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THE LEAVING CERTIFICATE is a stressful time for all students.
Throughout school, you’re told it is the most important thing you will do.
Students will often hear: “You need to have a good Leaving Cert to get into college and get a good job, so make sure you pick the right one.”
That is a lot of pressure to put on any young adult, and while the Leaving Cert and all that follows is important, it can make people sick with worry.
I completed my Leaving Cert in 2011 and it was a horrible experience.
Although I did well in most subjects, I failed higher level maths which was a minimum requirement for the courses I put on my CAO.
To say I was devastated is an understatement.
On results day, I held myself together among friends and teachers but as soon as I left the school, I broke down crying in the car home with my mam.
People kept telling me ‘it will be okay’ and that ‘there are always other options’. Turns out, they were right actually.
Options
The normal route a lot of people go down: Sit the Leaving Cert, get offered a college course and then enter third-level education.
That may be the easiest and quickest way but it is not the only way.
Some people repeat their Leaving or repeat just that one pesky subject. Others take a year out or defer for a year. A very common route is to enter another course, PLC or college of further education.
Others may never enter a third-level institute, opting instead for an apprenticeship or a trade.
Betty McLaughlin, president of the Institute of Guidance Counselors, says she has been inundated with queries from teenagers about their options after secondary school in the past few weeks.
She said students are under a lot of pressure because of the high stakes exam.
They come very anxious to us but the main thing is giving options to the students because it de-stresses them, and it gives them some confidence going into the last few months.
“Students are really crying out for reassurance when they come to us,” she added.
McLaughlin spoke of options outside of third level education for students, noting that apprenticeships are on the rise again.
It’s a culture shift, many of them are starting to apply again and that’s the first time I could say that in around 10 years.”
See? There is no one way to ‘do education’.
For some people, everything will go to plan. But others may spend years working on it before they get to the place they want.
My unique route
After failing maths, I sent my paper in for a re-check. Luckily, it came back as a pass.
I was over the moon and offered one of the level 8 courses I put on my CAO around October.
(The one thing I always recommend to people who may not have gotten the results they want is to enter your papers in for a recheck. You can enter any subject in for a recheck. It costs money but if corrected you will be refunded and if it means the difference of getting a college course, it is worth a shot.)
I could not have been happier but I was just over a month into the semester when I decided to defer.
After working for a year, I took up my deferred place in September.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for college and soon realised the course wasn’t right for me so I dropped out.
From there I gave up on the idea of going to university, believing it just wasn’t for me.
However, seeing my friends loving college and having great fun, I had to give it another shot. This time, I wanted to make sure it would be different and worthwhile.
Research what you want
Throughout the following year, I actually researched different courses and colleges around the country.
With no career guidance teacher available this time around, I had to do it all myself. I contacted several colleges with courses I was interested in and staff were extremely helpful.
Most colleges will have a liaison officer with secondary schools or prospective students that you can contact throughout the year.
However the best thing I probably did was ask my friends and people I knew in college about their courses.
If they didn’t know the answers, they would put me in contact with someone who did.
Students will be honest with you and tell you straight about their course. Although experiences may differ, it is worth getting first-hand information from people.
From all my research I put down several courses on my third CAO form and Journalism in DCU was my top choice. I was offered a spot in 2013, have just completed my final year and am set to graduate in November.
I was at least two years older than the majority of my classmates but I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in college and would not have changed anything in the way I got here.
My experience was not ‘normal’ but then what is? I wanted to share my route so people know you always have options no matter what happens.
You may fail a subject, or not get offered your college course or even drop out soon into the semester, but there are always things you can do or people you can talk to.
If you’re unsure or worried about the Leaving Cert next month, you can still talk to your career guidance counsellor or teachers in your school.
If you are unsure about the college course you put on the CAO, you still have the CAO Change of Mind option, which is open until 1 July
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Can you rewrite the headline please? It should say “I passed Maths, dropped out of college and everything is ok”. (the guy didn’t actually fail Maths at all, did he?)
Yeah but if he didn’t get them rechecked, then yes he would still have failed maths
Jesus.
“I failed maths, got it rechecked, passed, dropped out of college, reassessed and went back to college and everything is OK”
Better headline?
