Oh no, not again! Traumatised by Leaving Cert Hype- Honestly!

Mrs_Doyle

OK, now maybe it is just me, but I was just wondering - have any of the boardsie's been traumatised by the Leaving Cert Results coverage?

I sat my Leaving a few years ago, but the memories of Leaving Cert Result day, and the days that followed, are still fresh in my mind, no matter how hard I try to repress them.

My results where not terrible, but I certainly I didn't do as well as I had hoped.
I can remember going to collect my results, watching several of my class mates jumping for joy, and just point blank refusing to Even take a peek at my own.

As I walked away from the school, results firmly in hand, still unopened, I encountered a journalist from a national newspaper.
He stopped my friends and I and asked how we had done.
My friends gave responses along the lines of, "ah yeah, I got what I needed, I am happy enough", and the one's who did particularly well gave that little bit extra information, saying "Oh I got four A1's, two B1's, and a B2 - UCD here I come" etc.
I kinda stood to the edge of the circle, hoping the journalist wouldn't notice me, but to no avail.
He realised I had been fairly quite throughout and asked me if I was happy with my results.
I told him I was waiting until I got home to open them, and no sooner had the words left my mouth but I was surrounded my him, his photographer and all my friends, telling me to open them right there and then.

Eventually, I bowed to the peer pressure and opened the envelope - I took one look at my results and thought I was going to cry, in front of the journalist, the photographer, my friends, and any member of the general public who happened to be in the vicinity.
It was horrible, and incredibly awkward for everyone involved.

When I got home, I showed my mam my results, she was not best pleased but didn't say much.
Then, later that evening the real traumatising stuff started (I bet you thought the journalist bit was the traumatising bit, or the not doing as well as I would have hoped bit was the tramatising bit - oh no!)

The evening papers hit the shelves - complete with front page headlines such as "Leaving Cert results improve by 5million %", and "standards improve across the board".I remember a story about a girl who had actually sat some of her exams from a hospital ward, and managed to get four A1's, and another story about a girl who had actually just had a baby the day before the Leaving Cert began, and had managed to get 400points.

I wanted to rip every single newspaper up, I wanted to burn down the distributors.

Every time my auld one picked up a paper she'd say something like, "there is a young lad here from wicklow, no arms or legs, he got 600points in his leaving, and there you are, 2 arms, 2 legs, and a leaving cert I wouldn't wipe me arse with" or "Did you see that homeless girl from Limerick, a junkie she is, and a single mother, only got one eye, and her fathers a serial Killer, she is after getting 500points in her leaving cert, and here is my fuppin eejet, lovely home, good parents, everything she could ever want, and a monkey could have got a better leaving".I was actually waiting for the headline that would read "Spider Monkey walks away with 600 points in Leaving Cert, puts Mrs Doyle to shame!"


I honestly still get that sick feeling every year when the Leaving Cert results come out - even though my younger brother and sister have actually sat their exams since, and I did better then both of them - I reckon I was actually traumatised by the whole thing :eek:


So anyhow, the question I was trying to ask, before I got so long winded (I blame the fact that I have traumatised) is - Have you lot been affected by the Media Coverage of the Leaving Cert Results? Or are you one of the lucky ones, who walked away with a bizillion points?




EDIT - Just want to add, I have actually got my degree now, I just linked from PLC, so to agree with below poster, the Leaving Cert is not as important as the hype would have you believe - but it was still traumatising none the less

Magic Pips

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE LEAVING CERT - IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT!!!

I never did it, and i'm 25, with my own house in dublin, and a v nice job (not a tradesman)

Mrs_Doyle

Can we please keep this in AH? - it is not about Leaving Cert, but about the media coverage and how it effected people.

scojones

It's the most hyped exam you'll ever sit, and it's fairly worthless. Got a bad leaving? Go work for a few years and go to college as a mature student - you'll be paid to do this, rent allowance and all. LC? Not worth the paper it's printed on.

Chinafoot

Can't say I've been affected much really. I sat mine 4 years ago. Knew I was deferring to go travelling no matter what course I got and I put Arts pretty much top of the CAO as I wasn't 100% on what I wanted to do so I wasn't worried about points. I went to the Institute on Lesson St and we had our results posted to us. My mam had to wake me up and make me open them as I didn't really care and knew I got what I wanted.

