'I was shocked': Cork student stunned to receive nine H1s in Leaving Certificate 

A Cork student has said she jumped for joy believing she had received six H1s in the Leaving Certificate, only to be informed by her mother that she had also received three more.

Robin Caren of Rochestown Road, a student at Scoil Muire in Sidney Place, told The Echo she was already stunned that she realised she had achieved six H1s but was not prepared for further good news.

“I was shocked, I have to say, I was hoping for six H1s, but you don’t know how these tests will go, so when I opened it, I was ecstatic, I read the six subjects, I jumped up, I was over the moon, but my mum then scrolled down and read the last three, so yeah, we were over the moon,” Ms Caren said.

Having received the maximum points in every subject, there was no point in asking what her best subject was, but she said she did have favourites.

“I did actually enjoy all my subjects but I really enjoyed maths a lot and I loved German, so they were probably my top two, but I loved them all.” 

With the CAO results expected next week, Ms Caren described her options as “a mixed bag”.

“I’ve got stuff mainly in the medical field, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and then I’ve got finance and maths and stuff thrown in there, so I’m just waiting and hopefully see what happens,” she said.

The 18-year-old has a 16-year-old sister, Astrid, who is also a student at Scoil Muire, and a 15-year-old brother Dalton, who is a student at Christian Brothers College, and she laughed when it was suggested she hasn’t made things easy for them.

She added that she wasn’t planning on heading out to celebrate immediately.

“I’d say I’ll probably take it a bit easy for the moment and then I’ll see, maybe next week,” she said.

“I’m kind of tired. It’s been a long day.”