For thousands of students awaiting their Junior Certificate results, today brought some relief that a date had finally been confirmed for next month.
At St Raphaela's Secondary school in Dublin, some of the nerves have subsided, but there is a clear sign of despondency around the delay.
Transition Year student Lizzy Cunningham said the sentiment is divided, as some of her classmates remain anxious about the results, while others do not care anymore.
While she describes the waiting process as nerve-wrecking, she thinks most "have given up on being stressed about it because it is so far away now".
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Her classmate Sofia Galstyan is disappointed with how the issue has been handled.
It has also made the start of her Transition Year unsettling and "more difficult to get through" because of "this waiting game this whole time".
She describes a bigger obstacle for students who went directly into fifth year after completing their Junior Certificate exams this summer and had to make subject choices without having their results.
"For a lot it has increased the stress. Assumption can be helpful but not very good in this situation," she said.
Fourth year student Hafsah Hashmi has accepted that the situation could be worse.
"I am slightly anxious, but at the same time accepted the fact it's just the Junior Cert. It is a big deal but not as bad as the Leaving Cert," she stated.
Read more: Junior Cert results confirmed for 23 November
However, she added that with such a delay to the results and with no confirmation of a date for some time, the Junior Cert is looking like less of "of a priority to the Department of Education".
The risk of this viewpoint becoming widespread is a concern for school principals, who have voiced their worries over the repercussions of the long waiting time for these results.
St Raphaela's Principal Eileen O Donnell has welcomed a date being set, as it "clears up the uncertainty," but warned that it is already having a disruptive impact on a cohort of students in the school.
"About 10% of students go straight into fifth year and they have had to make their subject and level choices in a vacuum," she said.
"That is very difficult for them and we have already seen there is a good bit of changing and choices and uncertainty that maybe would not be there if they got their results in a timely fashion."
She said schools have done a lot to create "robust learning" with the value of that being instilled in students and showcasing how it will help them later in life.
"Then the contrary message is the late issue of results." She thinks in this regard the students have been to some extent "side-lined and short-changed".
She also said the delay has undervalued the status of the Junior Certificate exam.
"We were going to use the exam as a springboard for the senior cycle and to build on achievements they had already reached and that is very hard to do with the late issuing of these results."
She warns that the shortage of exam correctors is a symptom of "a much bigger problem" of a teacher shortage, which she describes as " extreme".
Shane Hallahan, Principal of Presentation Secondary School in Kilkenny said he would hate to see students and parents undervalue the Junior Cert as it is "such an important exam and milestone".
He describes the current issue as "a perfect storm" and said there is a commitment and effort by the State Examinations Commission to recruit more teachers for examination corrections.
He is confident that normal timeframes for the Junior Certificate results will be restored next year.
