Colm O'Regan: I'd like to bring some mini-subjects to the Leaving Cert — how about Cop On and Driver Etiquette?
The first Wednesday after the June bank holiday. That date is indelibly printed on my mind.
The Leaving Cert timetable is one of those understated design classics. A tall page with the department logo on the top of it. LEAVING CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION in bold, along with the small print, in stern Times New Roman.
Give or take a few subjects, the pattern is the same. Familiar subjects at the start, mad wans at the end.
I still look at it and see where the gaps are and think about where I might get some last-minute stuff done. Exam experts will say not to rely on last-minute cramming but I find in the cold sweat of panic, I get a certain clarity that was lacking in the previous six years.
Some legends have no gaps. They've picked their subjects to be done within a week. They're in Santa Ponsa on the first Tuesday evening while everyone else is opening their classical studies book for the first time.
They did Home Ec, Engineering, Biology, and Geography. These are the kind of people who like intensity and variety and being finished in a record time. They're probably doing Hyrox.
I was in the middle — a 10-day basic bitch. I look down through the mad wans that I never did. The mysterious 'third week' subjects, out into the June 20s. In my day there were rumours about ones that were handy for the points.
Apparently, Agricultural Economics or Classical Studies that you could pretty much start the course after your second last exam and still fly it. Someone's brother did it and apparently got an A.
This year, the final exam is on Tuesday, June 24. While all their friends are out earning and driving lorries, spare a thought for those doing Japanese, Politics and Society, Religious Education, or Applied Mathematics.
I know there have to be clashes but what if you wanted to do all of these? It's like they are trying to prevent people from becoming podcast hosts.
Into this crowded mix I'd like to bring some mini-subjects. Little halflings that give a lot of bang for their buck. One-hour exams, two subjects for the points of one.
How about: Cop On as a subject? This is not a slight on young people. It's more a reflection on the luadramans you meet later in life and wonder: Could they have done with a course in Cop On at a crucial moment?
There would be modules on driver etiquette, how not to drive up my hole, acknowledging when someone lets you out. Indicators.
Also, developing much-needed skills like: Is this news story you're about to share in the family WhatsApp actually real, or are you just doing Putin's job for him for free?
Another half subject could be on nostalgia. The generation gap needs to be closed. Not for the sake of the kids but for us. The nostalgia generation who spend ages just remembering things and asking others if they also recall them.
They say the Leaving Cert has to prepare you for life. Well, one of the things you'll be doing in life is working with older colleagues.
You will be a much better colleague if you haven't insulted the Gen Xer next to you by not knowing what a landline is.
Modules could include hitchhiking, taping off the radio, missing programmes, and how to plug in dial-up. Education is about society, let's bring us closer together.
How about an extra history module on scandals? We get so fatigued by all the chicanery, we forget all the various scandals.
Students study history, and they might specialise in a particular area but need to learn from the troubles of the past and break the cycle of bicycle sheds, voting machines, and robot trees.
Whatever your choices, best of luck to all!
