Another BIG DAY for many of you today...GCSE Results Day!
I remember mine well and it was a day of days:
I'd hardly been to school for any of my GCSE year, after undergoing major surgery in hospital. My school suggested that maybe 'I didn't bother with my GCSEs' but for me that just wasn't an option and you know why, because I'd made up my mind I wanted to go to Oxford Uni (crazy really - I sometimes wonder how I ever thought I had a chance at Oxford when my school thought I shouldn't even be sitting my exams but wow did that self-belief and determination go along way!)
Without school to help me, I was left to teach myself and that's exactly what I did. I remember opening my grades and loads of my teachers being in complete shock, 'oh you must be naturally very clever' they said, a line which started to annoy me as the years went by. Without the hours of revision, lying in hospital beds reading textbooks, sitting in waiting rooms testing myself, using every bit of time I could to both play catch up, learn the syllabus and prepare for the exams, I would NEVER have got those grades... 'Oh you must have worked very hard' is a phrase I much prefer!
And that's what I say to you today, whatever you got when you opened your results, if you know you tried your best and put in the effort then you should be extremely proud!
If you didn't get the results you hoped for, then remember you've still got A Levels to come where you can just immerse yourself in a few subjects which many people prefer. Today it might feel like the worst thing ever but you've still got lots of opportunities to work on your grades and to decide what you future holds. So, don't give up!
If Oxford is the dream, then it's not too early to start preparing;keep following the blog for tips on what you can do over the next few years to have the best chance of being offered a place!
Congratulations on all of your hard work, GCSEs are tough - so many subjects to learn, so well done to all of you!
Feel free to get in touch with any questions.
Tilly
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