MY LEAVING CERT:NOBODY EVER talks about the small things that can go wrong in exams.

At the beginning of my Leaving Cert, I wouldn’t call it a panic attack as such, but I kind of froze in the middle of my first English exam for a full 20 minutes.

I remember I was trying to plan an essay and I went completely blank. I couldn’t write a thing. I remember coming out of the exam and being really annoyed at myself – I just felt I could have done better.

I think it’s important to mention this because nerves can get the better of you and things can go wrong, but you can’t let it affect the rest of your exams.

That happened but I still had Paper Two in the afternoon. I met my dad for lunch in a cafe and I told him about it. It was in the middle of eating a slice of banoffee pie that I just thought, “Right, I have to leave that behind and just move on”.

If that happens to anyone by the way, you just need to put your pen down for a minute, and give yourself a second to calm down – move on to another question, take a quick break, anything to stop you from getting caught up in that moment.

I actually think that Leaving Cert was my favourite year in school.

I went to school in St Joseph’s Secondary School in Castlebar which I really enjoyed. Every Friday of Leaving Cert was a night off. We all used to go out in a gang and enjoy ourselves. We’d have such craic. You’d get really isolated if you did nothing but study.

Choosing a college course was interesting. I went to my career guidance teacher and I told her I was thinking of doing journalism. She suggested I do something like maths. I barely knew you could study maths in college at the time. A group of us went to the open day in UCD and we had a great day. We spent the journey home trying to imagine what we would end up doing.

In the end I figured that theoretical physics was the course that held the most appeal for me. It wasn’t a high points course at the time. I think that’s really important for students to remember.

There is a perception that if you’re aiming for high points you should do a high points course, but if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, what’s the point?

I worked hard. I’ve always been organised. I’ll sound like a complete nerd now, but I had all my different folders for different subjects with the coloured dividers and all that. If it’s colourful and tidy I can study it!

A tip my dad gave me and I now give my students is to make a note of everything you do throughout the year – homework, study, everything. It keeps you on track and prevents you from slacking off too much, but more than that, if you ever have that, “Oh my God I’ve done nothing” moment, it’s great thing to look back and see that you actually have done loads.

After the English exam things went pretty smoothly. I remember being utterly exhausted on the Friday of the first week. I finished History and just collapsed.

I don’t remember much of the following weeks but the exams flew after that. My last exam was Music which was the last exam to be done in the school. I remember finishing it and coming out with that amazing sense of relief to be finished. It was just bliss.

Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin is a teacher and television presenter and will co-host The Reel Dealon RTÉ One shortly