CILLIAN FAHY,who got straight As in his Leaving Cert, made headlines when he sold his exam notes on eBay for €3,000. In this continuing series, he shares his study experience with readers, today offering advice to Leaving Cert students on the forthcoming mock exams

LIMBER UP

First, here's a bit of mythbusting. Some people think the mocks provide an opportunity to see how you'd get on in the Leaving if you didn'tstudy. You could use them for that purpose, but it's not a great preparation for the main event! My advice? Don't let this opportunity pass you by or you will regret it. The mocks are a good reality check, a confidence-booster and an honest assessment. You can sit past papers as much as you want, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing like the mocks.

PLAN AHEAD

Create a new study timetable for the week before the mocks begin. Push up your normal workload slightly and focus on exam preparation. This is the biggest step towards being totally prepared for the mocks.

MOCK BEFORE THE MOCKS

You should practice one exam paper for each subject the week before the mocks. Pay particular attention to the timing and order of your questions. Only do one exam paper for each subject, though. Learning material should be the main focus of your study before the mocks.

STATIONERY STOCK-UP

The simple things can really help and this takes one potential cause of stress out of the way. Prepare a simple checklist of what you need for each subject. This is a good test-run for the real thing too.

MOCK WEEK TIMETABLE

Write out a study timetable for your mocks the day before they begin. Maybe you have two exams on one day. What will you need to know before both of them? Or you have a break on Wednesday morning. How will you make the most of that?

RELAX

Take the evening before your mock exams begin, off. Use it to calm down and restore some of the energy you should have spent during your study.

THINK POSITIVELY

If you can begin the exams with confidence, then you can use that to help you get through the rest of them.

Be prepared for the worst: Let’s look at exactly what the mocks are. They’re the Leaving Cert a number of months before you have to sit the Leaving Cert. It’s only natural that you will not be brilliant everywhere in the paper.

Accept that and be prepared that some areas just will not go your way on the day. When one does go wrong the worst thing you can do is worry about it. Just move on.

DON’T PANIC

This may sound like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Mocksbut this rule is so important. If you panic before the exam, then you will find it impossible to study and only damage your grade. If you feel yourself beginning to lose your cool, stop for a second and relax.

Think about all the stuff you can do on the paper rather than what you can’t.

WAIT FOR YOUR RESULTS

Possibly one of the biggest don’ts for the mocks is to analyse the paper afterwards and try and predict your results. Don’t get into this habit. It can be upsetting for the mocks but it could be devastating for the Leaving Cert.

HOW TO LEARN FROM THE MOCKS

Once the mocks are over, it doesn’t mean that you should forget about them. What’s the best way that you can use them for the Leaving Cert? It can be so easy to just let the mocks slip away.

But take these simple steps and you will be one step ahead of the rest.

Could the questions return in June?

Look closely at each question and consider whether or not they could be coming up this year. More importantly, they may present a new angle of looking at a topic which you had not considered.

Timing

Did you get everything done? Where did you lose time? Exam timing is a personal thing. The only correct way to figure it out is to practise. The mocks are a good time to start practising.

Keep a List

When you are running through your corrected mock, you should keep a list of where things went wrong with the marking scheme. This can really help when you are deciding what to study for the real thing.

Redo

Highlight every question that you didn’t do well in and answer them. See if your teacher would be willing to correct them for you. It’s important that you don’t just forget about the mock.

Look ahead

How many points did you get? How many are required for the course you are considering? Do you need a minimum grade in some subject to get the course and how did you do there? Now is the time to decide whether to drop down from higher to ordinary level.

Don’t leave it until too late.

The Core Subjects

ENGLISH

My key advice is to practice all sections of both papers regularly, and not to take any questions for granted; even those that appear to be hard to prepare for, such as unseen poetry.

Essays: Don’t learn essays off by heart but review the ones you’ve written and write short summaries that will stay in your head.

Do plenty of practice comprehension questions for Paper 1.

For Paper 2, remember to review your “key moments” for the comparative questions – the significant events across the texts you’ve read that provide thematic links.

For Shakespeare, review all the “multi-quotes” you learned – those choice quotations that will work on a number of themes – and don’t forget to rewrite the mock Shakespeare question in your own words before attempting it. It’s a great way to ensure you know what you’re being asked.

Poetry: Put something of yourself in your answers. Relate what you’ve taken from the poem to your own experience to show the examiner that you really get it.

IRISH

The essay will often steer your towards current events. Have a few handy, newsy phrases at your disposal. Have appropriate openers and closers for the debate essay should you choose it.

The comprehension is worth 70 marks – only 30 less than the essay, so take it seriously. Read the questions first. Then read the comprehension. Highlight the sentences where you think the answers are. Re-read the questions. Look closely at that paragraph and the question.

The prose requires real attention to the basics. Rewrite the plot in English, from memory before the exam to make sure you know it.

The poem is printed in front of you. If you learn off a simple Irish translation of each poem you can answer any question.

Stair na Gaeilgeshould be your first port of call in the exam. These questions are quick, so it's best to get them out of the way rather than forgetting about them at the end. Keep them short, sweet and to the point.

An Triailcontains some specific words which you may never have seen before. Highlight these and learn them. Keep an organised list so you can review them before you go into the exam.

MATHS

To ensure you do well in the maths exam, you need to have the ability to answer seven questions.

You only need to answer six, but going in with the minimum will not serve you well. You just have to practice, practice, practice.

I think of maths as a language. It’s hard to learn something that someone else has written for you, but it is much easier to learn something if you come up with it yourself.

The real secret to my success was that I wrote out every type of question and the steps I took to do them.

Mathematics is all about a point of view and what angle you wish to take to do questions. You should always be willing to look at other methods. There are many great resources online but one of the best has to be the free online maths grinds which you can find at engineersireland.ie