Article for 2012 Aug 23
This article is not in a series.
2012
2012 Aug
Aug 23 Thu
The previous eighth of my life culminates today, for today is that day. Yes, that day. GCSE results day.
On a less exciting day, a few days ago, I wrote a list of what grades I wouldn’t be surprised to obtain. I reckoned I’d get about five A-stars, 3 As, and 2 Bs. Today I’ll disclose what I actually got.
First, why do they call it “Art and Design” in such a pleonastic neo-nasty, an atrocity of verbosity, a tautological tautology? I guess it’s infectious. But let’s just call it Art! In Art, I got a B. I wasn’t surprised: it’s my worst subject, and the only one which my teachers said couldn’t get me an A-star. Hope-provokingly, the A/B grade-boundary for Art is 240 out of 300; I got 239, so am hoping that some of my course-work can be re-marked more favourably: I only need one more point for an A.
The situation is similar for Bile-ology, although I am quite a bit better at Biology (a science) than at Art. The boundary I hop around in Biology is the A-star/A one, set at 360/400. I got 359/400 in it. I’ve sent off for a re-mark of the final exam.
My second-best science (or second-worst science, when I’m feeling pessimistic) is Chemistry. I was expecting an A-star. Not implausibly, nor incorrectly.
English Language is also some-thing I was expecting to be a success for me: I had done well in previous modules. Although, most of those were marked by my own English teacher - bribery’s not illicit is it? Anyway, how can I be bad at English when I read the newspaper, do the crosswords, and write for this blog so frequently? I know I’m a conceited diva, but you know I’m a star. You know I’m A-star material. You know, I’ll look back on this article and grimace.
The other English is the Literature one, oft abbreviated to “English Lit”. Well, it has certainly “lit” my desire to have nothing more to do with it. So let’s get it over with. I got an A in it, though there isn’t an A in “it”, nor in “lit”.
L’anglais, c’est un matière que je n’aime pas beaucoup. Mais, si vous changiez la langue, vous trouveriez que j’adore le français. Quand je choisissais mes matières pour faire aux A-levels, je voulais choisir le français, ou la langue d’anglais, mais j’ai choisi le latin: j’adore le latin plus que le français. Comme GCSE, j’ai un A-étoile en français. Excellent!
Geography is one of my weaker subjects. The exams don’t make me lick my lips, or drool contently over the paper. I think that’s ironic when one of the questions asked for the definition of a “spit”. Geography’s down-to-earth like that, as the study of the world. But I find that focussing on the planet is not conducive for the pursuit of stars. Hence my A.
Geography may be the anagram of “hyper, agog”, but the subject I’m most hyper, agog, for is Latin. As I said in the “French” paragraph, I love Latin more than French, and as I said in an English Language exam (I was asked about a difficult decision; I chose to write about choosing my A-levels) Latin is more prestigious than French. Though the modern language has a certain je ne sais quoi that I like, French is passé, whereas Latin is retro. It’s kind of backwards (“retro” in Latin) that I’m better at French than at Latin, as indicated by my A-star in the former and A in the Latin.
Mathematics is also a subject I’m doing for A-level despite not being exceptionally good at it. Good enough to get an A-star GCSE in, but I still consider myself slow at that subject, compared to my class-mates (whose A-stars glow more brightly, casting shadows over my arithmetic prowess). See my 2012 Jan 15 article for my response to a possible exam question.
Physics however is a subject I’ll be doing for A-level because I’m exceptionally good at it. Where the minimum GCSE score needed for an A-star is 360 out of 400, I got 395. The first GCSE module I ever sat (excluding Biology) was on Remembrance Thursday 2010 (November 11th), and it’s particularly memorable because it’s the only Physics exam where I lost marks: I got full marks in all other modules.
Now what can I write for a conclusion to this article about the conclusion to my two years of study? I’ve now got writer’s block, having written what may be the longest article ever to feature in my blog. Better now than halfway through an exam, I suppose.
This article is indeed the longest article in Duncan’s Childhood Blog (ignoring the “A Cestrian Pedestrian” articles later), at 862 words including this comment. For more blog stats, see the page. For the final, definitive GCSE grades, see the article of 2012 Aug 30.