always push myself too much. 

Eagerly, I, along with the other 53,789 (to be exact) students waited to get offers from University, College, IT, or PLC courses which we applied for. 

At 6:00am my faith was decided. I was UCD bound. University College Dublin had a spot with my name on it. My parents dream, my families dream, my dream; I am going to be a University girl.