The only thing that springs to mind when I hear the results are coming out is that I must avoid pubs in town like the plague for that one night of the year.

Magic Pips

the media coverage implys it matters - it doesnt IMO

Thats all...

aidan_walsh

Can we please keep this in AH? - it is not about Leaving Cert, but about the media coverage and how it effected people.

This forum of course being completely beyond that discussion.

Sleepy

Never paid much heed to any of it, though I suppose I did quite well so it's easier to ignore when you know you've got your first choice college place (even if you do end up dropping out of it and taking something slightly different)

scojones

I am willing to leave this in AH for now.

BossArky

That was unfortunate with the reporter and photographer, unlucky.

What do you do now? I.e. to you really think the Leaving Cet messed up the rest of your life?

I still have nightmares that the Leaving Cert is looming close and I have everything to cram in a few hours - shows how much it affected me if I still dream about it 8 years later.

Once you get your Leaving Cert no one will ever ask you about it again, after the initial hub bub anyway.

connundrum

It doesn't matter now - looking back on it. But at the time, no matter how much people told me not to worry about it, I just couldn't let it go. You cannot but help get swept up in the hype over it, and you're (generally) at an age when hype is what you live on.

Saying that, my actual leaving cert results got me into GMIT where I wasted a year and a couple of thousand quid.. my own ambition got me what I wanted after that. The LC and CAO are totally inadequate for the wants and needs of our young population at this stage.

Ruu_Old

I wasn't too bothered by the coverage of the LC during the time I was doing my exams. It certainly isn't the end of the world if you get bad results.

Mrs_Doyle

BossArky wrote:

That was unfortunate with the reporter and photographer, unlucky.

What do you do now? I.e. to you really think the Leaving Cet messed up the rest of your life?

I still have nightmares that the Leaving Cert is looming close and I have everything to cram in a few hours - shows how much it affected me if I still dream about it 8 years later.

Once you get your Leaving Cert no one will ever ask you about it again, after the initial hub bub anyway.

Its hard to say if I think it messed up my life.
The actual Leaving Cert, no, it didn't mess up my life, I took the scenic route and eventually got the qualifications I wanted.

The hype that surrounded the Leaving Cert, well, yeah, that screwed me up a bit.
It was made out to be so important, and if you didn't do well, it was implied that your life was over, and you may aswell just give up.
Ok, no one ever actually said those words, but the hype surround the Leaving Cert definitely made me feel like a bad result meant I should just accept the fact that I completely thick and should just forget college altogether.

TomCo

What year was that then?

Mrs_Doyle

TomCo wrote:

What year was that then?

2000 (Oh my God I am old!) :eek:

Pyr0

Sorry but parts of the Op's post had me in tears with Laughter.

I'll be doing my Lc in two years (good ole Ty, what a waste of a year ) And I'm not looking forward to all the pressure from the parents and school. You know the usual "Do us proud" "Past students have set the standard bla bla bla" and of course the classic "Remember Bertie was in this school (St. Aidans), it could be you running the country with a great leaving behind you"

connundrum

Pyr0 wrote:

"Remember Bertie was in this school (St. Aidans), it could be you running the country with a great leaving behind you"

Jaysus, no pressure there then :eek:

Pyr0

They even said that for the JC !!!

Sleepy

Pyr0 wrote:

Sorry but parts of the Op's post had me in tears with Laughter.

I'll be doing my Lc in two years (good ole Ty, what a waste of a year ) And I'm not looking forward to all the pressure from the parents and school. You know the usual "Do us proud" "Past students have set the standard bla bla bla" and of course the classic "Remember Bertie was in this school (St. Aidans), it could be you running the country with a great leaving behind you"

Have to admit, I'd imagine Bertie's Leaving Cert results would be a rofflesome read...

Mossy Monk

Mrs_Doyle wrote:

2000 (Oh my God I am old!) :eek:

pffft

nipper snapper

Moonbeam

I did mine in 1999,and know exactly how you feel.
It is a traumatic event which comes back to haunt again every year.

