AN A-GRADE student has taken the unusual step of selling Leaving Certificate notes, starting at €40 a pop, on the online auction site eBay.ie to help finance his third-level education.
Cillian Fahy, who attended Gort Community College, in Co Galway, and recently scooped seven A grades in the Leaving Certificate with 580 points, has set his sights on attending Trinity College Dublin to study English, literature and mathematics.
To ease the burden of taking the big step into third level he has come up with the idea of auctioning his extensive notes, and some books, in six subjects. The notes in mathematics, English, Irish, music, French and history were placed on eBay.ie, under the search Irish Leaving Certificate, last Monday. The auction is due to end just after midnight on August 31st. Each item includes a wide variety of notes, most of which were drawn up by Cillian, and cover all aspects of each subject.
The 18-year-old from New Quay, Co Clare, said he had been toying with the idea of using the internet to sell his notes for some time and was surprised that no one had thought of doing it before, as websites such as eBay.ie were so widely used by teenagers.
“Last September it was in the back of my mind and I had thought at first that it wasn’t fairly unique but so many people I spoke to told me it was. Now, with the economy the way it is, students are finding financing college very tough. It was even hard to find a part-time job this summer, it was desperate. So, I think students need to be resourceful and clever in making money. I would be happy if what I have done encourages other students to do the same.
“To think that grinds can cost up to €50 for an hour lesson. There are thousands of euro spent in this country on grind classes – it’s a massive industry – when the main advantage of these classes is simply the notes. My notes were the only ones I used and they got me an A grade in my subjects. The notes have been tried and tested and they do work,” he said.
By late yesterday, his ebay page had more than 50 hits but no bids.