Over the past few weeks there have been a few posts about the Irish blog’verse referring to the stress of the Leaving Cert. Now, maybe it is nostalgia, but I don’t remember being all that stressed about it. I know I never really got my arse in gear as regards studying, I’ve always done just enough to scrape by, and I always managed to get what I wanted.
I mean, I turned up for one exam thinking it wasn’t till that afternoon and that I had a different one in the morning.
Or maybe I was so stressed that I forgot to read the timetable?
Nah, I just didn’t really care.
Course there is a much higher media profile to the Leaving these days, but still I think that the stress is over hyped. I can understand it for people who really really really want to do a particular course, but for the majority of Leaving Cert students, do they really know what they want to do with their lives?
Course I tend not to get stressed at all. Unless I’m waiting for a rugby match ;) so maybe it is just me.
I only get stressed over exams when I haven't done the work. The first LC was pretty stressy for me in some ways because I had to do all these bloody exams I knew I wouldn't do well enough in. And so I had to get through hours and hours of exams, knowing I wouldn't be going to college and would have to do it all over again this next year. Poxy. I don't remember being very stressed over my repeat LC which I was totally prepped for. I was fine on the days of the exams, worked my ass off beforehand and knew I knew what I knew!
It's the sheer ickiness of exams that pisses me off. Having to sit there at a rickety desk, waiting and being bored and with a sore wrist from writing, needing to pee but not being able to leave because you couldn't take the time, being tired and over-caffeinated… Yuck.
Still, I think one of the major things you (Fence) did not go through with the LC was REALLY wanting to do a course that was just barely within your reach. I sweated blood AND repeated to get Law in Trinity. And then swore I'd never work that hard again! If the one course you wanted to do was something you weren't sure you could get into, maybe you would have gotten a bit nervous too. Although you're not a stressed person normally, perhaps you would get a teeny bit stressed over wanting something that badly and not being sure if you were capable of getting it.
I think it might just be you, Fence.
I think it's having something hanging over your head for years and years. It gets built up in your mind. Things are scary when you have time to think about them. I know I've had nightmares about the Leaving Cert, not so much about sitting the exams (which was actually kinda fun) but nightmares where I realise I have my Leaving Cert in a few weeks and I haven't done ANY preparation.
I was like you with not getting much work done beforehand, and even down to turning up one day not knowing what exam was on. But I think that WAS stress rather than indifference or confidence.
There's a rabbit-in-the-headlights phenomenon of paralysis in situations like those, I think. (I sound a bit like David Brent there, but however.) The Senior Library Assistant in my library has a son who did his final exams (in music) only weeks ago. He left it so horrendously late, I found it painful even hearing about it. Starting essays on the day they had to be handed up, studying through the night etc. etc. Anyway, he got a First, and nobody had gotten one for twelve years on that course. And she says I remind her of him…excellent!
Of course, I'm bitter because I didn't get any A marks in the Leaving Cert. I thought I could have sneaked an A in English and History, but no. Bastards.
I remember really enjoying the exams. I think I like stressful situations a fact that may be represented in my career choice!
I just decided to do my best and if that failed I would become a binman. There is always a need for binmen.
I had no particular course in mind to study after the exams so I didn't have any particular goal to achieve. Now had there been a helicopter pilot course that would have been a completely different story. As it is it only took me ten years to find a job I really enjoy doing. Oh the power!!!!!!! Ha Ha (continued hysterical evil laughing, motorists beware)!
The secret to my success….. CRAMMING…. and miracles. They both work everytime. Of course with the multiple choice questions in my last exam, I just picked whichever letter I had picked least off in my previous answers. That worked too and made a nce pattern on my answer page!!!!
ZILBOSCO
We weren't stressed either – apparently. And then the last study came and we just completely lost it and got slightly drunk. Good times. ;)
Aye, NM, that's sorta the point I was making. Unless you are really focused on getting a particular course then there isn't really any excuse for you to get totally stressed.
Mal, I never felt that the LC was hovering there, waiting for me. And have never had any nightmares about lack of preparation. I think maybe if I did prepare then I maybe might have issues with it :)
Zilbosco, don't you know you nickname here is Copper-Copper ;) I suppose this new one'll have to do.
And yes, there is always a need for binmen. Although perhaps one day robots will replace us all.
Anne, the day we finished our exams in my second year of college we all hit the pub. As you do. Only our exam had been an early one, so we started in the pub around 11. By ten o'clock that evening we were all fast asleep. (asleep can mean passed out drunk right?)
Oh, I realise I wasn't very clear. We got drunk the day before the exams started… It's a miracle I passed. And just as well we'd been a bit early on the drinking, because we had to spend the evening that we got the results studying again for a friend who was resitting one.
That's hardly clearer, is it. Oh well.
Ahhh. That is a little different. And so much more impressive :)
I thought of <a>Plough & Stars when I read the title…I have nothing to say about exams. I guess the equivalent here to exams are finals…stress inducing, requiring a celebratory drink or two when they were finished.
I always thought that finals in the US refered to college exams?
And OT, I was just filling in my details over yonder so the blog would know who I am, and after the email what did I do, stuck in my password. safety conscious, that's me :)
Luckily I spotted it, cause I use the same password for a lot of things and I'd have to change it if I let it loose in the b'verse.