"I had a horrific dream the night before the results. I was sitting in the Big Brother Diary Room getting my grades read out in front of millions of people. I got an E in Welsh and a J in Human Beatbox. It all made humiliting sense.
I woke up pale faced, with a chilling suspicion that I had just experienced the first of a lifetime of Leaving Cert nightmares.
Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if the media were not all over the results like a rash. TV, radio and newspaper reports picked apart the "Irish student" with a minimum of sensitivity - we are unscientific, over-indulgent, innumerate and hooked on the cheap fix of the part-time pay check. Listening to the radio on the way to the school calmed my nerves as Brian Mooney told me not to worry, that there were other ways to get degrees.
However I still inched towards the school gates in trepidation. I was greeted to a queue that would rival a Disneyland attraction. It was like waiting for Space Mountain to either take you to the top or plummet to the depths.
When I finally reached the headmaster's door, it was such a relief that the ride was over. I got 440 points - more than I expected. I think getting the results at school proved the best idea. The thought of staring coldly at a computer screen never entered my head. My friends were also happy with their results and that seemed to be the general feeling elsewhere too.
Reading the newspaper on the way home, I was informed that failure rates in Maths and Science were high but overall the class of 2006 has never had it so good. Boy was I glad of my C1 in ordinary level Maths and my B3 in Biology. I also received a B3 in Business, a B2 in French, a C3 in Irish and English and an A2 in Geography. I was a bit disappointed with English.
I came home in the afternoon and my family congratulated me with a lovely card and relations rang our house all afternoon. I spent the evening at a friend's house for a girlie night in to catch up with people who had been working all summer. Later we headed to a nightclub along with 800 or so other students. We over indulged, flashed all our part-time pay and didn't count the cost.
I may now have the option of either DCU or DIT. The truth is I don't really mind which college I'm accepted to as I'm near my friends and can study Commerce and French. The next hurdle comes today. That leaves just enough time to feed the cattle before finding out which course I'm going to be offered.
I wish everyone who sat this year's Leaving Cert the best of luck for the future. I just listened to Anna Nolan on Ryan Tubridy's radio show. She didn't get offered her college choice and became a nun, then a skateboard salesperson, then a Big Brother contestant, then a TV presenter. Whatever happens to the class of 2006, it's going to be a white knuckle ride from here. "
Elaine Black, a former student of Sligo Grammar School, was The Irish Times' exam diarist during the Leaving Cert exams.