My Leaving Cert -Author and journalist David McWilliamsreflects on his Leaving Cert

I was a boarder in Blackrock College for my Leaving Cert year (1983) so there were loads of us in the same situation. I remember the pressure being horrendous but at the same time there's probably a whole lot less stress associated with these things if you're doing them with a bunch of other spanners.

The funniest memory I have of the Leaving Cert is actually when we did the Irish oral. One of my mates came up to me and said: "Maccer, I can hardly give my address in Irish. What am I going to say?" I hadn't actually realised that some of the lads couldn't speak Irish at all. I don't know how they managed.

History was my favourite subject by a long way. That and probably Irish were my best. I did economics for the Leaving and liked it. A fusion of economics and history would be a great subject if anyone would think of it. I couldn't stand biology. It got on my nerves, body parts everywhere. Yuck.

I can't remember studying a huge amount, to be honest.

My year in Blackrock was divided into six classes. The top class was really swotty. I was in the second group which wasn't quite as academic. I played soccer and rugby throughout the Leaving Cert, although when it came to sports, my year was probably the least impressive group the school has ever seen.

In Blackrock College, rugby is a very big deal and Leaving Cert students would generally make up the bulk of the senior squad. Out of my year, only one of us was on the senior cup team. The rest were all fifth years and repeat students.

There was a real sense of giddiness as we approached the exams. If you think of that multiplied by 40, you get a sense of what that study hall was like. To make matters worse, Ardal O'Hanlon was in my year and he used to make us laugh so much in study we'd never get anything done.

There wasn't really any competition among us. My memory is one of a huge amount of co-operation, people helping each other out and so on.

As a whole, the Leaving Cert is just really unmemorable now. The exams felt like they went on forever. The weather was gorgeous so we couldn't wait to get out of the bloody place.

Unfortunately, I ended up doing Latin which is sort of like doing applied maths or Greek nowadays. The Latin exam was at the very end of the Leaving Cert. There were only about four of us left in the school by the end.

It's strange to see so much made of the exams each year. What I find funny is that the fellas in my year who did really well in the Leaving, while they're doing fine, they're not the most successful people in the group by any stretch of the imagination.

It seems so important at the time but the exams matter so little once you leave.

David McWilliams is the author of The Pope's Children