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Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
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Siobhan Connell
Loreto, St. Michael's Convent, Navan
You know it's that time of year again when you see Leaving and Junior
Certificate students running around the corridors like headless chickens
madly searching for calculators and table-books that, in all the stress
of studying, they completely forgot to bring. The overwhelming atmosphere
of tension and hopelessness is almost impossible to miss. Almost everywhere
you turn there is some poor soul cramming hopelessly for that 'all important'
exam which starts in five minutes. At this stage even those students who
were cool as a cucumber are starting to get a bit worried as all those
days of saying, "Ah, I'll do it tomorrow" are gone. It is at
this point that the strongest of Atheists converts to Catholicism.
Watching this mayhem it is difficult not to wonder if all this worry
and stress is really worth it. These exams are only a practice run for
the real thing in June. Although the idea of mock exams is sound in theory,
in practice it can be completely different. While some students realise
that it is only a practice and a chance to improve exam technique, others
take it deadly serious. It can happen that a bad result in these exams
sends a student into a mad panic and causes them to be so stressed and
flustered in the real exam that it destroys all chances of them getting
the grades they deserve. In the Leaving Cert. this can be devastating,
preventing them from getting their first choice of course or repeat their
final year of school.
The build-up to these examinations can also be a waste of valuable class
time. The Leaving Certificate higher level course is a long and extremely
difficult course and teachers can find themselves hard pressed to fit
it all into two years. Given this, it seems crazy to force them to take
weeks out from course work in order to prepare their students for and
analyse the results of the mock exams. All things considered it is my
opinion that the disadvantages associated with these unnecessary examinations
far outweigh any beneficial purpose they may have.
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