Ten years after doing the Leaving Certificate exam, what has become of the class of '98? Six of them tell Rosita Bolandhow their lives have changed in the decade following the much-hyped exams.

• Life for me after the Leaving Certificate examination.

• Summarise the general considerations that should be taken into account when choosing colour schemes for the home interior.

• International migration can cause social tensions in the receiving country. Examine this statement.

These three questions were all asked in 1998 as part of the Leaving Cert exams that year, in English, home economics and geography respectively. So what has life been like for those who took the Leaving Cert a decade ago? What did the class of '98 want to do with their lives after school, and what are they doing now?

"The 'job for life' doesn't really exist any more"

- Patrice Fanning

St Leo's College, Carlow

Now a software documentation manager for SAP, Galway

The Leaving was the most daunting exam of my life. School, your teachers, society, everyone leads you to believe that you have to do well in this exam, that it is a make-or-break, be-all-or-end-all situation. You feel you have to decide right then what you are going to do, which is stupid, because the "job for life" doesn't really exist any more.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I did a degree in languages and computing in UL. I thought it would be easier to make a decision after that, and I'm now doing something relevant to my degrees, although I probably won't stay in this area forever.

I don't know why all our careers guidance at school was focused on universities and the CAO form. I just didn't realise all the options that were open to me at the time - PLCs, institutes, so many other courses that weren't only in universities. It would have been so useful to us if people like me now - people who had done their Leaving some years ago - were brought back to the school for a day and talked about the courses they'd taken and the careers they'd had since they left; to tell students what life is really like after the Leaving.

"Lots of people in my year dropped out of college to work in construction"

- Joe Lafferty

Carndonagh Community School, Co Donegal

Now a garda in Co Cavan

I was planning to go to Australia for a year right after school, so I hadn't thought of college at all. Then the person I was going to go with pulled out. I was going to go on my own, but my mother asked me not to. I ended up doing computer science in Letterkenny, but it wasn't for me at all, it was more or less what other people wanted me to do. You could say I was forced into it. I stuck it two years, then went into construction and joined the guards three years ago. A lot of people get the impression that being a guard is a very easy job. It is not!

The Leaving didn't make any difference to what I ended up doing, or to many others in my class. The construction boom was really taking off in 1998, and lots of people in my year either dropped out of college to work in construction, or went straight into it. There had been so much unemployment in Donegal for years that people didn't want to miss the money when it was there.

At 17 or 18, when you do the Leaving, not getting the points or the course you want is a bite of reality. That's life! You don't always get what you want.

"After DIT, I waitressed for a year to take time to decide what I wanted to do"

- Deirdre Ní Cheallaigh

Scoil Chaitriona, Glasnevin, Dublin

Now a policy officer for gender and HIV at Trócaire

I wanted to do journalism at DCU and I missed it by five points. At the time, it seemed catastrophic to me. What it really was was pure snobbery - going to DIT versus a university. It's pure nonsense, and it's what gets drummed into you at school, that universities are better than other third level institutes. I fell right into that trap, but I'd like to think, even if I had got into DCU, that I would have figured it out very quickly. You should always go for the course you want to do, not the institution.

I did journalism at DIT and realised early on that I wasn't a journalist and didn't want to be one. That's what you do when you make your career choices at school; you take your best stab at trying to figure out what kind of a person you are and what you are most likely to enjoy. You've absolutely no practical experience of life at that point, so your CAO choices are based on notions, or word of mouth. You don't always get it right.

After DIT, I waitressed for a year to take time to decide what I wanted to do, and to pay off my loan, then I applied for a master's in international relations. I've been at Trócaire four years now, and this job suits me.

"The one thing I thought was totally useless about the Leaving was Irish"

- Aaron Hanaphy

Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, Co Dublin

Now a risk and insurance specialist at Irish Life and Permanent, Dublin

The Leaving is only a blip in my memory now. It's not even on my CV. It's too far back and not relevant now. But it is the most stressful and difficult exam you're ever going to do, and some people grasp the significance of it much more than others. If you have a clear idea of what you want to do, then it serves you best. I think the hype around the exam is the same every year - it doesn't get more or less. That's probably because there are always some families who have not gone through it before, so the first child to do it gets the hype, because it's all a new experience to everyone. I was the first in my family to do it, so I know.

Physiotherapy is what I wanted to do, but I didn't get the points. I don't regret not getting it now. I did accountancy and PR at the National College of Ireland instead. You learn more about what you want to do with your life later in life.

The one thing I thought was totally useless about the Leaving was Irish. I don't feel I gained anything from doing it. Waste of time. It's only use is when you're abroad on holidays with Irish friends and you don't want anyone else to understand you.

"There is a huge amount of hype around the exam. Crazy"

- Margaret Wheatley

St Leo's College, Carlow

Now a paedriatric nurse, Midlands Regional Hospital, Co Offaly

If I was sitting the Leaving this year and got the same marks I did in 1998, there is no way I would have the points now for the course I did then. I'd need about 160 extra points to get it now. I wanted to do general nursing, I had always wanted to do nursing, and that's what I did. I'd no interest in doing anything else. I went to Athlone IT for a three-year course, and then went on Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin. I love my job, and it's what I always wanted to do, but if it was now and I was applying, I wouldn't have got into that course, so what does that say about the exam?

There is a huge amount of hype around the exam. Crazy. I can't, for example, remember even one question I was asked in the Leaving. I was trying to remember the other day what the set novel on the English course was, and I couldn't. The stress around the exam is still terrible. The children's unit I work in takes people up to 18, and this time of year we see a lot of Leaving Cert students coming in with stress-related problems, alcohol abuse and drug overdoses. I am sure a lot of it just boils down to pressure over the exams.

"If you don't get what you want in your course, it's not the end of the world, because the fact is, what you want may change over time"

- Kieran Quinn

Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare

Now a jazz musician, Sligo

My results in the Leaving made no difference to what I ended up doing. I did psychology and philosophy in Trinity. I completed the course, but I changed direction totally after that. Now I play in a jazz trio around Sligo called the Odd Couple, and I also teach piano.

I tried to do as well in the Leaving as I could, because I was so unclear about what I wanted to do afterwards, so I thought doing well would keep my options open. It's definitely too early to decide what you want to do. I remember thinking that my college course would shape my life. And it doesn't. If you don't get what you want in your course, it's not the end of the world, because the fact is, what you want may change over time.

You need something to grade people with when they come out of school, but I didn't think at the time the exam system was fair. It serves one particular type of intelligence well. Even 10 years on, I know a lot of people who are still finding their way to what they want to do.