GCSE Results

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's a day late, but yesterday I was too busy celebrating my GCSE results to write up a blog post.

Yep, that's right, CELEBRATING! I didn't fail anything; in fact, I surpassed my own expectations!

Okay, here goes... Am I really about to share my GCSE results with the world? Yes, yes I am! I got... *drum roll* 3 Bs, 3 As and 4 A*s! OH MY GOD!

I did not think I would get one A*, let alone 4. Needless to say, stood in the sixth form opening my envelope, I freaked out. The first thing I did after finding out my results was say "oh my God" over and over again, before running up to my History teacher and practically trampling her with a hug of colossal proportions.

All of my results were obviously important to me, but it was my grade in History (I got an A*) that started me crying and probably meant the most to me.

History and I haven't always got on. I love it, but it is an extremely difficult subject and in mock exams I have struggled (for example, in my first set of mocks I got an E). This really knocked my already shaky confidence in the subject and I was struggling to find motivation to do better. But I did, somehow, scrape a C in my second set of mocks, after working my absolute butt off. I was super super pleased with this and it helped me push towards the real exams. However, I wasn't expecting more than a B overall, and to get an A* was, well, unreal. I was bawling, my teacher was bawling... It wasn't pretty.

I am so so happy with my other results also, and I've surprised myself by not beating myself up over the 3 Bs. Normally a perfectionist like me would be disappointed and angry, but instead I am elated. It is like my insecurities have all banished temporarily. It's odd.

Okay, enough self-indulgent natter about me. Onto my friends...

I always knew that my friends would do amazingly - how could they not, the brilliant, beautiful, brainy people that they are? And they did; I am so so proud of all of them. From my Maths buddy to my bestest Science friend ("Thanks, Barbie!") to my impossibly talented slightly annoying (I kid, I kid) friends who got perfect grades. (And I'm not even kidding. Think of the best grades possible - they got those.)

I feel like I've been very selfish throughout this post, so a section about the pressures of GCSEs and the expectations put on teenagers about them will follow.

Put simply, it sucks. Teens nowadays are under ridiculous amounts of pressure to perform well in exams, schools keep throwing extra GCSEs for us to take as if they're sweets, and it's all about the As and the A*s, which can make you feel worthless if you get anything below that (trust me, I've been there). And it's a completely wrong theory. Any grade is a good grade as long as you tried your best! As my mum said to me throughout exam season and the week leading up to yesterday,"all you need is a C". So if you were disappointed with your results and you're reading this post thinking, "what a massive *insert rude word of your choice here* she is", then a) I'm sorry! Tell me off in the comments! and b) don't be disappointed, because if you gave it your all, then you're a winner, no matter what your grade! *cue cheesy grin and thumbs up*.

'Kay. I'll stop here. Well done to any teens that have received results of any kind recently, don't freak out (because *whispers* they're not the end of the world) and keep smiling, because...

Olivia x