My Leaving Cert/Tom Dunne: I sat my Leaving Certificate in St James Street CBS in 1066 - at least that's the only date I can remember.
I dreaded Irish most of all and loved English and maths, so the first three days of the Leaving were bittersweet. I needed maths for engineering, which was the career I had in mind although my life turned out very differently.
I had no lucky mascots or exam day mantras but I kicked off each morning of the exams with a blast of David Bowie's A New Career in a New Town.
Maths didn't do the business for me on the day and I ended up having to repeat the exam to get onto the degree course in engineering at UCD. I threw myself headlong into engineering before it emerged that I could sing and write songs.
The disastrous maths exam was my worst Leaving Certificate moment. To this day it's my worst memory of the period. I was shocked by the paper, it was harder than I'd been led to believe. I've had nightmares about the Leaving Certificate as recently as last year!
Many of this year's students will experience similar catastrophes but may take heart from this experience - I thought my world had ended when I got a kick in the teeth from the maths examiner but went on to work in an area totally unconnected to my original ambitions.
I admit I crammed late in the day although I did stay on top of the work through the year. Just like now, music and football distracted me from what I was supposed to be doing.
Most people get pressure heaped upon them from parents, teachers and peers but I was the hardest taskmaster of them all. I kept my head down and studied away without too much fuss but I was anxious to do well. I was a loner so most of the house was unaware that I was stressed.
My only positive memory of the Leaving Certificate was getting through it in one piece. Just getting enough points was the best thing about it so I didn't go in for wild celebrations when it was over. Being younger-looking than my years drinking in town wasn't an option so I stayed at home quietly the night the exams finished. I was more shocked than relieved to find that it was all over.
I wish the best of fortune to this year's crop of Leaving Certificate students and the best advice I can give is to tackle past papers as soon as you can and do as many of them as you can. Either that or get a new career in a new town.
Tom Dunne presents Pet Sounds on Today FM.