Read: Irish Examiner | Eat your way to the best results

First published in the Irish Examiner 3 June 2025.

The temperatures are soaring, the pollen count is up: it must be getting close to Junior and Leaving Cert exam time. For the teenagers facing into their first or second state exams in early June, this is the culmination of years of work, of weekends spent revising instead of relaxing, Easter holidays focused on flash cards and set texts.

For the parents and guardians of those teens, it’s when you will be walking a tightrope. Accept it now: it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re never going to get it right. Fussing and worrying and driving them mad is par for the course. If you try to give the student a little space, sitting outdoors in the sunshine reading a novel while they slave over less interesting books, you run the risk of being accused of “not caring”. When you take their sibling away for the morning so that they can study, you get sorrowful, guilt-inducing eyes. The only acceptable thing is to stay at home and be miserable together. This is a whole family experience and we’re all just going to have to suck it up.

I speak from experience here, with a daughter in the firing line, I mean, doing her Junior Cert. Yes, I know it’s just the Junior Cert, it’s not a big deal, but she’s in the thick of it and doesn’t understand that yet. This is her first state exam and she has to figure it out for herself, with (at least in theory) the minimum of parental hovering. After all, what could I possibly know? My first state exam was so long ago that it was called the Inter Cert. There’s obviously nothing that I could have learned from many years of doing exams at many levels that could ever be helpful. (Although I have, at least, tried!)

But there is something that I do every day that can make a difference, and that’s to feed her properly. “Good nutrition often slides down the priority list when students are busy studying for exams,” says Sandra Wilkinson, CORU Registered Dietitian and Communications Manager with the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute (www.indi.ie). With exams lasting for up to two-and-a-half hours, not to mention the revision in advance, this season is a mental marathon, rather than a sprint, as Wilkinson points out, and “endurance is critical.”

While students may not be focused on their meals, this is where parents can actually help. Wilkinson explains that nutritious food can “energise your system, improve your alertness and sustain you through long exam hours [while]…the wrong dietary choices can make you feel sluggish and jittery.” When teens are stressed, it’s good for parents to take a step back – you’re not the one in the exam hall, after all! – and focus on food. Don’t fall into the trap of letting teens dictate their own eating hours. Instead, hang tough and stick to regular meal times at the table, which will also give them an opportunity to get away from their study environment.

“Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast,” says Wilkinson. This is important all the time, but never more so than on exam mornings. “The brain can utilise up to 20% of the energy we consume every day and it needs a steady supply of glucose (from carbohydrate foods).” Breakfast doesn’t have to be complicated, but this is where you, as the parent, can help out. Wilkinson recommends choosing “foods that release carbohydrate energy more slowly, such as porridge and fruit, overnight oats, wheat biscuits with milk and banana, nut butter on wholemeal bread, poached or scrambled egg on wholemeal toast.” On exam mornings, if you can take a little time to put together something nutritious and delicious for your student, you’re giving them a peaceful moment to eat and prepare for the day ahead.

When it comes to snacks – in my experience, teens need plenty of fuel in between meals to keep them going at revision – try to have healthy options on hand so that they won’t just grab the easy options. “Don’t be tempted to reach for highly refined sugar, high-fat snacks like biscuits, crisps, chocolate, sweets, cakes,” says Wilkinson. “Opt for fresh fruit, natural or probiotic fruit yoghurt (look for ‘bio’ or ‘live’), dried fruit, nuts, popcorn or nut butter on rice cakes.” All good things that are easy to access, inexpensive and good to stock up on.

Preparation is key, not just for your student but for you as the healthy food facilitator in your house. While there are things going on in the world other than state exams and everyone in the family is busy, that’s not the focus at the moment.“Make sure your fridge and cupboards are well stocked with healthy snacks and ingredients for quick and easy meals,” urges Wilkinson, who also recommends batch cooking and portioning out meals in your fridge or freezer to save time. I’ve been given a list of my student’s favourite dinners for her week of exams. After a long day, I know that she’s looking forward to dishes like shepherd’s pie, pork dumplings, veggie fried rice and beef burritos, things that I can have cooked ahead of time and stashed in the freezer.

Finally, and this is so important in the heat, stay hydrated. “Dehydration affects your concentration,” points out Wilkinson, “which may make it more difficult to study and perform to your best. Keep a glass of fluid – water, herbal teas, diluted fruit juice – within easy reach while studying and take a bottle of water into the exam if you can.”

Best of luck to all the students, and to those sending them out of the house in the mornings. We’ve got this.