“I’m just so, so happy, and so relieved too. It’s a real weight off the shoulders,” said Keelin Collins (18), a student from Dublin’s Institute of Education who achieved the remarkable feat of recording 7 H1′s in this year’s Leaving Certificate.
Keelin hopes to attend Trinity College to study environmental science and engineering. The Collins household now holds the unique distinction of having two maximum point achievers, with Keelin’s sister, Aoibh, securing 7 H1′s in last year’s Leaving Certificate.
Describing how her older sister helped guide her through the arduous Leaving Cert process, Keelin said: “I was trying to live up to her which was pretty hard, but we are two for two now, so we are definitely all very happy here now in the house. She actually came back from Edinburgh, where she is in college studying global business, just before my exams began, so she was there to help settle my nerves.”
This year’s cohort of Leaving Cert students was also the first not to have had experience of State examinations, following the pandemic-induced cancellation of the 2020 Junior Cert. Keelin said her school went the extra mile in helping assuage students’ heightened nerves.
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“There was a lot of talk around it being our first set of State examinations, so a big emphasis was placed on the mocks to try and help us get that bit of experience. The mocks really helped me prepare in the sense that it is such a strange experience and something you would never normally do in school.
“The teachers also tried to stress the need to keep calm, there wasn’t really any more preparation that could be done academics wise ... it was just really about helping us keep our heads,” she said.
Mohammed Naeem (18), from St Colman’s College in Claremorris, Co Mayo, described his experience: “I found the first exam very difficult. The mocks are there but they are completely different. It’s an entirely separate environment where you are dealing with your own teachers, whereas in the State exams it’s examiners you don’t know ... I feel like if I had have done a Junior Cert that I definitely would have been better prepared.”
The absence of a Junior Certificate not only made the pageantry around sitting the Leaving Certificate all the more surreal, but also impacted upon student’s abilities to maintain standards in certain subjects, the Mayo student said.
“I think too that subject wise, our year isn’t being recognised for how difficult we had it, especially in Irish. Our level of Irish just wasn’t there after having no Junior Cert followed by a year of TY where you didn’t really do it. So, in fifth year we were taught Irish as if we hadn’t stopped learning it for two years, and I had to drop the subject because of that.”
Despite the difficult circumstances, Mohammed was surprised by his results. He is hoping to study a general science degree following a gap year, which will allow him to save for college and accommodation in Dublin.
Shari Ifran (18), from Dublin’s Castleknock Community College, exceeded expectations: “When you open your results, it is almost like running a marathon, you go through such a range of emotions. Six years of work and it all comes down to me logging into this portal.
“But when I opened my results today I was actually surprised ... I really thought I would do worse, there were a few setbacks but mostly I am very happy,” he said.
Shari described the relief he felt calculating his points and realising he had secured enough points to study in his desired field of law, although he did not know where that would be yet.
“My phone was absolutely blowing up” with texts from friends opening their results, said Róisín Myers (19), from St Mary’s Secondary School in Mallow, Co Cork. She said most of her friends were “very happy with their results too”.
Róisín said her results as “a welcome surprise” and said her dream was to study law and Irish in University College Cork. “I have such a strong passion for the Irish language and definitely want to pursue it in the future.”
This group of students are not alone in receiving “welcome surprises”, with grade inflation seeing the number of high achievers climb dramatically. Just over 200 candidates achieved 625 points in 2019, the year before the pandemic, with a staggering climb to 1,122 candidates recorded last year.