The sooner the leaving cert and junior cert get dropped the better.
Teach them how to use excel and write politically correct e-mails and that’s about it I’d say !
At the end of the day, if worse comes to worst, always remember points don’t matter once you hit 23 and can go to college as a mature student!
Technically the author didn’t fail leaving cert maths…if your failing maths you may as well sign straight up for another year of secondary. Not that nice a way to reassure people… Yeah I failed so don’t worry folks… But wait, secretly I rechecked and I passed hey hey.
If at first you don’t succeed…….. then skydiving is not for you.
“if your failing maths you may as well sign straight up for another year of secondary”
Not true. I failed maths, still went to college the same year. Its a myth.
For the sake of some balance, can we also have an article from someone who failed their leaving, and it ruined their life?
…or someone who ACTUALLY failed Maths?
You won’t find one because failing (even though you can’t fail) doesn’t ruin your life. Trusty me, I know :)
You want a sad / happy story?
I left school at 11 or should I say I was withdrawn from school at 11. We moved house and My dad was an alcoholic and wouldn’t drive us the 5 miles to school.
At 14 we moved again and I started full time work. At 16 I left home worked in Dunnes for 3 years. Met a college guy, got pregnant, I could never fight with him so we broke things off a lot. I always felt inferior due to lack of education. I had very low self esteem. When my daughter was 2 I decided I wanted an education, I needed it for me and for her. There was only two options for the leaving cert maths and English in my local VEC so I did the LCA over the two years getting 196 points.
I finished that at 24 and got a reception job. I did want to go to college and maybe to do nursing but myself and my partner prioritised getting a family home first. A year later we had another child (born premature) we got the keys to our brand new house 5 days after he was born. We bought under the affordable housing, in a lovely housing estate.
Lots of Sh!t happened in my life, I let the lack of education destroy me. Only later I realised life is what you make it. You aren’t going to be good at everything, find your own happiness, they are plenty of ways to go about it. Take a year out, go travelling, go back as a mature student, do an apprenticeship. College isn’t the be all and end all, your happiness, your mental health is!
Excellent comment!! Hope all is well Lily
Things are great, together with himself for 19 years, I work in a local shop now as a sales assistant and I love it. Get better paid than being a receptionist!
(I had to take time off work due to my husband getting cancer, my eldest getting diagnosed with a long term illness at 7 and our son (3rd born) having autistic like characteristics which required early intervention with OT, SLT, psychology, early intervention educator one to one and group sessions.)
We still live in the house, got it refurbished last year. Kids are bigger, our eldest just finished TY.
I’m very happy, we are very happy.
When I look back I can still recall how badly the lack of education affected me. Some people still look down at the LCA. I’m proud of it, but more importantly I don’t let it define me. I am more than a piece of paper. I’m a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend.
Or didn’t bother their hoop working for 5 years, failed and…if I finish this I’ll get in trouble…
LCA is a brilliant programme and should be expanded to give the students who do it a more direct route to 3rd level. Possibly the addition of a 3 year. The point you make Lily about how the lack of education effected you is so important. Many kids don’t appreciate the importance of their education. The LC isn’t about going to 3rd level it’s about achieving a baseline of education that allows you to function and contribute to society. You should be massively proud of yourself and no doubt your kids are lucky to have you!
do you enjoy your tax-payer subsidized house?
Speaking as a Tax payer, I for one hope Lily and her family do enjoy their house. If I were speaking as an employer I’d be asking for her CV.
If Steve has managed to get through life without availing of anything subsidised by taxes I would love to hear how that was achieved.
Fair play Lily. Hopefully people can take inspiration from that. I did terrible in my leaving and worked full time for years. Travelled a bit and did a FAS apprenticeship when I was 25 and have had the privilege to work on numerous big projects around the world since.
Education is not just in school and college. It’s a lifelong project.
This is a great blog on this subject https://othmarstrombone.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/jt-airlines-were-a-great-way-to-fall/
Firstly, the writer did not fail Leaving Cert Maths so the title is misleading.
