My son performed poorly in the mocks - and he’s panicking about his CAO choices

My son has just finished his Leaving Cert mocks. He is upset as he feels that his recent CAO course choices are unrealistic given how poorly he feels he performed across his seven subjects. What would you suggest that he do now? Should he change his existing course choices?

I have received numerous similar emails from parents relating to Leaving Cert mocks in recent days. Let’s put this year’s mocks in context. The vast majority of this year’s students never sat a State exam in their life, as Junior Cycle exams were cancelled in June 2020 and again in 2021.

It is only in the past twelve months that they have experienced anything approaching normal schooling.

For your son, and the 60,000-plus Leaving Cert students who have just experienced what sitting the written exams will be like in June, taking the mocks must have been a big shock.

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Soon, he and many others will do the language orals in the calm of the Easter break, when all other school activity will be absent from his school.

How, then, should your son react to his perceived poor performance in his mocks?

Firstly, the results are in one sense largely irrelevant in that they count for nothing in terms of his progression into life after second-level education.

In another sense, they are hugely relevant as a learning experience for him and all others taking the Leaving Cert this year.

Speaking to a student heading into the Leaving Cert mocks a few weeks back, I gave him the following advice: after each exam sit down and write out in detail the thoughts that occurred to him as he contemplated the task ahead as he read each paper?

What were the topics or questions he felt needed more work? Were there gaps in his knowledge or understanding of sections of the curriculum? These simple written reflections will provide the roadmap for his study plans for the next three months.

When he gets the scripts back from his school, carefully read any comments or observations written by the person who corrected the script. They are the most vital part of the whole process, as they may give him invaluable guidance on how to improve his performance in June.

[ Six key considerations in the CAO application process ]

Do not for one minute consider dropping down from higher to ordinary level in a subject, unless specifically advised to do so by his subject teacher.

Finally, the written Leaving Cert will finish up at least a week before your son has to complete his final course choice list for the CAO. That week is the time to finalise his course choices. There is no need to worry about them right now. And don’t panic: he may feel in a very different place by the end of June.