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Leaving Cert: The mix ups, leaks, and cancellations
A rite of passage for thousands of students across the country each year, the smooth execution of State exams is taken for granted, more often than not. It involves the delivery and distribution of thousands of scripts to exam halls across the country, as well as their collection and the redistribution for corrections. We've taken a look back on some of the years where the State exams stood out more than others due to mistakes, leaks, and cancellations. The English paper mix up and rescheduled exam In 2009, a major probe was launched by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) after it emerged that an exam official had handed out the wrong exam paper to Leaving Cert students. Students at a school in Drogheda had the wrong English paper placed on their desks for just 25 seconds. Instead of paper one, the students had been given paper 2. However brief, it was just long enough for them to identify the exam's key topics, like which three poets would appear on the paper the next day. With the internet in its infancy, the potential was there for its content to spread to thousands of students via online exam message boards. The SEC was forced to revert to its backup papers and to reschedule English Paper 2 for a Saturday morning. It was later reported that the blunder cost approximately €1.7m. Human error to blame for mistakes on papers In August 2013, the SEC confirmed a series of embarrassing mistakes that appeared on the year's Leaving Cert papers due to human error. A review found as many as 13 mistakes across 2013's Leaving and Junior Cert papers, the most serious of which related to a question on the Leaving Certificate Higher Level math paper. This trigonometry question, worth 10% of the paper's overall marks, gave the wrong value for an angle. Approximately 4% of the students sitting the exam were adversely affected due to the mistake, according to the SEC. The SEC blamed the errors on the loss of experienced senior staff. "We are embarrassed, but not just embarrassed, we certainly apologise first and regret what has happened and the impact it may have had on candidates," former SEC chief executive Dick Landford told RTÉ's Morning Ireland at the time. "Each of the undetected mistakes was in fact a human error,' he said, adding that somebody 'just made a mistake'. "People make mistakes, it's as simple as that." High Court case overhauls appeal system In 2018, 18-year-old Rebecca Carter from Co Wexford sued the State Examinations Commission for its decision not to re-check her points score in time to allow her to obtain a place at UCD. Justice Richard Humphreys ruled in her favour, saying that had Ms Carter's points been correctly added up, she would have achieved an extremely high mark that would easily have qualified her for a place on the vet medicine course. The Judge said the situation faced by Ms Carter was highly unfair, describing the appeals process as 'unfit for purpose'. The outcome of her case led to significant changes with appeals, shortening the process by three weeks and allowing successful students to take up their college course that academic year rather than deferring. Covid cancellations and algorithm woes After public health restrictions forced the postponement and eventual cancellation of the State exams during the summer of 2020, 'calculated grades' were instead introduced for thousands of anxious students. While the decision was taken at the time to allow students to move on to college and further education, the introduction of 'calculated grades' was far from straightforward. Right around the time students were logging into lectures and attending virtual orientation weeks in late September, then Minister for Education Norma Foley announced that errors had been discovered in the calculated grades system. The mistakes affected approximately 7,200 students who received incorrect grades. Random selection post-pandemic The CAO process can be cruel, with sometimes a margin as narrow as a single point determining a student's entry to their dream college course. As grade inflation increased due to several years of adjustments to the Leaving Cert exams post pandemic, so too have instances of 'random selection' determining course selection amongst the students who achieved the maximum CAO marks available - 625. In 2024, 23 courses nationwide allocated places through a lottery, many of which required exceptionally high points. 'Cruel' Maths paper leaves students in tears The Maths paper 1 exam in 2023 prompted a barrage of complaints from students, teachers and principals who felt the paper was unfair. Held on a Friday afternoon, many students took to social media to voice their upset over the paper, and worries that paper 2 would put them through a similar situation come Monday. The SEC later confirmed that the feedback would be brought to the attention of the Chief Examiner. Commentary and correspondence on the exams from students, parents, teachers, professional bodies, and other interested parties is a normal part of the examinations process, a spokesman for the SEC said at the time.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Carl O'Brien: ‘You've got this' - Leaving Cert tips for students and their supporters