These articles saying the Leaving isn’t important have the opposite effect than they intend. The exam is an inherently stressful experience ( nothing wrong with this, young people are much more resilient than we give them credit for, if we gave them a chance). Finding meaning in a hard situation makes the stress easier to bear. So how do we try to help people sitting the Leaving Cert? We rob it of meaning, telling them it’s no big deal, that its effect on their future education./career will be minimal.
For most people the Leaving is a big deal. For some, direct entry to a specialist course will be the only path to their chosen career. For others, it’s still a good start that’ll maximise their options. Even for those not under pressure for points, we shouldn’t devalue or talk down this opportunity to gain recognition for the work they have done and the knowledge they have acquired.
It’s a big deal but not worth having a nervous breakdown over. If the results are disappointing there are alternative routes to some careers. Alternatively you can just go with the offer you have and see how that goes, it may be a blessing in disguise. For those who narrowly miss a high-points course you can always repeat.
We need to take the Leaving Cert seriously and acknowledge that the stakes are high, though far form life v death. Stop telling young people they need to de-stress or be less stressed, or that stress will harm their performance. Stop encouraging them to give up before the first paper by regaling them with tales of outliers who left school at fourteen and are now billionaires. Be honest that while people may enjoy professional success DESPITE a poor Leaving Cert (& “poor” is relative of course) no one enjoys professional success BECAUSE they did a poor Leaving Cert.
It’s hard, it’ll soon be over with, let them get on with it without wrecking their heads.
Jone, leaving cert maths results are the best indicator for future success in third level. Even for humanities courses people with higher maths points have lower drop-out rate.
Good for you
We ask students to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life, while they still have to ask permission to go to the toilet.
So he failed maths but actually he didnt
Studying Journalism at the Journal judging by the disingenuous headline! You didn’t fail maths but you’re failing true journalism with such ckick bait trash.
I thought I found a lump on my testicle once, but it turned out that I had a blockage in my epididymis. Passed maths on the first go though.
Was it difficult to pass?
In fairness, trigonometry comes in fierce handy for day to day living.
news to me that the point of education was to help you in your day to day living
There’s no point in lifting weights since you’ll never encounter a dumbbell that needs lifting in your day to day life, right? The point of maths in school is to train and grow your logical thinking and problem solving skills, which is absolutely useful in day to day life.
The way some people thing maths is just something a calculator solves is scarey. You have to understand what you are doing to use the calculator. Not understanding probability and possibility affects your whole understanding of the world. LCA maths is a dismal example of how people have been failed by education. I would expect a 10 year old to pass it.
…@Alan Farrell: actually, it does. Ask any roofer.
Next ?
I made an absolute shite of my leaving cert (both times). I let the pressure get to me way more then I should have. I just couldn’t cope with the “what you write in the next two and half hours will decide how the rest of your life goes” and fell apart. Repeated, determined I would have myself sorted next time. Nope, shambles again. Couldn’t get into any course related to what I wanted for love nor money so thought I’d go try again at 23. Managed to get a job pretty much straight away that was based on what I could do, not what numbers were on a bit of paper. Still there 9 years later instead of going back at 23. So yeah, failing is a kick in tits when it happens but it really isn’t the end of the world (even if it seems it).
Oh a Steve, I’m not a “lowly paid loser”, thanks for that assumption.
“With no career guidance teacher available this time around, I had to do it all myself.”
..Well, it beats getting advice from someone who ended up as a Career Guidance Teacher.
The author is obviously a perfect candidate for a government ministry. Since a recent fellow graduate from dcu journalism now holds the ministry for health, this guy would undoubtedly be a shoo in for finance
So if you mess up a bit, fanny around for a few years and try a few things, be generally indecisive and live off your parents for a few years and then ultimately end up working for the Journal.
And if that story doesn’t scare the kids into knuckling down, nothing will.
This is a really great and important article. I actually DID fail maths in the leaving cert. I took a gamble on honours Maths, got a migraine on the day and failed the exam. I dont remember being that distraught because the school were really supportive. – I still got offered Arts in UCD and took it. My maths teacher convinced me to come back the next year and sit the Ordinary paper – which I did while doing all my 1st year college exams. It went really well and I found it much easier than I thought – I just studied Maths along with my college subjects. I got a B1.
The world didn’t end and I got through it. Don’t give up on education because you fail one exam!!! I learned more from failing that exam than from all the ones I passed.
