Cillian Fahey, who got straight As in his Leaving Cert, made headlines last month when he sold his Leaving Certificate notes on eBay for €3,000. Some said the sale was a stunt and the bids were a hoax but Fahey proved them wrong and walked away with a generous nest egg to set him up for his first year at college. Over the coming months, he will be sharing his study experience with readers. In today’s first article, he offers advice to fifth- and sixth-year students.

MAKE A TIMETABLE

This is critical: you need to bed down a workable, flexible timetable in September and stick to it. Many people fall foul of their own timetable because they build something that doesn't suit their lifestyle or attention span. The trouble is, you haven't done the Leaving Cert before. You don't know what kind of student you really are. Take a couple of weeks in September to work it out and build your timetable accordingly.

Use the following as a guide:

1. Do you study better in the evening, first thing in the morning before school or directly after school? Spend a couple of weeks trying out different times and find out when you're most productive. I discovered I get the most done in the morning before school. It wasn't pleasant but after a few days I got into a rhythm.

2. Do you study best in blocks of 20, 30 or 40 minutes? Take stock of when your attention starts to drift and you'll soon see the pattern. I study well for 35 minutes, and then I have to take a break and move to another subject.

3. What hobbies and pastimes do you plan to work into your schedule? When and for how long?

4. What space is left in the week to make up for lost time if your schedule is interrupted?

5. The Leaving Cert year is a marathon so don't set off like a sprinter. If you create a timetable that's too packed you'll burn out by November. Build it up.

6. Whatever schedule you decide on, make sure it is fully established by October and stick with it.

NOTES, NOTES NOTES

I'll be returning to the subject of effective note-taking next month, but in the meantime here's an example of a history note I took (and recently sold). The key is to organise information into neat, discrete blocks that can be used to build all manner of essays on any topic you choose. So, for an essay entitled The Rise of Sinn Féin, for example, here are two blocks of information that I have in my notes and could put together to build the essay:

1. Early SF

– 1905 Arthur Griffith. Founded SF

Gaelic League Member

Some stage IRB

1899 United Irishman

– 1904 Resurrection of Hungary

MPs abstain. Establish Irish parliament

Home Rule not enough/Republic not realistic Dual Monarchy

– Early – little success

Too Radical/Not radical enough

2. IPP Decline

– 1882 Irish Parliamentary Party/Home Rule Party John Redmond

– 1914 Home Rule Bill shelved. WWI

Aims achieved. No Benefit

– Supported Irish fighting in WWI

Unpopular as Irish die

– 1915 Declined War Cabinet

Lose influence in London

– Branches unorganised

SF new competition

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Big folders – one for each subject, with separators.

Plenty of pens in three different colours for coding.

Tippex; a new pencil case.

Past papers; examiners marking schemes.

A computer, if possible. Computers are not much used in the Leaving Cert but they are very handy for some kinds of note-taking – especially lists of words, theorems etc. Print them out. History is better done by hand because it's all essays and that's how it will be on the day.

USE FIFTH YEAR FOR TIME TRAVEL

I didn’t get organised in fifth year. I was busy with debating, sports and music. I kicked into action at the beginning of sixth year. I realised quickly that I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble if I had started thinking like a Leaving Cert student at the beginning of the cycle. Not studying madly, but getting organised as I went along.

Here are some tips for fifth years – follow these steps and “Future You” will love you for it:

In fifth year, you should be doing a little more than going to class and doing homework. You should be plotting for the Leaving Cert. Some basic groundwork now will save you a lot of time next year.

Start a filing system that will do you for two years. Buy a big folder for each subject and start putting relevant material into it. You may not look at it again in fifth year but it will save you a lot of leg work in sixth.

Start to organise information with your future study in mind. As you’re learning French vocabulary about holidays, for example, make a list of important words under that category and file them. They’ll be there for you next year when you’re revising for your oral. In maths, plot a map of the key elements of a subject such as algebra – tell “Future You” what you’ll need to know when you return.

Keep all your essays and file them. I wasted a lot of time rewriting essays in history and English that I had already worked on before but hadn’t kept.

SIXTH YEARS: WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT?

Last September my mood swung between apathy, good intentions and panic. That’s normal – we all go through it. The key is to accept each stage and use it effectively, always with the goal of getting back to your constructive routine.

Here’s what you need to prepare for:

APATHY

So the penny hasn’t dropped. The Leaving Cert’s ages away. What’s the panic? When this mood hits, you have to get motivated again. Don’t let it set in. There’s that old expression – act your way into a feeling, don’t wait to feel your way into an action. By doing something, you’ll get buzzed up again. This is where a solid routine will help.

GOOD INTENTIONS

This phase can go both ways. Some people use it to get down to study. Others use it to write endless timetables and tidy their rooms or a million other very determined, but ultimately peripheral activities. The penny has dropped, but they’ve just polished it and put it back on the shelf. Use your good intentions in practical ways that build towards a sustainable routine (there’s that word again).

STRESS

At the beginning of sixth year I dropped all extra-curricular activities – stopped playing sports, stopped visiting Facebook, stopped playing piano and debating. I soon saw the error of my ways. Keep up your hobbies but work them into a routine. Instead of spending time chewing your pencil in anxious and unproductive desktime, go and do something you like.

MY SECRET WEAPON

If I was really smart I would have written a long, best-selling book and put my secret at the very end. Instead I'm giving it to you here right now.

My secret weapon in the Leaving Cert was a stress protector, an apathy buster, a sanity preserver and it got me straight As in the Leaving. My secret weapon was ROUTINE.

Stick to the routine from day one and all will fall into place. There's room for manoeuvre within the timetable of course. But the overall routine, every day, every week, keeping up the hours you've promised, that's the key.

Stick to the routine and stress can't get you – you're always in control.

CV

Cillian Fahey: Trinity student

Secondary school: Gort Community School

Leaving Cert grades: Mathematics A1, Irish A2, English A2, Physics A1, French A2, History A1, Music A1

College subjects: English and Maths, Trinity College