I'd like to think that I've grown as a person in a year's time since the 20th June last year. That was the day of my Latin Culture exam, my last GCSE exam, which unfortunately I cannot access yet. All I remember is a question asking me what a stove-like furnace was used for, and I don't think I knew what it was then. The exam was only worth a fraction of my grade, which was unfortunate as I was quite good at culture and never really understood why everyone else in my class hated it - it was like history without the excess boosters. At the end of the day it meant nothing, because I'm now studying maths, physics and chemistry. At the time, however, it was everything.
The exam was very short, just an hour long, and came four days after my previous exam, Geography Paper 3. Most had by now finished their GCSEs completely and started their lengthy summer holidays, but after forty more marks I would join them. The exam was not in the sports hall, as with the other assessments, rather it was in the German classroom which is surprisingly plain. I was sat in the middle of the room, and don't remember any more than that. Just before I left school, I was told by a teacher to put my tie on, and that was it for secondary school. A fitting end, I thought - an exam on a dead language and a pointless telling off. The only other thing I remember was getting home in the rain, reading Margaret Atwood on the bus I had waited an eternity for. Apparently one of the first things I did when I got back was listen to music, and from there I don't remember anything else. I soon threw out all my Latin work, and that was that - years of work now in the bin after being used for a month. I did eventually get back to school for a taster day - the chemistry was enjoyable, the physics lecture-like, the maths probably the last time I enjoyed doing it in school up to this point.
I had twenty-three exams in all, none ended up going too badly. The grades weren't bad, but if I got six more marks they'd have been even better. In a year's time I'll only have ten exams across three subjects, but this year I have my maths A Level and funnily enough today marks the end of that too. It's on stats and mechanics, so shouldn't be too bad. The worst part is that school will not end for me - there's still another month, starting with mock exams and more lessons. And then I start further maths, if that wasn't enough. If my GCSEs taught me anything, it could go far worse than I'm expecting it will, but who knows. Readers of this blog should be expecting more posts on matrices - maybe they could even use them in lessons, but I'd rather they didn't.
In a nutshell, it's been a year since my GCSEs ended, but I don't care - I have better things to get on with.
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