Getting through my Black Monday

Exam Diary/Séamus Conboy: At the Olympic Games, eight lanes are marked on the running track. Each runner is allocated to a different lane. Calculate the probability that I will run screaming from the exam hall faster than Dwain Chambers on a positive day.

While most people loath trigonometry and love probability, I have the opposite problem. I don't care how many combinations of lane position are possible and just because the question has the word "Olympics" in it doesn't mean I'll start to care. Damn statistics.

The rest of yesterday's maths paper wasn't so bad but I couldn't relax for the thought of geography after lunch. I belted from the exam hall and back to my notes for a last-minute swot. It's never recommended apparently, but in my case it was a life-saver. I opted to cover France for a frenzied hour and, Zut Alors, there was France on the geography paper. Glee! I justified her regional divisions with relish.

I am so relieved to be finished with that geography paper. I can't exactly say that it went swimmingly, but it went, and that's enough. I think my weekend joy at seeing Dublin win and England lose gave me just the quick energy I needed to get through my Black Monday.

Now I can look forward to this evening when I will be finished the Leaving - apart from physics that is. I have to stop thinking that way or I'll forget to turn up to the physics exam altogether.

I intend to use my week off to learn the entire physics syllabus, but no doubt I will end up spending it drinking cider and goofing about. I'm counting on everyone else doing the same and the examiners following a principle of grade quotas. If we're all rubbish, then the least rubbish among us will get As. Right?

French and history have not been high on my priority list until now, so I spent a bit of time familiarising myself with French proverbs last night. I'm feeling quite affectionate towards France after yesterday's 11th hour life-saver.

This kind of rote learning at the last minute is probably not conducive to a well-rounded education. Oh, well. La fin justifie les moyens.