Louisa Tyrrell, International Officer with the Irish Second-Level Students' Union received their Leaving Cert results along with classmates in Wicklow and thousands more around the country. Here, they tell us about the day...
Awaiting the results was a peculiar experience. Like an unusual new iteration of Christmas morning, I found myself jolting awake during the night in anticipation. By the time 10am rolled around, it's safe to say I was a veritable ball of nerves.
Receiving the results online was a strange experience in itself. After staring at the login page for so long, when they finally appeared on the screen I couldn't believe my eyes. The feeling of relief that the wait was finally finished washed over me first before I could even process the grades themselves.
Overall, I was immensely happy with my grades, I have to say there were even a few pleasant surprises in there. The people I spoke to at my school were mostly happy too and there was a buzz in the air. Although many people were concerned that grade deflation would pose a big issue this year - overall a post marking adjustment of average 5.5% was still applied.
Press play on the image above as students at St Seton's Secondary School in Ballyfermot in Dublin tell us how it felt opening their Leaving Cert Results this morning.
The concept of disinflation that I ingrained in my brain for Leaving Certificate Economics springs to mind as although the level of grade inflation itself has decreased, the grades remain inflated. At ISSU this gradual shift is something that we are happy to see introduced so that the return to normal grades resembles a slide rather than a cliff edge.
In addition to this, I was really hit with the realisation that this day has been looming in the background all through summer. It can't go without saying that the late release date of Leaving Certificate results in comparison with other international systems can often leave students feeling extra stress. This is especially felt by many of my friends who are applying abroad and to the UK.
The timing certainly takes a toll as does the finality of the results for some students as appeals dates are later again and can result in students having to defer or give up a course place altogether. Up at the school alongside a sense of accomplishment undertones of 'at last' were definitely present too.
Regardless of results, getting through the three weeks of exams was no easy task. Hopefully for this evening at least, students can put the worries aside for a moment and celebrate the big milestone we have all just accomplished.
Rónán shared his results reaction as Gaeilge here too!
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