DaBreno

sjones wrote:

It's the most hyped exam you'll ever sit, and it's fairly worthless.

quoted for Truth.

Ive heard many sayings in my life :
"Buying a house is the most stessful thing you can do"
"Getting Married is the most stressful thing you can do"

Ive done both and presumebly, whoever came up with these little nuggets of wisdom,and those that propogate them, never sat the Leaving in its current form. Its only a terrible, terrible time in any young persons life. I would glady remarry and buy another house on the same week than go back to that. Surely to god there is an alternative to telling young lads and lasses that this is the most important two weeks of their lives?? who needs that s**t?

Its also a poor academic measurement, more of a test of memory and the ability to muster enthusiasm for some awful subjects and their Hit and Miss teachers. I got a brutal points score and only got into College because the Computer course I applied had trouble filling all its posistions. I still got a Degree out if it.

In your Face Mary Hanafin!

ixoy

It didn't really bother me at the time, or after. I knew I'd do well enough, my parents believed in me and I got decent results. I remember being disappointed in some of them and wanting more points (despite having excessive points for my first choice) but overall it was fine.

Any disappointment on the day was more than made up for by an announcement regarding my Leaving Cert made in January of the following year, which gave me a bit of embarassing limelight. so it's almost fond memories for me.

Must have been too much of a swot...

Mrs_Doyle

ixoy wrote:

Any disappointment on the day was more than made up for by an announcement regarding my Leaving Cert made in January of the following year, which gave me a bit of embarassing limelight. so it's almost fond memories for me.

Must have been too much of a swot...

What was the embarassing news?

ixoy

Mrs_Doyle wrote:

What was the embarassing news?

I did particularly well in one subject. The school decided it would let them blow their trumpet a little and held a little ceremony. As a result, there's a very embarassing photo of me in an old edition of a national newspaper and, archived somewhere, me chatting to Mariane Funicane on Liveline. I cringe if I ever re-hear it.

you got the award for the best result in Ireland in one subject? (guess)

Fair play.

Last year a guy from my school won it for economics, and the teacher almost killed him, cause it meant that the teacher got loads of coverage and asked to move schools. Which would mean he couldn't rake in €600 extra a week with the unofficial classes which the winner had attended!

Sarky

Ah, let the kiddies find out they were near-catatonic with stress over buggerall. It's an important lesson.

"I got 9 A1's in my leaving cert! I demand resp-"

"Shut up and throw another burger on the grill."

Alter-Ego

The whole LC thing is too hyped up.

I was utterly unphased by mine(I'm pretty sure i know why). Sitting it was good ol' fun and getting the actual results were just a formality before i could go drinking!! A few friends were in school at 9am getting their results, didn't see the point tbh, i stayed in bed and got them later.

I knew i'd get what i needed so it was just double checking.:)

crybaby

it was funny reading all the stuff in the newspapers and looking at all the smiling faces etc. and thinking to myself just how little the leaving cert really means in life and how ridiculously stressed people get about it. ah well sure tis all a part of growing up i suppose

i did alright when i sat them but it didnt really matter as i did a one year PLC after it and now ive finished 4 years of college and got my degree

Alter-Ego

Alter-Ego wrote:

The whole LC thing is too hyped up.

I was utterly unphased by mine(I'm pretty sure i know why). Sitting it was good ol' fun and getting the actual results were just a formality before i could go drinking!! A few friends were in school at 9am getting their results, didn't see the point tbh, i stayed in bed and got them later.

I knew i'd get what i needed so it was just double checking.:)

Phased isn't an alternate spelling for fazed... they're different words.

Fanny Cradock

bluewolf wrote:

Phased isn't an alternate spelling for fazed... they're different words.

touché!

Muzzy

Alter-Ego wrote:

The whole LC thing is too hyped up.

I was utterly unphased by mine(I'm pretty sure i know why). Sitting it was good ol' fun and getting the actual results were just a formality before i could go drinking!! A few friends were in school at 9am getting their results, didn't see the point tbh, i stayed in bed and got them later.

