Today marks the start of the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert exams for 120,000 students across Ireland.

Many parents are just as nervous as their children, but they are being warned to watch their own stress levels and avoid lengthy exam post mortems.

Beatrice Dooley, president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, says it's important for parents to stay present and keep post-exam discussions to five or ten minutes to allow their children to conserve their energy for the next exam.

She says that students have done the hard work and now it's all about revision, so the best thing parents can do is "reassure them and keep the environment calm."

"Listen to your daughter or son. Sometimes it's about what they're not saying or their body language if they feel they're not being given the space to say what they want to say."

To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen