Repeat 5th year or Leaving Cert?

dscan98

Im 17 years old and i am currently in 5th year and here's my problem..

I have been very sick the past two years especially and i have missed so much school because of it. Unfortunately there isn't much i can do about it as it is on going and i have been in and out of hospital.

Last year when i was 16 i did TY as it was suggested by my year head in 3rd year because it would be a good idea as im sick very much. As you know Transition Year isn't very stressful and i did miss alot of time during the year but i didn't miss anything very important that year so im glad i did it instead of going into 5th year straight after my junior cert and dealing with the stress of the LC course along with being sick! It wouldn't have made any sense.

I have always been a child that gets sick very easily growing up outside my sickness at the moment, i have always done very well in school in primary and i got a good junior cert for someone who missed alot from 1st to 3rd year. Better than people who did go to school all year long!

Last summer my doctor was hopeful i would be ok and not be sick again so i went into 5th year ready to work hard but it didn't turn out that way..i got braces in september and i missed a few days with that and then in November i got very sick again and i have been since. I haven't been able to go to school as i am in alot of pain and im going for an operation this summer..
not to keep focusing on me being sick but my concern is what should i do now?

My plan is
I would like to catch up on the school work i missed over the summer holidays( if i can get it from teachers hopefully)and go into 6th year and repeat my leaving cert if i have to. Obviously i would hope that i wouldn't need to repeat LC because i would be 19 starting college. As for catching up im used to it. my friends say to me "i don't know how you will catch up" but i know myself i can because im used to catching up on school work.

As for after the LC i want to be a secondary school teacher and i have my eye on Liberal Arts in Mary I which was 335 last year.
these are my subjects. i only do ordinary maths and if worst came to worst i would drop to ordinary french but i dont want to.
English HL
IRISH HL
MATHS OL
FRENCH HL
BIOLOGY HL
MUSIC HL
HISTORY HL


i am not naive in saying it will be easy because i know it won't and i would have to put in so much work but i really don't want to repeat 5th year.

It is bad enough im sick and that puts me down and i don't want to be left behind in a different year.. i heard that most topics are revised again in 6th year? as for the course i want to do i would be confident in myself i could get those points without awful pressure on myself. If i wasn't so sick id be capable of so much more but i know whats possible at the moment and whats not.

Regarding my school i think they will let me decide as they know i have been sick always and its genuine. my principal told my mom in the past i could get a teacher to my house and it would be paid by the department but we never heard about that since.

Honestly i would just really appreciate anyone's opinions and advise. Im a good student and im interested in my education and future
also sorry for the long post im just worried.
thanks

pleindespoir

Here, you know what condition you are in. You have dreams and you ar relying on your Leaving Cert, that's true, but if you are missing too much school in fifth year it wouldn't be too bad to consider repeating fifth year than to realise it's too late and the only option is to do sixth year again. I don't know. All I'm saying is, look after your health. It's far more important than your LC. And you mightn't agree, as I struggle to think the same. But don't be too hard on yourself. Take your time. If you're meant to be somewhere and passionate enough, there would be many ways.

As for my experience, I had a brain surgery during the Leaving Cert and so, I have missed it. I swear, repeating 6th year couldn't have been worse. It is stressful, tiring, frustrating and I didn't realise this before actually deciding to go through sixth year. I was very optimistic and thought of it as a chance, but it has been really really tough. Maybe it's because of English as well as I need to learn of new material but really, I thought I'd be super amazing as I'm all fine and I'm over the surgery and so so, but I wasn't fully recovered. I was still not completely cured. I am still lethargic at times, and couldn't work as much as I would want to. But you see, that's life.

Just give it your best shot. But if I were you, I'd repeat fifth year and never mind the age. I'd be twenty one in college as I am still asked for international fees by DIT, i couldn't afford it so I have to do another year off. I want to do architecture and that's 5 years. In the end, no one would really ask you that.

So yeah, just be very kind to yourself and keep calm. You'll be fine.

Ron603

You could try and catch up on the work that you have missed over summer. You do have 3 months to do so.

Jack55

You're in a very similar situation to the one I was in 2 years ago. I was out with anxiety/depression & was really bad - only made it to November of fifth year. Decided in March that the ONLY option was repeating fifth year. I was a perfectionist - got 8 As in the JC & thought I needed 600+ cause the only thing I ever really succeeded in was academics. I'm currently 3 weeks to my leaving cert and without hesitation, repeating was the worst decision I ever made.

It forced me into the thing that I hated the most - alienated me in front of not only my year but also the one below me (the one I had just joined). It shattered any self-esteem I had left & just made me feel completely lost. I no longer felt a part of my year or the year I was in. I saw all of my friends graduating and going to college & I was stuck in the place I hated the most - somewhere that made me feel like **** every time I was there. Completely my fault.

I don't mean to scare you, I'm just sharing my experience. Although you may find yourself in a different position to me when repeating, my advice would be not to do it. You only need 335 - that is doable by anyone's standards. Even if you need 400 it is completely doable. All it takes is hard work and perseverance. You don't want to completely alienate yourself. If there's ever an opportunity to move forward you should do it, no looking back on the past in my opinion.

We do the same subjects except for music. If you wanna go forward with 6th year & are worrying about all the stuff you missed I can send you my history notes with essays prepared, my french essays & Irish & biology notes. Best of luck anyway, hope you're better!

ehmcgarry

I'm repeating now. Repeat leaving cert. No brainer, honestly, you'd be way better off. I know you're supposed to cover 70% of the course in fifth year, but sixth year is completely different, and you're better off getting a second shot at your orals/ projects and of course, the leaving cert itself. Also, if there's a chance you're going to get sick again and lose time before the leaving, you don't want to repeat fifth year, only to have to repeat the leaving too.