Soem students relate the trials and tribulations of deciding to repeat their exams and how much more confident they now feel about their exams, Writes Grainne Faller
Aoife Ní Mhaoileoin: There was a time not so long ago when 570 points allowed a student to walk into any course they wished. Not so nowadays, as Aoife Ní Mhaoileoin found out to her cost last year. She was hoping to get medicine, but with 570 points Aoife was among the students who had to endure the random selection process. The computer didn't choose her.
Luckily, she was far away at the time. Aoife explains: "I spent the summer working in Ghana. If you don't get what you want I think it's nicer to be removed from the hype."
At first, she didn't think she would get a place as her initial points were 550, but hopes were raised when the rechecks threw up an extra 20 points. It was not to be, however. "I found out that I didn't get a place on my birthday!" she says.
Aoife decided to repeat."My sister is only a year and a half younger than me," she says. "It meant I was doing the Leaving Cert with a lot of her friends while mine were going off to college." However, many of her fellow repeats were in exactly the same situation.
Dropping English and accountancy, Aoife did chemistry, to gain access to medical degrees in the UK. She also took economics to bring her subjects up to eight.
"Coming up to the mocks it was easier," says Aoife. "But with the exam itself there was a sense of 'this is really it' which added an element of stress."
Medicine is still the ambition. "My mum's a doctor, so I was exposed to the profession. It's a cliché but I do want to help people," says Joanna. "I worked in a hospital in Ghana and after that there was no way I was going to change my mind!"
She has the offer of a place in Newcastle, England, if all goes pear-shaped with the CAO offers. She recommends the repeat option. "If you're within the band of points and it's likely that you'll be able to get the extra points within one year, it's worth it."
Joanna O'Leary: Joanna O'Leary was disappointed with her first Leaving Cert. Headaches and general ill-health left her fatigued and stressed. She underachieved but she still got the points that she needed for her first choice, which was journalism in Griffith College. Deciding to take some time out before starting the course, she hoped to get her health issues under control. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for what happened next.
"I woke up one morning unable to see or walk. I thought I must be having a nightmare," says Joanna. "I faced a barrage of tests in hospital and I found that I had suffered a cerebral infarction - basically a stroke." It was a massive blow. Joanna says: "My family and I were devastated. I always assumed that strokes only happen to old people."
Life was turned upside down. "The right side of my body was affected and also my sense of balance, confining me to a wheelchair for a while. I had to learn how to walk again and was extremely weak."
Released from hospital after a month, Joanna had a long way to go before she was to feel normal again. Doctors were uncertain as to whether she would ever be fully independent again.
Blood tests, hospital visits, physiotherapy and occupational therapy became a part of her routine. "Physically I improved but it was psychologically and emotionally demanding," says Joanna.
Thanks to intensive therapy and a supportive family and friends, Joanna recovered "almost 100 per cent".
Influenced by her experience in hospitals, Joanna is hoping to do radiation therapy or radiography. College is an exciting prospect. "I can't believe I'm in a position to even contemplate getting into these courses," she says. "It's a very exciting time for me and I feel positive about my future."
Steven McKenna:When Bray native Steven McKenna sat his Leaving Cert the first time around, he was only 16. He just wanted to get through it and gave little thought to what he would do afterwards.
Doing a PLC in Television and Film Production in Bray Institute of Further Education wasn't a serious career move for him, but he enjoyed the experience. During the course however, another interest began to emerge. "I was always making history documentaries when they set us projects," says Steven. "It was around then that I decided that I'd like to go back and do history in college."
Initially thinking that he would wait and apply to colleges as a mature student, Steven spent a year working in a BMW showroom before deciding to repeat the Leaving Cert.
"I was advised to go to St Laurence College in Loughlinstown," he says. St Laurence has what they call a seventh year Leaving Cert programme in which repeat students have a wide range of subjects to choose from, but also a large amount of guidance counselling. They are also encouraged to participate in college activities. Steven found the programme tough going to begin with. "I was thinking, 'I won't be able for this,' but I found that even though there was much more pressure than the first time, I was able to handle it."
Steven says that the support structures provided by the school helped him enormously. "There was great camaraderie between students and teachers but when the work needed to be done, it was done," he says.
Subject choices were a revelation. Steven says: "I dropped construction studies and took up home economics, which I really despised, and classical studies which I loved. That should be taught in more schools. It's a brilliant subject." He is hoping to get enough points to study history and religion in the Mater Dei Institute of Education in order to eventually become a history teacher. "It seems to be a good course," he says. "It's more focused on teaching than a regular history degree."
He would certainly recommend the experience. "I'd definitely reccommend repeating if you don't get the points for what you want to do," he says. "It's not even a year - only nine months out of your life - and the experience is totally different to the first time around. It's definitely more intense but as you get more confident you start to relax. The points from people's mocks were phenomenal so nobody was petrified going into the exams. "It was hard work," says Steven. "I'm tired nowbut I decided to give it another bash and I'm delighted that I did."