Ailbhe

T’was the eve before EnglishIt was the best of times it was the worst of timesAt the moment I’m flitting between various personalitiesThere’s the " It’ll be ok Ailbhe you have loads done, just relax and it’ll soon be over"and then the Devil appears on my shoulder -"you know Ailbhe, rumour has it this is the year the prediction book is being thrown out the window, you don’t stand a chance!"and of course there’s the denial -“ I can’t believe they expect us to learn all this, I mean it’s just crazy! Who do they think they are?"The careless nonchalance " I just don’t care anymore what's done is done, where do i sign up for the repeat class next year? I'm off to the beach!"Of course turning on the radio doesn’t soothe my turbulent mind.You'll always have the sure footed bright spark with his/her words of "encouragement""well I don’t know about you guys but I've done every paper since Jesus was knee high to a grasshopper, I've sat 5 mocks and got over 95% in each and I’m planning on a heavy duty all nighter buffering my books up with coffee and my swollen confidence."To be honest guys, I think we all go through each of these characters; the question is who do you want to be 12 hours away from the test paper?Speaking for myself, I’m planning on drawing the final curtain on the revision early tonight. I will turn off the notes I have playing on my iPod and listen to some much needed Passion Pit. I will take an early night. I will delve into my current bedside accompaniment, George Orwell and see what's going on in the land of 1984. I will turn off the light and hopefully succumb to the etherised (thanks J Alfred Prufrock!) state of mind known as dreaming!

Last minute tips and tricks:

Read the newspaper today. Paper one can be greatly adorned with a fantastic array of general knowledge/current affairs.Exhume your old Junior Cert English book and dust off the section on functional writing this is invaluable to Question B.Bring every colour of highlighter know to man to the exam with you. For the comprehension highlight part (i) in pink, part (ii) in orange and save the brashness of yellow for part (iii). Or use your own discretion on the colours if you're not feeling the pink!As for Home Ec, this is my favourite subject and is quite an accessible exam if it wasn't for the God awful timing. Tonight make out a pretty little colour co-ordinated chart of the RDA's and any other short nuggets of information you are inclined to forget. This will really help you in the hour between the two exams and also gives you a chance to test out all the new stationary you got for the exams! Don’t deny that you love the new rulers, biros, highlighters and pencils you have festooned on your desk! ;)All in all just relax. Banish the doubt, denial and frustration. You are that overzealous student designed to instil fear into the hearts of others. Attack the exam with ferocity. Three hours and it’s all over. Forever!

Owen

Wow can't believe that the Leaving Cert starts tomorrow, its hard to believe that the past 14 years of education pretty much comes down to the next 3 weeks!As I find myself approaching the last few hours before the adrenaline rush, heart thumping and hair pulling exams aside, I don't quite know how I feel?!?Yes of course I'm nervous and I’ve got that heart stopping feeling like I've nearly fallen off a chair or lost my mobile so when I think about it, yes anxiety overwhelms me but all for 2min maybe even less and then I get over it. I realise that I've put in the work and there's not much more I can do but give it my best shot sure even if things don't work out, people make their own destinies, right?, not exam results... although saying that, they probably do help!Tonight, on the eve of English Paper 1, all I can do is take some well deserved time to relax and unwind with some TV, maybe a movie, a bit of PlayStation or just hanging out with some friends and prepare myself for 2moz - nothing worse than going into an exam completely stressed out! Hopefully the paper 2moz will be a nice little warm up for rest of the exams, not too much study involved but a hell of a load of writing... think I'll be getting an early night!