Advice for students/ parents as Leaving Cert nears

ARE you the parent of/or a Leaving Cert student, and are you feeling stressed or worried as the exams approach?

The next few weeks can be difficult, coming to the end of study, trying to maintain motivation and energy. The Leaving Cert. exams will begin on Wednesday, June 5. This is against a backdrop of deciding on CAO choices and courses and the uncertainty of what September, 2024, will hold.

The CAO released key dates surrounding the CAO in recent days. Firstly, the CAO change of mind facility will open on May 7.

What is this? This is the CAO database that allows those students who have created an account to now add courses, remove courses, amend them, change the order... in essence to develop their CAO course preferences.

This will remain open until July 1 at 5pm, so plenty of time to get your courses right.

The Leaving Cert results will be out on August 25, and this will be closely followed by the CAO offers, with round one offers out on August 28 at 2pm. With all this going on, as well as attending school, engaging in class exams it can be a demanding time.

If you build into your lifestyle good habits between now and the end of the exams, it will help with motivation and overall, wellbeing.

It’s a marathon to the end of exams, not a sprint. If you haven’t built in these habits, start now; a clear study space, removing your phone from this space, drinking water, healthy eating, proper sleep, a way to unwind with exercise and talking to family and friends.

Building self-motivation

Some parents and students at careerhub.ie report feelings of motivation lapses, or for some no motivation at all. This feeling is particularly pertinent amongst our 6th and 5th years. Some students may be burnt out and other may lack direction in relation to what they want to do career-wise.

My advice for any 6th year who is feeling this way is to first map out the career and courses you are aiming for, take time to revisit them, and build your excitement around life next year.

I am meeting Leaving Cert and 5th year students who are aligning their skills, personalities and career interests and needs to particular career areas. This passion is then transcribed to the CAO menu of courses.

Find another path to your career, if you feel you won’t reach the H4 in Maths for Engineering in UCC, for example, look at the plethora of engineering courses in MTU for example that have a great selection of engineering courses with different entry requirements.

Don’t feel guilt or worried if you need to take a break from studying. There is a stigma among students that they need to be ‘studying all the time’, when it can be counterproductive to memorising. It can be hard to reinvigorate yourself for the last hurdle, but now is an essential time to reset and renew.

Confidence is also a huge part of motivation; you need to be confident in your abilities and capability to reach what you want. 

You also need to be confident that you know there are courses at different points levels out there in your niche. There is always a pathway.

Study advice for the last term

Technique and timing are and should be the focus now. Be clever with your study approach. Be organised with a good structure and system. Techniques of recalling should also be in your study plan. You need to stop trawling through endless notes and work on active recalling for your topics. Work from exams papers, not textbooks. Work out the time and length of answers given to each area in your exam paper. For example, Leaving Cert English awards a weight of 25% to the paper one essay. You get about 70 minutes to do it. Be strategic about your exams, what questions are worth more? Have I the time planned out?

Conduct a study review/audit of your subjects, what worked well and what didn’t? It is imperative that you highlight your weakest subjects but also the weakest areas of each subject, plan for and prioritise these. Your pre-exam results are a great resource for you to analyse your strengths and weaknesses. Make notes of any issues you had whilst doing your pre-exams, for example timing issues.

Practically, you can make out your Leaving Cert plan, what way the subjects are running for you.

Advice for parents

I meet so many parents at careerhub.ie who feel the worry and stress just as much as the students do. I feel students need to know you are there to listen. I would not at this stage be speaking about doing more study. Practical help is great coming up to the exams, food, keep the house as quiet as possible, be around to drop and collect from some exams.

In the background also, I would say to parents to become self-informed. 

Sometimes, parents miss information especially around the CAO and it can be a challenging terrain to navigate. Know the dates, be familiar with the procedures, have a look at the course content that your son or daughter is looking at choosing.

The CAO website contains a great handbook for information and practical advice around the CAO. On Instagram and Facebook @careerhub.ie I update and keep parents and students informed on a regular basis.

For Leaving Cert students, you should approach these next few weeks with a positive mindset. You are opening up the door to endless opportunities. Stay in your own lane and don’t let others distract you.