Leaving Cert Irish and maths ready for their makeover

BY ALL accounts, Sarah Fitzgerald is a model student.

Throughout her school life she has consistently achieved good grades, she gets on well with her teachers, and she was appointed deputy head girl of her school in north Dublin, in recognition of her exemplary record.

But like many students nowadays, Sarah struggles with the stresses imposed on her by the Leaving Certificate. An ESRI study on the Leaving Certificate concluded last year that more than half of female students and one third of males doing the exams felt stressed out.