I knew i'd get what i needed so it was just double checking.:)

*Snap*, I did mine in 2002, missed the Ireland Germay Game. I remember myself and my mates leavin one of the exams 45mins early to watch the England Argentina match.......

.....I got my picture in "The Mirror", the photo looked like an Advert for those "Less Stress More Success" books, dunno why I bought them, should have kept the money for drink on result night.

pbsuxok1znja4r

Meh, I did pretty well in my LC without ever worrying about it. I just don't worry about stuff. Though I'm sure it'll all eventually culminate in a brain aneurism or something.
*shrugs*

OP, if it all got to you so much maybe you should've ensured you got points you could be more pleased with (or else not opened in front of a camera crew!) etc. If other people's achievements made you feel so inadequate you should've done something positive about it.

That spider monkey is a smug git alright.

NADA

I got 540 in the Leaving this year. I was delighted. But I can see where you are coming from. SOme guy was on the news with his 9 a1's. Serioulsy what a waste. He took the thing to serious. The media coverage and the hype about the institute of education on leeson street make me cringe. I hate people who over hype the leaving and spend thousands and thousands on private schools. I did well but I didn"t break my neck because I knew it was no big deal. From tomorrow on I"ll never be asked about the results again I hope.

bounty

i got 600 points

I did mine in one year, didn't study and got 440... ahh, back in the day.

Yeah it's way too hyped up. College exams are harder. For my finals I had 10 exams =/ I remember they actually tried telling us in school when we were doing our lc that it was the hardest exam we'd ever have to take... lol

I nearly killed myself with extra classes, and study session's only to be too exhausted most of the time to concentrate,

I panicked when I got said result's but I'm doing pretty f**king well with what I got!!

My mother demanded sheer perfection and pretty much acted like the OP'S mam.
My little brother was expected to get off the scale mark's :rolleyes:
but he got his first girlfriend* and needless to say he got a tad distracted :rolleyes: and did a lot worse than me. He's starting a PLC though



who I introduced him to:(

Rhyme

Did infinitely better in the Mocks for some reason... my options became limited. I felt like sh*t reading the paper the next day and reading about 'Someone O'mcSomeone' getting 600 points with no arms and a terminal disease.

Mrs_Doyle

scouser.tommy wrote:

OP, if it all got to you so much maybe you should've ensured you got points you could be more pleased with (or else not opened in front of a camera crew!) etc. If other people's achievements made you feel so inadequate you should've done something positive about it.

That spider monkey is a smug git alright.

Ah I didn't get a really bad leaving, I just didn't do as well as I hoped.
I have got a bit better at tackling exams over the years, but at the time, I was the girl who annoyed everyone in the exam room by:

taking one look at the paper deciding I can't do it.

Tutting and sighing for about ten minutes.

Staring around the room for the next ten minutes.

Reading the questions over and over, but not actually taking in what they actually say.

Attempting question one, then running red pen across attempted answer.

Tutting and sighing for another ten minutes.

Feeling sorry for myself, spending next 10 minutes trying not to cry.

Daydreaming that someone will press the fire alarm or call in a bomb scare.

Realising I have now wasted about an hour of exam time.

Attempting question one again.

Bang pens and ruler about desk.

Staring around the room again, wondering how the hell everyone else seems to be able to answer these bloody questions.

Eventually spending about 40 minutes on actual exam.

Writing small note to examiner explaining of - "my mother's mental problems, my fathers affair with my brother's best friend, the fact that we are being evicted from our home, that I have recently taken to the booze,and in general am pretty screwed up - so if she wouldn't mind taking all of this (fictional) crap into account when marking my paper, that would be just great!"
Doodle for a bit, as I never wanted to be the first person to leave.

Wait for first person to leave, then follow them after about 5 minutes.

Curse the whole damn world for being such a ****ty place to live in.

Get home, read exam paper and realise that I actually did know all of the fecking answers.

Contemplate breaking arm in order to avoid following days exam.



Ah, yeah, that pretty sums it up!

Tha Gopher

Kids

Rule 1- Employers care more about experience and hard graft, not degrees.

