EXAM PREPARATION: St Brigid's Junior Cert student Ilona Sheehan details what it is like studying from home during COVID-19 as she prepares for her first State exams.

By St Brigid's student Ilona Sheehan

Since Thursday March 12 we've been off due to the Coronavirus. When we all heard we were delighted, but now that the cabin fever and boredom are setting in, no one is quite so sure anymore.

In addition to this all practical exams for the Junior and Leaving Cert are cancelled, with everyone receiving full marks in each.

At first, I didn't know whether to be delighted or annoyed. After all our hard work and practice, we don't even get to show off our skills, but on the other hand I've passed Home Ec., so it's kind of a relief.

All of the uncertainty surrounding the exams is slightly annoying. It also feels like we're doing 10 times the amount of work we'd do if we were actually in school, but on the other hand it's nice to have a break from the dooming reality of the JC and the packed school halls.

What's a typical school day like now you may ask? Well I wake up around 8am and have some breakfast before settling down to work around 9.30am.

The teachers send us on our work through platforms such as Teams, Outlook and One Note. My favourite is Teams as you can chat with your teachers, keep track of all your assignments in one place and get notifications when new work is posted.

Different teachers send work at different times - some before, during or after our allotted class, but I still try to do the work when I'm given it and stick with my current school timetable. Some evenings I could be doing assignments until 6pm, but I try not to go past that so I've a chance to relax too.

For subjects that we've completed the course in like religion it's mostly exam papers for work, but in subjects like geography we must continue on taking down notes and learning new topics.

Typically, at 1pm I go outside for a while before having lunch.

I've also started reading every night before going to bed again, something I stopped at the start of Third Year.