You may find yourself torn on whether to do TY or not, and this is normal. Your school may have discussed the positives and negatives at face value but in the following article I hope to provide you with a more informed approach to the choice from numerous first-hand experiences.
One of the benefits most associated with doing TY is being older/more mature entering senior cycle and third level education. Although finishing school early may seem attractive to some, it increases the chance of you having to repeat a part of your education in the future. These further education costs may add up quickly and/or lead to regret.
Another, if not more attractive, reason for doing TY is the lack of exam stress. The feeling of not having to sit a State exam at the end of a term is a nice one.
Having sat your Junior Cert examination and hopefully received your results, there comes the question of subject choice. Knowing your results makes subject choice easier. From speaking to others who went directly into fifth year, they have said that they found the subjects they did well in easier if going straight into fifth year.
The Leaving Cert course for most subjects expands on the material you have already reviewed in junior cycle, so if you found a certain subject easy in junior cycle it may be clever to continue it in senior cycle. In the case of Leaving Cert exclusive subjects (eg, agricultural science and applied maths ) most TY schools offer short eight week “taster blocks” which may also help with your decision.
A negative aspect of completing TY to some may not be having your close friends and peers in the same class. With some of your friends planning to go straight into fifth year your decision may become tougher. Transition year itself gives you the opportunity to make new friends and you will more than likely have a few peers from previous years.
With TY often being referred to as a “gap year” it begs the question of difficulty. Having asked those who have completed TY about the question of difficulty, most of them described the year as “easy” and “low effort”. This should not be seen entirely as a positive as your brain may become less active. Core subjects of English, Irish, and maths are taught twice a week which may require you to work harder in fifth year to catch up to your classmates.
At the end of the day TY is neither compulsory nor necessary and your decision is entirely personal. If you find the decision overwhelming, you can always speak to family and friends who have also had to make the same decision. Asking a teacher or guidance counsellor who is not directly associated with the management of TY is a great and unbiased way to finalise your decision.
Eoin Cunningham is a transition year student in The Bish.
