It's crunch time for those sitting exams in the coming weeks. The good news? These tips can help you get organised, perform strongly and relieve the pressure

THE FINAL month before the Leaving Certificate is a difficult time for all students. The stress and tension of the examination is building up rapidly,while all of the rituals of school-leaving, all that you have known for 14 years - the final prize day, the end of school year liturgy, and a variety of other occasions - are taking place, and it could be so easy to get caught up in the emotions associated with such events, to the extent that you end up failing to take full advantage of the vital final four weeks of preparation.

Ensure this does not happen by drawing up a day-by-day plan of action, to cover every day of the next month. Mark down all outstanding committments - final class contact with your teachers, as well as events planned both by your school and in your social and personal life. Then identify the remaining time, and build in a study plan focused on specific examination questions, across the full range of papers, that you are taking in June. Allow breaks for meals, rest, exercise and family life. You want to be in peak physical and psychological condition when the first Wednesday in June arrives.

Are you better off studying in school or at home?
Your teachers have been preparing students for years and have huge expertise in helping you maximise your exam performance. Look at your teachers as a football player would on their manager. Where is the correct place to prepare for a cup final? In your back garden kicking a ball against the wall, or on the training ground with your fellow players, under the watchful eye of your manager? The place to spend the final weeks before the examination is in school, maintaining a routine of work, under the direction of your teachers.

Most schools will give students the last two weeks to work at home, with the option of coming into school for support from their teachers if they so wish. You should follow the advice of your teachers and take whatever support they offer.

Should you take on new material or just focus on revision?
Doing well in examinations is 50% technique and 50% knowledge. You have absorbed much more information over the past two years than you could ever present in your Leaving Certificate. The next four weeks should be about fine-tuning your answers, in line with the marking schemes, published by the State Examinations Commission on their website www.examinations.ie. These marking schemes are a vital resource, as they show exactly what the person correcting papers will be looking for. Two students with the same amount of information on a topic can get radically different grades, depending on how they both present the information.

Learn to present the information you have, in the most correctable-friendly manner, and resist the temptation to drown yourself in an avalanche of additional information, which you will not be able to process effectively in the three short hours of any examination paper.

How much study should Leaving Certificate students do every day?
You should, by now, have a master study timetable on your bedroom wall, on large sheets of poster paper, showing all major themes in every subject to be taken. As the summary revision sheets are prepared on each question, the item can be crossed off. This enables you to see at a glance the progress you are making. Individual periods of study should not exceed 40 minutes per subject, with a five- to 10- minute break between subjects. Periods of study lasting more than four hours are counterproductive, as the human brain can only absorb information well if it is functioning effectively. It cannot do so if it becomes over-tired, under-nourished or confused by anxiety or stress.

To ensure that you perform to the best of your ability, when the examinations start, and every day until they are completed, you need to have a balanced study programme. To subject your body and mind to more than an eight-hour study day will result in rapidly diminishing returns, as tiredness and lack of time begin to affect your mental sharpness.

Should you consider taking grinds at this stage?
It is far too late to take grinds in the formal sense. Process the information youhave, referring to your textbooks, if you need to do so. Follow closely the State Examinations Commission's marking schemes, and if you are confused on any point, or are fearful about your ability to take a particular exam, or section of an exam, talk to your teacher. They will be able to answer your question fully. They know your standard and can provide vital support over the next four weeks.

How can parents help?
For parents fretting over their son or daughter's final weeks, the one piece of advice I would give is to not to set yourselves up as experts, doling out advice or attempting to console your son or daughter with words of comfort and lists of dos and don'ts. What they need most is someone to listen to them without criticism. If you show your child trust and unconditional acceptance, they may tell you what they are really feeling, as they face into their forthcoming examinations. Having given them your ear, you can then ask them if there is anything that you could do to help them to improve their performance in their examinations. It may be as simple as being at home more often to ensure a calm, quiet atmosphere in which they can study.

Things to do and things to avoid
Over the next few weeks, it is vital to remember that performance on examination dayis determined by one's physical, psychological and emotional well-being, as well as by ones level of preparedness. Physical well-being is determined by diet and exercise. Those facing into the stressful conditions of examinations, need regular physical exercise, be it through sport, walking, jogging or swimming. Avoid alcohol and drugs - not an easy task, given the peer pressures - and maintain a healthy well-balanced diet, avoiding excessive sugar and junk food.

For all of us, psychological and emotional well-being is also determined by the quality of our relationships. Your friends and fellow students can give you incredible support through the examination process. But the most important support comes from within your family, where a gentle hug, an encouraging word, or an unexpected treat can make all the difference. Most important is the communication of the message by parents to their son or daughter, that he/she is valued, not for what they achieve in any examination, but for themselves. With that inner confidence, it should be possible to proceed through the forthcoming examination season without too much difficulty.

