I blocked out everything else and became very single-minded

In the last two weeks before the exam I was doing about 15 hours of study a day, says Rosanna Davison.

I WENT to Rathdown School in Glenageary and loved it. I was a focused student and I really wanted to do well in the Leaving Cert. I studied French, biology, home economics, art, English, Irish and maths. I hated Irish. It wasn't spoken much around my house. My dad went to school in England. I loved biology, though, and I really wanted to study physiotherapy.

Towards the end of sixth year I was convinced by my career guidance counsellor to do a general arts degree instead. That changed the pressure towards the end of my exam year, but I still blocked out everything else and became very single-minded about the Leaving. My brother says it's always obvious that I'm doing exams because I look such a mess.

I was particularly worried about maths because it's not my strength. I had a fabulous maths teacher and I got grinds so I couldn't have done much more. Still I worked very hard.

Was I stressed? More like obsessed. I used to go to the library at lunchtime between classes when everybody else was eating. I did night study at school and then I would go home and study some more. In the last two weeks before the exam I was doing about 15 hours of study a day. I ate my meals at the desk and roared at anyone who distracted me.

My poor little brother was learning the guitar at the time and I scared the life out of him whenever he tried to practise. Poor fellow, strumming away and minding his own business when his red-faced, dishevelled sister came thundering through the door. He was very cool about it.

My parents were very supportive, they certainly didn't put pressure on me. If anything, they tried to get me to do less study. They told me to watch TV and go out. I didn't. They found other ways to help, like passing plates of fruit through the door into my hermitage to minimise the kind of distraction that might drive me into a manic rage.

I would get up each day at 8am, eat breakfast, go for a walk and be back at the table for 9am. A quick check of the timetable (not one of those time-wasting creations that some people use to distract themselves, but a practical measure to get the best out of my already exhaustive day) and it was head down until bedtime. On the Saturday before the exams started, my parents insisted I go down to the pub. Reluctantly, I combed my hair and cleaned myself up and headed for the Club in Dalkey. It did me the world of good. I had one drink and a bit of a chat and went back to the desk.

The following Wednesday, I packed my bottle of water and my pristine pencil case (I was much more diligent about my stationery than my appearance), and headed back to school. The exams went well, apart from biology. They asked us to describe the dissection of a rabbit, which was most definitely not on the course. The entire country was up in arms about it. My dissected rabbit looked like a horse. I thought I was doomed. I was so upset that I just gave up on the Leaving Cert at that point, despite the fact that I still had art history to go.

The day the exams finished, my friends and I had great plans for all-night celebrations. We eased ourselves in with a trip to the cinema (Spiderman, I believe), followed by an ice cream. After that we were all so shattered that we went home. I spent the rest of the summer trying to recover.

In the end, I was delighted with my results. I got four As and three Bs. One of the As was for biology. The fuss was for nothing.

I did art history and sociology at UCD and loved every minute of it, although the going got pretty tough in second year when I won Miss World and had to travel all over the place when I was supposed to be at lectures. I finished it, however, and I still think I'll go and study physiotherapy or nutrition one of these days. I like to learn something new every year.

The best advice I can give to Leaving Cert students this week is to get some exercise - it's much better than watching TV because it clears your head and fills it with oxygen instead of more information, which is the last thing you need right now.

Rosanna Davison is a former Miss World and a model