Without even registering it, an entire summer has passed and it is currently the night before GCSE Results Day 2019. Therefore, I thought it topical that my first 'official' blog post be regarding my thoughts/worries/hopes for whatever may transpire tomorrow. 

I'm glad to say that I don't fear these exam results nearly as much as I would have done in the past. It is a common experience, where students experience tunnel vision, and become entirely focused on these grades which, in the long run, DO NOT MATTER! I mean, of course they matter. But not in the negative way students believe they do. I firmly subscribe to the thought that 'everything happens for a reason.' There are ALWAYS other options, even if those options are not what you were hoping for. Life moves on, and nothing is ever as bad as it seems.

Nevertheless, tomorrow is inevitable. I will have to remind myself of all that I have just written above, take a breath, and open that envelope..

MATHS: Oh god.. Maths. This exam definitely caused the most trouble. It always has. Maths is just something that doesn't come naturally to me, I suppose. In the end, I need to remind myself that all that REALLY matters is a pass! I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in EVERYTHING. But truth is, I won't ever do as good in Maths compared to another subject I'm good at, like History. And of course.. the most important thing is that I tried. I did. I did my best.

SCIENCE: Having taken Chemistry a year early, Physics and Biology were the only subjects I had to focus on. It was still hard, I won't lie about that. Physics, definitely! I neglected Physics so much because I simply don't like it! Biology and Chemistry are two of my favourite subjects and I am taking them at A-level. I still pushed myself towards the end of the year in Physics however, and I can only hope it has paid off!

ENGLISH: Both language and literature come naturally to me. There is something satisfying about coming to your own conclusions and providing your own opinions and, despite how weird it sounds to say this, I enjoyed writing my answers for the English exams. I couldn't say how well my GCSE answers compare to my practice answers, but I think I'll definitely miss English.

RELIGION: Whilst I never particularly enjoyed attending this class, the learning content was not actually that bad. Especially the Ethics topics, I found that I was genuinely interested in what I was writing and it was something that was meaningful. My opinions on the topics for Ethics have a real world impact. Learning about Judaism was another thing I enjoyed during Religion, it was incredibly insightful about a culture I had little idea about.

HISTORY: Another one of my favourite subjects. I feel probably the most confident in this subject. I put SO many hours of work in to making revision notes and flashcards, and memorising key facts. Yet, it was still intriguing to me. We studied Nazi Germany, Medicine and the Normans. These topics differ a lot which is likely what kept History interesting, as I learnt so much about the history of the world.

COMPUTER SCIENCE: The progress I was able to make in this subject was what made Computer Science something I was motivated to study for. Initially, I struggled with writing pseudo-code, but by the time of the GCSE exam I was able to confidently answer all of the questions regarding it. Perhaps we were just blessed with an easy paper, but I was certainly happy with it.

ART: I went through A LOT to complete all of my art. There were tears, there were doubts and there were times I just wanted to give up. Art is really not a subject that should be under-estimated. Since I finished all of my art course around a month before I started the rest of my GCSE's, the amount of work I had to do in Year 11 was concentrated into fewer months than other subjects and I pushed myself SO MUCH to get everything completed and be able to tell a coherent story within my artwork. I sincerely hope all of that work was for a good grade - and I hope I'll be able to take it home with me!