Exam diary: Freedom lurks as trials come to an end

There's something lurking in the air around me and for once it's not the dreaded pollen grains. Freedom is just around the corner and in scenes that will be reminiscent of golden eagles being released into the wild, today brings the end of the Leaving Cert experience for 2010.

In a last-ditch attempt to salvage a good mark in my final subject, many hours were spent yesterday revising relative velocity and questions about balls being fired off cliffs. It really requires logic and thought to do well in applied maths.

I would much prefer if paper one and the oral examination were taken in fifth year, with the remainder being examined at the end of sixth year.

In between chatting on Facebook and Twitter and catching up on the marathon tennis match in Wimbledon, it was time to get the feedback from the music paper. The first message came from Dundalk, from Allsun, who was delighted with the higher music paper.

'Sea Changes' cropping up as question 1 wasn't a surprise, and a challenging Mozart question followed.

She was extremely happy with the Irish music section and had her essay on the influence of Irish music in North America off to a tee. Other musical pieces included 'It's Not Unusual' by Tom Jones and Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.

Melodies

Minor melodies came up in the paper on composing but it wasn't that difficult, according to Allsun. This same feeling was also reflected by my classmate Cormac, who was delighted with 'Sea Changes' but he said it cannot really be classified as music. He felt the paper was fair overall with few surprises and was a nice end to the Leaving Cert.

With the countdown timer on my laptop reading less than 24 hours until 'FREEDOM' it now seems like a lifetime ago since I was rewriting Al Gore's speech and writing my essay on Kavanagh.

It's time to pack the pencil case for the last time, fill the bottle of water, put it in the fridge and try not to forget my calculator. One more answer book to seal and I have a feeling I'll be getting all nostalgic as I sit down to write my final diary.

Peadar Ó Lamhna is a student at St Macartan's College, Monaghan

Irish Independent