It’s that time of year again, the exam results are in. They’re good results (Congrats!) and everyone planning to go to university is scrambling to get a place at their first choice.
I remember when I got my A-level results back in 1998 (C-rikey). They weren’t that great, but to look on the bright side were better than my mock exams I took a few months earlier. There, I had improved a wee bit.
I specifically remember my Dad saying “Hmm C for English Literature, is that good?” He’d just been watching the news about the exam results in the region being excellent, and how that A-level exams were now easy. My C grades therefore didn’t bode well.
In my humble opinion, I think teenagers should be given a break. We as adults know that exam results aren’t everything, education yes, but not the grades we achieve when we are 16-18 years of age. I don’t see why we constantly have to belittle the grades that are achieved by saying the exams are easy. Bad adults. We all know that experience along with an enthusiasm to learn is the real key that will serve us well throughout our careers. Well, I think so anyway.
To make it even more interesting, the examining boards have introduced the A*. What the? My C grades are looking more like a grade D or E in comparison to a A blooming star. I hope Dad hasn’t seen the news today. What’s next? A* you are ace, A* what a wit!, A* I wish I was you. I mean c’mon.
I was never good at exams but I loved school. I loved my friends and loved to learn, I always have. Boy Boo also went to the same school as me, I didn’t know this at the time (I would have saved myself alot of heartache if I had known!). Those exams though, there’s just something in me that cannot write essays. I hated the pressure and the horrible feeling that was shoved down your throat that these results would change the rest of your life. They haven’t. Yes, I achieved my necessary English and Maths grades (although my Maths teacher I hasten to add was a complete doofus), which may have helped me get a few jobs. However, I believed then what I do now, that work experience is just as important and that you continue learning throughout your life not just at school.
There’s so much emphasis on school days being the best days of your life. Don’t get me wrong, school days were amazing and probably one of the best times of my life, free of responsibility and all that, but now I’m so very happy in a very different grown-up way. I can pour myself a glass of wine whenever I please (yes, I still feel impressed that I can do this). Check me out, I’m so grown up.
So, with my natural curiosity about stuff, off I went to Manchester University (well, Alsager, but that’s another story) not expecting much. What a time I had. You guessed it, not the best of grades, but I learnt stuff that has kept me intrigued to this very day and met the most awesome friends of my life. A* indeed.
