TOP MARKS:THE RESULTS are in and now part two of the the long wait begins as the Leaving Certificate class of 2011 pray that they have enough points for the courses they want.
The obvious way around a tense week is simple: get 600 points and then you are guaranteed your spot.
Ten students managed to do one better yesterday, well two better actually, achieving eight A1s in higher level subjects, giving them 600 points with two A1s to spare.
They came from all over the country, but oddly came in pairs, with four coming from schools in Dublin, two from Galway, two from Waterford and two from Cork.
“I got my results and I looked at the bottom first. I saw a few A1s and thought, brilliant, I’ve got my points. Then I kept on looking up and the A1s kept on coming,” said April Duffy from St Augustine’s College in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
Although she described opening the envelope as “nerve wrecking”, she was surprisingly calm in the weeks leading up to the exams themselves.
“I kept revising during Christmas, Easter, mid-term and then by the time of the Leaving Cert I was just looking over stuff. I knew it,” she explained.
Hours spent studying over holiday breaks was a common theme among many super successful students who scored eight A1s.
Michael Lockhart from Greystones, Co Wicklow, and a former student at Blackrock College, Dublin, spent much of his Christmas studying for an extra exam.
Hoping to do medicine, he took the Hpats, a test whose scores are combined with the Leaving Certificate for entry to a medical school.
“It was like another subject. It serves a purpose but I would have preferred not to do it since I was doing eight subjects anyway,” he said.
After scoring in the top 95 percentile in the Hpat, he knew he had a chance for medicine and dedicated himself to study, enjoying his last social night out in April.
While no doubt extremely intelligent, to obtain eight A1s, those students needed the right support from teachers and principals.
“I studied hard but the teachers at school were brilliant and it all paid off in the end I guess,” said Ruth Cormican from Calasanctius College in Oranmore, Co Galway.
Emmet Carr from Templeogue College in Dublin was far from the top of his class midway through his secondary school career and gave a large amount of credit to his teachers for helping him to have one of the best results in the State. “I stepped it up for final year and the teachers gave me so much support,” he said.
So after months and in some cases years of tireless studying, the perfect students from 2011 could finally relax, safe in the knowledge they at least have definitely secured their first choice college place.
“It’s into town tonight, probably the Academy, my friend has a spare ticket and I think I’m getting it,” he said.