How do I go about going into 5th year after not doing the Junior cert Exams

The first and most obvious piece of advice is to ring the school first thing tomorrow morning.

Who told you that you didn't need a JC? It wasn't one of your teachers, obviously. Had you registered and paid for the exams, chosen levels, etc?

Of course people occasionally go into TY or 5th yr without having done a JC, but always for good reason such as serious illness. I doubt the school would allow you to just not bother with state exams. Had you been attending school until the end of the year? If not, how long ago did you stop attending and was the school made aware of your reasons? Is there a possibility that the school have assumed you have dropped out?

Assuming we're talking about JC 2024, did you choose subjects and levels for next year at your school? Have you applied for TY, LC or LCA?

If you weren't able, or sufficiently motivated, to do the Junior cert exams are you sure that you will approach the LC differently? There are options such as youthreach that might be a better fit.

Okay I'll bite! How did your parents just not let you go do the exams?

Come on, this didn't happen. What did your parents say OP?

What did your parents say when you didn't bother going to your JC exams? You asked AI but you didn't ask your parents? I'm not buying it.

Junior Cert students are a big demographic on Boards 🤣

Phone the school and ask. You should have asked the school in the first place.

I agree that this whole thing seems implausible. Either your parents have an incredibly casual attitude to your education or your school is a disaster. The exams take place over two or three weeks, after you missed the first one you would surely have been marched in for subsequent exams after the school rang. In all my years of teaching I have never known anybody to form the impression that the exams were optional and to be allowed to miss them all.

However, on the off-chance that you are sincere…

I'll repeat my advice to ring the school first thing in the morning. If you genuinely don't know how to make that phonecall then nobody here can help you. Don't attempt a sob story or to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. Take responsibility and ask what your options are.

Check your schools online system (VSWare or Eportal or something.) See if your timetable is up. That will tell you what, if any, classes you are in.

Could you tell us if you ever chose subjects and levels for TY, LCA or 5th, and which you applied for. Is your school one of those where almost everybody does TY, or do you have to apply?

With the info you have given us it looks like these are your options:

Repeat 3rd year. If you were so sure you were going to fail all the exams then you probably don't have enough work done to go into 5th yr anyway. I would certainly not want somebody in my class who hadn't done enough work to pass the JC and just hadn't shown up for the exam. Doing TY will only delay this difficulty.

Youthreach. This is education for people who are not suited to the traditional school system. It might be a good fit for you.

LCA. This is Leaving Cert Applied. It is not offered in every school so you might need to consider applying in other schools.