MY LEAVING CERT:Study and sport were a great balance especially as they required similar approaches, writes Batt O'Keeffe.

I WAS A Corkman who went to school in Kerry. Where I lived we were six miles from the Kerry border in the diocese of Kerry, so I went to school in St Brendan's of Killarney then.

Being from Cork was grand apart from the slagging and the constant beatings in football. You just got lost after a match and stayed out of the way when Cork was beaten.

St Brendan's was a boarding school. I enjoyed being in boarding school. Of course it was lonely at times. The terms were long and the food wasn't exactly a la carte but you developed a great camaraderie with people. We made great friendships.

We'd play cards and give people hairy bellies on the lawn. A hairy belly was when the grass in the school grounds was mown and you'd get the lads who were new into school on to the grass and stuff the cut grass inside of their pants. It was odd but it was a baptism of fire of sorts!

I did the Leaving Cert in 1963. I wasn't a bad student. I think you could say that I took my studies seriously. I was very determined. Funnily enough, Latin was my best subject. I enjoyed Greek as well.

I was good at English and Irish and I loved history. I would say maths wouldn't have been my top of the range subject but I was still good enough at it.

I sort of interspersed the study with sport. I always thought that sport and study were a great balance for each other. The exercise and the sport were fun,and when you were finished with that, you were ready to take the education seriously as well.

I always believe that football is a great discipline - that sport is a discipline in itself. It teaches you to give and to take, it structures your life in terms of the level of expectation you have and the level of achievement that you can attain, and it shows that in sport, like everything else, the level of training you put in determines what you get out of it. It's the very same way with study and exams.

I remember the weather being fine - just like this week - when I was sitting the exams, but then I think when you look back every day is a fine day. You dont seem to remember the rain or the snow.

My actual memory of the Leaving Cert is one of being well prepared. I always believe that with preparation comes confidence. When you're involved in football and playing games you're always on a high before a match - the trainer in football used to always say to us before a match, "take three deep breaths and let it out slowly". That was very relaxing. I think that prepares you well for exams as well.

The results were posted out at that time. I suppose I would have been apprehensive but I was absolutely delighted with my results - I did pretty well.

I came out with an honours Leaving Cert at the time. I went away and enjoyed myself that night. I'm sure we went off to a dance or something!

That must have been after the results: during the exams we were still boarding and there was no getting out.

In those days, unemployment was extremely high. I'd say the Civil Service was the great winner in those times - it got the cream of the crop from schools. That's why you have some exceptionally bright people in the civil service. I think three from my class in St Brendan's became secretary generals within the Civil Service. I went to UCC so I took a different route.

When I finished in Killarney I joined the ESB and during my time with the ESB I studied in the evenings for my degree at UCC. I did it the hard way!

For students sitting the exams today, the first thing I'd say is that you should prepare hard, make sure you've done all of your homework. That way you can be absolutely confident you will perform to the best of your ability.

Read your paper thoroughly first, divide up your questions and allocate an equal amount of time to each. Attempt your best question first and that will build your confidence to the rest of the exam.

Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education and Science