Many sixth-year secondary students are starting, finishing, or in the middle of the Leaving Certificate mock exams.
It can be easy to get caught up in the stress of it all. Am I studying enough? Will I ever feel ready? What’s the point in all of this anyway?
While the mocks may not directly determine your post-school outcomes, they play a crucial role in preparing you for June, like a warm-up before a marathon. It’s a chance to build up your confidence, test your timing and figure out where you need to train smarter before race day.
With that in mind, here’s some advice to help ease your nerves and set you up to go the distance in June.
READ MORE
Do the mocks matter?
“They do matter, but not in the same way as the Leaving Cert,” says Laura Walshe, guidance counsellor and founder of FindYourPath.ie. While they don’t determine whether or not you will go on to third level, they offer useful information to the student, such as seeing “where their strengths lie, where are the areas for improvement, and what topics they might need to work more on”.
On top of this, Walshe says the mock exams “give information in terms of how the student handles the exam conditions”.
For many students, it is their first time sitting an exam under strict conditions with tight timing, large exam halls and different types of exam papers. She notes it’s a chance to know what it will feel like for your hand to get sore writing long essays, or how nervous you get when waiting in anticipation for the examiner to hand you your paper.
What’s the point?
Walshe describes the mock exams as “like a trial run for what the environment would be like for the Leaving Cert”. She says it’s an excellent opportunity for students to “practise that skill of allocating the time appropriately to each section”.
For many students, it may be their first time sitting an exam of that length since their Junior Certificate. It’s a good way to get used to “being in that big hall, being there at a certain time, having a certain time to complete the exam”.
Students are also “not allowed to bring anything in”, and “if they need to go to the bathroom, someone [an examiner] has to come out and stay outside the bathroom.”
In essence, it’s a big step up from your standard Christmas and summer exams.
Are the mock exams more difficult than the real thing?
“I suppose they do mark them a little harder,” says Walshe. “The exam questions tend to be a little bit more challenging, but that’s to kind of keep students focused, and to keep them on the path of studying.”
Should I be cramming for my mock exams?
Cramming is not the answer, says Walshe. When a student stays up all night cramming, “you remember the information, but the minute you go into the exam, and you put it down on the paper, it’s gone”, which won’t be helpful if you need to recall the same information in June.
For better results in the long run, she advises students to do some “consistent study” instead. “If they don’t get it all covered, they don’t get it all covered, but at least the information that they have studied will most likely still be in their heads for the Leaving Cert.”
She reminds students that this is most likely the first time they’ve had to revise the entire two-year Leaving Certificate course. “Usually, the exams they do in school are only summer and Christmas. They’re not the whole two years [of coursework]. So that’s kind of a big shock,” she says. “By the time the child comes to June, they’ll have gone back over that two years of coursework again, so they’ll have revised it at least twice.”
If I don’t do well in a higher-level mock exam, should I drop to ordinary level?
Students should “look back at the pattern” of their performance in the subject, says Walshe. “If it was a once-off, they might be okay. But if there is a pattern [of low grades] in terms of the class work, I think it might be worth switching to ordinary level then. The discussion needs to be had between the child, the teacher and the parents.”
She notes that students shouldn’t get too bogged down over switching to ordinary level subjects. “Yes, we all want to do higher level because we get the most points, and the students might be afraid that if they drop or do too many ordinary [level subjects], their chance of doing a course or whatever might be at risk, but there’s other ways to get to college as well.”
I’m anxious about the mocks and the months ahead
Going back to basics and remembering “the simple things that people do when they’re under stress” apply to students sitting the mock exams – such as exercise, listening to music, and talking through your worries with friends and family, says Walshe.
It’s important to give yourself “the permission to take a break” from revising, she adds. Students should be aware of the bigger picture.
Many are “not aware that there’s so many options, so many ways to get to college, like the PLC, the apprenticeships, the tertiary [courses], the level sevens. Even if you don’t get your course, if you can get something that’s quite similar to it, it’ll still lead you down the same area, and there’s always the opportunity to do masters and post-grads.”
How can I support my child during the mocks and beyond?
Walshe says parents should try not to put pressure on their students to achieve a certain grade in the mocks, or aim for a certain course in a particular college. “Parents can have a very fixed view of education and progression”, she says. “They need to be aware that there are other routes for kids to get to college as well, so at least if they have awareness of all these other options, then they’re going to be talking to their kids about that, and it’s another source of information for the kids.”
From working with parents and advising them of alternative routes to third-level education, Walshe notes “their stress level seems to go a little bit down, and then automatically has a [positive] impact on the kids.”
Ensuring their children have a “safe space” for quiet study time and an open ear if they get overwhelmed or upset while studying is also important, she says.
The week after the mocks
These exams are a great time to consider if your study methods, timing and exam technique are up to scratch before June.
“The student can look back and reflect on what went well, what didn’t go well, how can I improve? What can I change? So they might actually get different kinds of strategies or coping tips from their experience if they reflect.”
She advises parents to provide “reassurance and acknowledgment of the work that the child has done, that they even took part in the exams”, which can help students who may be feeling less confident about how they handled it.
