ExamDiary/Trish Clinch, Leaving Cert Applied student Coláiste Dhúlaigh, Dublin: Trish Clinch has already passed her Leaving Cert, so she's feeling pretty confident about the weeks ahead, writes Louise Holden.
As an Applied Leaving Cert student Trish has been clocking up points through assignments for the last two years and has performed really well. Her exams will spell the difference between a pass grade and a merit of distinction. Given her term-time performance and her determination to obtain a diploma in social studies, Trish has been building up the momentum for Wednesday's first paper for two years.
"I have really enjoyed the Leaving Certificate Applied course. The last two years have been varied and interesting with field trips, work experience and practical work all thrown in," Trish enthuses. "The best thing about the course is the subject choice. I'm really interested in a career in social work after taking childcare and community care for the Leaving. I didn't know what I wanted to do before taking this course."
Trish is taking seven exams this week and next, adding community care, hotel/catering/tourism, social education and Spanish to the core subjects of English, Irish and maths.
She has applied to study for a post-Leaving Certificate qualification in social studies which, if she is successful, will lead to a diploma course in social studies at All Hallows College in Dublin. She has spent a lot of her assignment time of the last two years in crèches, and writing up on the work she did there, and she's looking forward to a career in the area of community care.
The worst thing about the last two years has been the pressure to achieve full attendance, Trish explains. "You lose points in the Leaving Certificate Applied for missing class-time. You have to be in every day or you lose out pretty quickly." Because Trish has performed well in her assignments from the beginning and started building up a good average, she was unwilling to fall behind over lost days. As a result, she has achieved full attendance.
Trish is looking forward to Wednesday's English and social education exams. She's well prepared, and they are two of her favourite subjects. But she is chilled to the bone when she thinks about Thursday's maths paper. "I'm so nervous about maths it's ruining my concentration. The harder I try to revise it the less I get done." Thursday is also the day when Trish and her fellow LCAs sit their language exams. Leaving Certificate Applied students have a choice of studying Spanish, French, German and sign language.
With her two little brothers at home, Trish is often distracted, and so she spends most of her time in the school library these days. Her parents are pretty pushy about exam success, she admits, but since they're taking her to Portugal when the exams are over she's not complaining. ...