Blog tales: the joy and the pain . . . and the apathy

CAN YOU believe its just over four weeks left...? I can! It's brilliance at its best. Amazingness. A reason to live even. Okay, so a little over the top . . . but can you tell I'm excited?

On submitting her portfolio: I may have done ridiculously badly, and could fall into a massive hole of depression right before my Leaving Cert.

But at that stage I doubt I'll care. There's always the option of a PLC course - or selling my photos in galleries. There's always more than one option, but that's what parents and teachers don't want to make clear to you because "The Leaving Cert is the way to go!" Freedom, here I come . . . !
Amy Flynn from leaving-cert.net

THIS IS something I noticed last week when sitting my exams. Obviously, there are teachers supervising us. Then you get the one or two hot female teachers in the school supervising. In an exam hall of teenagers just bursting with hormones, this is not advised.
Mark Walsh from walsho.com

I have been a bit weirded out this week with the concept of an impending Leaving Cert. In a mere four weeks, I will walk out the school doors for the very last time. I have been waiting for this day since I entered that spine-chilling portal of primary school as a junior infant. But have I? When we walk out that door, a thousand memories will depart us forever. School life as we know it will be over.
Colin Lowry from leaving-cert.net

HAS ANYONE else just not actually really started studying yet? Like I did OK in the mocks, got 420 and I only need 340, did my Irish oral yesterday and got on grand, not too worried about French, got my History project under control . . . I just haven't actually sat down and studied yet. And to be honest, I probably won't till after French next week. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet and I'm in for a fall, but is anyone else just not really pushed yet?
From boards.ie

I SAT THERE day after day wondering when it would hit me. Hit me? Yes, that burst of motivation that hits most students around this time of year all over the nation. I feel like I've missed that train, and was left behind. Me and a handful of other students in the same position as myself. Surely I want to do well to get into college. And I do, I really do. But I have not an ounce of motivation inside me, to sit in a class and be told what to do.
Kevin Holler from leaving-cert.net

EVERY TIME I watch a film, listen/play music, read a non-school book, I find my mind sliding back to the Leaving Cert. Every time I try to relax, I can't stop worrying about the Leaving Cert. I can't enjoy anything, and won't until after the 18th June. I hope to God all my hard work pays off. Today for example - 40 pages of pure French learnt off for a short 10-minute oral, and I still messed up a bit. I made up the word "opportunité" when saying there are a lot of opportunities for working abroad. How stupid.
From boards.ie

May days: the 10-point action plan

1. Write up a diary of every aspect of the exams ahead of you, detailing the times and dates of each subject, and the individual papers within those subjects. It will also include any orals, practicals, or portfolios that have to be submitted by particular dates. This will enable you to draft a study plan to cover the remaining time available.

2. Identify the remaining time available to you, to prepare for each aspect of the process, written paper or otherwise. You will have to exclude time spent in school or lectures, eating, sleeping, relaxing or taking exercise. At the end of this simple process, you will have a diary of all aspects of the examination process, and a body of time to prepare for them.

3. Honestly evaluate your level of preparation for each paper, oral, practical or portfolio. For those who have received mock exam results in recent weeks, an honest appraisal of their implications, with the help of teachers and parents, is invaluable.

4. Having completed this evaluation, identify the areas of weakness that you need to address and determine what course of action is required to remedy those weaknesses. List the areas of work within each subject that need to be addressed and look at past papers so that you know exactly what is expected on the day.

5. Don't forget about the need to continuously revise the materials already prepared, by taking out your study cards for each question, for a short period of a minute or so on an ongoing basis.

6. Identify how you are going to deal with each item on your list. If a particular subject or paper represents a number of identified items on your to-do list, consider looking for help in that subject from your teacher or lecturer, or through an intensive grind, given the short period of time remaining.

7. Before deciding to take a grind, remember that you only have the block of free time that you have dentified. Do not get panicked into concentrating all your efforts into one identified area of weakness, while letting others slide backwards over the final weeks.

8. As you approach

each element of the examination, give yourself time to pull all aspects of that subject together, so that you will have time the day before the exam to read over all your revision cards that you have created.

9. It is useful to verbalise how you would approach a particular topic, as this process consolidates your understanding of the question itself. This can be done within a group of fellow students, with each person taking a different topic. For some students, a parental presence enhances the necessary conditions for success.

10. Finally, ensure that you maintain a balanced approach to nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc over the coming weeks, so that you will be in the best possible shape when the big day arrives.