Junior Cert preparation (by a TY student)
What better way to help prepare for this years Junior Cert than by taking advice from one of last years Junior Cert students. A young man, now in TY, but one who got caught up in the uncertainty and the unprecedent experience of exams earlier this year. Here he offers his words of wisdom and advice for those preparing for this years exam.
Preparing For The Junior Certificate
Some people treat the Junior Cert as unimportant, an unnecessary amount of stress and anxiety or just something you just don’t bother caring about. At least once during the cycle you will/would have thought of one of those and it’s expected to think like that in some sense.
With me doing the JC last year just before the pandemic things were done differently compared to usual. We were graded on our mocks, behaviour and what work we did during the lockdown. All schools did it somewhat differently but overall they all used some sort of tests that you did over the third year. These were tests that people thought: “ I’ll just work really hard for the actual JC and not bother with the mocks and those other ones.” For some over the years that mindset worked fine but the mocks give you help and an example of what to expect plus they were most of our marks last year. Some of course didn’t bother and that showed in their result.That thought process is expected but JC helps you get into a system to know what to learn and prepares you for the LC and college. It can also go onto your CV for a bonus to employers.
The JC is important with some respect but there is no point worrying, sure, you should be conscious of what is going to happen but don’t think it is the end of the world. It’s a test run but you should test it while you have a chance. Right now with how some students are upset with how grading things turned out this year, don’t be surprised to see a change to how it works, be it online work or everything all together.
Just study, try your best and don’t worry if you don’t come out with all A’s or 90%, just take it as a learning curve and know how to improve from the mistakes for the LC.
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It’s always best to be prepared. With such uncertainty continuing to hang over the forthcoming exams, it might be wise to take the advice above and set to work now. Be ahead and show that you are doing your best. That’s all anyone can ever do.
GMcC