After a marathon exam session of nine hours in one day, Leaving Certificate student Niamh Collins has said she is "delighted" after scoring an impressive 475 points.

Niamh had the unenviable task of taking three exams in a mere 12 hours last June.

A student in Christ the King secondary school in Cork, clashes in her timetable meant she had to be detained in the exam centre for the whole of her final day.

"I did better than I thought I would do. However, there is no doubt that having all the tests in the one day has definitely brought my grades down. My last exam was Japanese and by that stage I was exhausted and it was reflected in that [Japanese] was my worst result.

"I am disappointed that it turned out that way, but I was just exhausted by the time the final exam came around and my concentration levels were low," she said.

Niamh and her parents previously approached the Department of Education and the State Exams Commission (SEC) after discovering a clash between her Japanese and Italian subjects.

However, they said "no accommodations were made" and she was forced to sit all three final exams in a very short timeframe.

Her father, Neil Collins, a professor in the Department of the Government in University College Cork, said it was "outrageous" that no allowances were made for his daughter. "We tried and we approached all relevant departments but nothing was changed," he said.

Despite this, Niamh said she is glad to be finished and has celebrated her results over the last few days with family and friends.

"I'm taking it easy at the moment. Overall, I am very pleased even though I couldn't really digest the results when I first got them. My parents were in America and I rang them in the middle of the night to tell them the news, and they were pleased for me. I'm relieved it's all over."

She now plans on taking up an arts degree course in University College Cork.

Niamh is amongst thousands of students across the country who have a nervous few days ahead of them, with college acceptance offers due this week. The final acceptance date for CAO round one offers is Tuesday 25 August.