Leaving Cert diary: ‘My hand, my hand! It is so sore from all the writing’

English paper two is over, and I am so happy about it.

Now that my least favourite subject is done and dusted, I can focus on the ones I really do enjoy. There are so many essays in English, a broad course where you have to learn off all these quotes and contexts, and where you don’t know what poet will come up.

I was glad Emily Dickinson appeared, however, as she was the poet I was most prepared for. I also answered the question on Othello and his status an outsider. I said the racism and discrimination he faced, day in, day out, ultimately caused the tragedy.

English is, by far, my most stressful exam and my hand – my hand! – is so sore from all the writing.

Rory Stewart: Britons’ view of Ireland has gone from ‘patronising superiority to complete ignorance’

Bloomsday: Aficionados enjoy a Full Joyce for breakfast then devour extra helpings of Ulysses

Israelis under attack from Iran shift to full-scale war mode

That said, the element of extra choice on the paper meant that I finished it early. I used the extra time to go over the paper, making sure there were no obvious mistakes – and then I got out.

I have five exams left to go: Irish, maths, economics, physics and applied maths.

There were not enough students interested in applied maths for the school to offer it, so I studied it by myself.

I did have a computer science teacher who was able to give me a book and some resources, but I’ve done most of it alone. Self-directed learning has been a challenge because you can’t ask the teacher if you have a problem.

Earlier this morning I sat down to do my engineering exam. I really liked a lot of the questions, particularly one that looked at artificial intelligence. As someone who spends a lot of time doing computer programming, I can see this being an area I might work in one day.