Subscriber OnlyLetters

Leaving Cert Spanish oral tests clash with teen sleep patterns

Concerns raised over early exam timing coinciding with daylight saving changes

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.
Tue Mar 31 2026 - 06:00 • 1 MIN READ

Sir, – It strikes me as particularly cruel to set the Spanish Leaving Cert oral test at 9.15am on the first Sunday of the Easter holidays.

And to have it on the day the hour springs forward is at least ill-advised. I wonder how many teens might oversleep?

Teenagers’ circadian rhythms are different from ours; they need a bit of a lie-in, and their body clocks will still be the old time. – Yours, etc,

CAOIMHE BUCKLEY,

READ MORE

Patrick Freyne: Euphoria is back, and I feel like I need to give my TV a bath

Look inside: Film director John Huston’s former Georgian retreat in Co Galway

‘We were gutted’: Pain of Connacht final loss never quite left Hollywood actor Chris O’Dowd

‘Brain fry’, the workplace side-effect of too much technology

Clonskeagh,

Dublin 14.