Steve I don’t have a menial job and I’ve had the opportunity to train in it and move up in the 9 years. So actually, I’ve proved your point to be wrong. You’re welcome anyway though. Where did you get the idea it was menial?
Failing your leaving cert is not OK. It means you’ll probably end up a lowly paid loser for the rest of your life. Stop telling kids it’s fine to be a loser. It isn’t.
You’ll find that a lot of millionaires and entrepreneurs didn’t finish secondary school, low scoring numbers on a piece of paper when you’re 17 don’t determine the rest of your life, your attitude does.
Red Petal> you will find the vast majority of long term unemployed have poor education. Rather than point out the rare cases of the unusual look at the normal. Much better opportunities and possibilities with education. No matter what you need to apply yourself
Fake> It doesn’t matter that much who you go to school with as you may never see them again. I have not seen or heard from most people I went to school with. Maybe 20 of the 120 in my year have I met since leaving school.
@Steve
Have you ever considered that a student who even sits their leaving certificate has succeeded? They might be the first person in their family to do so. They may have come from a family that has a generational comtempt for education, listening to every family member telling them that education is a waste of time and so on. A student who ignores all of that, and stays in school to do the leaving cert has achieved something. It doesn’t matter what level they sat papers in as nobody at home would/could help them anyway. It doesn’t even matter if they pass or fail as the major achievement is doing the leaving cert, passing would be the icing on the cake.
On another note, why not tell us all what you do for a living?
If your course has a maths requirement and you are barely passing maths then you need to change your CAO choices. Maths in college courses like Economics, Engineering and Science is no joke. If you won’t pass honours maths it is very unlikely you will pass your college maths exams.
I studied civil engineering in college and the maths in honours leaving cert was much harder. Lots more time in college spent on the maths than had in school.
Eddie, it depends on whether it is a level 7 or level 8 course (I teach maths to both). Level 8 have done honours maths, so we start from there. Level 7 start from scratch, adding fractions and opening brackets. There is a lot of extra help and all that is needed is very hard work. It will be easier if you jad the basics right before you start your college course, but you can catch up.
Hate these articles. Hey kids there’s no need to really try at the Leaving Cert! Had a first year turn around last week in class and say to a class mate “Why would you want to get into an honours class? You’ve to work way harder.” “Idle as trout in light”…We’re heading in a great direction.
Any fool can get a degree in journalism.
But it takes a special food to copy and past from press releases for “articles” on Churnal.ie
You don’t need a leaving certain to sell heroin
Leaving cert
A degree in journalism? Not sure OK is the right term to use…
Leaving Cert is over rated and put to much pressure on young people.
Plenty of progression paths if you want. Employment, Post leaving cert courses etc.
Chin up.
@Mr Wilde
Most employers see the leaving cert as the base line level of education and you can’t get into a Post Leaving Cert course unless you have at least sat the leaving cert (5 pass grades in at least 5 subjects I think is the minimum requirement for a PLC). Maybe in your opinion, the leaving cert is over rated. It is not the be all and end all, but shouldn’t be dismissed.
I failed English thought it was end of the world. But often little known is that NUI colleges allow you to compensate a E in a required subject with 3 C3′s in honours subjects so I went to university anyway to my second choice course. Repeated English Leaving the next year (after I finished first year in Uni. ) just to clear it from CV. I now have a PhD in physics. Did two post -docs in Oxford and got a good job. So moral of the story read the small print on Uni requirements.
Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better – The Guru (2016)
Samuel Beckett I think Guru ;0)
Shame on you Guru!
I failed HL maths last year and I’ve just finished my first year in UCC, so it’s not the end of the world ☺️
So you didn’t actually fail maths and you did complete a third level university course… grand.
Where do I send the invoice for the time wasted for reading that s__te?
You don’t need to pass any exam. Just do a pay and display course where no one fails even if you can’t read or speak English. Why spend a fortune going to uni when you can buy a qualification.
Employers want stupid employees that are cheap and will work in bad conditions. This is why the love the Eastern Europeans on zero hour contracts.
Naturally.
Clearly the writer of this article didn’t pass the leaving either given how badly written and misleading the article is
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