Over 1700 students in cavan begin state exams

Eight hundred and one students from schools in County Cavan will begin their Leaving Cert today; with a further 50 students sitting the Leaving Cert Applied. The numbers sitting the Junior Cert are 897 pupils.

They are among 118,784 candidates to sit their State Exams across 5,000 examination centres today.

More girls that boys will sit the Leaving Cert in County Cavan (431 girls and 370 boys); while for the Junior Cert the reverse is the case (444 girls and 453 boys).

First up for everybody is English paper one - that exam started at 9:30am. Home Economics, Scientific and Social will take place for Leaving Cert students in the afternoon. Junior Cert students will face two English papers today.

There is an increase for the fourth year in a row in the number of Leaving Cert students taking the Higher Level Maths paper, which carries CAO bonus points.

More than one-third of all candidates intend to sit honours maths, with Paper one set for Friday and Paper two on Monday morning.

The Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan has wished all students the best of luck. She said that the exams were significant milestones and many students had worked incredibly hard . The Minister also praised the commitment and dedication of teachers.

Meanwhile the president of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) Philip Irwin has urged all exam students to “look after yourself” over the coming days and weeks.

“It’s normal that you would experience some stress during the exams period. However, it is important to keep things in perspective – these exams do not define your worth as a person. Just as in life, you may have good days and not so good days. The important thing is to move on and put extra effort into looking after yourself. Have a good routine including enough time for sleep, rest, relaxation and exercise, and make sure you are eating well. All of this will help to balance your mood, maintain your energy, and ease any tension you may be experiencing.”

Mr Irwin also advised students to stay away from post-exam analysis and marathon study sessions: “Avoid post exam analysis and keep looking ahead to the next exam. Revision sessions of about 30 to 40 minutes are far better than cramming the night before an exam. Take plenty of breaks and make sure to build in time to organise yourself for the following day. Being organised is another way of minimising stress on exam days.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in this year’s Junior and Leaving Cert exams, including students, parents, teachers and the State Exams Commission. Ireland has a robust, fair, objective and transparent exams system which provides every student with a valid statement of learning and effort mid-way through and at the end of their second-level education. The Junior Cert and Leaving Cert are educational milestones and every student who completes them has achieved something important.”