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COMING INTO THE Leaving Cert season students are focused on getting the best grades possible.
In trying to do this, those taking the exams can start to feel the strain.
A new research bulletin published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found that stress can be a big problem for students undergoing the exams.
The research looked at 900 students across 12 secondary schools.
It comes alongside figures released by the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP), which has found that one third of Leaving Cert students, around 17,000 in total, will suffer from stress during this time.
Who did the research look at?
The research found that a number of different factors can impact on how stress impacts in the run up to their exams.
One of the most decisive elements was gender with girls more likely to struggle than boys.
Out of the females asked, 40% said they lost sleep over the prospect of exams, while half said that they felt “constantly under strain or pressure”.
What influenced the stress levels of students?
A number of things were listed as factors in how stressed out students got, including prior academic performance, the quality of peer interaction and having to make choices for third level institutions at the same time as studying for their examinations.
Students who had a higher performance academically bore a greater burden of stress than those who expected to do worse.
Subject choice is also important. Those taking courses that they were not satisfied with and courses that were marked on the basis of a single exam were found to have higher stress levels than those who were happier with what they were studying and whose courses had a coursework element.
Interaction with teachers also had a major impact on students, with an amenable environment where students were praised and given positive feedback regularly being found to reduce stress levels.
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The leaving very is crazy. 2 weeks of exams to decide the future of a 17 year old. Continuous assessment is the only sane method of assessing a student. The amounts of people repeating their leaving cert is a testament to how flawed it is.
Sorry John but totally disagree with you I’d rather two weeks of exams and about 6 months of study before hand over constantly having to study for two years and be stressing over every single class test
Also to say I was one of those anxiety and panic attack sort of students but if it had of been continuous assessment instead of a test at the end I would have constantly been under that stress level
The exams are there to show what you have studied in the last two years, people repeating it only shows that they did not put the work in to pass it but were off playing games, taking drugs or were drunk each weekend.
If people can not pass exams that is the sum of 2 years work then they never bothered but left everything to a cramming session before the exam…
Continuous assessment requires you to learn as you go, covers more course content, and gets students into the habit of effective studying throughout the year, instead of the existing system of information bulimia that is crammed in over 2 weeks. I also reject the assertion that students that do badly are ‘off taking drugs. I know of a lot of intelligent studious people who completely froze at the LC and ended up repeating a whole year.
Some do be, the drink is popular…
My lady is sitting the junior cert, even popping the kettle on results in her roaring “Stop making noise i’m trying to study.”
I think i’ll leave home for her leaving cert.
Must have like the footballers leaved everything to the last minute to study?
To only way to make the leaving cert handy is to plan ahead and do a lot of project subjects. I had all project subjects and had nearly passed in all of them before sitting an exam. College choices as well, I only needed 325 points but got 450 mainly due to the fact I was very laid back like most my friends, about the whole thing. I even dropped a grade in ag science in my last exam cause I knew I had enough done.
As a secondary school teacher of maths, one thing I try to get across to all students at this time of year is the difference between eustress and distress. Interesting to note that continuous assessment (in some form or the other) can lead to reduce levels of distress – no matter who ends up correcting said continuous assessment!
New research also released today shows people having more birthdays live longer.
I thought that was people who slept every night for more nights lived longer too, lol.
This mum here believes the leaving cert has a lot to answer for. My daughter is sitting her leaving next week. IBS, anxiety, tears… It’s been awful for her and for us as parents. Just because it’s always been like this doesn’t mean it’s right!
But all that distress is to build character don’t you know
It’s all BS and the proponents are of the mentality that because they had to endure it so should the next generation
Then you get to college and everyone has the seriousness of a daffodil- sure I can skip those lectures
and let’s just join societies for free pizza
I’m not begrudging any of that but to go from a young age into 1 exam, after getting the impression since at least primary school ‘OMG it’s the end of the world your future depends on this’ to uni- ‘Be grand you get marks for just attending tutorials’ seems illogical
The Leaving Cert is far from the be all and end all. All colleges have some form of access course or some way or working up through the levels to get where you want to be.
You don’t even need the help of a teacher or school to pass the leaving cert its that easy. People just seem more stressed these days even though they have never had things easier. Maybe it is information overload due to social media.
Doing mine next Wednesday, actually feel so under pressure I feel numb and relaxed. Can’t be a good thing, but my god I’m going to raise a glass when it’s over. Hell on earth for 9 months
New research also released today shows people having mor birthdays live longer.
For an organisation that calls itself the Economic and Social RESEARCH Institute, this information is way off the mark. Their study shows only that students doing the Leaving Cert experience it as a stressful event (next week’s topics is the religious affiliation of the Pope). It makes absolute sense that students with higher expectations for themselves will feel exam stress more than those who have already conceded that they won’t do well.
Where the research veers off into the unsubstantiated is with the inference that “stress can be a big problem for students going into exams”. Rather than being a problem, a degree of stress is an integral part of the exam process. It need not hamper performance and is only distressing because of the media’s insistence that stress is harmful and to be avoided at all costs. Students, and their parents, shouldn’t be concerned if they feel anxious in the lead up to exams, or on the day itself.
It’s worth watching this interview with Stanford University psychologist, Kelly McGonigal, in which at 17.04 mins, and more specifically at 20.04 mins, she discusses the nature of student stress. Her advice is that while pressure such as fear of disappointing parents can be experienced as negative, if exams are seen as part of a process of pursuing goals, including the long-term goal of contributing to society “those same stresses often people can thrive under”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8igbSGUMfc
Sitting the Leaving Cert is tough, and I’m sure none of us who have been there would like to go back and do it again. But the stress involved is not a problem in itself; not in the short-term in terms of performance, and not in the long-term in terms of health, well-being, growth and resilience.
Do they still do mock leaving exams now, I remember failing everything in the mocks except history where I go an A in that and when the Leaving came around I did good in everything except Irish, hated it but A’s and B’s… So I took it that mocks were harder to scare people into doing better but the leaving now is not what it was over 20 years ago, I think study is getting easier every so many years. If true then where is the stress coming from???
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