It's almost here. Whether you're a student running over revision notes one last time or a parent/guardian doing your best to offer support, many households are feeling a mixture of nerves, pressure and hope on the eve of the State exams. The Irish Times Classroom to College newsletter is here to help: we've pulled together advice, tips and gentle reminders to make the coming weeks a little bit easier – for students and those cheering them on. Our guidance counsellor Brian Mooney has seen dozens of Leaving Cert classes come and go. He has distilled his wisdom into this guidance for parents and students on how to handle the exams. 'There is no need for parents to overhype the importance of the exams,' he writes. 'Students put themselves under enough pressure as it is.' READ MORE It's fair to say his advice is the polar opposite of this ... For students, the clock may be ticking but it's not too late to make a real impact. Whether brushing up on key concepts or calming exam nerves, a few strategic moves now can boost your confidence. We've gathered last-minute subject-by-subject tips for the Leaving Cert from seasoned teachers to help you stay sharp and steady. This year, students from Athlone Community College will be charting their exam highs and lows with daily student diaries. Peter McGuire spoke with them and found them to be focused, hopeful and surprisingly relaxed in advance of the exams. Our Leaving Cert exam diarists from Athlone Community College, Athlone, Co Westmeath. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Not everyone is quite so calm. We were struck by the proliferation of 'extreme study' video diaries on social media. Study regimes include 5am alarms and 12-hour sessions . Any experts we spoke are far from convinced it is a route to success. Finally, our Leaving Cert parent Damian Cullen has written a funny, moving and uplifting column as his daughter prepares to take on the exams. Do, please, read it - it is well worth it. In the meantime, over the coming days we'll be providing daily reaction to the exams, help with navigating career choices and the CAO, as well as daily doses of encouragement and advice. We wish you all the very best of luck over the days and weeks ahead. - Carl O'Brien, Irish Times education editor How are we doing? If you are a parent/ guardian of a Leaving Cert student, we'd love to hear from you. Maybe you have a personal story to share, have a burning question or want to comment on the exams, CAO and further education applications process. Please click the link below to send us your questions or feedback: ingCert
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ukraine targets road and rail bridge linking Crimean peninsula to Russia
Ukraine has detonated a big underwater blast targeting the key road and rail bridge connecting the Russian -occupied Crimean peninsula to Russia, damaging its underwater supports. The operation, claimed by Kyiv's SBU security service, is the second high-profile operation by Ukraine in days, striking significant Russian assets after a sophisticated drone raid on Moscow's strategic bomber fleet on Sunday. The attack came as Ukraine confirmed it had been invited to the Nato summit in the Netherlands later this month, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned it would be a 'victory' for Russia if it was not present. The latest strike on the 12-mile-long Kerch Bridge – a prestige project of Russian president Vladimir Putin , which he opened in 2018 – comes amid what appear to be determined efforts by Ukraine to change the narrative promoted by US president Donald Trump 's administration that Kyiv holds few cards in the war. READ MORE The mining of the bridge, which is heavily defended by Russian forces, follows the audacious long-range drone attack on airbases deep inside Russia, which Mr Zelenskiy claimed had damaged '34 per cent of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers'. In a further development on Tuesday, Russia's state investigative committee accused Ukraine on Tuesday of carrying out 'acts of terrorism' by blowing up two railway bridges in Russia over the weekend. It claimed seven people were killed and 113 injured, including children, when two trains crashed as a result of the attacks. The SBU said the operation against the Kerch bridge had been planned for several months and involved the equivalent of more than a metric tonne of TNT, which it said had 'severely damaged' the base of the bridge supports. It is the third time that Ukraine has targeted the key logistics route since Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge on October 8th, 2022, after a truck exploded. Photograph: Getty Images In October 2022, a truck exploded on the bridge, while in July 2023, the SBU said it had blown up a part of the bridge using an experimental naval drone. Russia repaired the damaged sections on both occasions. The SBU published footage showing a blast coming out of the water and debris flying, along with a photograph of some damage to the side of the bridge. Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula had been temporarily suspended, Russian authorities said on Telegram on Tuesday. Russian state media reported it had been closed to traffic for about four hours. The attack on the bridge came as Russia said on Tuesday said it was wrong to expect a quick breakthrough in Ukraine talks, a day after Moscow rejected Kyiv's call for an unconditional ceasefire at negotiations in Istanbul – more than three years into a Russian offensive that has killed tens of thousands on both sides and forced millions from their homes in eastern Ukraine. Russia instead offered a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline, its top negotiator said after the talks. 'The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,' said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday. 'It would be wrong to expect immediate solutions and breakthroughs.' The sides instead agreed on a large-scale swap of captured soldiers and exchanged their plans for peace, or so-called 'memorandums', at the discussions, which lasted for just under two hours on Monday. According to the document handed to the Ukrainians that was published by Russian state media, Moscow is demanding that Ukraine pull its troops out of four eastern and southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed as a precondition to pausing its offensive. Mr Peskov was speaking as Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, arrived in the US along with deputy prime minister Yulia Svrydenko to press for tougher sanctions on Russia. Mr Zelenskiy's attendance at the Nato summit in The Hague from June 24th-26th was welcomed by the Ukrainian president after reported misgivings over the potential for the renewal of friction between Zelenskiy and Trump administration officials. 'We were invited to the Nato summit. I think this is important,' said Mr Zelenskiy on Monday after he held a meeting with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in Vilnius.