Rule 2- Its highly likely that in 10 years yil be working in a field completely unrelated to your college course

Rule 3- In 10 years yil be on the same wage as your friends who didnt go. Possibly on less money

Relax, its only the leaving, it really isnt a big deal in the real world

Im so glad I left college, intellectually stimulating my balls. When I was younger I used to read quite a bit. But in college, any time Id get a book out there would be an exam around the corner every week, Id hafta rush through the book so as to have time to give the exam stuff a read over, hated it. I havent read a book in about 2 or 3 years (last was Stupid White Men. A great read, but becuase of pending exams Id to rush through the last few chapters)

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

chump

So the LC is the most hyped thing since the Kentucket Carnival because the OP had a bad experience with it and can't distinguish between where & were?

I'd agree with daveirl above. I think males in general take the LC a whole lot cheesier than the girls. 6th year was pretty relaxed in my year and pretty much everyone except the pressure-cooker brigade was happy with what they got.
Most people get what they deserve for the amount of work they do.

The LC is way over-rated but you can make a few quid out of it and soak up the sympathy (and treats )

chump

chump wrote:

So the LC is the most hyped thing since the Kentucket Carnival because the OP had a bad experience with it and can't distinguish between where & were?

What's Kentucket? o.O
And no, it's the most hyped thing (ever?) because it just is.

theTinker

Mrs_Doyle wrote:

It was made out to be so important, and if you didn't do well, it was implied that your life was over, and you may aswell just give up.
Ok, no one ever actually said those words, but the hype surround the Leaving Cert definitely made me feel like a bad result meant I should just accept the fact that I completely thick and should just forget college altogether.

the same with me. I didnt do well on mine. I got 195 points on it, luckily the computer course i wanted was a year after the sept 11 where all the courses hit rock bottom points and i got above the 190 need.

When i seen my leaving cert results i nearly imploded with shame, I was convinced my life was over, working sum dark factory the rest of my life. i even failed geopgraphy, how the **** does sum1 fail geography? like describe a fu**ing waterfall or sumthing(i really believe they just lost my paper).
Anyway, i just graduated from college where i kicked EVERYONEs ass pretty easily(worked my ass off but i got high results anyway), ive got a distinction in my diploma/ordinary degree and honors degree. Obviously to me the leaving meant feck all, Im the best in my course at software developing so its certainly by no means worth the paper its printed on as it seems to be to be completely inaccurate, unless I mutate into god and have to build a
waterfall...;)

The hype around the leaving cert was unbearable, i did the at home thing too, but i ran home so no one would ask, spent the next 2 days in bed thinking ive ruined my life for ever. never occured to me that it means absolute crap after u do college, or get ANY experience.

XchampagneX

I did my leaving this year. I didn't feel any pressure on me at all and i sailed through the year. The week before the results came out, i was really calm and on D-day I collected my results without panicking (ok maybe i was a small bit nervous ) A lot of my friends however were freaking out reading the newspapers and watching tv, saying "oh i wish I...," "I could have...", "I should have..." As if the pressure isn't great enough from family and teachers, the media put that much more on students!

theTinker

XchampagneX wrote:

I did my leaving this year. I didn't feel any pressure on me at all and i sailed through the year. The week before the results came out, i was really calm and on D-day I collected my results without panicking (ok maybe i was a small bit nervous ) A lot of my friends however were freaking out reading the newspapers and watching tv, saying "oh i wish I...," "I could have...", "I should have..." As if the pressure isn't great enough from family and teachers, the media put that much more on students!

if by any chance u can explain in 50 words or less how u managed to keep it so calm, please mail me the answer so i dont mess up my own kids

Oral Slang

I remember in 6th year everyone was filling in the CAO forms and I decided I didn't want to go to college. I was gonna be 19 collecting my results and had decided I had enough of studying for a while. My parents were fine with this as they felt I was old enough to make my own decisions!

Anyway, my class teacher was in uproar over this and kept on trying to force me to apply anyway, just in case! He even sent a letter home to my parents to try get them to make me apply. I ignored him however and never applied, so thank god there wasn't much pressure when I was doing my LC. Got ok points - 370 or 380 as far as I remember, but never really needed them subsequently!