GCSE's and all that jazz...

So it's getting to that time of year where exams occur. I've actually got my first one in less than two weeks and I feel as though I should have read a survival guide before signing up for GCSE's. I mean there's a part of me that doesn't really care, but it's like there is a silent voice inside slowly eating away at my competence and telling me to jump out my window and run every night. I suppose if you break it down then there's nothing to be scared of. A solo desk, exam paper and silence doesn't sound too daunting, but it's the prospect of failure that's ringing in everyone's ears, deafening some and awakening others. 

One hour of your life yet it has such a big impact. And there is no going back. 

Teachers dictating your revision plan yet expectations to already know everything are sky high. For some reason we are all expected to turn into freakishly organised parrots: repeating everything we have been told over the last two years, turning a folder of work into that perfect grade. I think I'd prefer a jail sentence, though really that's what this is...

This isn't a choice, we have been forced to do this, and yet the outcome is so vital. No wonder there are suicide watchers in some schools. But is that right? We are expected to know what to do, to have a plan, yet there is still so much we don't know. Who can say what the future holds? I certainly can't, and I suppose that's what this blog post is really about. Not me ranting about how I hate life because basically I haven't done enough work and my exams are scarily close, but me saying what is in the back of everyone else's mind currently preparing for an exam. Yes it seems like the whole world is resting on you getting that golden grade, but in the real world, the one where you are not expected to know whether the head of an emulsifier is hydrophobic or hydrophilic, none of that really matters. In forty years time you won't remember any of this, and your certificate with those oh so important grades on will be in a box in the attic, gathering dust (harsh but true). So I guess what I'm trying to say is, work hard and get the grades you want (or in some cases need) to get, because why waste this opportunity. Though always remember that your life doesn't depend on whether you get that B or A*. You can decide what your future holds, and that is the most important thing :)